Hexagon 5

  1973-014A

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It has been claimed that the short lifetime of KH-9 no. 5 was due to the fact that preparations for its launch were rushed. HEXAGON 5 carried the first mapping camera in the series, as well as a related secondary payload, the Doppler Beacon 7 transponder which was used in an APL geodetic program. Earlier Doppler Beacon payloads had been carried on the Agena D aft rack of CORONA missions. The doppler system was used to track the orbit of the satellite from sensors around the periphery of the USSR, providing a geodetic control net for the area. The mapping SRV, mission 1205-5, was recovered after 42 days. The mission was used in a deorbit experiment over a broad ocean area (over Shemya according to The HEXAGON Story).

HEXAGON 5
Date	Time	Event	Orbit
1973 Mar 9	2100	Launch by Titan IIID	V SLC4E
		T+1:54 Stage 1 burn 2:27
		T+1:55 SRM burnout
		T+2:05 SRM sep
		T+4:22 Stage 1 MECO
		T+4:22 Stage 1 sep
		T+4:22 Stage 2 burn
		T+4:36 Fairing
	2107	T+7:40 Stage 2 MECO
	2108	T+7:52 Stage 2 sep
		Solar arrays deployed, rev 1
		Payload ops begin, rev 5
1973 Mar 9			88.60 146 x 264 x 95.72
1973 Mar 10			88.75 153 x 271 x 95.72
1973 Mar 19	1834		88.73 161 x 261 x 95.69
1973 Mar 21	2250?	SRV-1 deorbit
1973 Mar 31			88.6 152 x 263 x 95.7 (SSR)
1973 Apr 4	2325?	SRV-2 deorbit
1973 Apr 7		op 121	88.64 152 x 261 x 95.7
1973 Apr 9		op 138
1973 Apr 10		op 140
1973 Apr 11		op 149
1973 Apr 16		op 173
1973 Apr 18	2250?	SRV-3 deorbit
1973 Apr 19		op 194
	0600?	Orbit adjust
1973 Apr 20	2300?	SRV-5 deorbit opp	151 x 268 x 95.7
		T+0:00 SRV sep
		T+0:03 Spinup 57 rpm
		TE-M-236B deboost
		Despin
		T+0:21? Thrust cone separation
		E+0:00 = T+5:51? Entry
		E+2:26 Cover sep
		E+2:36 Chute deploy
		E+22-25 min? Recovery at 5 km
	2335?	SRV-5 recovered
1973 Apr 28		DB-7 turned off	88.63 151 x 262 x 95.7
1973 May 6			88.85 169 x 265 x 95.6
1973 May 11			88.66 151 x 264 x 95.6
1973 May 11	2220?	SRV-4 deorbit
1973 May 12	0608	Raise perigee	88.96 179 x 266 x 95.6
	1502		88.94 169 x 274 x 95.6
1973 May 16	1344		88.39 155 x 233 x 95.6
1973 May 16	1809	Orbit raise	88.53 156 x 246 x 95.6
1973 May 17	1746		88.42 155 x 237 x 95.7
1973 May 18	1126	Lower perigee	88.13 143 x 220 x 95.7
1973 May 19		Reentered after 71d
	0000?	Deboost rev 1139, day 70	80? x 176 x 95.7
		VASP 1 reentry experiment over BOA (Shemya)
		Deboost (OAM burn along horizontal, vel vector)
		S+1:05:56 Alt 129 km
		S+1:09:52 Loss of signal 92 km
	0110	S+1:10:40 Solar panels break off 84 km
		S+1:11:15 Vehicle breakup 78 km