Discoverer 5
Mission type | Optical reconnaissance |
---|---|
Operator | US Air Force / NRO |
Harvard designation | 1959 EPS 1 |
COSPAR ID | 1959-005A |
SATCAT no. | S00018 |
Mission duration | 1 day |
Spacecraft properties | |
Spacecraft type | CORONA KH-1 |
Bus | Agena-A |
Manufacturer | Lockheed |
Launch mass | 870 kilograms (1,920 lb) after orbit insertion |
Start of mission | |
Launch date | 13 Aug 1959 19:00:08 | GMT
Rocket | Thor DM-21 Agena-A (Thor 192) |
Launch site | Vandenberg LC 75-3-4 |
End of mission | |
Last contact | 14 August 1959 | (SRV)
Decay date | 28 September 1959 | (Agena)
Orbital parameters | |
Reference system | Geocentric |
Regime | Low Earth |
Eccentricity | 0.01202 |
Perigee altitude | 193 kilometers (120 mi) |
Apogee altitude | 353 kilometers (219 mi) |
Inclination | 80.0° |
Period | 90 minutes |
Epoch | 14 August 1959 21:21:00 |
Corona KH-1 → |
Discoverer 5, also known as Corona 9002,
Background
"Discoverer" was the civilian designation and cover for the
The first series of Corona satellites were the Keyhole 1 (KH-1) satellites based on the Agena-A upper stage, which not only offered housing but whose engine provided attitude control in orbit. The KH-1 payload included the C (for Corona) single, vertical-looking, panoramic camera that scanned back and forth, exposing its film at a right angle to the line of flight.[3]: 26 The camera, built by Fairchild Camera and Instrument with a f/5.0 aperture and 61 centimetres (24 in) focal length, had a ground resolution of 12.9 metres (42 ft). Film was returned from orbit by a single General Electric Satellite Return Vehicle (SRV) constructed by General Electric. The SRV was equipped with an onboard small solid-fuel retro motor to deorbit at the end of the mission. Recovery of the capsule was done in mid-air by a specially equipped aircraft.[4]
Discoverer 5 was preceded by Discoverer 4, launched 25 June 1959, and three Discoverer test flights whose satellites carried no cameras, launched in the first half of 1959.[1]: 51–56
Spacecraft
The battery-powered[4] Discoverer 5 was a cylindrical satellite 1.5 metres (4 ft 11 in) in diameter, 5.85 metres (19.2 ft) long and had a mass after second stage separation, including propellants, of roughly 3,850 kilograms (8,490 lb).[5] After orbital insertion, the satellite and SRV together massed 870 kilograms (1,920 lb).[1]: 236 The capsule section of the reentry vehicle was 84 centimetres (33 in) in diameter and 69 centimetres (27 in) long.[5] Like Discoverer 4, Discoverer 5 carried the C camera for its photosurveillance mission.
The capsule was designed to be recovered by a specially equipped aircraft during parachute descent, but was also designed to float to permit recovery from the ocean. The main spacecraft contained a telemetry transmitter and a tracking beacon.[5]
Mission
Discoverer 5 was launched on 13 August 1959 at 19:00:08 GMT from
Legacy
CORONA achieved its first fully successful flight with the mission of Discoverer 14, launched on August 18, 1960.[1]: 59 The program ultimately comprised 145 flights in eight satellite series, the last mission launching on 25 May 1972.[1]: 245 CORONA was declassified in 1995,[1]: 14 and a formal acknowledgement of the existence of US reconnaissance programs, past and present, was issued in September 1996.[1]: 4
References
- ^ OCLC 36783934.
- ^ "Discoverer 1". NASA Space Science Data Coordinated Archive. Retrieved 24 October 2020.
- ^ "Corona: America's First Satellite Program" (PDF). Central Intelligence Agency. 1995. Archived from the original (PDF) on June 12, 2007. Retrieved 25 January 2020.
- ^ a b Krebs, Gunter. "KH-1 Corona". Gunter's Space Page. Retrieved 7 November 2020.
- ^ a b c d e f "Discoverer 5". NASA Space Science Data Coordinated Archive. Retrieved 29 October 2020.
- ^ McDowell, Jonathan. "Launch Log". Jonathon's Space Report. Retrieved 24 October 2020.
- ^ McDowell, Jonathan. "Satellite Catalog". Jonathon's Space Report. Retrieved 9 April 2020.
- ^ "DISCOVERER 5 CAPSULE". N2YO.com. 9 June 2022. Retrieved 9 June 2022.