KH-8 38 (GAMBIT 76) was launched on 1973 May 16 by Titan 23B Agena D from Vandenberg on a 28 day mission. At the last minute a new target was added to the mission: imaging the Skylab space station, which had been damaged during launch. This required orienting the GAMBIT at an attitude for which it had not been designed, but the operation was successful and the recovered film provided key information for the Skylab repair crew. 1973 saw a drop in the frequency of GAMBIT missions to only three a year; by 1979 this would be down to one a year.
| KH-8 38 | |||
| Date | Time | Event | Orbit |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1973 May 16 | Launch by Titan 3B Agena D | V SLC4W | |
| 89.4 136 x 352 x 110.5 | |||
| 1973 May | Imaged Skylab | ||
| 1973 May | SRV recovered | ||
| 1973 Jun 13 | Reentered after 28d | ||