DAPP 15

 1966-026A

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The final Thor Burner 1, satellite 15, launch took off on 1966 Mar 31 from Vandenberg and reached orbit successfully, although again excessively elliptical. Block 2 F-3 reached a 634 x 933 km x 98.6 deg orbit. It operated until Feb 1968 when the video camera failed; the C System degraded and the recorder failed, and the satellite was retired in Mar 1968.

DSAP 03215
Date	Time	Event	Orbit
1966 Mar 31	0541:04	Launch by Thor Burner 1	V 4300B6
	0543:38	Thor MECO (T+2:34)
	0543:47	Thor VECO (T+2:43)
	0543:57	Heatshield sep
	0551:27	FW4 spinup (T+10:23)
	0551:28	Thor sep
	0551:32	FW4 burn
	0552:06	FW4 cutoff (T+11:02)
	0552	FW4 sep
1966 Apr 2			100.56 634 x 933 x 98.60 (RAE)
1968 Feb		Video failed
1968 Mar		Retired
1968 May 3		End of mission

Payload:

• Video camera

• System C IR camera

• HRR High resolution radiometer, 7-14 microns