Talk:USA-223

This is the talk page for discussing improvements to the USA-223 article.
This is not a forum for general discussion of the article's subject.

Put new text under old text. Click here to start a new topic.
New to Wikipedia? Welcome! Learn to edit; get help.

Article policies

Find sources: Google (books · news · scholar · free images · WP refs) · FENS · JSTOR · TWL

Spaceflight Low‑importance

	Spaceflight portal This article is within the scope of WikiProject Spaceflight, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of spaceflight on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.SpaceflightWikipedia:WikiProject SpaceflightTemplate:WikiProject Spaceflightspaceflight articles
Low	This article has been rated as Low-importance on the project's importance scale.
	An editor has requested that an image or photograph be added to this article.

Military history: Aviation / Intelligence / Technology / North America / United States / Post-Cold War Start‑class

This article is within the scope of the Military history WikiProject. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the project and see a list of open tasks. To use this banner, please see the full instructions.Military historyWikipedia:WikiProject Military historyTemplate:WikiProject Military historymilitary history articles

Start

This article has been rated as Start-class on the project's quality scale.

This article has been checked against the following criteria for B-class status:
Referencing and citation: criterion not met Coverage and accuracy: criterion not met Structure: criterion not met Grammar and style: criterion met Supporting materials: criterion met

Associated task forces:
/
	Military aviation task force
	Intelligence task force
	Military science, technology, and theory task force
	North American military history task force
	United States military history task force
	Post-Cold War task force

This article deals with a military black project.

Because of the nature of such projects, the most authoritative sources (any involved governments and defense contractors) may not even acknowledge its existence. The most reliable sources may be highly speculative.

Please ensure that the article is well and reliably sourced and does not contain unverifiable information or vague predictions.
For more details, see the black project working group of the military history project.

It is requested that a photograph be included in this article to improve its quality.
The external tool WordPress Openverse may be able to locate suitable images on Flickr and other web sites.

Upload

"World record"

I don't own a copy of Guinness World Records 2013, so I don't know whether the citation given for the claim that this is the "largest spy satellite ever launched" checks out or not, however even if the citation checks out I have severe reservations about reproducing that claim in the article.

As the technical specifications of such satellites are highly classified, there is no way that the claim can be verified - either by us or by the publishers of the book.
"Largest" is quite a subjective term - and could refer to surface area, dimensions or mass
That said, the size of spacecraft is typically measured in terms of their mass. For USA-223 this is constrained by the ability to place it into geosynchronous orbit. KH-11 satellites, operated in low Earth orbits, are launched by the same type of rocket, while a payload at the upper end of the Delta IVH's GSO capacity could be placed into LEO with a much smaller rocket
USA-237 required an upgraded Delta IV Heavy, to reach the same orbit as USA-223

So with that in mind I would suggest we remove, or at least de-emphasise the claim for the time being. --W. D. Graham 12:18, 13 January 2014 (UTC)[reply]