This video includes footage of a Nike missile shooting down a surplus B-17 bomber, taken with an IGOR tracking telescope in 1952. The stunning imagery won the Ernie Pyle Award for outstanding imagery in support of national defense. The IGOR used is currently in the museum’s missile park.

The Recording Optical Tracking Instrument (ROTI), like the Mark-1 pictured here, was another variety of tracking telescope used at WSMR.