Friday, June 22, 1984

Discoverer 13

  1960-008


A Discoverer diagnostic mission was launched on 1960 Aug 10 by Thor Agena A from Vandenberg. It carried a five-channel FM/FM telemetry system to transmit separation, reentry and recovery operations data, an 8W transmitter instead of the usual 1.2W one, and a continuous-tape recorder to play back data after ionization blackout. The capsule had a VHF beacon, and the thrust cone had an S-band beacon to aid in determining reentry trajectory. On Aug 11, the SRV was successfully recovered from the Pacific Ocean at 161.57W 25.6N and returned to Washington in triumph.


CORONA 13 
 

DateTimeEventOrbit  

1960 Aug 10  2037:54  Launch by Thor Agena A  V Pad 5 
 2040  Thor MECO (T+2:43) 
 2040  Thor VECO (T+2:52) 
 2040:56  Thor sep (T+3:02) 
 2042:56  Agena burn (T+5:02) 1:58 
 2044:16  T+6:22 Thor apogee Vi 3.750 km/s -5499 x 255 x 82?  
 2044:55  Agena cutoff (T+7:01) 
   258 x 683 x 82.85 (RAE) 
   256 x 703 x ? (VCR) 
1960 Aug 11  1803   94.00 252 x 688 x 82.9 
1960 Aug 11  2313:37  300.9 km 64.83N 171.23W 7.638 km/s -2.89 163.04  
  
-206 x 514 x 82.9  
1960 Aug 11

 

2313:25  S+0:00 SRV sep 303.9 km over 65.58N 171.73W 
  Pitch -61.7 deg  
  S+0:02 Spinup 
 2313:28 S+0:03 Deorbit 290 m/s  -206 x 514 x 82.9  
  S+0:14 Despin 
 2313:41 S+0:15 Thrust cone sep 
 2317:55  189 km  
 2318:00  S+4:34 Reentry 
 2320  Beacon acquired by recovery force 
 2322:00  Alt 82 km  
 2322:36  Alt 67 km  
 2322:48  5g-switch closed 
 2323:21  31 km alt, HTS acq 
 2324:56  Parachute deploy at 15 km  
 2324:56 S+11:32 Para cover off 
 2324:57 S+11:33 Para deploy, heat shield off 
 2350  SRV last tracked by HTS 
 2352?  SRV land in Pacific 25 36N 161 34W 
  25 38 +/-2 N 161 33 +/- W 
1960 Aug 12  0005  Visual sighting in ocean 
 0222  Recovered 
1960 Aug 13  1836   93.93 252 x 681 x 82.9 
1960 Sep 15  1327  92.93 245 x 590 x 82.9 
1960 Oct 9  2130   92.00 250 x 493 x 82.9 (RAE) 
1960 Nov 9  0930   90.00 226 x 319x 82.9 (RAE) 
1960 Nov 5  1438   90.41 245 x 343 x 82.9 
1960 Nov 11  2043   89.39 216 x 272 x 82.9 
1960 Nov 14  1955? Agena reentered 

Payload:

  • Agena 1057

  • Satellite Recovery Vehicle

  • Diagnostic instrumentation 

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