Sunday, September 18, 2011

50 YA -Discoverer XXXI: Doomed to fail

Thor-Agena rocket at USAF museum in Dayton, Ohio.

Fifty years ago on September 17, the USAF launched another Corona spy satellite mission from launch facilities at Vandenberg AF Base in California. Launched into a polar orbit, the Corona satellite was supposed to make secret photos of Soviet deployment of bombers and missiles. Unfortunately, on September 19th when the film cannister was due to eject and parachute to Earth for recovery, there was a power failure on the 33rd orbit. Both the film cannister and the satellite remained in orbit.

No comments: