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The 1960 U-2 incident was a diplomatic crisis sparked by the shooting down of a Statesian U-2 spy plane by Soviet Air Defences on May 1 1960. Flown by CIA agent Francis Gary Powers, the aircraft took off from Pakistan before crashing near Yekaterinburg after being hit by a surface-to-air missile, resulting in Powers being captured. Initially the U.S. claimed the plane to be civilian and operated by NASA but were later forced to admit to the espionage and violation of Soviet territory once the Soviets produced irrefutable evidence. The incident damaged U.S.-Soviet relations, which had previously been thawing, and showed once again the agression and deceit of the U.S.