Wednesday, December 22, 1971

Corona 53

 1962-053


ARGON 9 (CORONA 53, KH-5 Mission 9046A), was launched on 1962 Oct 9 by Thor Agena B from Vandenberg. Radio guidance commands couldn’t be sent due to a ground system failure, and the rocket entered an elliptical 228 x 450 km orbit instead of the planned 304 x 309 km circular one. Orbital mass was 1177 kg.

The SRV was recovered after 4 days on rev 64. Half the terrain film was blank due to a shutter malfunction. (The TLE ground track places the satellite much further to the west than normal for a recovery).

Film experiments were included in the SRV to study orbit irradiation and the effectiveness of an experimental Al-Ag irradiation shield. SO-102, S0-130, S0-206 and SO-132 films were included in the radiation pack; results indicate the shield was effective.


KH-5 Mission 9046A 
 

DateTimeEventOrbit  

1962 Oct 9  1835:39  Launch by Thor Agena B  V Pad 4 
 1837  Thor MECO (T+2:27) 
 1837  Thor VECO (T+2:36) 
 1837  Thor sep (T+2:46) 
 1838  Agena burn (T+3:26) 
 1842  Agena cutoff (T+7:32)  91.02 228 x 450 x 81.99 (VCR) 
1962 Oct 9  2237  Bad elements  90.91 166 x 472 x 81.50 
1962 Oct 10  1820   90.88 209 x 426 x 81.99 
1962 Oct 10  1900   90.96 213 x 427 x 82.0 (RAE) 
1962 Oct?    91.0 213 x 427 x 82.0 (SATCAT) 
1962 Oct 13  2108?  SRV recovered after 4.11d, rev 64 
 2150 SRV landed  
1962 Oct 14   end of experiment data 
1962 Oct 15  0127   90.83 205 x 425 x 82.0 
1962 Oct 20  1700   90.59 209 x 395 x 82.0 (RAE) 
1962 Nov 14  1430   88.37 170 x 212 x 82.0 (RAE) 
1962 Nov 14  1453   88.31 191 x 191 x 82.0 
1962 Nov 16  0200?  CORONA/Agena D reentered 

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