1963-037A
The second KH-4A mission was also only partially successful. The first SRV, from Mission 1002-1, was recovered on Sep 27; the film showed severe light leaks. However according to the McDonald review the second SRV was `lost'. The CORONA internal program history records `commands failed - decoder failure in vehicle', and apparently the vehicle could not be reactivated after being placed in zombie mode. This implies that the second SRV was not separated from CORONA. After this the KH-4A series was postponed for several months, and the CORONA problem ran into trouble as nine months passed with only one successful flight.
| KH-4A Mission 1002 | |||
| Date | Time | Event | Orbit |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1963 Sep 23 | 2300 | Launch by TAT Agena D | V Pad 2 |
| 2301 | Castor sep (T+1:05) | ||
| 2302 | Thor MECO (T+2:27) | ||
| 2302 | Thor VECO (T+2:35) | ||
| 2302 | Thor sep (T+2:40) | ||
| 2302 | Agena burn (T+2:47) | ||
| 2306 | Agena MECO (T+6:50) | 90.6 184 x 439 x 74.9 (VCR) | |
| 1963 Sep 24 | 0230 | 90.63 161 x 441 x 74.9 (RAE) | |
| 1963 Sep 24 | 0259 | 90.59 159 x 442 x 74.9 | |
| 1963 Sep 25 | 0309 | 90.52 172 x 428 x 74.9 | |
| 1963 Sep 26 | 2126 | 90.46 173 x 320 x 74.9 | |
| 1963 Sep 27 | 0056? | Mission 1002-1 complete | |
| 0058:24 | SRV-1 sep, deorbit rev 49 | ||
| 0058:34 | Retro | ||
| 0058:46 | T/C sep | ||
| 0107:33 | Main parachute out | ||
| 0134 | SRV-1 recovered in mid air | ||
| 0800? | Rev 54, activate zombie mode | ||
| 1963 Sep 29 | 0944 | 90.22 175 x 395 x 75.0 | |
| 1963 Oct 4 | 0020? | ||
| 0300 | Rev 165, failed to exit zombie mode | ||
| 1963 Oct 4 | Mission 1002-2 failed to start | ||
| SRV-2 not separated | |||
| 1963 Oct 10 | 1900 | 88.64 150 x 282 x 74.9 (RAE) | |
| 1963 Oct 11 | 2301 | 87.60 141 x 170 x 74.9 | |
| 1963 Oct 12 | 0200? | Reentered | |
