1961-005A
The first ARGON mission was 9014A, launched on 1961 Feb 17. The ARGON camera failed and due to an on board malfunction in the program timer the capsule was ejected half an orbit away from the Pacific Ocean target area. Some sources suggested it possibly reentered over the Indian Ocean, but NRO program summary records carry the comment `still in space', suggesting that the three debris objects are the SRV pieces. The Agena flight history also records that the capsule ended up in a higher orbit. On Mar 2, a message to the Pentagon reported that the capsule separated between rev 32 and 63.
Mass of satellite 1104 was 1048 kg on orbit.
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| KH-5 Mission 9014A |
| |
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| Date | Time | Event | Orbit |
|---|
|
| 1961 Feb 17 | 2025 | Launch by Thor Agena B | V |
| | 2027 | Thor MECO (T+2:28) |
| | 2027 | Thor VECO (T+2:38) |
| | 2027 | Thor sep (T+2:43) |
| | 2028 | Agena burn (T+3:43) |
| | 2032 | Agena cutoff (T+7:51) |
| | | | 325 x 767 x ? (VCR) |
| | | | 288 x 786 x 80.91 (RAE) |
| 1961 Feb 17 | | Camera failed |
| 1961 Feb 18 | 0525 | | 95.35 284 x 787 x 80.91 |
| 1961 Feb 18 | | Program timer failed temporarily |
| 1961 Feb 21 | 2035? | SRV ejected (Epsilon 4?) | 395 x 790 x 80.9 |
| | | Thrust cone sep (Epsilon 2?) | 283 x 734 x 80.9 |
| | | Heat shield sep (Epsilon 3?) | 283 x 745 x 80.9 |
| 1961 Feb 25 | 0244 | | 95.31 284 x 783 x 80.91 |
| 1961 Mar 30 | 2029 | | 95.08 284 x 760 x 80.9 |
| 1961 Apr 2 | | Object Epsilon 2 reentered |
| 1961 Apr 20 | | Object Epsilon 3 reentered |
| 1961 May 8 | 1842 | | 94.85 284 x 738 x 80.91 |
| 1961 Jun 30 | 0946 | | 94.46 284 x 701 x 80.91 |
| 1961 Sep 4 | 1324 | | 94.05 284 x 661 x 80.91 |
| 1961 Oct 31 | | Object Epsilon 4 (SRV?) reentered |
| 1962 Jan 1 | 1032 | | 92.90 284 x 549 x 80.91 |
| 1962 Mar 5 | 0200 | | 92.28 269 x 503 x 80.84 |
| 1962 Apr 24 | | | 92.3 277 x 491 x 80.8 (SATCAT) |
| 1962 Jun 29 | 0323 | | 90.29 239 x 338 x 80.84 |
| 1962 Jul 25 | 1652 | | 88.58 204 x 204 x 80.83 |
| 1962 Jul 28 | | CORONA/Agena reentered |
Payload:
- Agena 1104
- KH-5 ARGON camera A-1
- Stellar camera
- Satellite Recovery Vehicle, Mission 9014A
- TOD-8 APL Transit-on-Discoverer
- Dosimeters