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DAPP 10
1965-003A
The Thor/MG-18 rocket was developed beginning in Oct 1963 and was ready for flight in 1965. According to former program director Tom Haig, during a phone call discussing the nearly completed Thor/MG-18 booster and the later Thor/Star 37 booster then in early planning, to avoid breaking security he referred to them as 'the one on the front burner' and 'the one on the back burner' respectively. Thus Burner I and Burner II were born. The new Thor/MG-18 booster's high acceleration required strengthening the satellite.
The first DAPP Block 1 satellite on the rocket was launched on 1965 Jan 19 from pad 4300B6 at Vandenberg. It used the new Thor DSV-2S launch vehicle The launch vehicle, Thor 224, had been stationed in the UK as an operational IRBM, and refurbished to the new DSV-2S model with a solid MG-18 upper stage motor, called Burner 1 in this application. The satellite reached orbit but failed to separate from the upper stage and the payload shroud.
The launch for this and subsequent Thor Burner launches was carried out by the SAC's 4300 Support Squadron (later transferred to ADC and the 10th Aerospace Defense Squadron) crews assigned to the Program 437 antisatellite effort. This gave the crews a chance to launch Thors more frequently than Program 437 alone would have done. The association of these crews with Thor Burner is probably what led Turnill to claim that the payloads were antisatellite weapons. In fact, DAPP 10 carried a simple radiometer for low resolution imaging of the Earth. Satellite mass was about 80 kg.
| DAPP 10 | |||
| Date | Time | Event | Orbit |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1965 Jan 19 | 0503:42 | Launch by Thor Burner 1 (224) | V 4300B6 |
| 0506:21 | Thor MECO (T+2:39) | ||
| 0506:30 | Thor VECO (T+2:48) | ||
| 0506:40 | Heatshield eject (T+2:58) | ||
| 0514:04 | MG-18 spinup (T+10:22) | ||
| 0514:05 | Thor sep (T+10:23) | ||
| 0514:10 | MG-18 burn (T+10:28) | ||
| 0514:24 | MG-18 burnout (T+10:42) | ||
| 0514 | MG-18 failed to sep from payload | ||
| 1965 Jan 20 | 0230 | 97.68 471 x 822 x 98.9 (RAE) | |