Web viewAlso on this flight, the dummy second stage was outfitted with the aerodynamic design of the real second stage. This included vent ducts,

Cronología de lanzamientos espaciales

Cronología deLanzamientos

Espaciales

Año 1963

Copyright © 2008 by Eladio Miranda Batlle. All rights reserved.

Los textos, imágenes y tablas que se encuentran en esta cronología cuentan con la autorización de sus propietarios para ser publicadas o se hace referencia a la fuente de donde se obtuvieron los mismos.

ContenidoEladio Miranda Batlle

[email protected]


1963

Enero04.01.63 Luna (4c) (Sputnik 25) (E-6 #1)07.01.63 KH-4 18 (OPS 0048) /KH-4 905116.01.63 Samos-F2 3 (OPS 0180)16.01.63 Ferret 2

Febrero03.02.63 Luna (4d) (E-6 #2)14.02.63 Syncom 119.02.63 DMSP-2A F1 (P35 3, OPS 0240) 19.02.63 1963-005A28.02.63 KH-4 19 (OPS 0583) 1963-001X

Marzo18.03.63 KH-6 1 (OPS 0627) KH-6 8001 Hitchhiker (1)21.03.63 Kosmos 13 (Zenit-2 #6)28.03.63 Saturn SA-4

Abril01.04.63 KH-4 20 (OPS 0720) KH-4 905302.04.63 Luna 4 (E-6 #3)03.04.63 Explorer 17 (AE A)05.04.63 Transit-5A205.04.63 1963-003X06.04.63 Kosmos (14) (DS-P1 #2)13.04.63 Kosmos 14 (Omega #1) 22.04.63 Kosmos 15 (Zenit-2 #7)25.04.63 Saturn I (C 1)26.04.63 DMSP-2AF2 (P35 4, OPS 1298) 1963-004X 26.04.63 KH-5 8 (OPS 1008) 26.04.63 1963-005X28.04.63 Kosmos 16 (Zenit-2 #8)

Mayo07.05.63 Telstar 209.05.63 Midas 7 MIDAS 6 Dash 1 TRS 5 (ERS 5) TRS 6 (ERS 6) Westford 2

15.05.63 Mercury MA-9 (Mercury 20) Flashing Light Capsule Balloon Subsat 218.05.63 KH-6 2 (OPS 0924) KH-6 800222.05.63 Kosmos 17 (DS-A1 #2)24.05.63 Kosmos 18 (Zenit-2 #9)

Junio01.06.63 Kosmos (19ª) (DS-MT #(1))12.06.63 KH-4 21 (OPS 0954) KH-4 905412.06.63 Midas 8 TRS 7 (ERS 7) TRS 8 (ERS 8)14.06.63 Vostok 5 (Vostok-3KA #7)15.06.63 Solrad 6 1963-021E LOFTI 2B LOFTI 2ª Surcal 3SURCAL 1B Radose 1 Poppy 2 (NRL-PL 112)16.06.63 Transit-5ª 316.06.63 Vostok 6 (Vostok-3KA #8)19.06.63 Tiros 7 (A 52)27.06.63 KH-4 22 (OPS 0999) KH-4 9056 Hitchhiker 128.06.63 GRS (CRL 1)29.06.63 Samos-F2 4 (OPS 1440)29.06.63 Ferret 3

Julio

10.07.63 Kosmos (19b) (Zenit-2 #(10))12.07.63 KH-7 1 (OPS 1467)19.07.63 Midas 9 Dash 2 TRS 9 (ERS 9) ERS 9 TRS 10 (ERS 10) MIDAS 7/ERS 1019.07.63 KH-4 23 (OPS 1266) KH-4 905726.07.63 Syncom 231.07.63 KH-6 3 (OPS 1370) KH-6 8003

Agosto

06.08.63 Kosmos 19 (DS-P1 #3)22.08.63 Kosmos (20) (DS-A1 #(x))25.08.63 KH-4ª 1 (OPS 1419) KH-4ª 100129.08.63 KH-5 9 (OPS 1561) / KH-4 9033 Lampo

Eladio Miranda Batlle [email protected]

http://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/kh-5_ad.htm

http://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/kh-4a.htm

http://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/ds-a1.htm

http://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/ds-p1.htm

http://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/kh-6.htm

http://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/syncom-1.htm


http://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/trs-1.htm


http://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/dash-1.htm

http://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/midas-3.htm


http://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/zenit-2.htm

http://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/samos-f2.htm

http://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/grs.htm

http://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/hitchhiker.htm


http://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/tiros.htm

http://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/vostok-3k.htm

http://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/transit-5a.htm

http://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/poppy-1.htm

http://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/lofti-2b.htm

http://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/solrad-6.htm

http://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/vostok-3k.htm





http://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/ds-mt.htm




http://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/flashing-light-subsat.htm

http://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/mercury-ma-mr.htm

http://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/westford.htm





http://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/telstar-1.htm



http://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/dmsp-2a.htm


http://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/omega.htm

http://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/ds-p1.htm

http://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/transit-5a.htm

http://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/explorer_ae-a.htm

http://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/luna_e6.htm







http://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/syncom-1.htm






29.08.63 1963-035B

Septiembre

06.09.63 KH-7 2 (OPS 1947) KH 7-0223.09.63 KH-4ª 2 (OPS 1353) KH-4ª 100227.09.63 DMSP-1ª F3 (P35 5, OPS 1610) 1963-007X28.09.63 Transit 5BN-1Transit 5B-1 Transit 5E-1 (SN 39)28.09.63 1963-038C

Octubre17.10.63 Vela 1 Vela 2 ERS 1218.10.63 Kosmos 20 (Zenit-2 #10)24.10.63 Kosmos (21) (DS-A1 #(x))25.10.63 KH-7 3 (OPS 2196) KH 7-0325.10.63 1963-041B29.10.63 KH-5 10 (OPS 2437) KH-5 9059ª SSF-A 129.10.63 Hitch Hiker 2

Noviembre01.11.63 Polyot 1 (I1 1)09.11.63 KH-4 24 (OPS 2268) 1963-008X11.11.63 Kosmos 21 (Zond Test)16.11.63 Kosmos 22 (Zenit-4 #1)27.11.63 Explorer 18 (IMP A)27.11.63 KH-4 25 (OPS 2260) KH-4 906127.11.63 Centaur AC-228.11.63 Kosmos (23) (Zenit-2 #(11))

Diciembre05.12.63 Transit 5BN-2 Transit 5E-2 Transit 5B-205.12.63 1963-049C13.12.63 Kosmos 23 (Omega #2) 18.12.63 KH-7 4 (OPS 2372) KH 7-0419.12.63 Kosmos 24 (Zenit-2 #11)19.12.63 AD-A19.12.63 Explorer 19 (AD A)21.12.63 KH-4 26 (OPS 1388) KH-4 9062 SSF-A 221.12.63 Tiros 8 (A 53)21.12.63 Hitch Hiker 3




http://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/explorer_ad.htm




http://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/transit-5e.htm

http://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/transit-5bn.htm


http://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/centaur-ac-1.htm


http://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/explorer_imp-a.htm


http://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/polyot-1.htm






http://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/vela.htm

http://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/vela.htm




http://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/kh-4a.htm



Enero 1963

Luna (4c) (Sputnik 25) (E-6 #1)

This mission was an attempted lunar soft landing, with the purpose of returning data on the mechanical characteristics of the lunar surface, the hazards presented by the topology such as craters, rocks, and other obstructions, and radiation, in preparation for future manned landings. The 1500 kg spacecraft consisted of a cylindrical section containing maneuvering and landing rockets and fuel, orientation devices and radio transmitters and a spherical top containing the 100 kg lander. The lander would be ejected onto the surface after the main body touched down, carrying a camera and devices to measure radiation. The spacecraft was injected into Earth orbit successfully by the SL-6/A-2-e launcher but failed to escape orbit for its trip to the Moon. Its orbit decayed on 5 January 1963 after one day. Sputnik 25 was originally designated Sputnik 33 in the U.S. Naval Space Command Satellite Situation Summary. Sputnik 25 (E-6 series) was a Soviet spacecraft whose mission was an attempted lunar soft landing, with the purpose of returning data on the mechanical characteristics of the lunar surface, the hazards presented by the topology such as craters, rocks, and other obstructions, and radiation, in preparation for future manned landings. The 1500 kg spacecraft consisted of a cylindrical section containing maneuvering and landing rockets and fuel, orientation devices and radio transmitters and a spherical top containing the 100 kg lander. The lander would be ejected onto the surface after the main body touched down, carrying a camera and devices to measure radiation.The spacecraft was injected into Earth orbit successfully by the SL-6/A-2-e launcher but failed to escape orbit for its trip to the Moon. Its orbit decayed on January 5, 1963 after one day.In the U.S. Naval Space Command Satellite Situation Summary Sputnik 25 was originally designated Sputnik 33, and the name Sputnik 25 was used for Sputnik 21.

Launch Date: 1963-01-04Launch Vehicle: Modified SS-6 (Sapwood) with 2nd Generation Upper Stage + Escape StageLaunch Site: Tyuratam (Baikonur Cosmodrome), U.S.S.RMass: 2500.0 kg

KH-4 18 (OPS 0048) / KH-4 9051

This US Air Force surveillance satellite was launched from Vandenberg AFB on a Thor Agena D rocket. It sustained erratic vehicle attitude. Frame ephemeris was not created.

Launch Date: 1963-01-07Launch Vehicle: Thor Augmented Delta-Agena DLaunch Site: Vandenberg AFB, United StatesMass: 1150.0 kg

Samos-F2 3 (OPS 0180)

The ELINT satellites known for decades only as "Heavy Ferrets" are now known to be a program associated with the Samos (Satellite and Missile Observation System) project. Only the first Samos-F2 has been identified for sure. Probably there are two series, the second, tentatively asigned the name Samos-F3, are possibly launched under an other, still unknown name.

Nation: USA






Type / Application:

ELINT

Operator: USAFContractors: ?Equipment: ?Configuration:

Agena-B

Propulsion: Bell 8081Lifetime:Mass: ?Orbit:

Ferret 2

This USAF ELINT satellite was launched from Vandenberg AFB aboard a Thor Agena D rocket. The Ferrets catalogued Soviet air defence radars, eavesdropped on voice communications, and taped missile and satellite telemetry.


Febrero 1963

Luna (4d) (E-6 #2)

Intento fallido. Luna 1963B (E-6 series) was the second Soviet attempt to land an unmanned spacecraft on the Moon. It was launched on February 2, 1963. The mission was a failure. The spacecraft did not make it to Earth orbit due to an upper stage gyro failure and crashed somewhere in the Pacific Ocean near Midway Island.

Nation: U.S.S.R.Type / Application:

Lunar soft lander

Operator:Contractors:Equipment:Configuration:Propulsion: KTDU-5A (S5.5)

Syncom 1

The Syncom satellites were 71 cm diameter, 39 cm high cylinders. The fully fueled mass of

the spacecraft was 68 kg. The nozzle of the solid propellant apogee motor (1000-lb-thrust designed to impart a velocity increase of 1431 meters/sec) extended from the bottom of the cylinder and a co-axial slotted array communications antenna from the top. The total height including the nozzle was 64 cm. The radial exterior was covered with 3840 P-on-n silicon solar cells which provided direct power of 29 watts the 99 percent of the time the spacecraft was in sunlight. Nickle-cadmium rechargeable batteries provided power when the spacecraft was in the Earth's shadow. No active thermal control was required. Most of the central interior of the spacecraft consisted of the tanks and


Foto:Syncom 1 [Boeing BSS]


combustion chamber for the apogee motor, around this were arranged two hydrogen peroxide and two nitrogen tanks and the electronics. Attitude and velocity control was provided by nitrogen jets to align the spin axis and hydrogen peroxide jets to position the satellite. Each system had two jets, one parallel and one perpendicular to the spin axis.

Syncom employed a redundant, frequency-translation, active repeater communication system designed to handle one two-way telephone or 16 one-way teletype channels. The dual transponders utilized 2-watt traveling wave tubes. Selection of receiver and transmitter was made by ground command. One receiver had a 13 megacycle bandwidth for TV transmission, the other a 5 megacycle bandwidth. The receiving gain was 2 dB through the slotted dipole antenna. Signals were received on two frequencies near 7360 megacycles and retransmitted on 1815 megacycles. The slotted dipole transmitting antenna radiated a pancake-shaped beam 25 degrees wide with its plane perpendicular to the spacecraft spin axis. There were also four whip antennas oriented normal to the spin axis for telemetry and command.

Syncom 1 was designed to be the first test of a communication satellite in geosynchronous orbit. The objective of the mission was to put the satellite into a 24 hour orbit with an inclination of about 30 degrees over the Atlantic Ocean. After launch into a highly elliptical orbit on 14 February 1963, initial communication tests conducted from the USNS Kingsport off Nigeria were successful. About 5 hours after launch the apogee motor was commanded to fire to place the satellite into a near-synchronous orbit. At about the time the motor completed its 20 second burn all contact was lost. NASA officials assumed that "the satellite's spin axis was misaligned at the time of the apogee motor firing. Because of this they have been unable to determine whether the satellite is damaged." Attempts were made to communicate with the spacecraft but contact was never re-established. Using search patterns based on data from the Kingsport's range and range rate system, the Boyden Observatory at

Bloemfontein, South Africa, sighted Syncom 1 on March 1. The spacecraft's initial orbit was computed to be 34,186 km to 37,021 km with a period of 23 hours, 46.5 minutes.

Syncom 2 was the first geosynchronous satellite. Although the period was 24 hours and the spacecraft remained at a nearly constant longitude, the orbit was inclined at 33 degrees so it was not truly geostationary but moved in an elongated figure eight pattern 33 degrees north and south of the equator. Syncom 2 was an experimental communications satellite placed over the Atlantic Ocean and Brazil at 55 degrees longitude. It began regular service on August 16th. It demonstrated the feasibility of geosynchronous satellite communications. Voice, teletype, facsimile, and data transmission tests were successfully conducted between the Lakehurst, New Jersey ground station and the USNS Kingsport while the ship was at sea off the coast of Africa and television transmissions were relayed from Lakehurst to the telstar ground station at Andover, Maine. The Syncoms were the forerunners of the Intelsat series of satellites.

Syncom 2 was launched into a high altitude orbit from Cape Canaveral on 26 July 1963. Six hours after launch the apogee motor was fired to place the spacecraft in an orbit ranging from 34,100 to 36,440 km with a drift rate of 7.5 degrees per day eastward. The apogee was then raised and the drift rate changed to 4.5 degrees per day westward toward the desired position over 55 degrees longitude. After two weeks of drifting the nitrogen jets were pulsed in a series of four firings to slow the spacecraft to near-zero drift on August 16, followed by an alignment maneuver. The final orbit was geosynchronous with an inclination of 33 degrees. Operations were turned over to the Department of Defense on 1 January 1965.

Syncom 3 was the first geostationary satellite. (The earlier geosynchronous Syncom 2 had an orbit inclined to the equator.) It was an experimental geosynchronous communications satellite placed over the equator at 180 degrees longitude in the Pacific Ocean. The satellite provided live



television coverage of the 1964 Olympic games in Tokyo, Japan and conducted various communications tests. Operations were turned over to the Department of Defense on 1 January 1965, Syncom 3 was to prove useful in the DoD's Vietnam communications.

Syncom 3 was launched from Cape Kennedy on 16 August 1964 and injected into an elliptical orbit inclined 16 degrees to the equator following a third stage yaw maneuver. The apogee motor was fired to remove most of the remaining inclination and to provide a circular near-synchronous orbit of 35,670 km x 35,908 km. The spacecraft next carried out a series of attitude and velocity maneuvers to align itself with the equator at an inclination of 0.1 degrees and to slow its speed so it drifted west to the planned location at 180 degrees longitude where its speed at altitude was synchronized with the Earth. These maneuvers were completed by 23 September, and Syncom 3 was used in a variety of communications tests, including the transmission of the Olympics, transmissions between the Philippines, USNS Kingsport, and Camp Roberts, California, and teletype transmissions to an aircraft on the San Francisco-Honolulu route

DMSP-2A F1 (P35 3, OPS 0240)

Foto:DMSP-1A

Nation: USAType / Application:

Meteorology

Operator: USAFContractors: RCA AstroEquipment: ?Configuration:Propulsion: ?Lifetime:Mass:Orbit: SSO

1963-005A

Department of Defense-Department of the Air Force (United States) . Discipline: Surveillance and Other Military

Launch Date: 1963-02-19Launch Vehicle: ScoutLaunch Site: Point Arguello, United StatesMass: 24.0 kg

KH-4 19 (OPS 0583) 1963-001X

Funding AgencyDepartment of Defense-Department of the Air Force (United States) DisciplineSurveillance and Other Military

Launch Date: 1963-02-28Launch Vehicle: Thor-AgenaLaunch Site: Vandenberg AFB, United StatesMass: 1500.0 kg

Marzo 1963

KH-6 1 (OPS 0627) KH-6 8001 Hitchhiker (1)

KH-6 (Keyhole 6, codenamed Lanyard) was an early attempt to gain higher resolution imagery, which flew only one successful mission in 1963. The KH-6 camera was programmed to tilt between fore and aft to cover the same land area twice during a photographic pass and thus



to acquire stereo coverage. The KH-6 carried a single panoramic camera, which was a modified Samos E-5 camera, integrated with Corona hardware. The ground resolution of KH-6 was ca. 1.8 m. The satellites were designed to deorbit a film capsule from space with mid-air recovery of the returning capsule by a specially equipped aircraft. KH-6 8001 was a USAF very high resolution surveillance satellite launched from Vandenberg AFB aboard a Thor-Agena rocket. It was the first of three Key-Hole LANYARD launches. The initial stimulus for this very high resolution was suspected ABM sites around Leningrad. This mission was a failure because the Agena guidance system failed. Launch Date: 1963-03-18Launch Vehicle: Thor-AgenaLaunch Site: Vandenberg AFB, United StatesMass: 1500.0 kg

Foto:Hitchhiker

Kosmos 13 (Zenit-2 #6)

Cosmos 13 was a Soviet surveillance satellite that was recovered 8 days after launch. It was a first generation, low resolution, photo surveillance mission that contained a film capsule. It also performed radiation measurements.

Launch Date: 1963-03-21Launch Vehicle: Modified SS-6 (Sapwood) with 1st Generation Upper Stage

Launch Site: Tyuratam (Baikonur Cosmodrome), U.S.S.RMass: 4730.0 kg

Saturn SA-4

Objectives

SA-4 was the last flight to test only the S-I first stage of the Saturn I rocket. As with the first three launches this would be a suborbital flight and would test the structural integrity of the rocket.

The major addition to this flight was that, in order to test the rocket's ability to deal with an engine failure during the flight, one of the engines would be programmed to shut down about 100 seconds after launch. If all went well the rocket would reroute the fuel for this engine to the other engines and have the rocket burn longer to compensate for the loss of acceleration. This was used successfully on the later Apollo 6 and Apollo 13 flights.

Also on this flight, the dummy second stage was outfitted with the aerodynamic design of the real second stage. This included vent ducts, fairings and dummy camera pods. The rocket also flew with antennae designed for the Block II version of the rocket.


http://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/samos-e5.htm


Foto:SA-4 on the pad 34

Flight

After the shortest checkout time of any rocket at 54 days, SA-4 went on to experience the longest series of holds of any mission at 120 minutes. The SA-4 launch would be the final single-stage flight.

The rocket operated perfectly through the first 100 seconds of the flight, when the Number 5 engine shut off as planned. The rocket then continued to operate properly, the propellant system rerouting the fuel to the other engines. The Number 5 engine didn't disintegrate because of heat caused by the lack of cooling propellant as some had predicted. This was an important test proving an important feature of the clustered engine design.

The rocket reached a maximum height of 129 km and a peak velocity of 5906 km per hour. At this stage it also fired retrorockets that would be used on later missions to separate the rocket stages. On SA-4 the stages weren't designed to separate but tested the retrorockets to make sure they would fire.

Abril 1963

KH-4 20 (OPS 0720) KH-4 9053

This US Air Force surveillance satellite was launched from Vandenberg AFB aboard a Thor Agena D rocket. Its film capsule was recovered 3.1 days after launch. It provided the best imagery to date


Luna 4 (E-6 #3)

Luna 4 was the USSR's first successful spacecraft of their "second generation" lunar program. The spacecraft, also referred to as an automatic interplanetary station, launched on a Molniya 8K78 on 2 April 1963 at 08:04:00 UT (A launch time of 08:16:37 UT has also been reported) Rather than being sent on a straight trajectory toward the Moon, the spacecraft was placed first in a 167 x 182 km Earth orbit and then was rocketed in a curving path towards the Moon. Luna 4 achieved the desired initial trajectory but during trans-lunar coast the Yupiter astronavigation system failed (most likely due to thermal control problems) and the spacecraft could not be oriented properly for the planned midcourse correction burn. Communications were maintained, but Luna 4 missed the Moon by about 8400 km (sources give reports of 8336.2, 8451, and 8500 km) at 13:25 UT on 5 April 1963 and entered a 89 250 x 694 000 km equatorial Earth orbit. The spacecraft transmitted at 183.6 MHz at least until 7 April. The orbit is believed to have been later perturbed into a heliocentric orbit. Luna 4 had a mass of 1422 kg and carried an imaging system and radiation detector. The structure was built by design bureau OKB-1 based on the Ye-6 satellite body. The intended mission of the probe was never revealed, it was announced it would travel to "the vicinity of the Moon". It was speculated the probe was designed to perform a soft landing on the Moon based



on the trajectory and on the later attempted landings of the Luna 5 and 6 spacecraft, as well as the advances made over the 3 years since the successful Luna 3 flyby. (And the fact that a lecture program entitled "Hitting the Moon", scheduled to be broadcast on Radio Moscow at 7:45 p.m. the evening of April 5, was cancelled.)

Launch Date: 1963-04-02Launch Vehicle: Modified SS-6 (Sapwood) with 2nd Generation Upper Stage + Escape StageLaunch Site: Tyuratam (Baikonur Cosmodrome), U.S.S.RMass: 1422.0 kg

Explorer 17 (AE A)

Explorer 17 was a spin-stabilized sphere 0.95 m in diameter. The spacecraft was vacuum sealed in order to prevent contamination of the local atmosphere. Explorer 17 carried four pressure gauges for the measurement of total neutral particle density, two mass spectrometers for the measurement of certain neutral particle concentrations, and two electrostatic probes for ion concentration and electron temperature measurements. Battery power failed on July 10, 1963. Three of the four pressure gauges and both electrostatic probes operated normally. One spectrometer malfunctioned, and the other operated intermittently.

Launch Date: 1963-04-03Launch Vehicle: Thor-Delta

Launch Site: Cape Canaveral, United StatesMass: 183.7 kg

Foto: Explorer 17 (AE A) [NASA]

Transit-5A 2

The TRANSIT system, also known as NAVSAT (for Navy Navigation Satellite System), was the first satellite navigation system to be used operationally. The system was primarily used by the US Navy to provide accurate location information to ballistic missile submarines, and was also used as a general navigation system by the Navy, as well as hydrographic and geodetic surveying.Transit 5A-2, launched on 5 April 1963, failed to achieve orbit.

1963-003X

Launch Date: 1963-04-05Launch Vehicle: ScoutLaunch Site: Point Arguello, United StatesMass: 84.0 kgFunding AgencyDepartment of Defense-Department of the Air Force (United States) DisciplineSurveillance and Other Military

Kosmos (14) (DS-P1 #2)

Experimental weather satelliteApril 6, 1963 FailureKosmos 14 (Omega #1)

Cosmos 14 was the first Russian experimental weather satellite. The satellite was originally considered to have been orbitted for the purpose of conducting various geophysical studies. However, nearly 4.5 years after its


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:USSR_Luna_lander_bus.jpg


launch, it was specifically identified as a test platform for electrotechnical systems later used to insure the orientation and stabilization of weather satellites. In addition, tests were made of power supplies using solar cell batteries. The satellite was in the form of a cylinder, with two hemispherical ends, and was 1.8 m long and 1.2 m in diameter. The control stabilization system consisted of flywheels driven by electric motors. The kinetic energy of the flywheels was dampened by using electromagnets that produced torque by interacting with the earth's magnetic field. This system provided three-axis stabilization and oriented the satellite on the center of the earth. Equipment on board monitored the operation of automatic devices that controlled the solar and chemical batteries. The satellite communicated via a 'Mayak' radio transmitter operating at a frequency of 20 MHz. The results of these tests were incorporated in Cosmos 122 and subsequent launches in the Cosmos 'Meteor' system. A similar test flight was made nearly 8 months later with Cosmos 23. These two flights comprised the first stage in the development of Russian weather satellites. Cosmos 14 reentered the atmosphere on August 29, 1963, after 137 days in orbit

Launch Date: 1963-04-13Launch Vehicle: Modified SS-4 (Sandal IRBM) plus Upper StageLaunch Site: Kapustin Yar, U.S.S.RMass: 500.0 kg

Foto:Omega (Kosmos 14)Kosmos 15 (Zenit-2 #7)

Cosmos 15 was a Soviet surveillance satellite launched aboard a Vostok rocket. Its capsule was recovered after 5 days. It was a first

generation, low resolution photo surveillance mission that also carried weather and radiation experiments.

Launch Date: 1963-04-22Launch Vehicle: Modified SS-6 (Sapwood) with 1st Generation Upper StageLaunch Site: Tyuratam (Baikonur Cosmodrome), U.S.S.RMass: 4730.0 kg

Saturn I (C1)

LC-34, Cape Canaveral NASATest Launch vehicle's Engine out capability.Successful

DMSP-2A F2 (P35 4, OPS 1298) 1963-004X

The Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) monitors meteorological, oceanographic, and solar-terrestrial physics for the United States Department of Defense.

Launch Date: 1963-04-26Launch Vehicle: Thor-AgenaLaunch Site: Point Arguello, United StatesMass: 1150.0 kg

Funding Agency: Department of Defense-Department of the Air Force (United States)

KH-5 8 (OPS 1008)

KH-5 (Keyhole 5, codenamed Argon) was the area survey component of the Corona program. The Argon camera, a a single frame camera, was integrated with standard Corona hardware like the return vehicle (SRV). The ground resolution of KH-5 was ca. 140 m. The SRV and the camera remained fixed to the Agena-D stage, which provided three axis control and propulsion during the mission. The SRV was deorbited using its own small solid rocket motor.

Codenamed Argon, the KH-5 was a series of reconnaissance satellites produced by the United States from February 1961 to August 1964. The KH-5 operated similarly to the


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Department_of_Defense

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meteorological


Corona series of satellites, as it ejected a canister of photographic film. At least 12 missions were attempted, but at least 7 resulted in failure. The satellite was manufactured by Lockheed.

Different versions of the satellite varied in mass from 1150 kilograms to 1500 kg. At least two missions deployed ELINT subsatellites. Ground resolution for the satellite was 140 meters, with a swath of 556 km. The onboard camera had a focal length of 76 mm. The purpose of the system, which produced relatively low-resolution images compared to other spy satellites, was to provide imagery for mapmaking purposes. This was one of the tasks that had originally been planned for the Samos series of satellites equipped with the (quickly cancelled) "E-4" cameras. Each satellite took photographs for less than a week before returning its film.

The satellite was in use during the same period as the KH-2-KH-4A Corona and the KH-6 Lanyard satellites. Later satellites were the KH-4B and KH-7. Images from three of the successful missions returned the first images of Antarctica from space.

1963-005X

Launch Date: 1963-02-19Launch Vehicle: ScoutLaunch Site: Point Arguello, United StatesMass: 24.0 kgFunding AgencyDepartment of Defense-Department of the Air Force (United States)


Cosmos 16 was a Soviet surveillance satellite launched aboard a Vostok rocket. Its film capsule was recovered after 10 days. Its program was partially completed. Part of the information was lost due to failure of the engine block stabilization system.


Mayo 1963

Telstar 2

Telstar 2, primarily a communications satellite, carried an experiment designed to measure the energetic proton and electron distribution in the Van Allen belts. The spacecraft spin axis shortly after launch was about 80 deg to the ecliptic plane. The initial spin rate was 180 rpm, and it varied slowly over the life of the spacecraft. Telstar 2 was essentially identical to the Telstar 1 satellite. It employed two transmitters, and data were telemetered via a PCM/FM/AM encoder. The telemetry sequence required about 1 min. Telstar 2 differed from Telstar 1 by employing provisions for scientific information to be transmitted in real time via the microwave telemetry system so that telemetry could be obtained after the 2-yr timer had turned off the VHF beacon. On May 16, 1965, at 1403 UT, during the satellite's 4736 orbit, the VHF transmitter was turned off. All systems operated normally until that time. Telstar was the first active communications satellite, and the first satellite designed to transmit telephone and high-speed data communications. Its name is used to this day for a number of television broadcasting satellites.

Launch Date: 1963-05-07Launch Vehicle: DeltaLaunch Site: Cape Canaveral, United StatesMass: 176.0 kg

Midas 7 / Dash 1 / TRS 5 (ERS 5) TRS 6 (ERS 6) / Westford 2

MIDAS 7 was the first operational MIDAS mission and the first equipped with the W-37 sensor. During its six weeks of


http://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/westford.htm





http://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/telstar-1.htm


operation, MIDAS 7 recorded nine US ICBM launches, including the first missile launch ever detected from space.

Dash 1The Dash (Density And Scale Height) satellites were 2.5-m-diameter balloons used to measure air densities at altitudes of approximately 3500 km. The area-to-mass ratio for the spacecraft was 40 sq cm/g. The orbit, originally circular, increased in eccentricity rapidly under the action of solar radiation pressure. This experiment used the variations in orbit characteristics of the Dash balloon satellite to deduce neutral air densities and to study the effect of solar radiation pressure. Other effects, such as terrestrial radiation pressure, lunar gravity, and solar gravity were also observable.

TRS 5 (ERS 5)/ TRS 6 (ERS 6)TRS 5: Solar cell damage tests TRS 6: Solar cell damage tests

Westford 2

US Air Force, MEO, Radio reflective experiment

Mercury MA-9 (Mercury 20) / Flashing Light Capsule / Balloon Subsat 2

Mercury Atlas 9 (MA-9, designated also Faith 7) was the fourth and final manned orbital flight of the Mercury program. The pilot was L. Gordon Cooper, Jr. The objectives of MA-9 were to: (1) evaluate the effects on the astronaut of approximately one day in orbital flight; (2) verify that man can function for an extended period in space as a primary operating system of the spacecraft; and, (3) evaluate in a manned one-day mission the combined performance of the astronaut and a Mercury spacecraft specifically modified for the mission. Originally scheduled for launch in April, the mission was delayed twice. The first delay (February) was due to a decision to rewire the Mercury-Atlas flight control system. The second (May 14) occurred on the

scheduled day of launch when a problem developed with the fuel pump in the diesel engine used to retract the gantry from the launch vehicle. This resulted in a delay of roughly 129 minutes after countdown had already reached T-60 minutes. Subsequent to the repairs on the gantry engine, however, a separate problem, the failure of a computer converter at the Bermuda tracking station, forced the cancellation of the launch at T-13 minutes. The launch was rescheduled for the following day (May 15). The countdown then proceeded without a hitch until T-11 minutes and 30 seconds when a problem developed in the guidance equipment and a brief hold was called until it was resolved. Another hold was called at the T-19 second mark to ascertain whether the systems had gone into automatic sequencing as planned. The liftoff ended up being excellent, however, with flight sequencing (booster engine cut-off, escape tower jettison, sustainer engine cut-off) operating perfectly and the spacecraft being inserted into orbit at a velocity described as being "almost unbelievably correct". A number of alterations were made to the MA-9 spacecraft, most of them due to the extended duration of the flight. Among these were the increased capacity of several life support system components (additional oxygen and water, increased urine and condensate capacity, etc.), a larger capacity fuel tank, and larger capacity batteries (two 3,000 W-hour vs. two 1,500 W-hour). Deleted from the flight, due to weight considerations, were several backup or other components deemed unnecessary. These included the periscope, the backup UHF voice transmitter, the rate control system, and the backup telemetry transmitter. Also installed was a slow-scan television unit for in-flight evaluation in monitoring the astronaut and instruments. A number of improvements were also made to the pressure suit worn by Cooper. These included a mechanical seal for the helmet, new gloves with an improved inner liner and link netting between the inner and outer fabrics at the wrist, and a torso section redesigned for increased mobility. The boots were also now integrated with



the suit to provide increased comfort for the longer mission, to reduce weight, and to decrease the time required to don the suit. Another change moved the life vest from the center of the chest to a pocket on the lower left leg, thus reducing the bulkiness from the suit and, again, providing more comfort during the flight. A number of in-flight experiments were planned for and carried out during the MA-9 flight. They included two visual acquisition and perception studies, several photographic studies, two radiation packages, a tethered balloon experiment, a study of the behavior of fluids in zero gravity, and a micrometeorite study. A flashing beacon was deployed on the third orbit and Cooper reported that he was able to see it on the night side of the fourth orbit. Attempts were made to deploy the balloon, both of which failed. On the seventeenth orbit Cooper photographed the zodiacal light. Cooper also became the first to sleep in orbit. In addition to a planned rest period beginning the tenth orbit, he also drifted off to sleep during the second orbit for a short period. (In fact, Cooper had also reported taking a short nap during the countdown phase.) During the planned sleep period Cooper's suit temperature rose and he roused, reset the temperature control, and resumed his rest. The first malfunction of concern on MA-9 occurred during the nineteenth orbit when the 0.05g light came on. The light, sensitive to changes in gravity, normally lit during reentry. The pilot proceeded to check out the necessary attitude information and all telemetry indicated the spacecraft was in the correct orbit. It was therefore concluded that the light was erroneous. However, because of this, it was determined that the potential existed that not all of the automatic system for reentry would function. The pilot was advised to use the manual mode for reentry, becoming the first astronaut to use this method exclusively. During the flight, the spacecraft attained a maximum velocity of 28,075 km/hour and an altitude of 265 km. The capsule reentered under the manual control of the pilot after completing 22 orbits, landing

about 130 km southeast of Midway Island in the Pacific Ocean, about 6.4 km from the prime recovery ship, USS Kearsarge. The duration of the flight was 34 hours 19 minutes and 49 seconds during which Cooper travelled nearly 875,000 km.

El equipo humano

Los primeros estadounidenses en ser escogidos para los vuelos espaciales fueron seleccionados de un grupo mayor de 110 pilotos militares elegidos por su experiencia en vuelos de prueba y porque reunían las características físicas necesarias. En 1957 se seleccionaron 7 astronautas para las misiones Mercury:

Alan B. Shephard Virgil I. Grissom Gordon Cooper Walter Schirra Deke Slayton (apartado del proyecto

por una afección cardíaca) John Glenn Scott Carpenter

Solamente volaron 6 de los 7 astronautas seleccionados. Deke Slayton fue apartado de la lista de vuelos debido a un problema de corazón. Slayton continuó en el programa espacial como controlador de misión hasta 1975, cuando finalmente voló en la misión


http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/1975

http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Glenn

http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gordon_Cooper

http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virgil_I._Grissom



Apollo-Soyuz, de carácter meramente político.

El primer vuelo fue el de Alan Shephard a bordo de la Freedom 7 (freedom significa libertad), los astronautas nombraban a sus propias naves y todos lo hicieron agregando la terminación “7” en reconocimiento del grupo original de 7 "astronautas".

Con tal sólo 12,33 m³, la cápsula Mercury era lo suficientemente grande como para permitir la entrada de sólo un astronauta. Dentro de la cápsula había 120 conmutadores, 55 interruptores eléctricos, 30 fusibles y 35 palancas mecánicas.

Las Misiones Mercury

Para la seguridad de la cápsula los ingenieros la habían probado la primera vez con un mono rhesus conocido como Ham el Chimpancé, y posteriormente pasaron a hacer otra prueba pero en esta oportunidad con un maniquí electrónico que respiraba, lo que le permitió a los científicos determinar la estabilidad del ambiente interno de la nave.

Una vez terminada la fase de experimentación y entrenamiento, el 5 de mayo de 1961 Alan Shephard realizaba el primer vuelo suborbital estadounidense. Dado el liderazgo soviético en el espacio, el gobierno estadounidense presentó al mundo este vuelo suborbital como un vuelo espacial. No sería hasta nueve meses más tarde, el 20 de febrero de 1962 cuando el astronauta John Glenn se convertiría en el primer estadounidense en orbitar la Tierra, repitiendo así la hazaña de Yuri Gagarin. En aquel momento los soviéticos ya habían lanzado 48 misiones orbitales y Valentina Tereshkova se convertiría en la primera mujer en el espacio, veinte años antes que la primera estadounidense en el espacio Sally Ride.

Los seis vuelos de Mercury totalizaron 2 días y 6 h de vuelo espacial y permitieron aprender que no sólo los humanos podían llegar al espacio (como ya habían demostrado los soviéticos) sino que también la necesidad de su presencia era imperativa

para el éxito de las misiones. Los ingenieros estadounidenses de tierra aprendieron de estas misiones la necesidad de utilizar redes de comunicaciones mundiales que les permitieran mantener un contacto constante con los vuelos tripulados.

El último vuelo de una nave Mercury fue el del Mercury Atlas 9 en la cápsula Faith 7 con L. Gordon Cooper, Jr. el 15 de mayo de 1963, una misión que concluyó al día siguiente. Una vez finalizado el proyecto, la atención del programa de vuelos había cambiado cuando el presidente John F. Kennedy anunciara durante una sesión del Congreso la meta de llevar un estadounidense a la Luna y traerlo a salvo de vuelta.

Para 1963 solamente 500 de las 2.500 personas trabajando en el Centro de Vuelos Tripulados de la NASA seguían trabajando para el programa Mercury (los 2000 restantes estaban ocupados trabajando en los programas Gemini y Apollo con los que la NASA lograría mayores avances y su única victoria frente a los soviéticos).

Launch Date: 1963-05-15Launch Vehicle: Atlas DLaunch Site: Cape Canaveral, United StatesMass: 1360.8 kg

Flashing Light Capsule

This small subsatellite ejected from the Mercury MA-9 space craft is known mostly as Flashing Light Subsatellite or Flashing Light Unit. It weighted only 5 kg and contained batteries and two Xe-Flash lights. The


http://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/mercury-ma-mr.htm

http://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/flashing-light-subsat.htm

http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Programa_Apollo

http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proyecto_Gemini

http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luna

http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_F._Kennedy

http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_F._Kennedy


http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/15_de_mayo

http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercury_Atlas_9

http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valentina_Tereshkova

http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valentina_Tereshkova

http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uni%C3%B3n_Sovi%C3%A9tica

http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yuri_Gagarin

http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tierra


http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/20_de_febrero

http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/20_de_febrero




http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ham_el_Chimpanc%C3%A9

http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ham_el_Chimpanc%C3%A9

http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macaca_mulatta

http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metro_c%C3%BAbico

http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo-Soyuz


purpose was to test the visual acquisition of other space vehicles by the astronaut.

Flashing Light Unit (center) with deployer [NASA]

KH-6 2 (OPS 0924) KH-6 8002

This US Air Force very high resolution (2') surveillance satellite was launched from Vandenberg AFB onboard a Thor Agena D rocket. This was the second launch KH-6 LANYARD satellite. The initial stimulus for the added resolution was suspected ABM sites around Leningrad. The best resolution achieved was 6', the same as KH-4B, so LANYARD was discontinued after 3 launches in 1963. This spacecraft achieved orbit but the Agena rocket failed in flight and no film data were returned. Launch Date: 1963-05-18Launch Vehicle: Thor Augmented Delta-Agena DLaunch Site: Vandenberg AFB, United StatesMass: 1500.0 kg

Kosmos 17 (DS-A1 #2)

Cosmos 17 was a Soviet DS type military satellite launched from Kapustin Yar. DS (Dnepropetrovsk Sputnik) were small satellites built by Yangel's OKB-586 / KB Yuzhnoye in the Ukraine for launch by the same KB's Kosmos launch vehicles. They were used for a wide range of military and scientific research and component proving tests.

Launch Date: 1963-05-22Launch Vehicle: Modified SS-4 (Sandal IRBM) plus Upper Stage

Launch Site: Kapustin Yar, U.S.S.RMass: 322.0 kg


Cosmos 18 was a Soviet surveillance satellite launched onboard a Vostok rocket. Its capsule was recovered after 9 days. It was a first generation, low resolution photo surveillance mission that also performed radiation measurements


Junio 1963

Kosmos (19A) (DS-MT #(1 )

Lanzamiento fallido

Nation: U.S.S.R.Type / Application:

Cosmic Radiation

Operator: Contractors: Yuzhnoye Equipment:Configuration:

DS Bus

KH-4 21 (OPS 0954) KH-4 9054

This US Air Force surveillance satellite was launched from Vandenberg AFB aboard an Atlas Agena B rocket. Some of the film imagery was seriously affected by corona.

Launch Date: 1963-06-12Launch Vehicle: Atlas-AgenaLaunch Site: Vandenberg AFB, United StatesMass: 1500.0 kg

Midas 8 /TRS 7 (ERS 7)/TRS 8 (ERS 8)

Fue un lanzamiento fallido



Vostok 5 (Vostok-3KA #7)

Vostok 5, the fifth spacecraft in the USSRs manned flight series, was piloted by cosmonaut Valeriy F. Bykovskiy. The spacecraft consisted of a nearly spherical cabin covered with ablative material. There were three small portholes and external radio antennas. Radios, a life support system, instrumentation, and an ejection seat were contained in the manned cabin. This cabin was attached to a service module that carried chemical batteries, orientation rockets, the main retro system, and added support equipment for the total system, This module was separated from the manned cabin on reentry. This flight lasted for 5 days and set a Soviet manned duration record of 119 hr 6 min. Vostok 5 completed 81 orbits before landing northwest of Karaganda on June 19, 1963. During this flight Vostok 5 flew with Vostok 6 for 3 days maintaining two-way radio communications and establishing communications with earth at regular intervals. TV pictures of the cosmonauts in their cabins were relayed to earth, and a series of biomedical and scientific experiments were conducted.

Vostok 5 (Russian: Восток-5, Orient 5 or East 5) was a joint mission of the Soviet space program together with Vostok 6; as with the previous pair of Vostok 3 and Vostok 4 the two Vostok spacecraft came close to one another in orbit and established a radio link.

Cosmonaut Valery Bykovsky was originally intended to stay in orbit for eight days, but the mission details changed many times due to elevated levels of solar flare activity at the time and he was eventually ordered back after five days. This remains today the record for solo manned flight in earth orbit.

A problem with the spacecraft's waste collection system is reported to have made conditions "unpleasant" in the capsule. The only other difficulty encountered was that, like on Vostok 1 and Vostok 2, the re-entry module failed to separate cleanly from the service module when it was time for Bykovsky to come home.


Solrad 6 1963-021E / LOFTI 2B LOFTI 2 A / Surcal 3 / SURCAL 1B / Radose 1 / Poppy 2 (NRL-PL 112)

Solrad 6 was a joint US Air Force, US Navy satellite launched by a Thor Agena D rocket from the Western Test Range. It contained instruments to conduct solar radiation experiments.

Foto: Explorer 30 (Solrad 8) [NRL]Solrad 6, 7A, 7B similar



The LOFTI (Low Frequency Trans Ionospheric Satellite) satellites were produced as a cooperative effort with the Radio Division. Launched in 1961 and 1962, LOFTI attempted to determine whether very low frequency (VLF) energy could penetrate through the ionosphere and be received by submerged submarines. The satellites demonstrated that under many ionospheric conditions VLF signals were extremely attenuated and could not be detected, making them unreliable for submarine communication.Lofti 2A was a US military research satellite launched by a Thor Agena D rocket. It contained VLF experiments.

Foto:LOFTI 2B [NRL]

SURCAL 1C was a US Air Force, US Navy technology satellite launched by a Thor Agena D rocket. It conducted surveillance calibration.RADOSE (Radiation Dosimeter) was a joint US Air Force, US Navy research satellite launched by a Thor Agena D rocket. It took radiation dosimeter measurements. POPPY is the code name given to a series of U.S. intelligence satellites operated by the National Reconnaissance Office. The POPPY satellites recorded ELINT data, targeting radar installations in the Soviet Union.The POPPY program was a continuation within NRO's Program C of the Naval Research Laboratory's Galactic Radiation and Background (GRAB) ELINT program, also known as Tattletale. The National Security Agency was given the responsibility of collecting, interpreting, and reporting the signals intercepted.

Foto:This is a POPPY satellite of the multiface design.

Transit-5A 3

Transit 5A3 was a US Navy navigation satellite launched by a Scout X-3 rocket. It carried a SNAP 3 nuclear power source. Transit, one of the first operational satellite systems, was also known as the Navy Navigation Satellite (NNS). The Transit spacecraft were developed for updating the inertial navigation systems on board US Navy Polaris submarines, and later for civilian use. Transit receivers used the known characteristics of the satellite's orbit, measured the Doppler shift of the satellite's radio signal, and thereby calculated the receivers position on the earth. As a single spacecraft travelled overhead, the user measured the Doppler shift over a 15 minute period by receiving timing marks and satellite orbital information on two separate frequencies, 149.99 and 399.97 MHz. These signals were corrected for ionospheric refraction and the information was then fed into the users navigation system. Individual Transit satellites operated for over 10 years. Technical break- throughs during the program included gravity gradient stabilization, the use of radio-isotope thermoelectic generators (RTG), and navigation satellite technologies later used in the GPS system. Transit was superseded by the Navstar global positioning system. The use of the satellites for navigation was discontinued


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:POPPY_multiface.jpg


at the end of 1996 but the satellites continued transmitting and became the Navy Ionospheric Monitoring System (NIMS).

Launch Date: 1963-06-16Launch Vehicle: ScoutLaunch Site: Point Arguello, United StatesMass: 55.0 kg

Vostok 6 (Vostok-3KA #8)

Vostok 6, the last spacecraft in the USSRs first manned flight series, carried Valentina V. Tereshkova, the first woman in space. The spacecraft consisted of a nearly spherical cabin covered with ablative material. There were three small portholes and external radio antennas. Radios, a life support system, instrumentation, and an ejection seat were contained in the manned cabin. This cabin was attached to a service module that carried chemical batteries, orientation rockets, the main retro system, and added support equipment for the total system. This module was separated from the manned cabin on reentry. This flight lasted for 3 days and, for most of this time, Vostok 6 flew with Vostok 5 maintaining two-way radio communications and establishing communications with earth at regular intervals. TV pictures of the cosmonauts in their cabins were relayed to earth, and a series of biomedical and scientific experiments were conducted. After completing 48 orbits in 70.7 hr, the spacecraft landed on June 19, 1963, northeast of Karaganda. Launch Date: 1963-06-16Launch Vehicle: Modified SS-6 (Sapwood) with 1st Generation Upper StageLaunch Site: Tyuratam (Baikonur Cosmodrome), U.S.S.RMass: 4713.0 kg

Foto: Valentina V. Tereshkova,

Tiros 7 (A 52)

TIROS 7 (Television and InfraRed Observation Satellite) was a spin-stabilized meteorological spacecraft designed to test experimental television techniques and infrared equipment. The satellite was in the form of an 18-sided right prism, 107 cm in diameter and 56 cm high. The top and sides of the spacecraft were covered with approximately 9000 1- by 2-cm silicon solar cells. It was equipped with two independent television camera subsystems for taking cloudcover pictures, plus an omnidirectional radiometer and a five-channel scanning radiometer for measuring radiation from the earth and its atmosphere. The satellite spin rate was maintained between 8 and 12 rpm by use of five diametrically opposed pairs of small, solid-fuel thrusters. A magnetic attitude control device permitted the satellite spin axis to be oriented to within 1 to 2 deg of a predetermined attitude. The flight control system also optimized the performance of the solar cells and TV cameras and protected the five-channel infrared radiometer from prolonged exposure to direct sunlight. The spacecraft performed normally until December 31, 1965, and sporadically until February 3, 1967. The spacecraft was operated for an additional 1.5 years to collect engineering data. It was deactivated on June 3, 1968. A more complete description of the spacecraft and experiment configuration is presented in


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Tereshkova_Heureka2.jpg


the 'Journal of the British Interplanetary Society,' Vol 19, pp 386-409, 1963-64.

Launch Date: 1963-06-19Launch Vehicle: Thor-DeltaLaunch Site: Cape Canaveral, United StatesMass: 134.7 kg

KH-4 22 (OPS 0999) KH-4 9056 Hitchhiker 1

This US Air Force surveillance satellite was launched from Vandenberg AFB aboard a Thor Agena D rocket. This payload consisted of an experimental camera. Film was affected by light leaks.

Hitchhiker 1

Hitch Hiker was a US Air Force research satellite launched from Vandenberg AFB aboard a Thor Agena D rocket along with KH-4 9056. Its mission was to collect radiation data Launch Date: 1963-06-27Launch Vehicle: Thor-AgenaLaunch Site: Vandenberg AFB, United StatesMass: 79.8 kg

GRS (CRL 1)

This Cambridge Research Lab (CRL) Geophysical Research Satellite was a geophysics experiment test. It carried three experiments: Aerospace Composition

A magnetic mass spectrometer was flown to measure the distributions of the ion species in the topside ionosphere between 420 and 1200 km. All species having mass-to-charge ratios from 1 to 32 could be measured.

Retarding Potential Analyzer

The instrumentation for this experiment included a retarding potential analyzer that, through proper sequencing of appropriate voltages, was sensitive to photoelectrons having energies of up to 60 eV, positive ions of up to 30 eV.

Personal Hazards Associated with Space Radiation

Samos-F2 4 (OPS 1440) / Ferret 3

The ELINT satellites known for decades only as "Heavy Ferrets" are now known to be a program associated with the Samos (Satellite and Missile Observation System) project. Only the first Samos-F2 has been identified for sure. Probably there are two series, the second, tentatively asigned the name Samos-F3, are possibly launched under an other, still unknown name.

Ferret 3 was a US Air Force ELINT satellite launched from Vandenberg AFB aboard a Thor Agena B rocket. The Ferrets catalogued Soviet air defence radars, eavesdropped on voice communications, and taped missile and satellite telemetry.

Julio 1963

Kosmos (19b) (Zenit-2 #(10))

Lanzamiento fallido de la serie cosmos

KH-7 1 (OPS 1467)

The Program 206 satellite, carrying the KH-7 (Keyhole 7) camera system (codenamed Gambit), was the first successful high resolution space reconnaissance program. It was managed by NRO's Program A, the USAF-led segment of the National Reconnaissance Program managed from Los Angeles AFB in El Segundo, California.

The satellite was a US Air Force system with long focal length cameras providing sufficiently high resolution to identify and measure the properties of targets such as missiles and aircraft, in contrast to the lower resolution CORONA system which was only able to locate such targets. Its success caused the cancellation of the troubled KH-6 LANYARD program after only three launches.




The main spacecraft was a 3-axis-stabilized satellite which separated from the Agena and contained the payload, camera system and reentry vehicle (SRV). It was known as the OCV (Orbital Control Vehicle). It The OCV was made by General Electric's King of Prussia plant, and the RV by GE's West Philadelphia plant. Program 206 used SRV developed for CORONA. The OCV body was a long cylinder, 1.5 meters in diameter and about 5.0 meters long, ending in a conical adapter connecting it to the SRV. The SRV was a 0.8m long, 0.7m diameter rounded cone with a mass of about 160 kg containing a Thiokol Star 12 retrorocket, with a mass of 33 kg full and 10 kg empty. The OCV was launched into a low altitude sun-synchronous orbit on an Atlas Agena D rocket, with the Agena D stage initially attached.

Reportedly the early flights had stabilization problems and the Agena was left attached to provide back-up attitude control. Published orbital data implies that the GAMBIT spacecraft generally operated separately from the Agena in orbit.Only on the early flights the Agena didn't separate until after SRV recovery, allowing tests of the OCV stabilization system without risking the imaging mission.

Thirty-eight KH-7s had been launched, with two failing to reach orbit and three others failing to return imagery.

Launch Date: 1963-07-12Launch Vehicle: Atlas-Agena DLaunch Site: Point Arguello, United StatesMass: 2000.0 kg

Midas 9 / Dash 2 / TRS 9 (ERS 9) TRS 10 (ERS 10) MIDAS 7

Midas (Military Defence Alarm System)The Dash 2 satellite was a 2.5-m-diameter balloon used to measure air densities at altitudes of approximately 3500 km. The area-to-mass ratio for the spacecraft was 40 sq cm/g. The orbit, originally circular, increased in eccentricity rapidly under the action of solar radiation pressure. Dash 2 reentered the earth's atmosphere on April 12, 1971.


TRS 9: Solar cell damage tests TRS 10: Solar cell damage tests

KH-4 23 (OPS 1266) KH-4 9057

This US Air Force surveillance satellite was launched from Vandenberg AFB aboard a Thor Agena D rocket. Launch Date: 1963-07-19Launch Vehicle: Thor Augmented Delta-Agena DLaunch Site: Vandenberg AFB, United StatesMass: 1150.0 kg

Syncom 2

Syncom 2 was the first geosynchronous satellite. Although the period was 24 hours and the spacecraft remained at a nearly constant longitude, the orbit was inclined at 33 degrees so it was not truly geostationary but moved in an elongated figure eight pattern 33 degrees north and south of the equator. Syncom 2 was an experimental communications satellite placed over the Atlantic Ocean and Brazil at 55 degrees longitude. It began regular service on August 16th. It demonstrated the feasibility of geosynchronous satellite communications. Voice, teletype, facsimile, and data transmission tests were successfully conducted between the Lakehurst, New Jersey ground station and the USNS Kingsport while the ship was at sea off the coast of Africa and television transmissions were relayed from Lakehurst to the telstar ground station at Andover, Maine. The Syncoms were the forerunners of the Intelsat series of satellites. Mission ProfileSyncom 2 was launched into a high altitude orbit from Cape Canaveral on 26 July 1963. Six hours after launch the apogee motor was fired to place the spacecraft in an orbit ranging from 34,100 to 36,440 km with a drift rate of 7.5 degrees per day eastward. The apogee



was then raised and the drift rate changed to 4.5 degrees per day westward toward the desired position over 55 degrees longitude. After two weeks of drifting the nitrogen jets were pulsed in a series of four firings to slow the spacecraft to near-zero drift on August 16, followed by an alignment maneuver. The final orbit was geosynchronous with an inclination of 33 degrees. Operations were turned over to the Department of Defense on 1 January 1965. Spacecraft and SubsystemsThe Syncom satellites were 71 cm diameter, 39 cm high cylinders. The fully fueled mass of the spacecraft was 68 kg. The nozzle of the solid propellant apogee motor (1000-lb-thrust designed to impart a velocity increase of 1431 meters/sec) extended from the bottom of the cylinder and a co-axial slotted array communications antenna from the top. The total height including the nozzle was 64 cm. The radial exterior was covered with 3840 P-on-n silicon solar cells which provided direct power of 29 watts the 99 percent of the time the spacecraft was in sunlight. Nickle-cadmium rechargeable batteries provided power when the spacecraft was in the Earth's shadow. No active thermal control was required. Most of the central interior of the spacecraft consisted of the tanks and combustion chamber for the apogee motor, around this were arranged two hydrogen peroxide and two nitrogen tanks and the electronics. Attitude and velocity control was provided by nitrogen jets to align the spin axis and hydrogen peroxide jets to position the satellite. Each system had two jets, one parallel and one perpendicular to the spin axis. Syncom employed a redundant, frequency-translation, active repeater communication system designed to handle one two-way telephone or 16 one-way teletype channels. The dual transponders utilized 2-watt traveling wave tubes. Selection of receiver and transmitter was made by ground command. One receiver had a 13 megacycle bandwidth for TV transmission, the other a 5 megacycle bandwidth. The receiving gain was 2 dB through the slotted dipole antenna. Signals were received on

two frequencies near 7360 megacycles and retransmitted on 1815 megacycles. The slotted dipole transmitting antenna radiated a pancake-shaped beam 25 degrees wide with its plane perpendicular to the spacecraft spin axis. There were also four whip antennas oriented normal to the spin axis for telemetry and command.


First generation Syncom satellite.

KH-6 3 (OPS 1370) KH-6 8003

This US Air Force surveillance satellite was launched from Vandenberg AFB aboard a Thor Agena D rocket. This was the third and final KH-6 (LANYARD) mission that was designed to provide very high resoultion photos (2'), but the best resolution achieved was 6', the same as KH-4B, so LANYARD was discountinued after this 3rd flight in 1963. The initial stimulus for this added resolution was suspected ABM sites around Leningrad. The camera failed after 32 hours. The mission was deemed a success but the image quality was poor.

Launch Date: 1963-07-31Launch Vehicle: Thor Augmented Delta-Agena D


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Syncom.jpg


Launch Site: Vandenberg AFB, United StatesMass: 39.0 kg

Agosto 1963

Kosmos 19 (DS-P1 #3)

Cosmos 19 was a Soviet DS type military satellite launched from Kapustin Yar. DS (Dnepropetrovsk Sputnik) were small satellites built by Yangel's OKB-586 / KB Yuzhnoye in the Ukraine for launch by the same KB's Kosmos launch vehicles. They were used for a wide range of military and scientific research and component proving tests.


Kosmos (20) (DS-A1 #(x))

Cosmos 20 was a Soviet surveillance satellite launched from the Baikonur site aboard a Vostok rocket. Its capsule was recovered after eight days

Launch Date: 1963-10-18Launch Vehicle: VostokLaunch Site: Tyuratam (Baikonur Cosmodrome), U.S.S.RMass: 4730.0 kg

KH-4A 1 (OPS 1419) KH-4A 1001

This US Air Force surveillance satellite was launched from Vandenberg AFB aboard a Thor Agena D rocket. It was the first KH-4A mission. Some of the film was fogged. It consisted of two buckets but 1001-2 was never recovered.


KH-5 9 (OPS 1561) / KH-4 9033

Lampo

This US Air Force surveillance satellite was launched from Vandenberg AFB aboard a Thor Agena D rocket. It deployed an ELINT subsatellite and was considered to be the best mission to date in the Argon program.


1963-035B

This US Air Force ELINT subsatellite was launched from Vandenberg AFB along with KH-4 9033. It conducted radar monitoring.

Launch Date: 1963-08-29Launch Vehicle: Thor Augmented Delta-Agena DLaunch Site: Vandenberg AFB, United StatesSeptiembre

KH-7 2 (OPS 1947)

This US Air Force surveillance satellite was launched from Vandenberg AFB aboard an Atlas Agena D rocket.


KH-4A 2 (OPS 1353) KH-4A 1002

This US Air Force surveillance satellite was launched from Vandenberg AFB aboard a Thor Agena D rocket.


DMSP-1A F3 (P35 5, OPS 1610) 1963-007X



Launch Date: 1963-09-27Launch Vehicle: Thor-AgenaLaunch Site: Point Arguello, United StatesMass: 40.0 kgFunding AgencyDepartment of Defense-Department of the Air Force (United States) DisciplineSurveillance and Other Military

Transit 5BN-1 Transit 5B-1 Transit 5E-1 (SN 39)

From the early stages of the Transit program, it was recognized that nuclear power provided an alternative to solar power for satellites, but it was not clear which would be better for the Transit satellites. Nuclear power, tested on Transit 4A and 4B, showed good results, so it was decided to have two series of prototype operational satellites. The Transit 5A series, which evolved into the Transit 5C-1, had solar power, whereas the Transit 5B series had nuclear power.Transit 5BN-1 was launched on 28 September 1963 into an excellent orbit. Unfortunately, the satellite developed a problem that kept it from being fully useful as an operational satellite for navigation: It achieved gravity-gradient stabilization upside down, and thus the signal level was too low for operational users with lowgain antennas.

Foto:Transit-5BN 1 [USNavy]

The 5E series were launched to obtain environmental data in the vicinity of the operational orbit of Transit satellites and used solar power

Foto:Transit-5E 1 [USNavy]

1963-038C

The magnetically aligned 1963-038C spacecraft was designed to measure energetic charged particles, magnetic fields, and the solar spectrum, and to acquire geodetic data. After August 1969, the satellite, which attained a nearly circular polar orbit, sampled its environment only infrequently. The last data were transmitted during November 1974. The mission was highly successful.

Launch Date: 1963-09-28Launch Vehicle: ThorLaunch Site: Vandenberg AFB, United StatesMass: 59.0 kg

Octubre 1963

Vela 1 / Vela 2 / ERS 12

Vela 1A was one of two spin-stabilized (2.1 rev/sec) 124-kg satellites comprising the first launch in a series of six Vela launches. The orbits of the two satellites on each launch were basically circular at about 17 earth radii and were spaced 180 deg apart. Their objectives were to monitor nuclear weapons explosions in space and to study x-rays, gamma-rays, neutrons, and



charged particles as the satellites passed through interplanetary space, the bow shock, the magnetosheath, and the magnetotail. The satellite operated in either a real-time mode (one data frame/sec) or a memory store mode (one data frame every 256 sec). The spacecraft was operated in the real-time mode about 40 percent of the time and in the store mode for the rest of the time until the next Vela launch. At this time, tracking priority was given to the new spacecraft, and the older spacecraft was operated in the store mode only. There had been less and less data coverage of these satellites with each succeeding launch.

Foto: Vela 1 [USAF]

Vela 1B was one of two spin stabilized (2.1 rev/sec) 134-kg satellites comprising the first launch in a series of six Vela launches. The orbits of the two satellites on each launch were basically circular at about 17 earth radii and were spaced 180 deg apart. Their objectives were to monitor nuclear weapons explosions in space and to study x-rays, gamma-rays, neutrons, and charged particles as the satellites passed through interplanetary space, the bow shock, the magnetosheath, and the magnetotail. The satellite operated in either a real-time mode (one data frame/sec) or a memory store mode (one data frame every 256 sec). The spacecraft was operated in the real-time mode about 40 percent of the time and in the store mode for the rest of the time until the next Vela launch. At this time, tracking priority was given to the new spacecraft, and the older spacecraft was

operated in the store mode only. There had been less and less data coverage of these satellites with each succeeding launch.

Launch Date: 1963-10-17Launch Vehicle: Atlas-Agena DLaunch Site: Cape Canaveral, United StatesMass: 150.0 kg

ERS 12: Electron and proton detectorsTRS 5 (ERS 12) was an Air Force satellite launched from Cape Canaveral along with Vela 1 and 2.

TRS Mk3, Mk2, Mk1, OV3, ORS Mk1, Mk2, Mk3 (left to tight) [NASA]


Cosmos 20 was a Soviet surveillance satellite launched from the Baikonur site aboard a Vostok rocket. Its capsule was recovered after eight days.

Launch Date: 1963-10-18Launch Vehicle: VostokLaunch Site: Tyuratam (Baikonur Cosmodrome), U.S.S.RMass: 4730.0 kg

This mission has been tentatively identified as a technology test of the Venera series space probes. It may have been an attempted Venus flyby, presumably similar to the later Cosmos 27 mission, or it may have been intended from the beginning to remain in geocentric orbit. In any case, the spacecraft never left Earth orbit after insertion by the SL-6/A-2-e launcher. The orbit decayed on 14 November, three days after launch. Beginning in 1963, the name Cosmos was given to Soviet spacecraft which remained in Earth orbit, regardless of whether that



was their intended final destination. The designation of this mission as an intended planetary probe is based on evidence from Soviet and non-Soviet sources and historical documents. Typically Soviet planetary missions were initially put into an Earth parking orbit as a launch platform with a rocket engine and attached probe. The probes were then launched toward their targets with an engine burn with a duration of roughly 4 minutes. If the engine misfired or the burn was not completed, the probes would be left in Earth orbit and given a Cosmos designation

Kosmos (21) (DS-A1 #(x))

This mission has been tentatively identified as a technology test of the Venera series space probes. It may have been an attempted Venus flyby, presumably similar to the later Cosmos 27 mission, or it may have been intended from the beginning to remain in geocentric orbit. In any case, the spacecraft never left Earth orbit after insertion by the SL-6/A-2-e launcher. The orbit decayed on 14 November, three days after launch. Beginning in 1963, the name Cosmos was given to Soviet spacecraft which remained in Earth orbit, regardless of whether that was their intended final destination. The designation of this mission as an intended planetary probe is based on evidence from Soviet and non-Soviet sources and historical documents. Typically Soviet planetary missions were initially put into an Earth parking orbit as a launch platform with a rocket engine and attached probe. The probes were then launched toward their targets with an engine burn with a duration of roughly 4 minutes. If the engine misfired or the burn was not completed, the probes would be left in Earth orbit and given a Cosmos designationLaunch Date: 1963-11-11Launch Vehicle: Modified SS-6 (Sapwood) with 2nd Generation Upper Stage + Escape StageLaunch Site: Tyuratam (Baikonur Cosmodrome), U.S.S.RMass: 890.0 kg

KH-7 3 (OPS 2196) KH 7-03

This US Air Force surveillance satellite was launched from Vandenberg AFB aboard an Atlas Agena D rocket. Codenamed Gambit, the KH-7 was a reconnaissance satellite used by the United States from July 1963 to June 1967. Like the older CORONA system, it acquired imagery intelligence by taking photographs and returning the undeveloped film to earth. It is also known as Air Force Program 206


1963-041BThis US Air Force subsatellite was launched from Vandenberg AFB on the same rocket with KH 7-03 (63-041A).

Launch Date: 1963-10-25Launch Vehicle: Atlas-Agena DLaunch Site: Vandenberg AFB, United States

KH-5 10 (OPS 2437) KH-5 9059ª SSF-A 1/ Hitch Hiker 2

This US Air Force surveillance satellite was launched from Vandenberg AFB aboard a Thor Agena D rocket.


Hitch Hiker 2 was an Air Force ELINT satellite that performed radar monitoring. It was launched along with KH-5 9059A (63-042A) from Vandenberg AFB aboard a Thor Agena D rocket.

Noviembre 1963


http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraftDisplay.do?id=1963-042B

http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraftDisplay.do?id=1963-042A



Polyot 1 (I1 1)

Polyot 1 was the first of two spacecraft fitted with special controls to allow for maneuverability in space. The spacecraft was able to change inclination as well as apogee and perigee. It also carried scientific instruments, a telemtry system, and radio transmitters

Launch Date: 1963-11-01Launch Vehicle: Modified SS-6 (Sapwood) with Maneuverable Upper Stage (may be A-1-M)Launch Site: Tyuratam (Baikonur Cosmodrome), U.S.S.RMass: 600.0 kg

Foto:Polyot 1 (I1)

KH-4 24 (OPS 2268) 1963-008X

Launch Date: 1963-11-09Launch Vehicle: Thor-AgenaLaunch Site: Vandenberg AFB, United StatesMass: 1150.0 kgFunding AgencyDepartment of Defense-Department of the Air Force (United States)

Foto: KH-4 18 [USAF]

Kosmos 21 (Zond Test)

This mission has been tentatively identified as a technology test of the Venera series space probes. It may have been an attempted Venus flyby, presumably similar to the later Cosmos 27 mission, or it may have been intended from the beginning to remain in geocentric orbit. In any case, the spacecraft never left Earth orbit after insertion by the SL-6/A-2-e launcher. The orbit decayed on 14 November, three days after launch. Beginning in 1963, the name Cosmos was given to Soviet spacecraft which remained in Earth orbit, regardless of whether that was their intended final destination. The designation of this mission as an intended planetary probe is based on evidence from Soviet and non-Soviet sources and historical documents. Typically Soviet planetary missions were initially put into an Earth parking orbit as a launch platform with a rocket engine and attached probe. The probes were then launched toward their targets with an engine burn with a duration of roughly 4 minutes. If the engine misfired or the burn was not completed, the probes would be left in Earth orbit and given a Cosmos designation.

Launch Date: 1963-11-11Launch Vehicle: Modified SS-6 (Sapwood)



http://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/polyot-1.htm


with 2nd Generation Upper Stage + Escape StageLaunch Site: Tyuratam (Baikonur Cosmodrome), U.S.S.RMass: 890.0 kg


Cosmos 22 was a Soviet surveillance satellite launched from the Baikonur site aboard a Soyuz rocket. It was a 2nd generation, high resolution photo spacecraft that contained a film capsule.

Launch Date: 1963-11-16Launch Vehicle: Modified SS-6 (Sapwood) with 2nd Generation (Longer) Upper StageLaunch Site: Tyuratam (Baikonur Cosmodrome), U.S.S.RMass: 4780.0 kg

Explorer 18 (IMP A)

Explorer 18 (IMP 1) was a solar-cell and chemical-battery powered spacecraft instrumented for interplanetary and distant magnetospheric studies of energetic particles, cosmic rays, magnetic fields, and plasmas. Initial spacecraft parameters included a local time of apogee of 1020 h, a spin rate of 22 rpm, and a spin direction of 115 deg right ascension and -25 deg declination. Each normal telemetry sequence of 81.9 s duration consisted of 795 data bits. After every third normal sequence there was an 81.9-s interval of rubidium vapor magnetometer analog data transmission. The spacecraft performed normally until May 30, 1964, then intermittently until May 10, 1965, when it was abandoned. The principal periods of data coverage were November 27, 1963 to May 30, 1964; September 17, 1964 to January 7, 1965; and February 21, 1965 to March 25, 1965; however, only the first of these periods was very useful.


Explorer 18 (IMP A) [NASA]

KH-4 25 (OPS 2260) KH-4 9061

This US Air Force surveillance satellite was launched from Vandenberg AFB aboard a Thor Agena D rocket. The mission failed. The return capsule separated from the satellite but remained in orbit.

Launch Date: 1963-11-27Launch Vehicle: Thor Augmented Delta-Agena DLaunch Site: Point Arguello, United StatesMass: 1150.0 kg

Centaur AC-2

This Atlas Centaur 2 launch vehicle was used for a performance and structural integrity test. It was instrumented with 2000 pounds of sensors, equipment, and telemetry.

Launch Date: 1963-11-27Launch Vehicle: Atlas-CentaurLaunch Site: Cape Canaveral, United StatesMass: 4620.8 kg


http://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/centaur-ac-1.htm


http://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/explorer_imp-a.htm


Foto: Centaur AC-1

Kosmos (23) (Zenit-2 #(11))

Cosmos 23 was the second test platform orbited by Russia for the purpose of evaluating electrotechnical systems later used to insure the orientation and stabilization of weather satellites. Like its predecessor, Cosmos 14, the satellite was in the form of a cylinder, with two hemispherical ends, and was 1.8 m long and 1.2 m in diameter. Tests were made of power supplies that used solar cell batteries, and equipment on board monitored the operation of automatic devices that controlled the solar and chemical batteries. The control stabilization system consisted of flywheels driven by electric motors. The kinetic energy of the flywheels was dampened by using electromagnets that produced torque by interacting with the earth's magnetic field. This system provided three-axis stabilization and oriented the satellite on the center of the earth. The satellite communicated via a 'Mayak' radio transmitter operating at 20 MHz. Cosmos 23 may have also carried the first Russian meteorological scanning IR radiometer to obtain crude nighttime pictures of the earth's cloud cover. The results of these tests and similar ones conducted 8 months

earlier on Cosmos 14 were incorporated in Cosmos 122 and subsequent launches in the Cosmos 'Meteor' system. These two flights comprised the first stage in the development of Russian weather satellites. Cosmos 23 reentered the atmosphere on March 27, 1964, after 105 days in orbit.


Diciembre 1963

Transit 5BN-2 / Transit 5E-2 / Transit 5B-2

Transit 5BN-2 was launched on 5 December 1963 and became the first operational navigation satellite. It was used regularly by both surface and submarine units of the Navy until November 1964. From the time that Transit 5BN-2 became operational, at least one satellite has been operational for routine use by the NavyTransit 5B2 was a US Navy navigation satellite launched by a Thor Able Star rocket. It carried a SNAP 9A nuclear power source. Transit, one of the first operational satellite systems, was also known as the Navy Navigation Satellite (NNS). The Transit spacecraft were developed for updating the inertial navigation systems on board US Navy Polaris submarines, and later for civilian use. Transit receivers used the known characteristics of the satellite's orbit, measured the Doppler shift of the satellite's radio signal, and thereby calculated the receivers position on the earth. As a single spacecraft travelled overhead, the user measured the Doppler shift over a 15 minute period by receiving timing marks and satellite orbital information on two separate frequencies, 149.99 and 399.97 MHz. These signals were corrected for ionospheric refraction and the information was then fed into the users navigation system. Individual Transit satellites operated for over 10 years. Technical break- throughs during the program included gravity






gradient stabilization, the use of radio-isotope thermoelectic generators (RTG), and navigation satellite technologies later used in the GPS system. Transit was superseded by the Navstar global positioning system. The use of the satellites for navigation was discontinued at the end of 1996 but the satellites continued transmitting and became the Navy Ionospheric Monitoring System (NIMS).

Foto:Transit-5BN 1 [USNavy]


1963-049C

This US military navigation satellite was launched from Vandenberg SFB aboard a Thor Able-Star rocket along with Transit 5B-2.


Kosmos 23 (Omega #2) Cosmos 23 was the second test platform orbited by Russia for the purpose of evaluating electrotechnical systems later used to insure the orientation and stabilization of weather satellites. Like its predecessor, Cosmos 14, the satellite was

in the form of a cylinder, with two hemispherical ends, and was 1.8 m long and 1.2 m in diameter. Tests were made of power supplies that used solar cell batteries, and equipment on board monitored the operation of automatic devices that controlled the solar and chemical batteries. The control stabilization system consisted of flywheels driven by electric motors. The kinetic energy of the flywheels was dampened by using electromagnets that produced torque by interacting with the earth's magnetic field. This system provided three-axis stabilization and oriented the satellite on the center of the earth. The satellite communicated via a 'Mayak' radio transmitter operating at 20 MHz. Cosmos 23 may have also carried the first Russian meteorological scanning IR radiometer to obtain crude nighttime pictures of the earth's cloud cover. The results of these tests and similar ones conducted 8 months earlier on Cosmos 14 were incorporated in Cosmos 122 and subsequent launches in the Cosmos 'Meteor' system. These two flights comprised the first stage in the development of Russian weather satellites. Cosmos 23 reentered the atmosphere on March 27, 1964, after 105 days in orbit.


KH-7 4 (OPS 2372) KH 7-04

This US Air Force surveillance satellite was launched from Vandenberg AFB aboard an Atlas Agena D rocket.

Launch Date: 1963-12-18Launch Vehicle: AtlasLaunch Site: Point Arguello, United StatesMass: 2000.0 kg


Cosmos 24 was a Soviet military surveillance satellite launched from the Baikonur site






aboard a Vostok rocket. Its film capsule was recovered 9 days later. It was a first generation, low resolution photo surveillance spacecraft.


Explorer 19/ AD-A

Explorer 19 was the second in a series of 3.66-m inflatable spheres placed into orbit to determine atmospheric densities. Explorer 19 was launched while Explorer 9, the first satellite in the series, was still active, so that densities in two different portions of the atmosphere were sampled simultaneously. The satellite consisted of alternating layers of aluminum foil and plastic film. Uniformly distributed over the aluminum outer surface were 5.1-cm dots of white paint for thermal control. A 136.620-MHz tracking beacon, which was powered by four solar cells and was mounted on the spacecraft skin, used the electrically separated hemispheres of the balloon as an antenna. The spacecraft was successfully orbited, but its apogee was lower than planned. The beacon did not have sufficient power to be received by ground tracking stations, making it necessary to rely solely on the SAO Baker-Nunn camera network for tracking. Launch Date: 1963-12-19Launch Vehicle: ScoutLaunch Site: Point Arguello, United StatesMass: 7.7 kg

The AD (Air Density) series Explorers were balloon satellites with a beacon transponder for tracking. Their purpose was to measure the density of the upper atmospheric layers.

KH-4 26 (OPS 1388) KH-4 9062 SSF-A 2

This US Air Force surveillance satellite was launched from Vandenberg AFB aboard a Thor Agena D rocket. Corona static fogged much of the film. KH-4 9062 deployed an ELINT subsatellite


Tiros 8 (A 53)

TIROS 8 (Television and InfraRed Observation Satellite) was designed to develop improved capabilities for obtained and using TV cloudcover pictures from satellites. The spin-stabilized spacecraft was in the form of an 18-sided right prism, 107 cm across opposite corners and 56 cm high, with a reinforced baseplate carrying most of the subsystems and a cover assembly (hat). Electrical power was supplied to the spacecraft by approximately 9000 1- by 2-cm silicon solar cells mounted on the cover assemby and by 21 nickel-cadmium batteries. A single monopole antenna for reception of ground commands extended from the top of the cover assembly. A pair of crossed-dipole telemetry antennas (235 Mhz) projected down and diagonally out from the baseplate. Mounted around the edge of the baseplate were five diametrically opposed paris of small solid-fuel thrusters that maintained the satellite spin rate between 8 and 12 rpm. Proper attitude was maintained to within a 1- to 2-deg accuracy by use of a magnetic control device consisting of 250 coil of wire wound around the outer surface of the spacecraft. The interaction by the induced magnetic field in the spacecraft and the earth's magnetic field provided the torque necessary for attitude control. TIROS 8 was the first satellite to be equipped with Automatic Picture Transmission (APT) capabilities.





The APT experiment provided real-time earth-cloud pictures taken by the satellite to any properly equipped ground receiving station. In addition to an APT camera system, the satellite carried one wide-angle (104 deg) TV camera. Pictures taken by the TV camera were transmitted directly or were stored in a tape recorder on board for subsequent playback, depending on whether the spacecraft was within or beyond communication range of either of two ground receiving stations. The spacecraft performed normally after launch. Over 50 ground stations participated in the APT experiment, which was terminated by the end of April 1964 to degradation of the APT camera. The wide-angle TV camera transmitted useful data until February 12, 1966. The satellite was deactivated on July 1, 1967, after being left on for an additional time period for engineering purposes.

Launch Date: 1963-12-21Launch Vehicle: DeltaLaunch Site: Cape Canaveral, United StatesMass: 265.0 kg

Hitch Hiker 3

Hitch Hiker 3 was an US Air Force radar monitoring satellite launched along with KH-4 9062 from Vandenberg AFB aboard a Thor Agena D rocket.




Referencias

(1) http://Sondasespaciales.com(2) http://notesp.blogspot.com/(3) http://space.skyrocket.de/home.htm (4)http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Portada(5) http://www.nasa.gov/

Bibliogafia

The Complete Book of Spaceflight / David Darling / John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

http://www.nasa.gov/centers/kennedy/shuttleoperations/archives/2005.html

http://www.planet4589.org/space/jsr/jsr.html

http://www.spacefacts.de/english/flights.htm

http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Misiones_del_Programa_STS

http://claudelafleur.qc.ca/Spacecrafts-2008.html

http://spaceflightnow.com/news/n0812/25glonass


Web viewAlso on this flight, the dummy second stage was outfitted with the aerodynamic design of the real second stage. This included vent ducts,

Documents