23 lines
1.6 KiB
Markdown
23 lines
1.6 KiB
Markdown
---
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tags:
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- Organization
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- Military
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- USA
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category: "U.S. Government"
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summary: "The Air Force Technical Applications Center (AFTAC) is a unit of the United States Air Force responsible for operating and maintaining a global network of sensors to detect nuclear explosions."
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start: 1959
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location: "Patrick Air Force Base, Cape Canaveral, Florida"
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relations:
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- type: participant_in
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with: "[[VELA Satellite]]"
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role: "conducted the readout of Vela 6911"
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start: 1979-09-21
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end: 1979-09-21
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fn: 1
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---
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The Air Force Technical Applications Center (AFTAC) is a unit of the [[United States]] Air Force responsible for operating and maintaining a global network of sensors to detect nuclear explosions. On the evening of September 21, 1979, AFTAC technicians conducted a routine readout of the [[VELA Satellite|Vela satellite]] designated Vela 6911, launched May 23, 1969, at Patrick Air Force Base in [[Cape Canaveral]], [[Florida]]. The readout showed a double-humped signal of the kind associated with a nuclear explosion, from a region the satellite's bhangmeters viewed across the southern Atlantic and Indian Oceans.[^1] [[Seymour Hersh]] wrote that this event was probable evidence of a nuclear explosion.[^2]
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### Footnotes
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[^1]: Richelson, Jeffrey T., ed., "The Vela Incident: Nuclear Test or Meteoroid?" National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book No. 190, May 5, 2006, narrative. https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB190/index.htm
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[^2]: Hersh, Seymour M. *The Samson Option: Israel's Nuclear Arsenal and American Foreign Policy*. Random House, 1991. Chapter 20.
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