Tuesday, January 30, 1979
Thursday, January 25, 1979
Thursday, January 18, 1979
Discoverer 29
1961-023
The first KH-3 mission was CORONA 29 (mission 9023), flown on Aug 30 to Sep 1 1961. The mission was advertised as a test of modifications to the Discoverer system. Orbit mass of Agena 1112 was 1136 kg. The Agena was injected with a flight path angle of 7 degrees above the horizontal resulting in a low perigee, eccentric orbit.
The mission was successful and was recovered from the Pacific Ocean, impacting 220 km north of the predicted area. However, when the film was developed it was found to be out of focus due to a design error in the camera. As well as the C''' camera, Discoverer 29 carried supplementary scientific experiments and an X-ray counter for the VELA HOTEL nuclear blast monitoring program. The X-ray experiment was intended to discover if the X-ray background included bursts which would be confused with nuclear explosions. Although such bursts were later discovered, the CORONA tests did not find them, but did map out auroral X-rays (F. Seward, personal communication). A fuse blew after one orbit cutting power supply to the science experiments.
| KH-3 Mission 9023 | |||
| Date | Time | Event | Orbit |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1961 Aug 30 | 2000 | Launch by Thor Agena B | V |
| 2002 | Thor MECO (T+2:26) | ||
| 2002 | Thor VECO (T+2:35) | ||
| 2002 | Thor sep (T+2:40) | ||
| 2003 | Agena burn (T+3:28) | ||
| 2007 | Agena cutoff (T+7:30) | ||
| 157 x 559 x ? (VCR) | |||
| 2101 | 144 x 556 x 82.02 (OE) | ||
| 1961 Aug 31 | 0700 | 91.51 152 x 542 x 82.1 (RAE) | |
| 1961 Aug 31 | 0741 | 91.45 149 x 542 x 82.1 | |
| 1961 Sep 1 | 0936 | 144 x 543 x 82.02 (OE) | |
| 1961 Sep 1 | 2218? | SRV sep on rev 33 | |
| 2243? | SRV recovered after 2.11d from sea | ||
| 2245 | SRV water impact 26N 158 37W | ||
| 2319 | 144 x 538 x 82.02 (OE) | ||
| 1961 Sep 4 | 0603 | 91.03 138 x 512 x 82.04 | |
| 1961 Sep 5 | 91.0 140 x 345 x 82.1 (SATCAT) | ||
| 1961 Sep 6 | 0332 | 90.73 131 x 490 x 82.1 | |
| 1961 Sep 9 | 2330? | CORONA/Agena reentered | |