Editing Misty (satellite program) (section)

== Launches ==
The first satellite (USA-53 or 1990-019B,<ref>[https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraft/display.action?id=1990-019B 1990-019B] {{PD-notice}}</ref> 19,600 kg) launched for the program was deployed on 1 March 1990 by the [[Space Shuttle Atlantis|Space Shuttle ''Atlantis'']] as part of Mission [[STS-36]]. Objects associated with the satellite decayed on 31 March 1990, but the satellite was seen and tracked later that year and in the mid-1990s by amateur observers.<ref name="wired14.02">{{cite web|url=https://www.wired.com/wired/archive/14.02/spy.html?pg=3|title=I Spy|magazine=Wired|first=Patrick Radden|last=Keefe|access-date=2010-12-27 |date=February 2006}}</ref> The second satellite (USA-144 or 1999-028A <ref>[https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraft/display.action?id=1999-028A 1999-028A] {{PD-notice}}</ref>) was launched on 22 May 1999, and by 2004 the launch of a third satellite was planned for 2009.<ref name="WP20041211">{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A56171-2004Dec10.html|title=New Spy Satellite Debated On Hill: Some Question Price and Need|newspaper=The Washington Post|first=Dana|last=Priest|access-date=2010-12-27|date=2004-12-11}}</ref> Circumstantial evidence suggested that the third satellite might be the payload of the [[Delta IV]] Heavy launch designated [[List of NRO launches|NROL-15]], which was launched in June 2012.{{Citation needed|date=February 2022}}

{| class="wikitable" style="width:100%;"
|-
! Name
! [[International Designator|COSPAR ID]]<ref>[http://planet4589.org/space/log/ Jonathan's Space Report: ''List of satellite launches'']</ref><br/><small>[[Satellite Catalog Number|SATCAT No.]]</small>
! Launch date<br>([[Coordinated Universal Time|UTC]])
! Launch vehicle
! Launch site
! [[List of NRO Launches|Launch designation]]
! Orbit
! Remarks
|-
| USA-53
| {{COSPAR|1990-019B}}<br><small>20516</small>
| 28 February 1990<br>07:50
| {{OV|104}}
| [[Kennedy Space Center|KSC]] [[Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39A|LC-39A]]
| [[STS-36]]
| 811 km × 811 km, i=65°<ref>{{Cite web |date=2012-10-19 |title=Ted Molczan: The Saga of USA 53 -- Found, Lost, Found Again and Lost Again |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121019235727/http://www.fas.org/spp/military/program/imint/tm_usa53.html |access-date=2025-05-12 |website=web.archive.org}}</ref>
|
|-
| USA-144
| {{COSPAR|1999-028A}}<br><small>25744</small>
| 22 May 1999<br>09:36
| [[Titan IV|Titan IV(404)B]]
| [[Vandenberg Air Force Base|VAFB]] [[Vandenberg Space Launch Complex 4|SLC-4E]]
| NROL-9
|
| [[Enhanced Imaging System]]
|}