NASA’s Cover Story for the U-2 Incident (1960)

Date: May 5, 1960

Original or Replica: Original

Era: The Presidency, The Cold War

Collection: Eisenhower Presidential Library

Citations: Christian Herter Papers, Box 20, U-2 (1); NAID #12009392

This document is a public statement issued by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) reporting that a U-2 aircraft conducting weather research had disappeared during a flight over Turkey. According to the statement, the aircraft’s civilian pilot had reported difficulties with his oxygen equipment before contact was lost. NASA suggested that if the pilot had lost consciousness from a lack of oxygen, the aircraft could have continued flying on autopilot for a considerable distance.

In reality, the statement was a cover story for a secret American intelligence operation. The missing aircraft was a CIA U-2 reconnaissance plane piloted by Francis Gary Powers, a civilian pilot working for the CIA. On May 1, 1960, Powers had been conducting a photographic surveillance mission over the Soviet Union when his aircraft was shot down by a Soviet surface-to-air missile.

The Eisenhower administration had prepared a cover story in case a U-2 was lost during a reconnaissance mission. American officials initially believed the aircraft had been destroyed and that Powers had likely died, leaving the Soviet Union unable to prove the plane’s actual mission. However, Powers survived and was captured along with evidence from the aircraft. Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev subsequently revealed that Powers was alive, exposing the American explanation as false. This document allows students to examine secrecy, intelligence gathering, and presidential decision-making during the Cold War.