thumb|X-17A awaiting launch aboard USS-Norton Sound. The tests were first reported journalistically by Hanson Baldwin and Walter Sullivan of The New York Times on 19 March 1959, headlining it as the "greatest scientific experiment ever conducted". This was an unauthorized publication that caused great controversy among scientists because many of them were unaware of the presence of artificial particles in the Earth's atmosphere. Approximately nine ships and 4,500 people participated with the operation. After the completion of testing, the task force returned to the United States via Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
thumb|X-17A awaiting launch aboard USS-Norton Sound. The tests were first reported journalistically by Hanson Baldwin and Walter Sullivan of The New York Times on 19 March 1959, headlining it as the "greatest scientific experiment ever conducted". This was an unauthorized publication that caused great controversy among scientists because many of them were unaware of the presence of artificial particles in the Earth's atmosphere. Approximately nine ships and 4,500 people participated with the operation. After the completion of testing, the task force returned to the United States via Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.