KH-10/MOL (model) [Smithsonian]
The MOL (Manned Orbiting Laboratory), also known as KH-10 (Keyhole-10) or Dorian, was a crewed reconnaisance platform developed by the USAF and prime contractor Douglas Aircraft Company in the late 1960ies.
The crew was to be launched and to return in a Gemini-B capsule, which was launched attached to the MOL.
MOL would support up to 40 days of military reconnaissance using the large optics KH-10 Dorian imaging system and SIGINT payloads. For later missions, also a side-looking radar payload was planned.
Two uncrewed test flights on Titan-3M boosters were planned for 1970 and 1971 with crewed flight to begin in 1972 at a rate of one per year.
MOL was cancelled in 1969.
The Donkey SIGINT payload originally planned for MOL was transferred to the Multigroup 2/Setter 1B/Donkey SIGINT satellite and was launched in 1967.
When KH-10 was cancelled in 1969, the uncrewed electro-optical KH-11 Kennen satellite succeded it.
Nation: | USA |
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Type / Application: | Crewed Reconnaissance, photo, SIGINT |
Operator: | US Air Force (USAF) |
Contractors: | Douglas Aircraft Company (prime); Perkin-Elmer (cameras) |
Equipment: | KH-10 camera |
Configuration: | |
Propulsion: | ? |
Power: | |
Lifetime: | 40 days |
Mass: | |
Orbit: | 160 km × 260 km, 96.4° (typical) |
Satellite | COSPAR | Date | LS | Launch Vehicle | Remarks | |
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KH-10 1 (Dorian 1) | - | cancelled | Va SLC-6 | Titan-3M | ||
KH-10 2 (Dorian 2) | - | cancelled | Va SLC-6 | Titan-3M |