Gambit-3 34

  1972-016A

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The first GAMBIT flight of 1972 was launched on Mar 17 from Vandenberg. The mission lasted 25 days (24 days photographic). Launch vehicle for this flight was the Titan 23B Agena D according to Martin Marietta documents; this is probably just a new designation for the IIIB rather than a new variant of the vehicle.  The vehicle was deorbited over Eniwetok as part of the VAST 4 reentry-survival experiment.

KH-8 OM 34
Date	Time	Event	Orbit
1972 Mar 17	1700	Launch by Titan 23B Agena D	V SLC4W
	1702	Titan stage 1 sep
	1705	Titan stage 2 sep
	1705	Agena burn
	1710?	Agena MECO
	1930		89.95 128 x 415 x 111.0
1972 Mar 19	0557		89.76 130 x 393 x 111.0
		Orbit raise
	2224		89.84 130 x 402 x 111.0
		Orbit raise
1972 Mar 21	2046		89.98 133 x 413 x 111.0
1972 Mar 26	0534		89.60 132 x 376 x 111.0
		Orbit raise
	2329		89.94 141 x 400 x 111.0
1972 Mar 29	1123		89.70 139 x 379 x 111.0
		Orbit raise
1972 Mar 30	0221		89.88 140 x 396 x 111.0
	2050?	SRV-1 deorbit opportunity rev 212
	2057?	Entry
	2125?	SRV-1 recovered
1972 Mar 31	0519		89.77 140 x 385 x 111.0
		Orbit raise
1972 Mar 31	2146		89.85 140 x 393 x 111.0
1972 Apr 3	0508		89.63 138 x 374 x 110.9
		Orbit raise
1972 Apr 4	1403		89.88 143 x 393 x 110.9
1972 Apr 5	2300		89.77 143 x 382 x 110.9
		Orbit raise
1972 Apr 6	2256		89.85 142 x 391 x 110.95
1972 Apr 8	0622		89.75 142 x 381 x 110.9
		Orbit raise
1972 Apr 8	2250		89.88 142 x 394 x 110.9
1972 Apr 9	1349		89.83 142 x 389 x 110.9
1972 Apr 10	2315?	SRV-2 deorbit opportunity
	2322?	Entry
	2350?	SRV-2 recovery
1972 Apr 11		Reentered after 25 days
	0044?	Agena deorbit over Alaska, perhaps -120 to -150 m/s ?
	0057	VAST 4 controlled reentry at Eniwetok