Thursday, June 2, 1977

Transit 5A-1

 1962-071A


VA-1 was the first operational prototype. It failed on the day of launch due to a problem with the command receiver. Mass was 59 kg. Octagon bus 0.45m dia 0.25m high with 5.5m span solar panels.

One newspaper report gave the time as 2126 UTC Dec 8 (1526 CST) and another gives 1726 PST (0126 UTC Dec 9). The Blue Scout Jr launch that day was 'later the same night' and 'within a few hours' thus probably between about 0300 UTC and 1400 UTC.


Transit VA-1 
 

DateTimeEventOrbit  

1962 Dec 19  0125:45 Launch by Scout X-3  PA LC-D 
  T+1:08? St 1 Algol burnout 
  T+1:25? St 2 Castor burn 
  T+2:07? St 2 burnout 
  T+2:13? Fairing 
  T+2:13? St 3 Antares burn 
  T+2:45? St 3 burnout 
  T+9:40? St 3 sep 
  T+9:41? St 4 Altair burn 
 0135?  698 x 725 x 90.62 
1962 Dec 19   End of transmissions 

Payload:

  • Ultrastable oscillators, nav beacon Z 150/400 MHz

Sunday, May 15, 1977

Nadia Comăneci

 https://welib.org/md5/e895b24496763615a807802b69d5fa7c

Alouette

 1962-049A


The first Canadian satellite was Alouette (`swallow'), an ionospheric topside sounder launched by Thor Agena B from pad 75-1-1 at Vandenberg in 1962. NASA provided the launch vehicle and the satellite had the NASA designation S-27.. The satellite used an ionospheric beacon to radio signals through the ionosphere to the ground, allowing observers to measure the density of the ionosphere. Two pairs of sounding antennae were deployed, one 46m span and the other 23m span. Alouette 1 was built by De Havilland Canada.

Alouette 
 

DateTimeEventOrbit  

1962 Sep 29  0605  Launch by Thor Agena B  V 75-1-1 
 0607  Thor MECO (T+2:24) 
 0607  Thor VECO (T+2:33) 
 0607  Thor sep (T+2:42) 
 0608  Agena burn (T+3:05) 
 0612  Agena cutoff (T+7:01) 
 0700  Agena burn 2 (T+55:20) 
 0700  Agena cutoff (T+55:23)  105.4 996 x 1032 x 80.6 (VCR) 
 1900   105.52 996 x 1032 x 80.5 (RAE) 
1971 Dec 16   End of transmissions 

Saturday, May 14, 1977

Ariel 4

  1971-109A


The UK Science Research Council managed the UK 4 ionospheric study satellite, named Ariel 4 after launch. Ariel 4's structure was similar to Ariel 3. The satellite was controlled from NASA's Winkfield ground station. 


Ariel 4 
 

DateTimeEventOrbit  

1971 Dec 11  2047:01  Launch by Scout B-1  V SLC5 
 2048  Algol burnout T+1:20 
 2048  Castor burn T+1:21 
 2049  Castor burnout T+2:01 
  T+2:21 Heat shield 
 2049  Antares burn T+2:23 
 2049  Antares burnout T+2:58 
 2050  Coast T+3:04 
 2056  Altair burn T+9:09 
 2056  Altair burnout T+9:44 
 2058? Yo yo deploy? 
  Deploy booms 
 2101:35 T+14:34 Payload sep  
  Spin at 50 rpm 
   95.4 477 x 593 x 83.0 

November 20,2006

  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Association_football