Monday, November 20, 1972
Saturday, November 18, 1972
Argon 6
1963-042A
The tenth ARGON flight (A-6) was built around Agena vehicle 1601, presumably the first of a new batch, and was the first ARGON to use the Thrust Augmented Thor Agena D. KH-5 Mission 9059A was launched on 1963 Oct 29 and the SRV was recovered in mid-air over the Pacific on Nov 2-3 or possibly Nov 3-4 (some docs give rev 65 as the recovery, implying the former, while others give 'Nov 3' and one cites a GMT time on Nov 4, inconsistent with the rev 65 value. I am inclined to believe the Nov 4 time).
In addition to the ARGON camera, a set of scientific instruments to study the ionosphere were carried, and these continued transmitting until Nov 6. The mission also deployed an elint subsatellite, which appears to have been ejected not over VAFB as usual but half an orbit away.
| KH-5 Mission 9059A | |||
| Date | Time | Event | Orbit |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1963 Oct 29 | 2119:04 | Launch by TAT Agena D | V Pad 4 |
| 2120 | Castor sep (T+1:05) | ||
| 2121 | Thor MECO (T+2:27) | ||
| 2121 | Thor VECO (T+2:36) | ||
| 2121 | Thor sep (T+2:41) | ||
| 2122 | Agena burn (T+3:26) | ||
| 2126:35 | Agena MECO (T+7:31) | 90.9 288 x 355 x 89.9 (VCR) | |
| 2300? | P-11 subsatellite ejected | ||
| 1963 Oct 30 | 0119 | 90.80 275 x 352 x 89.9 | |
| 1963 Nov 2 | 0333 | 90.77 280 x 344 x 89.9 | |
| 1963 Nov 2 | 0500 | 90.84 279 x 345 x 89.90 (RAE) | |
| 1963 Nov 2 | 2342? | SRV sep, deorbit, rev 65 | |
| 1963 Nov 3 | 0017? | SRV recovered | |
| 1963 Nov 3 | 2358? | SRV sep, deorbit (based on 4A075 data) | |
| 1963 Nov 4 | 0039 | SRV recovered | |
| 1963 Nov 6 | End of transmissions | ||
| 1963 Nov 6 | 0903 | 90.76 282 x 340 x 89.92 | |
| 1963 Nov 15 | 90.6 283 x 318 x 89.9 (SATCAT) | ||
| 1963 Nov 27 | Deb 1963-42C reentered | ||
| 1963 Nov 29 | 0930 | 90.42 275 x 308 x 89.90 (RAE) | |
| 1964 Jan 6 | 0930 | 89.53 232 x 258 x 89.9 (RAE) | |
| 1964 Jan 19 | 0200 | 88.37 191 x 196 x 89.87 | |
| 1964 Jan 21 | 0920? | ARGON/Agena D reentered | |
DMSP 6422
1968-092A
The second Block 4B satellite (F22 or 6422) was launched on 1968 Oct 23 using the refurbished Thor 173. The primary mission ended in Sep 1970 when its recorder failed.
Initial orbit was a 20:12 LTDN SSO.
| DSAP 6422 | |||
| Date | Time | Event | Orbit |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1968 Oct 23 | 0434:03 | Launch by Thor Burner 2 (173) | V SLC10W |
| 0436 | Thor MECO | ||
| 0445? | Burner II burn | ||
| 0448? | Burner II sep | ||
| 101.5 797 x 855 x 99.0 | |||
| 1970 Sep 17 | End of primary mission | ||
| 1970 Oct 4 | End of transmissions | ||
Friday, November 17, 1972
Wednesday, November 15, 1972
Tuesday, November 14, 1972
Sunday, November 12, 1972
Monday, November 6, 1972
Saturday, November 4, 1972
Friday, November 3, 1972
Sputnik 2
1957-002
After the success of the first satellite, a second PS was built with a small pressurized cabin. The 508 kg PS-2 was launched on Nov 3 into a more elliptical orbit, becoming satellite 1957 Beta. It remained attached to the 7380 kg rocket stage so that it could use the telemetry system of the rocket and to prevent overheating of the cabin. PS-2 consisted of a solar UV/X-ray detector package, a PS-1 sphere with pressure and temperature sensors, and the 0.8m long 0.64m diameter dog container derived from a suborbital R-2A launch design. Inside the cabin was a dog called Laika, the first space traveller. Laika (reportedly originally called Kudryavka) was a 6 kg, two year old female. PS-2, the second ISZ , also carried a radiation detector and a detector to measure the flux of X-rays and UV radiation from the Sun. It reentered and burned up in the atmosphere on 1958 Apr 14 over the Atlantic near the coast of Surinam.
| PS-2 | |||
| Date | Time | Event | Orbit |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1957 Nov 3 | 0230:42 | Launch by 8K71PS | KB |
| 0232 | Blok-BVGD sep | ||
| 0235:52 | T+310s Blok-A cutoff | ||
| 0236? | GO sep? | ||
| 212 x 1660 x 65.1 | |||
| 1957 Nov 9 | End of transmissions | ||
| 1958 Apr 14 | 0145:25 | Alt 100 km over 74W 41N | |
| 0155 | Reentered over 57W 9N | ||
Payload:
- Pressurized section with dog Laika
- Radiation detector
- Solar UV/X detector
Saturday, October 28, 1972
Thursday, October 26, 1972
Wednesday, October 25, 1972
ESRO 1A
1968-084A
The ESRO IA satellite was developed by the Laboratoire Central de Telecommunications to study polar ionospheric and auroral phenomena. It was launched in Oct 1968 by a NASA Scout into polar orbit. Control by ESTRAC. Mass 85 kg.
The satellite was 0.76m dia 0.93m high cylinder, 1.53m high including the boom; 2.43m span across antennae. Two 0.1 kg yo-yo weights on 4.5m wires were ejected.
| ESRO IA | |||
| Date | Time | Event | Orbit |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1968 Oct 3 | 2049:39 | Launch by Scout B S167C | V SLC5 |
| 2050:47 | Algol burnout T+1:08 | ||
| 2050:58 | Castor burn T+1:19 | ||
| 2051:36 | Castor burnout T+1:57 | ||
| 2052:35 | Antares burn T+2:56 | ||
| 2052:35 | Heatshield sep T+2:56 | ||
| 2053:09 | Antares burnout T+3:30 | ||
| 2053:16 | Coast T+3:37 | ||
| Antares sep T+5:56 | |||
| 2055:42 | FW4S burn T+6:00 30.6s | ||
| 2056:12 | FW4S burnout T+6:34 | ||
| 2101:03 | FW4S sep T+11:26 | ||
| T+11:28 S-44 boom deploy | |||
| 2101:11 | T+11:32 Yo-yo weights | ||
| T+11:34 S-45 boom deploy | |||
| 103.0 258 x 1538 x 93.8 | |||
| 1970 Jun 26 | Reentered | ||
Payload:
- S32 Auroral photometer 4278A and 4861A (NICP-Oslo/Egeland)
- S44 Electron probes (UCL/Willmore)
- S45 Ion probe (UCL/Willmore)
- S71A Scintillator and pulse analyser, e 40-400 keV (RSRS/Dalziel)
- S71B Electrostatic analyser, e 1-10 keV, p 1 -5 keV (KGO/Riedler)
- S71C Solid state detectors p 100 keV-5 MeV (Bergan/Sorass)
- S71D GM counters e > 40 keV (NDRE/Skovli)
- S71E Scintillator and solid state detector p 5-30 MeV (RSRS/Dalziel)