GAMBIT 3

1963-41A

KH-7 no. 3 (SV 953) was launched on 1963 Oct 25 by Atlas Agena D from Point Arguello. The RV was recovered after 2 days; the OCV spacecraft remained in orbit for 4 days and was deorbited on Oct 29; the Agena D 4703 rocket stage separated in orbit and reentered on Oct 29 together with two pieces of debris. This flight qualified the OCV stabilization system. The mission was the first to use a very low perigee: 145 km according to the launch report; 123 km by the time of the first element set five hours after launch.


Program 206 SV 953 
 

DateTimeEventOrbit  

1963 Oct 25   1859:27   Launch by Atlas Agena D   NMFPA 
  1901:42   BECO (T+2:15) 
  1904:00   SECO (T+4:33) 
  1904:07   VECO (T+4:40) 
  1904:10   Atlas sep (T+4:43) 
  1905:35   Agena burn (T+6:08) 
  1909:37   Agena MECO (T+10:10)   88.97 145 x 339 x 99.1 (VCR) 
1963 Oct 26   0000     88.99 144 x 332 x 99.05 (RAE) 
  0025     88.87 123 x 313 x 99.05 
1963 Oct     SV 953 orbit   88.8 123 x 312 x 99.1 (SATCAT) 
1963 Oct 27   1900   SV 953 orbit   88.70 140 x 272 x 99.1 (RAE) 
  1922     88.61 119 x 292 x 99.1 
1963 Oct 27   2120?  RV sep on Rev 34 
  2135?  RV recovered 
  2130?  OCV sep from Agena D 
1963 Oct 27   2130   41B orbit   88.85 136 x 297 x 99.1 (RAE) 
1963 Oct     Agena (41B) orbit   88.7 120 x 305 x 99.1 (SATCAT) 
1963 Oct 29   0000??  Agena reentered 
1963 Oct 29     Debris 41C, 41D reentered 
1963 Oct 29   1900?   OCV Reentered after 4.0d 

Payload: