1963-028A
The first KH-7 GAMBIT flight, SV 951, was launched in Jul 1963 by Atlas Agena D from the Point Arguello Naval Missile Facility adjacent to Vandenberg. The spacecraft remained attached to the Agena D for the first day, when the RV was recovered. The Agena gas was depleted after 9 orbits resulting in the vehicle becoming unstable and SRV recovery was done via the emergency Lifeboat system on rev 18. According to the AFCRL data the cosmic radiation package in the SRV was successfully recovered. The recovered reconnaissance film was out of focus but had a best resolution of 1 meter, much better than any previous spy satellite imagery.
After recovery, OCV then separated from the Agena 4702 upper stage in a test of the stabilization system, and reentered after 5 days on around Jul 18.0. OCV remained stable to orbit 25, was then deactivated and on orbit 34 reactivated, although it then was affected by spurious commands.
It isn't clear how long after SRV recovery the OCV separation happened; in the table below I assume it was one orbit later, but it may have been immediate. Similiary, SRV recovery times are not known exactly, and may be in error by one orbit even when a specific revolution is noted because of ambiguity in numbering of revolutions.
| KH-7 1 | |||
| Date | Time | Event | Orbit |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1963 Jul 12 | 2045:59 | Launch by Atlas Agena D | NMFPA |
| 2048:17 | BECO (T+2:18) | ||
| 2050:36 | SECO (T+4:37) | ||
| 2050:53 | VECO (T+4:54) | ||
| 2050:58 | Atlas sep (T+4:59) | ||
| 2051:50 | Agena burn (T+5:51) | ||
| 2055:38 | Agena MECO (T+9:39) | 88.51 208 x 213 x 95.35 (VCR) | |
| 1963 Jul 13 | 0801 | 88.34 173 x 211 x 95.3 | |
| 1963 Jul 13 | Rev 15 last image | ||
| 1963 Jul 13 | 2315? | RV sep | |
| 1963 Jul 13 | 2330? | RV recovered on Rev 18 | |
| 1963 Jul 14 | 0050? | OCV sep from Agena D | |
| 1963 Jul | OCV orbit (28A) | 88.3 173 x 212 x 95.3 (SATCAT) | |
| Agena 4702 orbit (28C) | 88.1 176 x 185 x 95.4 (SATCAT) | ||
| Debris orbit (28B) | 87.8 122 x 216 x 95.3 (SATCAT) | ||
| 1963 Jul 16 | Agena 4702 reentered | ||
| 1963 Jul 17 | 0200 | OCV orbit | 164 x 164 x 95.37 (RAE) |
| 1963 Jul 17 | 0315 | 87.76 163 x 163 x 95.4 | |
| 1963 Jul 17 | OCV SV 951 reentered after 5.2d | ||
