19 August 1960: Discoverer XIV was a Keyhole KH-1 reconnaissance satellite of Project CORONA. Mission 9009 was launched by a Thor-Agena A two-stage liquid fueled rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, at 11:55 p.m. Pacific Standard Time, 18 August 1960 (19:55:00 UTC).¹ The Agena A entered a 186 kilometer × 805 kilometer (115.6 miles × 500.2 miles) elliptical orbit, inclined 79.650°, and the satellite took 1 hour, 34 minutes, 33 seconds to complete each orbit.
After 17 orbits, 7 of which crossed over “denied territory,” the Discoverer Satellite Rentry Vehicle (SRV) was ejected from the Agena A and de-orbited. This ejection took place within 5 seconds of the planned time.
On 19 August, a Fairchild C-119J Flying Boxcar, 51-8037, call sign Pelican 9, of the 6593rd Test Squadron, Hickham Air Force Base, Hawaii, was sent to recover the satellite as it descended through the lower atmosphere by parachute. The air crew sighted the parachute at about 8,000 feet (2,438 meters), 360 miles (580 kilometers) southwest of Hawaii. On their third attempt, they were able to snag the satellite and parachute with recovery equipment deployed under the transport, and then pull it inside. This was the first time that film from a satellite had been recovered.
Pelican 9’s pilot, Captain Harold Ellis Mitchell (22 June 1925–14 February 2013) was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross. The other members of the crew received the Air Medal.
The Agena A remained in orbit until 16 September 1960.
Mission 9009 photographed 1.5 million square miles (3.9 million square kilometers) of Soviet and Eastern Europe countries.
The mission summary reads:
Approximately 25 percent of the coverage is cloud free, with light-scattered to heavy clouds covering the remainder of the photography. The PI quality of the unobscured coverage ranges from good to very good.
The scale of the photography is estimated to range from 1:300,000 to 1:450,000.
Major items of intelligence significance covered by Mission 9009 incluse the Kapsutin Yar Missile lTest Range (KYMTR), the western portion of the presumed 1,050 nm impact area of the KYMTR, 20 newly identified hexadic SA-2 surface to air missile sites and six possible SA-2 sites under construction, the Sarova Nuclear Weapons Research and Development Center, several new airfields, and numerous urban complexes.
—CORONA: America’s First Satellite Program, Kevin C. Ruffner, Editor, and CIA History Staff. Center of the Study of Intelligence, Central Intelligence Agency, Washington, D.C., 1995, at Page 120
The mission report contains a lengthy list of airfields and military installations of intelligence interest to the United States.
Project CORONA had been proposed by the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) and was managed by the Central Intelligence Agency and the United States Air Force. The Discoverer program was publicly explained as an Earth sciences research project, with some carrying live monkeys, but was actually a Central Intelligence Agency program for the reconnaissance of the Soviet Union and China.
The Discoverer reconnaissance payload was carried into orbit by a Lockheed RM-81 Agena A. This was a liquid-fueled rocket used as a second stage for the Thor first stage booster. The Agena A was 15.51 feet (4.73 meters) long and 4.98 feet (1.52 meters) in diameter. It had an empty weight of 1,951 pounds (885 kilograms) and maximum weight of 8,350 pounds (3,790 kilograms).
Early Agena As were powered by a single Bell 8001 (XLR81-BA-3) rocket engine which had originally been developed as a Rocket Assisted Takeoff (RATO) unit for the Convair B-58A Hustler Mach 3 strategic bomber. This was upgraded to the Bell 8048 (XLR81-BA-5) for most Agena As. This engine weighed 279 pounds (126.6 kilograms). Burning Nitric Acid and UDMH, it produced 15,589 pounds of thrust (69.343 kilonewtons). The engine had a burn time of 120 seconds. The engine nozzle was gimballed for pitch and yaw control.
The Agena A nose cone carried a Fairchild Camera and Instrument Co. KH-1 panoramic camera system. It used 20 pounds (kilograms) of 70 mm film. The camera used an ITEK Corporation HYAK B lens with an f/5.0 aperture and focal length of 61 centimeters. Its ground resolution was 11.7 meters. The camera transferred the film to the reentry vehicle.
Resolution was not as good as could be obtained by a Lockheed U-2 reconnaissance plane, but the Discoverer XIV was able to cover areas that the U-2 never reached.
The Agena A orbiter also had a TOD-4 navigation payload.
When it was time to eject the SRV, the Agena A pitched down 60°. The SRV was spin-stabilized by small rockets, and then a retro rocket fired to decelerate it into a descent trajectory.
51-8037 had been built as a C-119F Packet “Flying Boxcar” and delivered to the U.S. Air Force on 2 June 1953. It was converted to a C-119J at the Birmingham Modification Center in Birmingham, Alabama, during October 1956. From September 1958 to November 1959, it was further modified specifically to recover space capsules. The satellite recovery airplane is in the collection of the National Museum of the United States Air Force, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio.
This airplane had a maximum speed of 265 knots (305 miles per hour/491 kilometers per hour) at 17,900 feet (5,456 meters) at maximum power. Its cruise speed was 248 knots (285 miles per hour/459 kilometers per hour) at 5,000 feet (1,524 meters).
The C-119F could takeoff after a ground run of 3,875 feet (1,181 meters), and had a rate of climb of 795 feet per minute (4.04 meters per second) at Sea Level with Normal Power at its takeoff weight of 77,000 pounds (34,927 kilograms). At a combat weight of 49,360 pounds (22,389 kilograms) and using maximum power, it could climb at 2,320 feet per minute (11.8 meters per second). Its service ceiling was 26,600 feet (8,108 meters) at maximum power.
With a maximum fuel capacity of 2,590 gallons (9,804 liters) and maximum payload, the C-119F had a combat range of 1,462 nautical miles (1,682 statute miles/2,708 kilometers) at 158 knots (182 miles per hour/292 kilometers per hour).
Fairchild produced 1,183 C-119s between 1949 and 1955.
¹ Launch windows were scheduled to avoid the passage of Southern Pacific Railroad passenger trains which ran along the coast at Vandenberg, to prevent the spacecraft being seen by the public. Sometime only a few minutes were available between passing trains.
© 2024, Bryan R. Swopes
