The CIA spy balloon that photographed the moon

Transcript

In just over 60 years, humanity has sent an incredible array of robotic spacecraft to explore our solar system and beyond. This chronicle details every one of these missions, from the ones that exploded on the launchpad to those now journeying into interstellar space. For instance, did you know that the first spacecraft to lift off from another celestial body was the American Surveyor VI, which hopped a few meters across the Moon's surface in 1967? Even more surprising, the Soviet Luna 3 probe, which took the first-ever photos of the Moon's farside in 1959, used film that was repurposed from a captured CIA reconnaissance balloon. So, here's a thought: if we've already sent our robotic emissaries beyond the solar system, what permanent mark will our species leave on the cosmos millions of years from now?