1963-055A
The final KH-4 flight, M-26, was mission 9062. It was launched by a Thrust Augmented Thor Agena D from Vandenberg on 1963 Dec 21, and inserted a P-11 class subsatellite into orbit. The SRV was recovered in mid-air over the Pacific on Dec 26 after a 5 day flight, but once again corona static marred much of the film. The CIA technical representative had refused to approve M-26 for flight until incorrectly performed preflight environmental testing was repeated, but was overruled by the USAF (NRO Program A) manager, exacerbating the political mess between USAF and NRO. Nevertheless, much data was useable and it observed an ICBM site, a nuclear weapons bunker, rocket engine test facilities, and surface-to-air missile sites.
The NPIC PER (COR-2458) refers to the mission as Discoverer 74, the latest reference in an offical document to a Discoverer sequence number, and probably an error (it was removed in the longer alternate version of the same PER available in the National Archives).
| KH-4 Mission 9062 | |||
| Date | Time | Event | Orbit |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1963 Dec 21 | 2145 | Launch by TAT Agena D | V 75-1 Pad 2 |
| 2146 | Castor sep | ||
| 2147 | Thor MECO (T+2:28) | ||
| 2147 | Thor VECO (T+2:37) | ||
| 2147 | Thor sep (T+2:42) | ||
| 2147 | Agena burn (T+2:50) | ||
| 2151 | Agena MECO (T+6:54) | 89.98 184 x 371 x 64.88 (VCR) | |
| 1963 Dec 21 | 2320? | Subsatellite ejected | |
| 1963 Dec 22 | 89.7 178 x 337 x 64.8 (SATCAT) | ||
| 1963 Dec 22 | 0744 | 89.98 216 x 331 x 64.9 | |
| 1963 Dec 22 | 0700 | 89.96 176 x 355 x 64.52 (RAE) | |
| 1963 Dec 23 | 1942 | 89.94 179 x 364 x 64.9 | |
| 1963 Dec 25 | 2109 | 89.83 179 x 353 x 64.9 | |
| 1963 Dec 26 | 2305? | SRV ejected, rev 81 or 80 | |
| 2342 | SRV recovered in mid-air | ||
| 1963 Dec 28 | 0903 | 89.78 176 x 350 x 64.9 | |
| 1964 Jan 4 | 88.6 158 x 257 x 64.8 (SATCAT) | ||
| 1964 Jan 6 | 1809 | 88.64 157 x 257 x 64.8 | |
| 1964 Jan 8 | 2200? | CORONA/Agena reentered | |
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