Discoverer 6
Mission type | Optical reconnaissance |
---|---|
Operator | US Air Force / NRO |
Harvard designation | 1959 ZET |
COSPAR ID | 1959-006A |
SATCAT no. | S00019 |
Mission duration | 1 day |
Spacecraft properties | |
Spacecraft type | CORONA KH-1 |
Bus | Agena-A |
Manufacturer | Lockheed |
Launch mass | 864 kilograms (1,905 lb) after orbit insertion |
Start of mission | |
Launch date | 19 Aug 1959 19:24:44 | GMT
Rocket | Thor DM-21 Agena-A (Thor 192) |
Launch site | Vandenberg LC 75-3-5 |
End of mission | |
Decay date | 20 October 1959 |
Landing date | 20 August 1959 | (SRV)
Landing site | Pacific Ocean (SRV) |
Orbital parameters | |
Reference system | Geocentric |
Regime | Low Earth |
Eccentricity | 0.04600 |
Perigee altitude | 212 kilometers (132 mi) |
Apogee altitude | 848 kilometers (527 mi) |
Inclination | 84.0° |
Period | 95.27 minutes |
Epoch | 19 August 1959 |
Corona KH-1 → |
Discoverer 6, also known as Corona 9003,
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 6 was preceded by Discoverer 5, launched 13 August 1959, 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 6 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 864 kilograms (1,905 lb).[6] The capsule section of the reentry vehicle was 84 centimetres (33 in) in diameter and 69 centimetres (27 in) long.[5] Like Discoverers 4 and 5, Discoverer 6 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 6 was launched on 19 August 1959 at 19:24:44 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 "Discoverer 6". NASA Space Science Data Coordinated Archive. Retrieved 30 October 2020.
- ^ OCLC 36783934.
- ^ McDowell, Jonathan. "Launch Log". Jonathon's Space Report. Retrieved 24 October 2020.
- ^ McDowell, Jonathan. "Satellite Catalog". Jonathon's Space Report. Retrieved 9 April 2020.