Discoverer 1

Discoverer 1

Launch date	1:49 PST 1959-02-28
Launch vehicle	Thor Agena
Launch site	Vandenburg Air Force Base
Orbital decay	Failed to reach orbit
Orbital elements
Regime	LEO - Polar orbit
Instruments
Main instruments	None (test flight)

Discoverer 1 was the first of a series of satellites which were part of the Corona reconnaissance satellite program. It was launched on a Thor-Agena rocket on February 28, 1959 at 1:49 PST from Vandenburg Air Force Base in California. It was a prototype of the KH-1 satellite, but did not contain either a camera or a film capsule.^[1]. It was the first satellite launched toward the South Pole in an attempt to achieve polar orbit, but was unsuccessful. A CIA report, later declassified, concluded that "Today, most people believe the DISCOVERER I landed somewhere near the South Pole."^[2]

See also

Corona (satellite)

References

1. ^ Clayton K. S. Chun, Thunder Over the Horizon: From V-2 Rockets to Ballistic Missiles (Greenwood Publishing Group, 2006), pp74-75
2. ^ David L. Hancock, Corona: America's First Satellite Program, By CIA Cold War Records, (Morgan James Publishing, LLC, 2005), p16

External links

• http://www.astronautix.com/craft/kh1.htm
• http://msl.jpl.nasa.gov/Programs/corona.html
• Day, Dwayne A. (13 April 2009). "Lost over the horizon: Discoverer 1 explores Antarctica". The Space Review. http://www.thespacereview.com/article/1347/1.