FOIAWEAR — GRAB / First SIGINT Satellite Tee

FOIAWEAR / ARCHIVE SERIES 008

In the summer of 1960 the United States launched the world's first signals intelligence satellite — and told almost no one. GRAB, short for Galactic Radiation and Background, was the cover story: a scientific-sounding name for a satellite whose real job was electronic intelligence.

GRAB was an ELINT system, operational from July 1960 until August 1962. It collected data on Soviet air defence radar, including information indicating that the Soviets had the capability to destroy ballistic missiles. It existed because President Eisenhower wanted above all to avoid "another Pearl Harbor" — another devastating surprise that could turn the Cold War hot. At the time, space reconnaissance sat largely in the realm of science fiction, and the small team behind it worked under an office that would later become the NRO.

Not everything went to plan. One of GRAB's more spectacular failures rained debris down on Cuba, and Havana charged that a cow had been killed deliberately. Cubans paraded a second cow through the streets carrying a placard reading "Eisenhower, you murdered one of my sisters." It was the first — and last — time a satellite was used in the production of ground beef, and the episode went down in history as "the herd shot round the world."

Its successes outweighed that embarrassment: GRAB gave birth to CORONA, which captured more usable photography on its first operational mission than all previous U-2 flights combined. The lineage runs straight from that first improbable satellite to the systems overhead today.

The artwork is a bold mid-century poster interpretation: the satellite broadcasting from orbit, rendered in three flat inks — deep navy, electric cyan and a signal-orange accent. It is an artistic interpretation, not a technical or scale-accurate diagram.

The QR code on the front opens the CIA's article on GRAB, the source for every fact above: https://www.cia.gov/stories/story/grab-first-signals-intelligence-satellite/

Garment: Comfort Colors 1717 garment-dyed t-shirt. Heavyweight 6.1 oz/yd² (206.8 g/m²), 100% ring-spun US cotton, pre-shrunk, relaxed fit, double-needle stitched with no side seams and a sewn-in label. Offered here in Chalky Mint, Grey, Mustard and White, sizes S–4XL. Printed on the front at 300 DPI; plain back. The main artwork prints at 10 × 10 in and the QR at 1.8 × 1.8 in.

Care: machine wash cold, inside out, with like colours. Tumble dry low. Do not iron directly on the printed area.

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