Misty is the name of a satellite launched on March 1, 1990 for the National Reconnaissance Office. The spacecraft was deployed by the Space Shuttle Atlantis on Mission STS-36, and decayed on March 31, 1990. It was a testbed for the Zirconic series of satellites. Misty is reported to have stealth characteristics, preventing it from being detectable by other nations.
Misty was supported to then-Senator and now-Director of Central Intelligence, Porter Goss and George Tenet, both of whom have vigorously supported Misty, despite several attempts by Senators Dianne Feinstein and John D. Rockefeller IV to terminate the program. The primary contractor is Lockheed Martin Space Systems. The program may have involved as many as three satellites, with the second launching in 1999.
