Cold War spy planes photographed a lot more than Soviet military sites, including ancient buried ruins [U2 surveillance flights]

Philadelphia Inquirer ^ | August 20, 2022 | Stephan Salisbury

[SunkenCiv]

A skein of 'desert kites' constructed thousands of years ago in southern Jordan as captured by a 20th-century spy plane. The structures, built from thin walls of stone, were used by hunters to trap herds of animals.

Courtesy Emily Hammer and Penn Museum

[SunkenCiv]

[logi_cal869]

Former President Bill Clinton declassified the trove in the mid-1990s. And then the images sat in the National Archives, virtually unused by researchers largely because there was so much, and it was all so anonymous.

Did he? Did he really??? /s

[ComputerGuy]

Look out, Google Earth. Here I come.

[Paal Gulli]

The U-2, another Kelly Johnson masterpiece.

If we’d given him the money instead of NASA, he probably could have had men on the moon by 1964.

[Norski]

Wonder if the ark is still on Mount Ararat.

Perhaps they have photos of it.

[Mark17]

Wonder if the ark is still on Mount Ararat.

It’s probably encased in snow and ice. Maybe one day it will be discovered.

[IncPen]

It’s probably encased in snow and ice. Maybe one day it will be discovered.

Globull warming will reveal it.

[D Rider]

The ark may be in Iran, fits the Bible description better, where the ancient Armenians migrated from.

[null and void]

“...not all of the Middle Eastern missions were declassified because the U.S. government doesn’t declassify images of Israel.”

Images showing Biblical era ruins are still classified?

Makes you go hmmmmm...

[null and void]

Kelly would have put permanent colonies on Mars.

[SunkenCiv]

No, it doesn't. Military structures are probably everywhere, and small, given that most of the armed forces are on call, with everyone of age and eligible to serve trains up continually.

Their not-too-neighborly neighbors don't need any help from the US to find out stuff, but our info will be by far the best stuff available.

Israel's only about 8000 sq mi, 200 mi long by (at widest) 70 mi wide. The population estimate is 9.5 million (a growth of 2 million in the past 15 years, it sez here), almost 1200 people per square mile.

[SunkenCiv]

The US had Von Braun, he was definitely the right guy for the moon missions.

[null and void]

They can’t ‘google erf’ redact out modern structures?

Interesting.

[Hebrews 11:6]

There is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed,
or hidden that will not be made known.
Luke 12:2

[SunkenCiv]

Most visible structures are modern (year 1900 and newer) and sites of former structures are either medieval/early modern, or buried under layer after layer of subsequent occupation. This is mostly true in urban areas throughout the world, but Israel has much less ground with which to work. The Negev went from desert to farmland during the 20th century due to the continuous stewardship of pre-independence Israelis, but the amount of historic structures there is probably small, or very prehistoric.

[null and void]

Fair enough.

[Paal Gulli]

"Wonder if the ark is still on Mount Ararat."

And the ark rested in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, upon the mountains of Ararat.

-- Genesis 8:4 KJV

The Bible says "mountains" of Ararat, plural, not "mountain," singular. It isn't a mountain.

[SunkenCiv]

:^)

https://www.deepdiscount.com/goog/043396452800

[Norski]

This subject has been of interest earlier than that.

Here is an excerpt of a “graphic novel”, written in 1976, which references Soviet WWII aerial photography capturing pictures what the Soviet government itself apparently believed to be the Ark. (footnotes and references supplied)

https://www.chick.com/products/excerpts/comics/107-excerpt.html