Mission type | Optical reconnaissance |
---|---|
Operator | US Air Force / NRO |
Harvard designation | 1960 KAP |
COSPAR ID | 1960-010A |
SATCAT no. | S00054 |
Mission duration | 1 day |
Spacecraft properties | |
Spacecraft type | CORONA KH-1 |
Bus | Agena-A |
Manufacturer | Lockheed |
Launch mass | 810 kilograms (1,790 lb) after orbit insertion[1]: 236 |
Start of mission | |
Launch date | 18 August 1960 19:57:08 | GMT
Rocket | Thor DM-21 Agena-A (Thor 237) |
Launch site | Vandenberg LC 75-3-4 |
End of mission | |
Decay date | 16 September 1960[2] |
Landing date | 19 August 1960 |
Landing site | Pacific Ocean (SRV) |
Orbital parameters | |
Reference system | Geocentric |
Regime | Low Earth |
Eccentricity | 0.04499[3] |
Perigee altitude | 186 kilometers (116 mi) |
Apogee altitude | 805 kilometers (500 mi) |
Inclination | 79.650° |
Period | 94.55 minutes |
Epoch | 18 August 1960 19:55:00 |
Discoverer 14, also known as Corona 9009,[1]: 236 was a spy satellite used in the Corona program managed by Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) of the Department of Defense and the United States Air Force. On 19 August 1960, usable photographic film images of the Soviet Union taken by the satellite were recovered by a C-119 recovery aircraft. This was the first successful recovery of film from an orbiting satellite and the first mid-air recovery of an object returning from Earth orbit.