Ferret 5

 1964-011A

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The 5th Ferret was FTV 2316, launched out of sequence before 2315. It was the first to use the Thrust Augmented Thor Agena D rocket which now became standard for the program. The vehicle used a longer fairing, with a 1.4m cylindrical section instead of 0.6m as measured from photographs (probably 30 inches longer). It carried the first wideband analog payload, possibly a Group 2-A, and operated for 12 days. A secondary payload was an interferometer, BIRD DOG.

FTV 2316 (OPS 3722)
Date	Time	Event	Orbit
1964 Feb 28	0320	Launch by TA Thor Agena D	V Pad 5
	0321	Castor sep (T+1:05)
	0322	Thor MECO (T+2:27)
	0322	Thor VECO (T+2:36)
	0322	Thor sep (T+2:40)
	0322	Agena burn (T+2:48)
	0326	Agena MECO (T+6:54)
	0416	Agena burn 2 (T+56:45s)
	0416	Agena MECO (T+56:47s)	94.74 503 x 534 x 82.2 (VCR)
1964 Feb 28	0727		94.61 486 x 513 x 82.0
1964 Feb 29	0230		94.74 479 x 520 x 82.0 (RAE)
1964 Mar 11		End of operations
1964 Mar 13		End of BIRD DOG operations
1964 Mar 16			94.59 486 x 511 x 82.1
1964 Mar 30			94.65 495 x 508 x 82.1
1966 Oct 7	0300		94.45 485 x 499 x 82.1 (RAE)
1968 Jan 10	1700		93.59 444 x 456 x 82.1 (RAE)
1969 Feb 19	0126?	Reentered