1965-026A
CORONA 93 was launched on 1965 Mar 25 by a Thrust Augmented Thor Agena D into a 186 x 265 km x 96.1 deg orbit. This was the first use of a retrograde orbit by a CORONA satellite (except for the special case of the two ARGON STARFLASH geodetic missions), although retrograde orbits were common in the USAF's GAMBIT program. Only three KH-4A and one KH-4B mission would used retrograde orbits. Mission 1018-1 lasted 4 days, and Mission 1018-2 lasted 2 days, with both SRVs successfully recovered.
| KH-4A Mission 1018 | |||
| Date | Time | Event | Orbit |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1965 Mar 25 | 2111:17 | Launch by Thor SLV-2A Agena D | V |
| 2112:22 | Castor sep (T+1:05) | ||
| 2113:45 | Thor MECO (T+2:28) | ||
| 2113:54 | Thor VECO (T+2:37) | ||
| 2114:01 | Thor sep (T+2:44) | ||
| 2114:06 | Agena burn (T+2:49) | ||
| 2118:11 | Agena MECO (T+6:54) | 89.04 187 x 278 x 96.01 (VCR) | |
| 1965 Mar 25 | 2130 | 89.06 186 x 265 x 96.08 (RAE) | |
| 1965 Mar 25 | 2337 | 88.99 185 x 263 x 96.1 | |
| 1965 Mar 26 | 1725 | 88.94 179 x 265 x 96.0 | |
| 1965 Mar 28 | 0034 | 88.89 179 x 260 x 96.0 | |
| 1965 Mar 29 | 2300? | SRV-1 ejected rev 66 | |
| 1965 Mar 29 | 2338 | SRV-1 recovered midair | |
| 21 58N 151 15W | |||
| 1965 Mar 31 | 88.9 181 x 237 x 96.02 (SSR) | ||
| 1965 Mar 31 | 2024 | 88.73 179 x 244 x 96.0 | |
| 1965 Mar 31 | 2351? | SRV-2 ejected rev 99 | |
| 1965 Apr 1 | 0029 | SRV-2 recovered | |
| 1965 Apr 1 | 0051 | 88.72 172 x 249 x 96.0 | |
| 1965 Apr 3 | end of ops | ||
| 1965 Apr 3 | 0010 | 88.60 176 x 234 x 96.0 | |
| 1965 Apr 5 | 0000? | CORONA/Agena reentered | |
