 Authorized by President Dwight D. Eisenhower on December 27, 1955, Project 119L was the first espionage use of the balloons that had been tested in previous projects, such as "Moby Dick High".Project 119L was a follow up to Project Skyhook, Project Mogul and Project Grandson.The balloons were used to monitor the Soviet Union for such things as nuclear tests, and returned photography of more than 1.1 million square miles (more than 2.8 million square km) of the Sino-Soviet bloc.