Images from Spy Satellites to Be Released to the Public "Nearly 40 years ago, even their existence was top secret. But in two days thousands of spy satellite images will be posted on the Web for all the world to see - and download. In a move that has surprised but pleased researchers, the National Imagery and Mapping Agency has released a trove of about 50,000 images snapped during the 1960s, '70s and '80s by two U.S. spy satellites. Historians hope to use the pictures to settle long-standing questions about capabilities and alliances during the Cold War while scientists want to use them to track biological changes on Earth and possibly plot the course of global warming."