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Ulithi

Ulithi (Wulthiy, Yulthiy, or Wugöy; pronounced roughly as YOU-li-thee ) is an atoll in the Caroline Islands of the western Pacific Ocean, about 191 km east of Yap, within Yap State.

Overview
Ulithi consists of 40 islets totaling 4.5 km2, surrounding a lagoon about 36 km long and up to 24 km wide—at 548 km2 one of the largest in the world. It is administered by the state of Yap in the Federated States of Micronesia. Ulithi's population was 773 in 2000. There are four inhabited islands on Ulithi Atoll. They are Falalop (Fl'aalop), Asor (Yasor), Mogmog (Mwagmwog), and Fedarai (Fedraey). Falalop is the most accessible with Ulithi Airport, a small resort hotel, store and one of three public high schools in Yap state. Mogmog is the seat of the high chief of Ulithi Atoll though each island has its own chief. Other important islands are Losiap (L'oosiyep), Sorlen (Sohl'oay), and Potangeras (Potoangroas).

The atoll is in the westernmost of the Caroline Islands, 360 mi southwest of Guam, 850 mi east of the Philippines and 1300 mi south of Tokyo. It is a typical volcanic atoll, with a coral reef, white sand beaches and palm trees. Ulithi's forty small islands barely rise above the sea, with the largest being only 1/2 sqmi in area. However the reef runs roughly 20 mi north and south, by 10 mi across, enclosing a vast anchorage with an average depth of 80 to(-).

History
The Portuguese navigator Diogo da Rocha is credited as the first European to find Ulithi in 1525. The Spanish navigator Álvaro de Saavedra arrived on the ship Florida on 1 January 1528, claiming the islands for KingPhilipII under the name Islands of the Kings (Islas de los Reyes; Îles des Rois) after his patron and the Three Wise Men honored in the approaching Catholic feast of Epiphany. It was later charted by other Spaniards as the Chickpea Islands (Islas de los Garbanzos). It was also visited by the Spanish expedition of Ruy López de Villalobos on 26 January 1543.

It remained isolated until visited and explored in detail by Captain Don Bernardo de Egoy in 1712, and later visited by Spanish Jesuit missionaries led by Juan Antonio Cantova together with a group of 12 Spanish soldiers in 1731.

In 1885, Jesuit missionaries encouraged Germany to extend "protection" over the Carolina Islands to protect their profitable trade. However, the Spanish made similar claims and later that year Pope Leo XIII decreed Spain as the ruling power over the islands, granting Germany and the United Kingdom trading rights.

In 1889, a significant earthquake hit Yap (and Ulithi), leading the residents to believe that their engagement with outsiders had angered their traditional spirits.

Germany purchased the islands from Spain in 1899 for $4,500,000, conscripting residents as laborers and soldiers. By the early 1900s, Germany had established a police force, post offices and hospitals on Yap,

During this time, German Capuchin friars began to replace the Jesuits. The friars struggled to convert the citizens to Catholicism. According to a history of the Catholic Church in Micronesia:"Yap had been known as 'the child of sorrow' of the Caroline mission right from the start. The people were very slow to accept the new faith and slower still to practice it, the missionaries remarked again and again. There were none of the mass conversions there that had occurred in Pohnpei and other parts of the mission. Converts were made laboriously one by one, with baptisms rarely exceeding 20 or 30 a year throughout the German period. Even those who did receive baptism were all too susceptible to the pagan influences of the social environment, the missionaries thought. The number receiving the sacraments was quite small, even for the modest-sized congregations that the priests had. A pastor would report for a typical year perhaps a single Christian marriage, one or two Christian burials and a few anointing."

Good Friday Typhoon
The "Good Friday Typhoon" hit the atoll in 1907, which killed 473 throughout the Caroline Islands. SMS Planet was dispatched by the Germans to Ulithi for emergency food and relief, and eventually evacuated 114 residents to Yap. German authorities were caught unaware of how to respond to the disaster, and received much criticism for handling of the evacuation.

Japanese administration
The atoll was peacefully occupied in 1914 by Japan at the outset of the First World War. Japan was given a mandate to oversee the territory in 1920 by the League of Nations. Under the Japanese occupation, businessmen and soldiers eroded the traditional political system in Ulithi, with the authority of local chiefs ignored. This began a steady decline in the customs and individual culture of the people of Ulithi. The presence of the Catholic church was reinforced by the Japanese, who allowed the continued efforts of conversion to go on, further eroding the indigenous culture. By 1941, two-thousand (out of 3,000) residents had been converted to Christianity.

World War II

Early in the Second World War, the Japanese had established a radio and weather station on Ulithi and had occasionally used the lagoon as an anchorage, but had abandoned it by 1944. As the operations of the United States Navy (USN) moved west across the Pacific, the USN required a more forward base for its operations.

Ulithi was ideally positioned to act as a staging area for the USN's western Pacific operations. The anchorage was large and well situated for a base, but there were no port facilities to repair ships or resupply the fleet. The US Navy built the very large Naval Base Ulithi that operated in 1944 and 1945.

On 23 September 1944, a regiment of the United States Army's 81st Division landed unopposed, followed a few days later by a battalion of Seabees. The survey ship USS Sumner (AGS-5) examined the lagoon and reported it capable of holding 700 vessels—a capacity greater than either Majuro or Pearl Harbor.

On 1 October 1944, the minesweeper USS YMS-385 was sunk by a mine while clearing Zowariau [Zowatabu] Channel.

The USN transferred the local islanders to the island of Fedarai for the duration of the hostilities. On 4 October 1944 the vessels of Service Squadron 10 began leaving Eniwetok for Ulithi; Service Squadron 10 was termed by Admiral Nimitz as his "secret weapon". Its commanding officer, Commodore Worrall R. Carter, devised the mobile service force that made it possible for the Navy to convert Ulithi to the secret distant Pacific base used during the major naval operations undertaken late in the war, including Leyte Gulf and the invasion of Okinawa. Service Squadron 10 converted the lagoon into a serviceable naval station, creating repair facilities and re-supply facilities thousands of miles away from an actual naval port. Pontoon piers of a new design were built at Ulithi, each consisting of the 4-by-12-pontoon sections, filled with sand and gravel, and then sunk. The pontoons were anchored in place by guy ropes to deadmen on shore, and by iron rods driven into the coral. Connecting tie pieces ran across the tops of the pontoons to hold them together into a pier. Despite extremely heavy weather on several occasions these pontoon piers stood up remarkably well. They gave extensive service, with little requirement for repairs. Piers of this type were also installed by the 51st Battalion to be used as aviation-gasoline mooring piers near the main airfield on Falalop.

Within a month of the occupation of Ulithi, a complete floating base was in operation. Six thousand ship fitters, artificers, welders, carpenters and electricians arrived aboard repair ships, destroyer tenders, and floating dry docks. USS Ajax (AR-6) had an air-conditioned optical shop and a metal fabrication shop with a supply of base metals from which she could make any alloy to form any part needed. USS Abatan (AW-4), which looked like a big tanker, distilled fresh water and baked bread and pies. The ice cream barge made 500 usgal a shift. The dry docks towed to Ulithi were large enough to lift dry a 45,000-ton battleship.

Fleet oilers sortied from Ulithi to meet the task forces at sea, refueling the warships a short distance from their combat operational areas. The result was something never seen before: a vast floating service station enabling the entire Pacific fleet to operate indefinitely at unprecedented distances from its mainland bases. Ulithi was as far away from the US naval base at San Francisco as San Francisco was from London, England. The Japanese had considered that the vastness of the Pacific Ocean would make it very difficult for the US to sustain operations in the western Pacific. With the Ulithi naval base to refit, repair and resupply, many ships were able to deploy and operate in the western Pacific for a year or more without returning to the naval base at Pearl Harbor.

The Japanese had built an airstrip on Falalop. It was expanded and resurfaced, the runway running the full width of the island. The east end of the strip was extended approximately 20 ft past the natural shoreline. During the operations, 4,500 sacks of mail, 262,000 lb of air freight and 1,200 passengers would utilize this airstrip. A number of small strips for light aircraft were built on several of the smaller islands. The Seabees completed a fleet recreation center at Mog Mog island that could accommodate 8,000 men and 1,000 officers daily. A 1,200-seat theatre, including an 25 by stage with a Quonset hut roof was completed in 20 days. At the same time, a 500-seat chapel was built. A number of the larger islands were used both as bases to support naval vessels and facilities within the lagoon.

The Japanese still held Yap. Early after the US occupation they mounted a number of attacks but caused no damage to the Seabees working on the islands.

On 20 November 1944 the Ulithi harbor was attacked by Japanese kaiten manned torpedoes launched from two nearby submarines. The destroyer USS Case (DD-370) rammed one in the early morning hours. At 5:47 the fleet oiler USS Mississinewa (AO-59), at anchor in the harbor, was struck and sunk. Destroyers began dropping depth charges throughout the anchorage. After the war Japanese naval officers said that two tender submarines, each carrying four manned torpedoes, had been sent to attack the fleet at Ulithi. Three of the kaiten were unable to launch due to mechanical problems and another ran aground on the reef. Two did make it into the lagoon, one of which sank USS Mississinewa. A second kaiten attack in January 1945 was foiled when I-48 was sunk by the destroyer escort USS Conklin (DE-439). None of the 122 men aboard the Japanese submarine survived.

On 11 March 1945, in a mission known as Operation Tan No. 2, several long range aircraft flying from southern Japan attempted a nighttime kamikaze attack on the naval base. One struck the Essex-class aircraft carrier USS Randolph (CV-15), which had left a cargo light on despite the black out. The plane struck over the stern starboard quarter, damaging the flight deck and killing a number of crewmen. Another crashed on Sorlen Island, having perhaps mistaken a signal tower there for the superstructure of an aircraft carrier.

By 13 March there were 647 ships at anchor at Ulithi, and with the arrival of amphibious forces staging for the invasion of Okinawa the number of ships at anchor peaked at 722.

In late June 1945, the Japanese aircraft-launching super submarines I-400 and I-401 were diverted from their planned attack on the Panama Canal to attack Ulithi Atoll. However, their mission was interrupted by the destruction of Nagasaki and Hiroshima, followed by the Japanese surrender.

After the Leyte Gulf was secured, the Pacific Fleet moved its forward staging area to Leyte, and Ulithi was all but abandoned. In the end, few US civilians ever heard of Ulithi. By the time naval security cleared release of the name, there were no longer reasons to print stories about it. The war had moved on, but for seven months in late 1944 and early 1945, the large lagoon of the Ulithi atoll was the largest and most active anchorage in the world.

Postwar
The LORAN (long-range navigation) station established on Potangeras during the naval occupation on the island continued to be operated by the United States Coast Guard post-war. The station was moved from Potangeras to Falalop Island in 1952. According to an August 1950 "HQ Party Inspection" memo, the move was predicated on the distance between Falalop and Potangeras, requiring a "four hour DUKW [amphibious transport] ride...". The memo goes on to state "...the use of DUKW is dangerous and will eventually lead to disaster. In addition considerable maintenance is required to keep the DUKW in an operating condition".

A 1956 USCG survey indicated that the station consisted of a BOQ and office, galley and meeting area, laundry building, barracks, signal-power building, recreation building and a "jumbo Quonset". All of the buildings, with the exception of the signal-power, were Quonset structures. The report discusses the daily life and routine at the station as follows: General life on the station is relaxed and fairly routine. Life here can be boring, or very interesting, depending upon how much the individual desires to do. There are practically unlimited recreational facilities, but it is easy to neglect these and fall into a rather lethargic rut. The working hours...are 7AM to 1PM, six days a week. Afternoons and evenings are free...Loran watch standers average about four hours on watch, ten off...their off watch time is their own, and no daywork is expected from them. The uniform to be worn is chosen for coolness and health with shorts and sandals permissible and the rule rather than the exception. Dress blues are not needed here at all.

The Station is completely isolated, and there is no opportunity for liberty or leave. Of course, there is no use for cars here, and dependents are not allowed. All supplies and mail come from Guam...flights averaging one every week or ten days. Every three months heavy supplies and fuel are delivered...and once a year, USCGC Kukui (WAK-186) makes a stop here.

The cost of living for personnel here is very cheap, with little opportunity to spend money. Necessary items such as soap, cigarettes, toothpaste are stocked and beer and soda are on sale during non-working hours. Native handicraft is limited to canoe models, small statutes and grass skirts, which seldom run more than five or six dollars. Once a month a shopping list is sent to Guam...men can order anything that can be purchased on Guam...there is always Sears and Roebuck or Montgomery Ward. Officers are charged for three meals a day, regardless whether they eat them or not...about $50.00 a month.

As mentioned before, the recreational facilities are numerous and varied, and include: Swimming...spear fishing...fishing...shelling...photography...leather craft...Ham radio...volleyball..tennis..pool...horse shoes...movies...baseball & softball...boat trips...shooting.

In conclusion...this station has many advantages and few disadvantages, as compared with other Loran Stations. The weather and climate are close to ideal, the station and equipment are in excellent repair, recreational facilities are many and varied, supplies and mail are better than average, and the natives are interesting, sincere honest people. The only disadvantage...is the isolation. All in all, this is a pretty wonderful place. The station remained in operation until 1965, when they were again relocated to Yap.

A detailed census in 1949 reported that there were 421 inhabitants, mostly elderly. A follow-up census in 1960 showed a rise to 514, with the ratio of men to women having shifted to a small preponderance of males.

Typhoon Ophelia
Typhoon Ophelia struck the atoll on November 30, 1960, and caused significant damage both physically and socially. "The Coast Guard on the island of Falalop was first notified of a possible tropical disturbance two days prior to the actual typhoon. No action was taken at that time by the personnel other than to observe on a chart of the area the progress of the storm. The next day the station was notified from Guam that it was to take certain safeguarding precautions. While the personnel was engaged in this activity, the winds picked up so noticeably that the local commanding officer notified the Coast Guard section on Guam it was going to move...equipment, personal gear, and emergency rations to a concrete bunker."

Contemporary Ulithi
As a major staging area for the United States Navy in the final year of the Second World War, several sunken warships rest at the bottom of the Ulithi lagoon, including USS Mississinewa (AO-59), a fleet oiler which sank fully loaded. In April 2001, sport divers located the wreckage, and four months later oil was observed leaking from the tanks. Several surveys were completed in 2001 and 2002 to determine the status of the wreckage and the leaks. Between January and February 2003, Navy and subcontractors successfully emptied the fuel and oil, with 99% that remained in the wreckage removed.

Occasional diving and adventure tours visit Ulithi from Yap. Given permission from the local community, the atoll offers good diving.

Census records can be misleading because population can fluctuate during the year because it is common for Ulithians to leave for work or school abroad and to return. This is particularly true during festive times like the Outer Island High School graduation ceremony, when the population can increase considerably. Additionally, during events like weddings and funerals, community populations may double.

In 2009, with funding from the European Union (EU) and the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC) partnership installed 215 solar photovoltaic (PV) system in Ulithi, with a 28 kWp (kilowatt peak) solar plant. Inverters with a capacity of 20 kW supply 240V / 60 Hz AC into an underground, ostensibly typhoon-proof grid.

Typhoon Maysak
Reef damage from Typhoon Maysak in 2015 is still visible in places, but the reefs have largely recovered. Maysak also caused significant damage to the PV electrical grid system on the atoll.

Conservation
Since 2018, the Island Conservation group has led an effort with the local community to help stop invasive species from overtaking native green sea turtles and seabirds. One of the non-native species they are attempting to eradicate is the monitor lizard, first introduced during the Japanese occupation to rid the islands of rats.

In 2019, the US Navy submarine tender USS Emory S. Land visited the atoll, as part of the research for US plans for establishing a logistics network across the Pacific, with a Naval press release noting Ulithi "could again represent a logistical hub capable of supporting the fleet".

Transportation
Located on Falalop Island, the Ulithi Civil Airfield (IATA code ULI, FAA Identifier TT02) serves as the main air link with the rest of Federated States of Micronesia. With no regularly scheduled flights, service is provided by Pacific Missionary Aviation.

Transport between the smaller closely located islands Ulithi is typically undertaken by motorboat. The ship Halipmohol operates as a Field Trip Ship, transiting on a semi-regular basis throughout the Yap outer islands. According to the Pacific Worlds website, it is customary to request permission from the Chief of Ulithi to visit the atoll.

Culture
Traditionally, Ulithi culture was based on matriarchal lineages. Each lineage had a male chief by seniority. Each village had a village council to help with everyday issues, as well as questions concerning the entire atoll. Land was owned by the lineages and parceled out for different uses. Women typically handle the agricultural duties, while men fished. Religion was pagan-based, spirits and ancestral ghosts. Magic was also incorporated into the everyday life, prevalent in disease/medicine, navigation, weather and fishing. Sociological studies showed that by 1960, after decades of influence by outsiders, the traditional religion had all but vanished, to be replaced by Christianity.

Language
In an annual report released in early 2010, the Habele charity announced plans to develop and distribute native-language materials for educators and students in the outer islands of Yap State, Micronesia. The first project was a Ulithian-to-English dictionary. This was the first rigorous documentation of the Ulithian language, and copies were provided to educators and students throughout Ulithi and Fais. The authors' stated aim was to create a consistent and intuitive Latin alphabet useful for both native Ulithian and native English speakers.

Education
Public schools:
 * Yap Outer Islands High School

Climate
Ulithi has a tropical rainforest climate (Af) with heavy rainfall year-round.

title: Ulithi


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CORONA (satellite)

The Corona program was a series of American strategic reconnaissance satellites produced and operated by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Directorate of Science & Technology with substantial assistance from the U.S. Air Force. The CORONA satellites were used for photographic surveillance of the Soviet Union (USSR), China, and other areas beginning in June 1959 and ending in May 1972.

History
In 1957, the Soviet Union launched Sputnik 1, the first artificial Earth satellite. Officially, Sputnik was launched to correspond with the International Geophysical Year, a solar period that the International Council of Scientific Unions declared would be ideal for the launching of artificial satellites to study Earth and the solar system. However, the launch led to public concern about the perceived technological gap between the West and the Soviet Union. The unanticipated success of the mission precipitated the Sputnik Crisis, and prompted President Dwight D. Eisenhower to authorize the Corona program, a top priority reconnaissance program managed jointly by the Air Force and the CIA. Satellites were developed to photograph denied areas from space, provide information about Soviet missile capability and replace risky U-2 reconnaissance flights over Soviet territory.

Overview

CORONA started under the name "Discoverer" as part of the WS-117L satellite reconnaissance and protection program of the U.S. Air Force in 1956. The WS-117L was based on recommendations and designs from the RAND Corporation. The primary goal of the program was to develop a film-return photographic satellite to replace the U-2 spyplane in surveilling the Sino-Soviet Bloc, determining the disposition and speed of production of Soviet missiles and long-range bombers assets. The CORONA program was also used to produce maps and charts for the Department of Defense and other U.S. government mapping programs.

The CORONA project was pushed forward rapidly following the shooting down of a U-2 spy plane over the Soviet Union on 1 May 1960.

CORONA ultimately encompassed eight separate but overlapping series of satellites (dubbed "Keyhole" or KH ), launched from 1959 to 1972. CORONA was complemented and ultimately succeeded by the higher resolution KH-7 Gambit and KH-8 Gambit 3 series of satellites.

An alternative concurrent program to the CORONA program was SAMOS. That program included several types of satellite which used a different photographic method. This involved capturing an image on photographic film, developing the film aboard the satellite and then scanning the image electronically. The image was then transmitted via telemetry to ground stations. The Samos E-1 and Samos E-2 satellite programs used this system, but they were not able to take very many pictures and then relay them to the ground stations each day. Two later versions of the Samos program, such as the E-5 and the E-6, used the bucket-return approach pioneered with CORONA, but neither of the latter Samos series were successful.

Spacecraft
The CORONA satellites were designated KH-1, KH-2, KH-3, KH-4, KH-4A and KH-4B. KH stood for "Key Hole" or "Keyhole" (Code number 1010), with the name being an analogy to the act of spying into a person's room by peering through their door's keyhole. The incrementing number indicated changes in the surveillance instrumentation, such as the change from single-panoramic to double-panoramic cameras. The "KH" naming system was first used in 1962 with KH-4, the earlier numbers being applied retroactively.

Below is a list of CORONA launches, as compiled by the United States Geological Survey. This table lists government's designation of each type of satellite (C, C-prime, J-1, etc.), the resolution of the camera, and a description of the camera system.

 * (The stray "quote marks" are part of the original designations of the first three generations of cameras.)

Discoverer
As American space launches were not classified until late 1961, the first CORONA satellites were cloaked with disinformation as being part of a space technology development program called Discoverer. To the public, Discoverer missions were scientific and engineering missions, the film-return capsules being used to return biological specimens. To facilitate this deception, several CORONA capsules were built to house a monkey passenger. Many test monkeys were lost during ground tests of the capsule's life support system. The Discoverer cover proved to be cumbersome, inviting scrutiny from the scientific community. Discoverer 37, launched 13 January 1962, was the last CORONA mission to bear the Discoverer name. Subsequent CORONA missions were simply classified as "Department of Defense satellite launches".

KH-1
The first series of CORONA satellites were the Keyhole 1 (KH-1) satellites based on the Agena-A upper stage, which offered housing and an engine that provided attitude control in orbit. The KH-1 payload included the C (for CORONA) single panoramic camera built by Fairchild Camera and Instrument with a f/5.0 aperture and 61 cm focal length. It had a ground resolution of 12.9 m. Film was returned from orbit by a single General Electric Satellite Return Vehicle (SRV). The SRV was equipped with a small onboard solid-fuel retro motor to deorbit the payload at the end of the mission. Recovery of the capsule was done in mid-air by a specially equipped aircraft.

There were three camera-less test launches in the first half of 1959, none of them entirely successful. Discoverer 1 was a test vehicle carrying no SRV nor camera. Launched on 28 February 1959, it was the first man-made object put into a polar orbit, but only sporadically returned telemetry. Discoverer 2 (14 April 1959) carried a recovery capsule for the first time but no camera. The main bus performed well, but the capsule recovery failed, the SRV coming down over Spitzbergen rather than Hawaii. The capsule was never found. Discoverer 3 (3 June 1959), the first Discoverer to carry a biological package (four black mice in this case) failed to achieve orbit when its Agena crashed into the Pacific Ocean.

The pressure to orbit a photographic surveillance satellite to succeed the Lockheed U-2 was so great that operational, camera-equipped KH-1 launches began 25 June 1959 with the (unsuccessful) launching of Discoverer 4, despite there not having been a successful test of the life-support unit for biological passengers. This proved to be a moot point by this time as the link between the Discoverer series and living payloads had been established by the attempted flight of Discoverer 3.

The three subsequent Discoverers were successfully orbited, but all of their cameras failed when the film snapped during loading. Ground tests determined that the acetate-based film became brittle in the vacuum of space, something that had not been discovered even in high altitude, low pressure testing. The Eastman Kodak Company was tasked with creating a more resilient replacement. Kodak developed a technique of coating a high-resolution emulsion on a type of polyester from DuPont. Not only was the resulting polyester-based film resistant to vacuum brittling, it weighed half as much as the prior acetate-based film.

There were four more partially successful and unsuccessful missions in the KH-1 series before Discoverer 13 (10 August 1960), which managed a fully successful capsule recovery for the first time. This was the first recovery of a man-made object from space, beating the Soviet Korabl Sputnik 2 by nine days. Discoverer 13 is now on display in the "Milestones of Flight" hall in the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C.

Two days after the 18 August 1960 launch of Discoverer 14, its film bucket was successfully retrieved in the Pacific Ocean by a Fairchild C-119 Flying Boxcar transport plane. This was the first successful return of a payload from orbit, occurring just one day before the launch of Korabl-Sputnik 2, a biosatellite that took into orbit the two Soviet space dogs, Belka and Strelka, and safely returned them to Earth.

The impact of CORONA on American intelligence gathering was tremendous. With the success of Discoverer 14, which returned 16 lb of film and provided more coverage of the Soviet Union than all preceding U2 flights, for the first time the United States had a clear picture of the USSR's strategic nuclear capabilities. Before CORONA, the National Intelligence Estimates (NIE) of CIA were highly uncertain and strongly debated. Six months before Discoverer 14, an NIE predicted that the Soviets would have 140–200 ICBMs deployed by 1961. A month after the flight of Discoverer 14, that estimate was refined to just 10–25.

Additionally, CORONA increased the pace at which intelligence could be received, with satellites providing monthly coverage from the start. Photographs were more easily assessed by analysts and political leaders than covert agent reports, improving not just the amount of intelligence but its accessibility.

The KH-1 series ended with Discoverer 15 (13 September 1960), whose capsule successfully deorbited but sank into the Pacific Ocean and was not recovered.

Later KH Series
In 1963, the KH-4 system was introduced with dual cameras and the program made completely secret by then president, John Kennedy. The Discoverer label was dropped and all launches became classified. Because of the increased satellite mass, the basic Thor-Agena vehicle’s capabilities were augmented by the addition of three Castor solid-fueled strap-on motors. On 28 February 1963, the first Thrust Augmented Thor lifted from Vandenberg Air Force Base at Launch Complex 75 carrying the first KH-4 satellite. The launch of the new and unproven booster went awry as one SRB failed to ignite. Eventually the dead weight of the strap-on motor dragged the Thor off its flight path, leading to a Range Safety destruct. It was suspected that a technician had not attached an umbilical on the SRB properly. Although some failures continued to occur during the next few years, the reliability rate of the program significantly improved with KH-4. Maneuvering rockets were also added to the satellite beginning in 1963. These were different from the attitude stabilizing thrusters which had been incorporated from the beginning of the program. CORONA orbited in very low orbits to enhance resolution of its camera system. But at perigee (the lowest point in the orbit), CORONA endured drag from the atmosphere of Earth. In time, this could cause its orbit to decay and force the satellite to re-enter the atmosphere prematurely. The new maneuvering rockets were designed to boost CORONA into a higher orbit, and lengthen the mission time even if low perigees were used. For use during unexpected crises, the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) kept a CORONA in "R-7" status, meaning ready for launch in seven days. By the summer of 1965, NRO was able to maintain CORONA for launch within one day.

Nine of the KH-4A and KH-4B missions included ELINT subsatellites, which were launched into a higher orbit.

Some P-11 reconnaissance satellites were launched from KH-4A.

At least two launches of Discoverer were used to test satellites for the Missile Defense Alarm System (MIDAS), an early missile-launch-detection program that used infrared cameras to detect the heat signature of launch vehicles launching to orbit.

The last launch under the Discoverer cover name was Discoverer 38 on 26 February 1962. Its bucket was successfully recovered in midair during the 65th orbit (the 13th recovery of a bucket; the ninth one in midair). Following this last use of the Discoverer name, the remaining launches of CORONA satellites were entirely TOP SECRET. The last CORONA launch was on 25 May 1972. The project ended when CORONA was replaced by the KH-9 Hexagon program.

Cameras
The CORONA satellites used special 70 mm film with a 24 in focal length camera. Manufactured by Eastman Kodak, the film was initially 0.0003 in thick, with a resolution of 170 lines per mm (0.04 inch) of film. The contrast was 2-to-1. (By comparison, the best aerial photography film produced in World War II could produce just 50 lines per mm (1250 per inch) of film). The acetate-based film was later replaced with a polyester-based film stock that was more durable in Earth orbit. The amount of film carried by the satellites varied over time. Initially, each satellite carried 8000 ft of film for each camera, for a total of 16000 ft of film. But a reduction in the thickness of the film stock allowed more film to be carried. In the fifth generation, the amount of film carried was doubled to 16000 ft of film for each camera for a total of 32000 ft of film. This was accomplished by a reduction in film thickness and with additional film capsules. Most of the film shot was black and white. Infrared film was used on mission 1104, and color film on missions 1105 and 1008. Color film proved to have lower resolution, and so was never used again.

The cameras were manufactured by the Itek Corporation. A 12 in, f/5 triplet lens was designed for the cameras. Each lens was 7 in in diameter. They were quite similar to the Tessar lenses developed in Germany by Carl Zeiss AG. The cameras themselves were initially 5 ft long, but later extended to 9 ft in length. Beginning with the KH-4 satellites, these lenses were replaced with Petzval f/3.5 lens. The lenses were panoramic, and moved through a 70° arc perpendicular to the direction of the orbit. A panoramic lens was chosen because it could obtain a wider image. Although the best resolution was only obtained in the center of the image, this could be overcome by having the camera sweep automatically ("reciprocate") back and forth across 70° of arc. The lens on the camera was constantly rotating, to counteract the blurring effect of the satellite moving over the planet.

The first CORONA satellites had a single camera, but a two-camera system was quickly implemented. The front camera was tilted 15° aft, and the rear camera tilted 15° forward, so that a stereoscopic image could be obtained. Later in the program, the satellite employed three cameras. The third camera was employed to take "index" photographs of the objects being stereographically filmed. The J-3 camera system, first deployed in 1967, placed the camera in a drum. This "rotator camera" (or drum) moved back and forth, eliminating the need to move the camera itself on a reciprocating mechanism. The drum permitted the use of up to two filters and as many as four different exposure slits, greatly improving the variability of images that CORONA could take. The first cameras could resolve images on the ground down to 40 ft in diameter. Improvements in the imaging system were rapid, and the KH-3 missions could see objects 10 ft in diameter. Later missions would be able to resolve objects just 5 ft in diameter. 3 ft resolution was found to be the optimum resolution for quality of image and field of view.

The initial CORONA missions suffered from mysterious border fogging and bright streaks which appeared irregularly on the returned film. Eventually, a team of scientists and engineers from the project and from academia (among them Luis Alvarez, Sidney Beldner, Malvin Ruderman, Arthur Glines, and Sidney Drell) determined that electrostatic discharges (called corona discharges) caused by some of the components of the cameras were exposing the film. Corrective measures included better grounding of the components, improved film rollers that did not generate static electricity, improved temperature controls, and a cleaner internal environment. Although improvements were made to reduce the corona, the final solution was to load the film canisters with a full load of film and then feed the unexposed film through the camera onto the take-up reel with no exposure. This unexposed film was then processed and inspected for corona. If none was found or the corona observed was within acceptable levels, the canisters were certified for use and loaded with fresh film for a launch mission.

Calibration
CORONA satellites were allegedly calibrated using the calibration targets located outside of Casa Grande, Arizona. The targets consisted of concrete arrows located in and to the south of the city, and may have helped to calibrate the cameras of the satellites. These claims about the purpose of the targets, perpetuated by online forums and featured in National Geographic and NPR articles, have since been disputed, with aerial photogrammetry proposed as a more likely purpose for them.

Recovery

Film was retrieved from orbit via a reentry capsule (nicknamed "film bucket"), designed by General Electric, which separated from the satellite and fell to Earth. After the fierce heat of reentry was over, the heat shield surrounding the vehicle was jettisoned at 60000 ft and parachutes deployed. The capsule was intended to be caught in mid-air by a passing airplane towing an airborne claw which would then winch it aboard, or it could land at sea. A salt plug in the base would dissolve after two days, allowing the capsule to sink if it was not picked up by the United States Navy. After Reuters reported on a reentry vehicle's accidental landing and discovery by Venezuelan farmers in mid-1964, capsules were no longer labeled "SECRET" but offered a reward in eight languages for aerial footage return to the United States. Beginning with flight number 69, a two-capsule system was employed. This also allowed the satellite to go into passive (or "zombie") mode, shutting down for as many as 21 days before taking images again. Beginning in 1963, another improvement was "Lifeboat", a battery-powered system that allowed for ejection and recovery of the capsule in case power failed. The film was processed at Eastman Kodak's Hawkeye facility in Rochester, New York.

The CORONA film bucket was later adapted for the KH-7 GAMBIT satellites, which took higher resolution photos.

Launch
CORONA were launched by a Thor-Agena rocket, which used a Thor first stage and an Agena as the second stage of the rocket lifting the CORONA into orbit.

The first satellites in the program orbited at altitudes 100 mi above the surface of the Earth, although later missions orbited even lower at 75 mi. Originally, CORONA satellites were designed to spin along their main axis so that the satellite would remain stable. Cameras would take photographs only when pointed at the Earth. The Itek camera company, however, proposed to stabilize the satellite along all three axes—keeping the cameras permanently pointed at the earth. Beginning with the KH-3 version of the satellite, a horizon camera took images of several key stars. A sensor used the satellite's side thruster rockets to align the rocket with these "index stars", so that it was correctly aligned with the Earth and the cameras pointed in the right direction. Beginning in 1967, two horizon cameras were used. This system was known as the Dual Improved Stellar Index Camera (DISIC).

Operations
The United States Air Force credits the Sunnyvale Air Force Station (now Onizuka Air Force Station) as being the "birthplace of the CORONA program". In May 1958, the Department of Defense directed the transfer of the WS-117L program to Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA). In FY1958, WS-117L was funded by the USAF at a level of US$108.2 million (inflation adjusted US$0 billion in ). For DISCOVERER, the Air Force and ARPA spent a combined sum of US$132.3 million in FY1959 (inflation adjusted US$0 billion in ) and US$101.2 million in FY1960 (inflation adjusted US$0 billion in ). According to John N. McMahon, the total cost of the CORONA program amounted to $US850 million.

The procurement and maintenance of the CORONA satellites were managed by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), which used cover arrangements lasting from April 1958 to 1969 to get access to the Palo Alto plant of the Hiller Helicopter Corporation for the production. At this facility, the rocket's second stage Agena, the cameras, film cassettes, and re-entry capsule were assembled and tested before shipment to Vandenberg Air Force Base. In 1969, assembly duties were relocated to the Lockheed facilities in Sunnyvale, California. (The NRO was worried that, as CORONA was phased out, skilled technicians worried about their jobs would quit the program—leaving CORONA without staff. The move to Sunnyvale ensured that enough skilled staff would be available.)

The decisions regarding what to photograph were made by the CORONA Target Program. CORONA satellites were placed into near-polar orbits. This software, run by an on-board computer, was programmed to operate the cameras based on the intelligence targets to be imaged, the weather, the satellite's operational status, and what images the cameras had already captured. Ground control for CORONA satellites was initially conducted from Stanford Industrial Park, an industrial park on Page Mill Road in Palo Alto, California. It was later moved to Sunnyvale Air Force Base near Sunnyvale, California.

Design staff
Minoru S. Araki, Francis J. Madden, Edward A. Miller, James W. Plummer, and Don H. Schoessler were responsible for the design, development, and operation of CORONA. For their role in creating the first space-based Earth photographic observation systems, they were awarded the Charles Stark Draper Prize in 2005.

Declassification
The CORONA program was officially classified top secret until 1992. On 22 February 1995, the photos taken by the CORONA satellites, and also by two contemporary programs (ARGON and KH-6 LANYARD) were declassified under an Executive Order signed by President Bill Clinton. The further review by photo experts of the "obsolete broad-area film-return systems other than CORONA" mandated by President Clinton's order led to the declassification in 2002 of the photos from the KH-7 and the KH-9 low-resolution cameras.

The declassified imagery has since been used by a team of scientists from the Australian National University to locate and explore ancient habitation sites, pottery factories, megalithic tombs, and Palaeolithic archaeological remains in northern Syria. Similarly, scientists at Harvard have used the imagery to identify prehistoric traveling routes in Mesopotamia.

The U.S. Geological Survey hosts more than 860,000 images of the Earth’s surface from between 1960 and 1972 from CORONA, ARGON, and LANYARD programs.

In popular culture
The 1963 thriller novel Ice Station Zebra and its 1968 film adaptation were inspired, in part, by news accounts from 17 April 1959, about a missing experimental CORONA satellite capsule (Discoverer 2) that inadvertently landed near Spitzbergen on 13 April 1959. While Soviet agents may have recovered the vehicle, it is more likely that the capsule landed in water and sank.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: CORONA (satellite)


text:
User:Theresa knott/sand box

Involved parties

 * User:SevenOfDiamonds AKA User:SixOfDiamonds AKA User:74.73.16.230
 * User:NuclearUmpf AKA User:Zer0faults (This is the person who Seven of Diamonds is accused of being)
 * User:MONGO (main evidence collector)
 * User:Theresa knott (bringing the case)
 * Various other admins who I'm not sure if I should list as being involved or not.

Statement by Theresa Knott
Seven of Diamonds first appeared as Six of Diamonds on the 11th July. Since that time he has been accused of being the sockpuppet of a number of different banned users. Most accusations have been in the form of checkuser requests:

 * Requests for checkuser/Case/SixOfDiamonds
 * Requests for checkuser/Case/SevenOfDiamonds
 * Requests for checkuser/Case/Giovanni33
 * Requests for checkuser/Case/Lovelight

But there have also been some quips on the incident noticeboard in the seemingly never ending threads on the matter.

On the 16th August MONGO posted an evidence page to the Arbitration enforcement and a discussion followed. I reviewed the evidence and felt it was pretty strong. I was close to blocking but User:El C felt that because of the number of previous check user cases that Seven of Diamonds was being harassed and objected. The case was therefore closed by a clerk with the statement that it needs to go to you guys. Later on I learned that El C hadn't actually looked at the evidence page before objecting.

Later that evening another admin blocked SevenofDiamonds as a sock. This caused yet another post on the admin noticeboard The objection was that the block was out of process because the clerk had said it must go to Arbitration. The blocking admin therefore unblocked.

That is basically it (I've missed out some minor details to keep the request short) So far, as far as I can tell, all objections have been process ones rather than people who have looked and the evidence and stated it was not strong enough. What I would like you to do is look at the evidence (we can tidy it up for you if you accept the case) and make a binding decision on this. SevenofDiamonds is either a sockpuppet of a banned user who we can block as such, or he is a new user in good standing in which case all those saying otherwise need to shut up. Theresa Knott | The otter sank 16:42, 18 August 2007 (UTC)

title: User:Theresa knott/sand box


text:
Erich von Däniken

Erich Anton Paul von Däniken (born 14 April 1935) is a Swiss author of several pseudoscientific books which make claims about extraterrestrial influences on early human culture, including the best-selling Chariots of the Gods?, published in 1968. Von Däniken is one of the main figures responsible for popularizing the "paleo-contact" and ancient astronauts hypotheses.

The ideas put forth in his books are rejected by virtually all scientists and academics, who categorize his work as pseudohistory, pseudoarchaeology, and pseudoscience. Early in his career, he was convicted and served time for several counts of fraud or embezzlement, and wrote one of his books in prison.

Von Däniken was the co-founder of the Archaeology, Astronautics and SETI Research Association (AAS RA). He designed Mystery Park (now known as Jungfrau Park), a theme park located in Interlaken, Switzerland, that opened in May 2003.

Early life
Von Däniken was born in Zofingen, Aargau. Brought up as a Roman Catholic, he attended the Saint-Michel International Catholic School in Fribourg, Switzerland. During his time at the school he rejected the church's interpretations of the Bible and developed an interest in astronomy and flying saucers. At the age of 19, he was given a four-month suspended sentence for theft. He left the school and was apprenticed to a Swiss hotelier for a time, before moving to Egypt. In December 1964, von Däniken wrote Hatten unsere Vorfahren Besuch aus dem Weltraum? ("Were Our Ancestors Visited from Space?") for the German-Canadian periodical Der Nordwesten. While in Egypt, he was involved in a jewelry deal which resulted in a nine-month conviction for fraud and embezzlement upon his return to Switzerland.

Following his release, von Däniken became a manager of the Hotel Rosenhügel in Davos, Switzerland, during which time he wrote Chariots of the Gods? (Erinnerungen an die Zukunft, literally "Memories of the Future"), working on the manuscript late at night after the hotel's guests had retired. The draft of the book was turned down by several publishers. Econ Verlag (now part of Ullstein Verlag) was willing to publish the book after a complete reworking by a professional author, Utz Utermann, who used the pseudonym of Wilhelm Roggersdorf. Utermann was a former editor of the Nazi Party's newspaper Völkischer Beobachter and had been a Nazi bestselling author. The re-write of Chariots of the Gods? was accepted for publication early in 1967, but not printed until March 1968. Against all expectations, the book gained widespread interest and became a bestseller. Von Däniken was paid 7 percent of the book's turnover, while 3 percent went to Utermann. In 1970, Der Spiegel referred to the hype over Däniken as Dänikitis.

In November 1968, von Däniken was arrested for fraud, after falsifying hotel records and credit references in order to take out loans for $130,000 over a period of twelve years. He used the money for foreign travel to research his book. Two years later, von Däniken was convicted for "repeated and sustained" embezzlement, fraud, and forgery, with the court ruling that the writer had been living a "playboy" lifestyle. He unsuccessfully entered a plea of nullity, on the grounds that his intentions were not malicious and that the credit institutions were at fault for failing adequately to research his references,  and on 13 February 1970 he was sentenced to three and a half years imprisonment and was also fined 3,000 francs. He served one year of this sentence before being released.

His first book, Chariots of the Gods?, had been published by the time of his trial, and its sales allowed him to repay his debts and leave the hotel business. Von Däniken wrote his second book, Gods from Outer Space, while in prison.

Claims of alien influence on Earth
The general claim of von Däniken over several published books, starting with Chariots of the Gods? in 1968, is that extraterrestrials or "ancient astronauts" visited Earth and influenced early human culture. Von Däniken writes about his belief that structures such as the Egyptian pyramids, Stonehenge, and the Moai of Easter Island, and certain artifacts from that period, are products of higher technological knowledge than is presumed to have existed at the times they were manufactured. He also describes ancient artwork throughout the world as containing depictions of astronauts, air and space vehicles, extraterrestrials, and complex technology. Von Däniken explains the origins of religions as reactions to contact with an alien race, and offers interpretations of sections of the Old Testament of the Bible.

Criticism
In 1966, when von Däniken was writing his first book, scientists Carl Sagan and I. S. Shklovskii had written about the possibility of paleocontact and extraterrestrial visitation claims in one chapter of their book Intelligent Life in the Universe, leading author Ronald Story to speculate in his book The Space-gods Revealed that this may have been the genesis of von Däniken's ideas. Many ideas from this book appeared in different form in Däniken's books.

Prior to von Däniken's work, other authors had presented ideas of extraterrestrial contacts. He has failed to credit these authors properly or at all, even when making the same claims using similar or identical evidence. The first edition of von Däniken's Erinnerungen an die Zukunft failed to cite Robert Charroux's One Hundred Thousand Years of Man's Unknown History despite making very similar claims, and publisher Econ-Verlag was forced to add Charroux in the bibliography in later editions, to avoid a possible lawsuit for plagiarism.

Logical and factual errors
"That writing as careless as von Däniken's, whose principal thesis is that our ancestors were dummies, should be so popular is a sober commentary on the credulousness and despair of our times. I also hope for the continuing popularity of books like Chariots of the Gods? in high school and college logic courses, as object lessons in sloppy thinking. I know of no recent books so riddled with logical and factual errors as the works of von Däniken."

Iron pillar of Delhi
In Chariots of the Gods?, von Däniken cited the Iron pillar of Delhi in India, erected approximately 402 AD, as a prime example of extraterrestrial influence because of its "unknown origins" and a complete absence of rust despite its estimated 1,500 years of continuous exposure to the elements. When informed by an interviewer, in 1974, that the pillar was not rust-free, and that its origin, method of construction, and relative resistance to corrosion were all well understood, von Däniken responded that he no longer believed extraterrestrials had been involved in its creation.

Cueva de los Tayos
In The Gold of the Gods, von Däniken describes an expedition that he undertook through man-made tunnels within Cueva de los Tayos, a natural cave system in Ecuador, guided by a local man named Juan Moricz. He reported seeing mounds of gold, strange statues, and a library containing metal tablets, all of which he considered to be evidence of ancient extraterrestrial visitation.

Moricz told Der Spiegel that there had been no expedition; von Däniken's descriptions came from "a long conversation", and the photos in the book had been "fiddled". During the 1974 interview, von Däniken asserted that he had indeed seen the library and the artifacts in the tunnels, but he had embellished some aspects of the story to make it more interesting: ""In German we say a writer, if he is not writing pure science, is allowed to use some dramaturgische Effekte – some theatrical effects...And that's what I have done.""

Four years later, he admitted that he had never been inside Cueva de los Tayos, and had fabricated the entire cave adventure. A geologist found no evidence of artificial tunnels in the area. Father Crespi's gold artifacts, according to an archeologist consulted by Der Spiegel, were mostly brass imitations sold locally as tourist souvenirs.

Book of Dzyan and "Tulli Papyrus"
Samuel Rosenberg said that the Book of Dzyan, referred to by von Däniken, was "a fabrication superimposed on a gigantic hoax concocted by Madame Blavatsky." He also says that the "Tulli Papyrus", cited by von Däniken in one of his books, is probably cribbed from the Book of Ezekiel, and quoted Nolli (through Walter Ramberg, Scientific Attache at the U.S. Embassy in Rome), then current Director of the Egyptian Section of the Vatican Museum, as "suspect[ing] that Tulli was taken in and that the papyrus is a fake." According to Richard R. Lingeman of The New York Times, it is likely that von Däniken obtained these references from UFO books that mentioned them as real documents.

Nazca Lines
Von Däniken brought the Nazca Lines to public prominence in Chariots of the Gods? with his proposal that the lines were built on instructions from extraterrestrial beings as airfields for their spaceships. In his 1998 book Arrival of The Gods, he added that some of the pictures depicted extraterrestrials. The idea did not originate with von Däniken; it began after people who first saw the lines from the air made joking comparisons to Martian "canals", and had already been published by others.

Descriptions of some Nazca line photos in Chariots of the Gods? contain significant inaccuracies. One, for example, purporting to demonstrate markings of a modern airport, was actually the knee joint of one of the bird figures, and was quite small. Von Däniken said that this was an "error" in the first edition, but it has not been corrected in later editions.

Consensus among archeologists is that the Nazca lines were created by pre-Columbian civilizations for cultural purposes. Efforts by archeologists to refute fringe theories such as Däniken's have been minimal, however. Silverman and Proulx have said that this silence from archaeologists has harmed the profession, as well as the Peruvian nation. Von Däniken's books attracted so many tourists to the Nazca region that researcher Maria Reiche had to spend much of her own time and money preserving the lines.

Piri Reis map
Von Däniken wrote in Chariots of the Gods? that a version of the Piri Reis map depicted some Antarctic mountains that were and still are buried in ice, and could only be mapped with modern equipment. His theory relies on the book of Maps of the Ancient Sea Kings by Charles Hapgood. A.D. Crown, in Some Trust in Chariots, explains how this is simply wrong. The map in von Däniken's book only extends five degrees south of the equator, ending in Cape São Roque, which means that it does not extend to Antarctica. Von Däniken also said that the map showed some distortions that would only happen if it was an aerial view taken from a spaceship flying above El Cairo, but in fact it does not extend far enough to the south to cause visible distortions in an aerial view. Von Däniken also asserts the existence of a legend saying that a god gave the map to a priest, the god being an extraterrestrial being. But Piri Reis said that he had drawn that map himself using older maps, and the map is consistent with the cartographic knowledge of that time. Also, the map is not "absolutely accurate" as claimed by von Däniken, since it contains many errors and omissions; a fact that von Däniken did not correct when he covered the map again in his 1998 book Odyssey of the Gods. Other authors had already published this same idea, a fact that von Däniken did not recognize until 1974 in an interview with Playboy magazine.

Pyramid of Cheops
Erich von Däniken puts forward many beliefs about the Great Pyramid of Giza in his 1968 book Chariots of the Gods?, saying that the ancient Egyptians could not have built it, not having sufficiently advanced tools, leaving no evidence of workers, and incorporating too much 'intimate' knowledge about the Earth and its geography into the design. To date, the technique of construction is not well understood and the tools the Egyptians used are not entirely known; however, marks left in the quarries by those tools are still visible, and many examples of possible tools are preserved in museums.

Von Däniken claims that it would have taken the Egyptians too long to cut all the blocks necessary and drag them to the construction site in time to build the Great Pyramid in only 20 years; and a Nova documentary failed to demonstrate the proposed construction method, and came to no conclusions about how long the theoretical technique would require to construct the monument. The documentary does not actually demonstrate the cutting or transportation of a true 2.5 ton block but instead has actors portray the theory by pushing what is a prop rock on a prop sled based on an ancient sled that was discovered in Egypt.

Von Däniken also said that there were too many problems with their tools, and, according to him, the Egyptians had no prehistory so they could not have possibly built these large pyramids, even though there are pyramids in Egypt that were built before the Great Pyramid. Because he believed that there was no prehistory, von Däniken put forward that there is nothing known about how, when, or why these pyramids were built.

Von Däniken also claims that Egyptians built perfect pyramids from the beginning, but numerous pyramid precursors survive, showing the errors made and corrected by Egyptian architects while they were perfecting the technique. These include simple mastabas, the Step Pyramid of Djoser, and the so-called Bent Pyramid.

In his book, he says that there is no evidence of Egyptian workers at the pyramid site; however, archaeologists have found evidence of buildings where workers would have lived, with bakeries and sewer systems. There are also tombs of workers, with some of the skeletons showing evidence of having received medical care. This may indicate the workers were well taken care of, which suggests they were Egyptian.

Von Däniken states that the Great Pyramid is located on the Median line dividing the continents, and that the Egyptians could not have aligned the edges so perfectly to true north without advanced technology that only aliens could give them. Egyptian builders, however, knew of simple methods to find north via star observation. Egyptologists have found artifacts and drawings of an object called a merkhet, which enabled the ancient Egyptians to find true north using the North Star and other stars aligned with the merkhet. The ancient Egyptian astronomers and, possibly, farmers spent much time studying the stars in order to accurately track the agricultural seasons.

Sarcophagus of Palenque
Von Däniken claimed that the Sarcophagus of Palenque depicted a spaceman sitting on a rocket-powered spaceship, wearing a spacesuit. However, archaeologists see nothing special about the figure, a dead Maya monarch (K'inich Janaab' Pakal) wearing traditional Maya hairstyle and jewellery, surrounded by Maya symbols that can be observed in other Maya drawings. The right hand is not handling any rocket controls, but simply making a traditional Maya gesture that other figures in the sides of the lid also make, and is not holding anything. The rocket shape is actually two serpents joining their heads at the bottom, with the rocket "flames" being the beards of the serpents. The rocket motor under the figure is the face of a monster, symbol of the underworld. (In Chariots of the Gods? Von Däniken also incorrectly states the sculpture to be from Copán, rather than Palenque.)

Peruvian stones
Von Däniken put forward photographs of the Ica stones, ancient stones in Peru, with carvings of men using telescopes, detailed world maps, and advanced medical operations, all beyond the knowledge of ancient Peruvians. But the PBS television series Nova determined that the stones were modern, and located the potter who made them. This potter makes stones daily and sells them to tourists. Von Däniken had visited the potter and examined the stones himself, but he didn't mention this in his book. He says that he didn't believe the potter when he said that he had made the stones. Von Däniken says that he asked Doctor Cabrera, a local surgeon who owns the museum, and Cabrera had told him that the potter's claims were a lie and that the stones were ancient. But the potter had proof that Cabrera had thanked him for providing the stones for the museum. Von Däniken claimed that the stones at the museum were very different from those made by the potter, but the Nova reporters oversaw the manufacturing of one stone and confirmed that it was very similar to those in the museum.

Accusations of European ethnocentrism
Kenneth Feder accused von Däniken of European ethnocentrism, while John Flenley and Paul Bahn suggested that views such as his interpretation of the Easter Island statues "ignore the real achievements of our ancestors and constitute the ultimate in racism: they belittle the abilities and ingenuity of the human species as a whole."

Other criticisms
Ronald Story published The Space Gods Revealed: A Close Look At The Theories of Erich Von Däniken in 1976, written in response to the evidence presented in von Däniken's Chariots of the Gods?. It was reviewed as "a coherent and much-needed refutation of von Däniken's theories". Archeologist Clifford Wilson wrote two books similarly debunking von Däniken: Crash Go the Chariots in 1972 and The Chariots Still Crash in 1975.

A 2004 article in Skeptic Magazine states that von Däniken took many of the book's concepts from The Morning of the Magicians, that this book in turn was heavily influenced by the Cthulhu Mythos, and that the core of the ancient astronaut theory originates in H. P. Lovecraft's stories "The Call of Cthulhu" written in 1926, and At the Mountains of Madness written in 1931.

Jason Colavito (who has made or echoed some of the criticisms above) has criticized von Däniken's book Signs of the Gods from 1979 for what he describes as making very racist claims while speculating that ancient aliens created varying human races.

Popularity
According to von Däniken, books in his series have altogether been translated into 32 languages and have sold more than 63 million copies.

Based on von Däniken's books a comic book Die Götter aus dem All has been created by Bogusław Polch written by Arnold Mostowicz and Alfred Górny. In 1978–1982 eight comic books were translated into 12 languages and have sold over 5 million copies.

Jungfrau Park located near Interlaken, Switzerland, was opened as the Mystery Park in 2003. Designed by von Däniken, it explored several great "mysteries" of the world.

Ridley Scott said that his film Prometheus is related to some of von Däniken's ideas regarding early human civilization. Reviewing the two-disc DVD release of Roland Emmerich's film Stargate, Dean Devlin referred to the "Is There a Stargate?" feature where "author Erich von Däniken discusses evidence he has found of alien visitations to Earth."

Von Däniken is an occasional presenter on the History Channel and H2 show Ancient Aliens, where he talks about aspects of his theories as they pertain to each episode.

"Dänikenitis"
Erich Von Däniken acknowledges his popularity by referring to the phrase "Dänikenitis", which he mentions in his book Chariots of the Gods.

"Dänikenitis" slowed down in the 1970s when he began to be heavily criticized by archeologists and astronomers, which led to his books not being translated into the English language anymore. He was able to bounce back into popularity when he produced a twenty-five-part German television series in 1993, and this led to his books being translated into English once again. Germany and other European countries have large support for Erich's work and he was able to continue to fill auditoriums all throughout the 1990s.

Books

 * Chariots of the Gods? (Souvenir Press Ltd, 1969)
 * Return to the Stars (Souvenir Press Ltd, 1970) ISBN 0285502980
 * Gods from Outer Space (Bantam,1972; reprint of Return to the Stars)
 * Miracles of the Gods: A Hard Look at the Supernatural (Souvenir Press Ltd, 1975) ISBN 0285621742
 * In Search of Ancient Gods: My Pictorial Evidence for the Impossible (Corgi books, 1976) ISBN 0552100730
 * According to the Evidence (Souvenir Press, 1977) ISBN 028562301X
 * Signs of the Gods (Corgi books, 1980) ISBN 0552117161
 * The Stones of Kiribati: Pathways to the Gods (Corgi books, 1982) ISBN 0552121835
 * The Gods and their Grand Design: The Eighth Wonder of the World (Souvenir Press, 1984) ISBN 0285626302
 * The Eyes of the Sphinx: The Newest Evidence of Extraterrestrial Contact (Berkley Publishing Corporation, 1996) ISBN 978-0425151303
 * The Return of the Gods: Evidence of Extraterrestrial Visitations (Element, 1998) ISBN 1862042535
 * Arrival of the Gods: Revealing the Alien Landing Sites of Nazca (Element, 1998) ISBN 1862043531
 * The Gods Were Astronauts: Evidence of the True Identities of the Old "Gods" (Vega books, 2001) ISBN 1843336251
 * Odyssey of the Gods: An Alien History of Ancient Greece (Vega books, 2002) ISBN 978-1601631923
 * History Is Wrong (New Page books, 2009) ISBN 1601630867
 * Evidence of the Gods (New Page books, 2010) ISBN 1601632479
 * Twilight of the Gods: The Mayan Calendar and the Return of the Extraterrestrials (New Page books, 2010) ISBN 1601631413
 * Tomy and the Planet of Lies (Tantor eBooks, 2012) ISBN 0988349434
 * Remnants of the Gods: A Visual Tour of Alien Influence in Egypt, Spain, France, Turkey, and Italy (New Page Books, 2013) ISBN 1601632835
 * The Gods Never Left Us (New Page Books, 2018) ISBN 978-1632651198
 * Eyewitness to the Gods (New Page Books, 2019) ISBN 978-1632651686
 * War of the Gods (New Page Books, 2020) ISBN 978-1632651716
 * Confessions of an Egyptologist: Lost Libraries, Vanished Labyrinths & the Astonishing Truth Under the Saqqara Pyramids (New Page Books, 2021) ISBN 978-1632651914
 * Confessions of an Egyptologist: Lost Libraries, Vanished Labyrinths & the Astonishing Truth Under the Saqqara Pyramids (New Page Books, 2021) ISBN 978-1632651914

German language

 * Erinnerungen an die Zukunft (1968)
 * Zurück zu den Sternen: Argumente für das Unmögliche (1969)
 * Strategie der Götter: Das Achte Weltwunder (1982) ISBN 3430119790
 * Der Tag an dem die Götter kamen (1984) ISBN 3442084784
 * Habe ich mich geirrt? (1985) ISBN 3570030598
 * Wir alle sind Kinder der Götter (1987) C. Bertelsmann, ISBN 3570030601
 * Die Augen der Sphinx (1989) C. Bertelsmann, ISBN 3570043908
 * Die Spuren der Ausserirdischen (1990) (Bildband) ISBN 3570094197
 * Die Steinzeit war ganz anders (1991) ISBN 3570036189
 * Ausserirdische in Ägypten (1991)
 * Erinnerungen an die Zukunft (1992) (Reissue with new foreword)
 * Der Götter-Schock (1992) ISBN 3570045005
 * Raumfahrt im Altertum (1993) ISBN 3570120236
 * Auf den Spuren der Allmächtigen (1993) C. Bertelsmann, ISBN 3570017265
 * Botschaften und Zeichen aus dem Universum (1994) C. Bertelsmann, ISBN 3442126886
 * Im Name von Zeus (2001) C. Bertelsmann, ISBN 863312372X
 * Götterdämmerung (2009) KOPP Verlag ISBN 3942016044
 * Grüße aus der Steinzeit: Wer nicht glauben will, soll sehen! (2010)
 * Was ist falsch im Maya-Land?: Versteckte Technologien in Tempeln und Skulpturen (2011)
 * Was ich jahrzehntelang verschwiegen habe (2015) ISBN 3864452384
 * Botschaften aus dem Jahr 2118: Neue Erinnerungen an die Zukunft (2020) ISBN 3864457297
 * Botschaften aus dem Jahr 2118: Neue Erinnerungen an die Zukunft (2020) ISBN 3864457297

Films

 * Ferry Radax: Mit Erich von Däniken in Peru (With Erich von Däniken in Peru, 1982). A documentary.
 * Daniken: a video song directed by Samik Roy Choudhury, sung by Rupam Islam of West Bengal, India

Comic books

 * Landung in den Anden (1978),
 * Atlantis – Experimente mit Menschen und Monstern (1978),
 * Krieg der Feuerwagen – Report einer Invasion (1978),
 * Revolte der Titanen (1978),
 * Der Untergang von Atlantis – Die Rache der Götter (1978),
 * Als Sodom und Gomorrha starben (1978),
 * Das Geheimnis der Pyramide (1982),
 * Als die Sonne still stand (1982),

title: Erich von Däniken


text:
Talk:List of transgender people

Semi-protected edit request on 24 May 2023
Remove list of detransitioned people from contents since the section has been removed SomeoneDreaming (talk) 00:13, 24 May 2023 (UTC)
 * ✅  — Paper9oll  (🔔 • 📝)  00:49, 24 May 2023 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 10 August 2023
Add 'Emmy Murphy'; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emmy_Murphy as a notable trans person and mathematician. Wikipediussy (talk) 07:09, 10 August 2023 (UTC)
 * Red information icon with gradient background.svg Not done: please provide reliable sources that support the change you want to be made. Pinchme123 (talk) 21:56, 10 August 2023 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 22 January 2024
Add, Kate Lynn Blatt, won constitutional challenge to the ADA 2017 Blatt vs Cabela's retail inc 2601:985:4401:FC0:ECE9:FD22:1359:EC62 (talk) 22:00, 22 January 2024 (UTC)
 * Red information icon with gradient background.svg Not done: please provide reliable sources that support the change you want to be made. Also, see WP:WTAF Cannolis (talk) 22:43, 22 January 2024 (UTC)

title: Talk:List of transgender people


text:
Paul Harrington (musician)

Paul Harrington (born 13 May 1960) is an Irish musician, who, with Charlie McGettigan, won the Eurovision Song Contest for Ireland in 1994.

Music
Harrington was born in Dublin, Republic of Ireland. He attended O'Connells secondary School, North Circular Road Dublin. He first came to public attention with his debut album, What I'd Say, reaching the Top 10 in 1991. However, that attention reached new heights in 1994 when he represented Ireland and won the Eurovision Song Contest along with Charlie McGettigan.

In the late 1990s, Harrington was the performer of choice for many of the A-list celebrities that would frequent the VIP Room in Dublin's most prestigious nightspot at the time, Lillie's bordello, here he would regularly entertain and be joined by, stars from the world of music, film, and television. He has performed for, amongst others, the Rolling Stones, Prince, and U2. It was at this location that Michael Flatley and Harrington reconnected after 10 years. Flatley was so impressed with Harrington that he created a role for him as a principal singer in his dance extravaganza Celtic Tiger Live. This saw Harrington performing in arenas across Europe and North America, including Wembley and Madison Square Gardens.

Harrington release A Collection in 2008, and after a stunning performance on The Late Late Show, the album entered Ireland's Top 20 reaching number 4.

In 2009, he joined with his brothers as "The Harrington Brothers" to record "Molly Malone" with The Official Leinster Supporters Group. The song became the official anthem for the Leinster Rugby Team. The song entered the Irish Charts in 2009 and was number one in the download charts. The Harrington Brothers performed "Molly Malone" live at The RDS Dublin just before Leinster played Edinburgh in the Heineken Cup.

In 2010, Harrington released a live studio album, Songs, featuring his unique interpretations of some of the world's best-loved songs, and produced by Grammy nominees Chris O’Brien and Graham Murphy. The album also featured Bill Shanley, Sean Devitt, and Tony Molloy.

Harrington released a new live album in 2018 entitled Lights of Home. The album was recorded by Tim Martin at the Sugar Club Dublin, and features nine new songs. Although this will be Harrington's first solo album in eight years, he has collaborated on other albums in that time, including a Christmas album featuring the Whitefriar Street Choir (O Holy Night) and a North American – Irish collaboration called Cape Spear.

Television and radio
For the last five years, Harrington has had a regular slot on The Pat Kenny Show on Newstalk; The features include "The Popular Irish Ballad – a brief history", also every Tuesday morning "The Lyric's The Thing". Paul Harrington's radio career also includes five years with Dublin's Q102 and two years with Sunshine 106.8, where his duties included presentation, scriptwriting, and voiceover work.

Throughout his career, Harrington has made many television appearances on TV shows and variety shows, including The Lyrics Board. In 2017 and 2018, Harrington wrote and presented the documentary Ireland’s Eurovision Winners, which was released on DVD and is also due to air on television.

In 2018, Harrington was a guest on the popular TV show The Restaurant. He took on the role as an executive chef, where he attained the highest accolade of 5 Star Chef awarded by three-star Michelin chef Marco Pierre White and celebrity chef Rachel Allen.

Other work
Throughout his career, Harrington has contributed to charity. His work has included going to the Sahara Desert to raise funds for Dublin Simon Community and producing and performing charity concerts for organisations including the Irish Cancer Society, Haven for Haiti, Console, and annually for the Rape Crisis Centre.

Harrington has a great interest in developing the arts with young and old people alike. He has worked with Samantha Mumba stage school and has been involved in many local and national projects. Harrington was a patron of the Arts in the Donahies Community School where he produced shows, developed young talent, and introduced many young people to the world of performance.

title: Paul Harrington (musician)


text:
List of communities in Yukon

This is a list of communities in Yukon, Canada.

Unincorporated communities
These areas lie within the Unorganized Yukon, which covers 99.8% of the territory's land mass.

Hamlets
Statistics Canada recognizes two census subdivisions in Yukon that are classified as hamlets.
 * Ibex Valley
 * Mount Lorne

Localities
The Gazetteer of Yukon recognized 96 localities as of February 2012. Two of these localities, Tagish and Upper Liard, are designated as census subdivisions by Statistics Canada, though are classified as settlements.

 * Aishihik
 * Ballarat Creek
 * Barlow
 * Bear Creek
 * Black Hills
 * Boundary
 * Braeburn
 * Brewer Creek
 * Britannia Creek
 * Brooks Brook
 * Calumet
 * Canyon
 * Canyon City
 * Carcross Cutoff
 * Caribou
 * Champagne
 * Clear Creek
 * Clinton Creek
 * Coffee Creek
 * Conrad
 * Dalton Post
 * De Wette
 * Dezadeash
 * Donjek
 * Dominion
 * Dry Creek
 * Dundalk
 * Eagle Plains
 * Flat Creek
 * Fort Reliance
 * Fort Selkirk
 * Forty Mile
 * Frances Lake
 * Glacier Creek
 * Glenboyle
 * Gold Bottom
 * Gold Run
 * Gordon Landing
 * Grand Forks
 * Granville, Yukon
 * Gravel Lake
 * Herschel
 * Hootalinqua
 * Hundred Mile Landing
 * Hutshi
 * Isaac Creek
 * Jakes Corner
 * Jensen Creek
 * Kirkman Creek
 * Kloo Lake
 * Klondike
 * Klukshu
 * Koidern
 * Kynocks
 * Lansdowne
 * Lansing
 * Lapierre House
 * Little Gold
 * Little River
 * Little Salmon
 * Little Teslin Lake
 * Livingstone, Yukon
 * Livingstone Creek
 * Lorne, Yukon
 * Mason Landing
 * McCabe Creek
 * McClintok
 * McQuesten
 * Mendenhall Landing
 * Minto, Yukon
 * Minto Bridge
 * Montague, Yukon
 * Moosehide
 * Morley River
 * Nesketahin
 * Ogilvie
 * Paris
 * Pelly Lakes
 * Quill Creek
 * Rampart House
 * Rancheria
 * Readford
 * Robinson
 * Rock Creek
 * Scroggie Creek
 * Selwyn
 * Silver City
 * Sixtymile
 * Snag
 * Snag Junction
 * Stevens Roadhouse
 * Stewart River
 * Stony Creek Camp
 * Sulphur
 * Summit Roadhouse
 * Tagish (also designated a census subdivision)
 * Takhini
 * Takhini Hot Springs
 * Ten Mile
 * Teslin Crossing
 * Teslin Lake
 * Teslin River
 * Thistle Creek
 * Tuchitua
 * Upper Laberge
 * Upper Liard (also designated a census subdivision)
 * Watson
 * Wernecke
 * West Dawson
 * Whitefish Station
 * Whitestone Village
 * Yukon Crossing

Dalton Post
Dalton Post or Shäwshe is a former trading post and First Nations community on the Tatshenshini River. It was on the Dalton Trail near the Haines Highway. Today, it is a prime Pacific salmon fishing spot and serves as a base for whitewater rafting expeditions on the Tatshenshini and Alsek Rivers in the Tatshenshini-Alsek Provincial Park.

Jakes Corner
Jakes Corner is a spot on the road, at historical mile 866 of the Alaska Highway, at the junction with connections to the Tagish Road and the Atlin Road. There are a small number of area residents, the junction being best known for a gas station and café. The gas station has numerous examples of old machinery.

Klukshu
Klukshu's more recent history is as a seasonal aboriginal fishing community, benefitting from a large Chinook salmon run. Located near the Haines Highway, it has no permanent population. Interpretive information is provided by the Champagne and Aishihik First Nations.

Little Salmon
Little Salmon is located on the Robert Campbell Highway between Faro and Carmacks, and stretches along the lake of the same name and the Yukon River. The only non-residential establishment is the Yukon government highway maintenance camp at Drury Creek. It was formerly an important settlement of the Little Salmon/Carmacks First Nation.

Silver City
Silver City, a historic mining town, is today only the residence of a small number of people, one household being a bed and breakfast establishment. It is located at historical mile 1053 of the Alaska Highway. It contains an airport, Silver City Airport.

Sulphur
Sulphur or Sulphur Creek was a mining camp south-east of Dawson on a creek of the same name that flows into the Indian River. A post office was opened there on 28 October 1903 by G. W. Coffin. It was closed in July 1922. The place is mentioned in Jack London's story, "To Build a Fire".

Settlements
The Gazetteer of Yukon recognized 29 settlements as of February 2012. Eleven of these settlements are designated as census subdivisions by Statistics Canada.

 * Arlington
 * Armstrong
 * Bear Creek
 * Beaver Creek – also designated a census subdivision
 * Big Salmon
 * Burwash Landing – also designated a census subdivision
 * Carcross – also designated a census subdivision
 * Destruction Bay – also designated a census subdivision
 * Dry Creek
 * Dundalk
 * Herschel
 * Hundred Mile Landing
 * Johnsons Crossing – also designated a census subdivision
 * Keno Hill – also designated a census subdivision
 * Lewis
 * Livingstone
 * Lower Laberge
 * Marsh Lake
 * Mendenhall Landing
 * Old Crow – also designated a census subdivision
 * Pelly Crossing – also designated a census subdivision
 * Rampart House
 * Ross River – also designated a census subdivision
 * Selwyn
 * Snag
 * Stewart Crossing – also designated a census subdivision
 * Stewart River
 * Swift River – also designated a census subdivision
 * Teslin Lake

Herschel
Herschel was a settlement on Herschel Island, serving as a whaling station, North-West Mounted Police post and Hudson's Bay Company store. It has been long abandoned, and shoreline erosion is threatening to wipe out the remaining buildings.

Stewart River
Stewart River is a former settlement at the juncture of the Yukon and Stewart rivers. A few buildings and cabins remain, as well as private museum, which are threatened by erosion. It was founded as a trading post in the 1880s before the Klondike Gold Rush to serve placer miners working along the Stewart River. The Burian family was still living there in the late 1980s.

First Nations communities
Statistics Canada recognizes five census subdivisions in Yukon that are classified as Indian settlements, and four census subdivisions as self-governments.

Indian settlements

 * Champagne – also recognized as a locality
 * Kloo Lake
 * Klukshu – also recognized as a locality
 * Two Mile Village
 * Two and One-Half Mile Village

Self-governments

 * Carcross 4
 * Lake Laberge 1
 * Moosehide Creek 2
 * Teslin Post 13

Ghost towns

 * Elsa
 * Clinton Creek
 * Fort Frances
 * Forty Mile
 * Miner's Prayer

Miner's Prayer
Miner's Prayer was settled near the Blackstone River Mining Concern, providing a retreat where the miners could indulge in billiards, alcohol and other entertainment otherwise forbidden on the mining settlement. Today it is home to fewer than thirty permanent residents. It can be accessed by gravel road veering west from mile 57 on the Dempster Highway.

title: List of communities in Yukon


text:
Wilsden

Wilsden is a village and civil parish in west Bradford, in West Yorkshire, England. Wilsden is 6 mi west of Bradford and is close to the Aire Valley and the nearby villages of Denholme, Cullingworth, Harden, Cottingley and Allerton. Wilsden re-acquired civil parish status in 2004. The 2001 census revealed a population of 3,697, increasing to 4,807 at the 2011 Census.

History
During the Roman era, the area was part of the Ancient British (Celtic) kingdom of Elmet. A connection to the original British tribes of the area may have been included in the name of the village; Wilsden is an Old English name and was originally recorded as Wealhas-den, which has been interpreted as "place of the Welsh". Since all speakers of Brittonic languages were known as "Welsh" in Old English, the name may have implied that Wilsden was a place that Britons retreated to, after Anglo-Saxon settlers arrived in the Aire Valley.

The village is mentioned in the Domesday Book as belonging to Gamalbarn and was part of the manor known as Allerton-cum-Wilsden.

A map of 1818, shows Wilsden Hill, Wilsden and Lingbob as being three separate and distinct hamlets. Industrialisation led to the building of mills in the village, the first of which, Albion Mill, was built in 1810 with a further seven following in the same century. Albion Mill was demolished after it suffered a serious fire in 1990.

The church of St Matthew was built in Wilsden in 1826 and was identical to the Church of St Paul in Shipley. The church was demolished in 1962 and ten years later, a modern St Matthew's church was built in a different location in the village.

In 1886, a railway station was opened on the Queensbury to Keighley line that ran to the west of the village. The station was actually in the hamlet of Harecroft, 2 mi away, and was closed down in May 1955 to passengers and November 1963 to goods. The 616 and 619 bus services connect the village with Harden, Bingley and Eldwick to the north and with Allerton and Bradford to the south. The main road that runs north–south through the village is an unclassified road but connects at the southern end with the B6144 road towards Cullingworth and Bradford, and at the northern end goes through Harden to connect with the B6429 towards Bingley.

Wilsden has many businesses such as Wilsden Autos, Suite Centre, a Co-op and a post office.

The village occupies the high ground to the west of the Aire Valley and is surrounded by upland pastures, enclosed areas, wooded valleys and gritstone moorland.

The Ling Bob public house was built to the south of the village in 1836 and was originally known as the Brown Cow Inn. It was situated in the hamlet of Ling Bob, which was separate from the village of Wilsden at that time, however, the locals all knew the pub as the Ling Bob, so the name stuck.

Wilsden Village Hall
Wilsden village hall holds many groups such as scouting groups, walking group, a weekly auction, a pre-school and others.

Administratively, it is part of the Bingley Rural ward of the City of Bradford and part of the Shipley constituency.

Notable people

 * Alfred Fowler, Astronomer was born in the village

title: Wilsden