KH-6 3 [USAF]
KH-6 (Keyhole 6, codenamed Lanyard) was an early attempt to gain higher resolution imagery, which flew only one successful mission in 1963. It was part of the Corona program.
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 built by Kodak and integrated with Corona hardware. The ground resolution of KH-6 was about 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. Due to the short mission duration of 8 to 12 days no solar arrays were carried.
The first KH-6 failed to reach orbit. The second one operated in orbit, but failed to use film, so that no images were acquired. Only the third and last KH-6 returned images, but those were found to be of poor quality. The KH-6 Lanyard program was terminated after this flight in favor of the imminent KH-7 (Gambit-1) high resolution reconnaissance satellites.
The failed first mission carried the small "Hitchhiker" satellites.
Some satellites carried secondary payloads mounted on the satellite:
Nation: | USA |
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Type / Application: | Reconnaissance, photo |
Operator: | CIA |
Contractors: | Lockheed (prime); Kodak (camera) |
Equipment: | E-5 camera |
Configuration: | Agena-D, 1 SRV |
Propulsion: | Bell 8096, Star-12 retro motor |
Power: | Batteries |
Lifetime: | 8 - 12 days |
Mass: | |
Orbit: |
Satellite | COSPAR | Date | LS | Launch Vehicle | Remarks | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
KH-6 1 (Lanyard 1, Corona 61, Mission 8001, OPS 0627) | 1963-F03 | 18.03.1963 | Va 75-3-4 | F | Thor-SLV2A Agena-D | with Hitchhiker (1) |
KH-6 2 (Lanyard 2, Corona 64, Mission 8002, OPS 0924, FTV 1165) | 1963-016A | 18.05.1963 | Va 75-3-5 | Thor-SLV2A Agena-D | ||
KH-6 3 (Lanyard 3, Corona 68, Mission 8003, OPS 1370) | 1963-032A | 31.07.1963 | Va 75-1-2 | Thor-SLV2A Agena-D |