KH-6

Codenamed Lanyard, the KH-6 was a shortlived series of reconnaissance satellites produced by the United States from March to July 1963. The project was quickly put together to get imagery of a site near Tallinn suspected of having ICBMs. The satellite carried an "E-5" camera developed for the Samos program, which had been cancelled. The camera had a focal length of 1.67 meters (66 inches) and could discern objects on the ground 1.8 m (6 ft) in size. The ground swath of the camera was 14 km by 74 km (9 mi by 46 mi). The satellite weighed 1500 kg, and had a single re-entry vehicle in which exposed film was returned to earth for a mid-air.Federation of American Scientists [http://www.fas.org/spp/military/program/imint/kh-6.htm FASorg: "KH-6"] ] aircraft recovery. The KH-6 was manufactured by Lockheed and launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base on Thor-AgenaD rockets.

Three launch attempts were made. One attempt failed and another did not use any film.

The film canister contained over 2,250 feet of film with 910 photographic frames.

Launches

* KH-6 8001 launch failed 1963-03-18 [http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/database/MasterCatalog?sc=P11 NSSDC ID No. P11 (1963-F03)]
* KH-6 8002 launched 1963-05-18 [http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/database/MasterCatalog?sc=1963-016A NSSDC ID NO. 016A 1963-016A]
* KH-6 8003 launched 1963-07-31 [http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/database/MasterCatalog?sc=1963-032A NSSC ID NO. 1963-032A] (NSSDC ID Numbers: "See" COSPAR)

References

*Mark Wade (August 9, 2003). [http://www.astronautix.com/craft/kh6.htm KH-6] . "Encyclopedia Astronautica". Accessed April 23, 2004.

Concurrent operational projects

*Corona KH-1 through 4
*KH-5 (Argon)
*KH-7 (Gambit)

External links

* [http://www.globalsecurity.org/space/systems/kh-6.htm KH-6 Lanyard.] GlobalSecurity.org.