How the CIA stole a Russian satellite without their knowledge.
I received a call during the summer of 2020 from a journalist that was writing an article on a recetly declassified CIA caper known as Operation Lightfire. In 1959 the Mexico City CIA Station Chief ran a highly secretive plot to steal a Soviet satellite during a Soviet technology exhibition. It was the third of the so called "Lunik" satelites that the Russians had succesfully launched in the previous two years.
I had heard snippets of the "satellite caper" from various sources over the years, but the writer of the MIT Technology Review article had spent months tracking sources and verifying the story. He asked me questions about what I knew or remebered of the period but since I was only four years old at the time, my contribution was fairly useless. However, the interview triggered a memory of a pair of photographs I had found among my father's papers.
I've been a fan of the space program since my earliest memories. I watched the moon landing with fascination and to this day I have autographs and photos of all the moon walkers. So in the mid-nineties when I came across the photo shown above, I was dumbfounded as to why my father would have a photgraph of the Mercury Seven astronauts signed to him. Digging further, I found another autographed photo that caught my eye. One of Scott Carpenter. Why would my father have these autographs among his collection of memorabilia which comprised Mexican presidents, CIA officials, and political dignitaries? The dedication of the Mercury Seven photo and Scott Carpenter autograph were an anomaly and made no sense.
As I learned details of Operation Lightfire from my conversation with the writer, he shared with me something he had heard from one of his sources. As a way of thanking the Mexican president, Aolfo Lopez Mateos, for his collaboration in support of the operation, he was invited to Cape Canaveral for the launch of a NASA rocket. The author related that the Mexican president was given the honor of "pushing the button" that started the countdown to launch. That was an amazing claim that has never been made public. I recalled that my father made frequent trips to New Orleans (a direct flight was regularly scheduled) and a picture started to emerge.
From 1958 to 1962, my father developed a close realtionship with Lopez Mateos. The autographed photo above states "For my friend, Winston Scott," signed by the president. I recall him coming to dinner at out home on occassion during his presidency from 1958 to 1964. Based on what I was learning from the writer of the article, it seemed credible that my father accompanied Lopez Mateos on a trip to the Manned Control Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida on February 20, 1962 to witness the launch of John Glenn on Friendship 7. It would have been an extraordinary gesture of thanks for the Mexican president to be a VIP witness as John Glenn became the first man to orbit the earth. Scott Carpenter was the capsule communicator and is heard saying "Godspeed, John Glenn," at liftoff.
My father's passport shows a trip from Mexico City to New Orleans on February 18, 1962, two days before Friendship 7 lifted off. I can't find any refrences as to what Lopez Mateos was doing during that time but it seems likely that, if he did travel to Cape Canaveral, it would have been classified. The U.S. government would not have wanted to draw attention to the visit since it was essentially a reward for his support of a CIA operation. Lopez Mateos and my father would have watched the launch from the control room (shown below) and most likely befriended Scott Carpenter, who was the mission communicator. It explains the inscriptions on the two photographs.
Photo of Winston Scott in Mexico City from the period.
Details of Operation Lightfire have slowly become public as CIA documents have been declassified in the past five years. Below is a series of links to articles that detail how the CIA stole a Russian satellite, extracted critical data, and put it back without the Soviets realizing what had happened. It's been suggested that the caper gave the Americans the edge to beat the Soviets in the race to the moon. One writer calls it the "true story of a CIA operation that could have triggered W.W. III." Another Mexican jounalist has suggested that a Mexican flag should be planted alongide the U.S. flag at the Apollo 11 landing site to honor the Mexican contribution to the space race.
It's remarkable that the general public is so ignorant of such a historic event.