1961-028A
Midas IV~was launched on 1961 Oct 21 into a 3500 km orbit. The orbit was more elliptical and lower than the planned 3900 km circular path, due to problems in the Atlas phase. The Agena lost attitude control after the first orbit. It again suffered a solar array failure after 50 orbits, although a radiation experiment reportedly operated for 10 days. Although some reports indicated detection of a missile launch, others report that no such detection was achieved.
| Midas IV | |||
| Date | Time | Event | Orbit |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1961 Oct 21 | 1353:03 | Launch by Atlas Agena B | PA |
| 1355:19 | BECO (T+2:16) | ||
| 1355:55 | Loss of roll control (T+2:52) | ||
| 1357:38 | SECO (T+4:35) | ||
| 1357:58 | Atlas sep (T+4:55) | ||
| 1357:59 | VECO (T+4:56) | ||
| 1358:31 | Agena burn (T+5:28) | ||
| 1402:13 | Agena MECO (T+9:10) | ||
| 1504? | Agena burn 2 (19s long) | ||
| 1504? | Agena MECO | ||
| 3496 x 3756 x 95.9 | |||
| Attitude control lost | |||
| West Ford package released | |||
| 1961 Oct 24? | end of ops | ||
| 1961 Oct 31 | Radiation expt ended ops successfully | ||
Payload:
- Agena 1202
- Baird Atomic Inc. IR radiometers
- 2.7 micron scanning radiometer, 600 kW/sr sensitivity, 8 channels
- HEPDEX 2 trapped protons experiment
- West Ford
