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Thor Agena
Thor-Agena was a series of orbital launch vehicles. The launch vehicles used the Douglas-built Thor first stage and the Lockheed-built Agena second stages. They are thus cousins of the more-famous Thor-Deltas, which founded the Delta rocket family. The first attempted launch of a Thor-Agena was in January 1959. The first successful launch was on 28 February 1959, launching ''Discoverer 1''. It was the first two-stage launch vehicle to place a satellite into orbit. Missions Among other uses, the clandestine CORONA program used Thor-Agena from June 1959 until January 1968 to launch United States military reconnaissance satellites operated by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). During this program, Thor-Agena launch vehicles were used in 145 launch attempts, now known to have been part of satellite surveillance programs. Also, ''Alouette 1,'' Canada's first satellite, was launched on a Thor-Agena B. Versions Thor-Agena A * Thor-Agena A (Thor-DM18 Agena-A) was us ...
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Launch Vehicle
A launch vehicle is typically a rocket-powered vehicle designed to carry a payload (a crewed spacecraft or satellites) from Earth's surface or lower atmosphere to outer space. The most common form is the ballistic missile-shaped multistage rocket, but the term is more general and also encompasses vehicles like the Space Shuttle. Most launch vehicles operate from a launch pad, supported by a missile launch control center, launch control center and systems such as vehicle assembly and fueling. Launch vehicles are engineered with advanced aerodynamics and technologies, which contribute to high operating costs. An orbital spaceflight, orbital launch vehicle must lift its payload at least to the boundary of space, approximately and accelerate it to a horizontal velocity of at least . Suborbital spaceflight, Suborbital vehicles launch their payloads to lower velocity or are launched at elevation angles greater than horizontal. Practical orbital launch vehicles use chemical prope ...
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Discoverer 14
Discoverer 14, also known as Corona 9009, was a spy satellite used in the Corona program managed by Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) of the Department of Defense and the United States Air Force. On 19 August 1960, usable photographic film images of the Soviet Union taken by the satellite were recovered by a C-119 recovery aircraft. This was the first successful recovery of film from an orbiting satellite and the first mid-air recovery of an object returning from Earth orbit. Background "Discoverer" was the civilian designation and cover for the Corona satellite photo-reconnaissance series of satellites managed by the Advanced Research Projects Agency of the Department of Defense and the U.S. Air Force. The primary goal of the satellites was to replace the U-2 spyplane in surveilling the Sino-Soviet Bloc, determining the disposition and speed of production of Soviet missiles and long-range bombers assets. The Corona program was also used to produce maps and charts f ...
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1959 In Spaceflight
Luna 1 was the first spacecraft to leave the gravitational influence of Earth. Also in 1959, Luna 2 was the first spacecraft to reach the surface of another celestial body, impacting the Moon, and Luna 3 returned the first images of the far side of the Moon. Overview Orbital and suborbital launches Deep Space Rendezvous Orbital launch statistics By country By rocket By orbit See also *Timeline of spaceflight This is a timeline of known spaceflights, both crewed and uncrewed, sorted chronologically by launch date. Due to its large size, the timeline has been split into smaller articles, one for each year since 1951. There is a separate list for ... References Footnotes {{Orbital launches in 1959 1959 in spaceflight Spaceflight by year ...
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Castor (rocket Stage)
Castor is a family of solid-fuel rocket stages and boosters built by Thiokol (now Northrop Grumman) and used on a variety of launch vehicles. They were initially developed as the second-stage motor of the Scout rocket. The design was based on the MGM-29 Sergeant, a surface-to-surface missile developed for the United States Army at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Versions Flown versions Castor 1 :The Castor 1 was first used for a successful suborbital launch of a Scout X-1 rocket on September 2, 1960. :It was long, in diameter, and had a burn time of 27 seconds. Castor 1 stages were also used as strap-on boosters for launch vehicles using Thor first stages, including the Delta D. (A Delta-D was used in 1964 to launch Syncom-3, the first satellite placed in a geostationary orbit.) Castor 1 stages were used in 141 launch attempts of Scout and Delta rockets, only 2 of which were failures. They were also used on some thrust-assisted Thor-Agena launchers. The last launch us ...
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University Of Arizona
The University of Arizona (Arizona, U of A, UArizona, or UA) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Tucson, Arizona, United States. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, it was the first university established in the Arizona Territory. The University of Arizona is one of three universities governed by the Arizona Board of Regents (the University of Arizona, Arizona State University, and Northern Arizona University). , the university enrolled 53,187 students in 22 separate colleges/schools, including the Eller College of Management, the Wyant College of Optical Sciences, the University of Arizona College of Medicine – Phoenix, College of Medicine – Phoenix, the University of Arizona College of Medicine – Tucson, College of Medicine – Tucson, and the James E. Rogers College of Law. The university is Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education, classified among "R1: Doctoral Universities ...
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Life Magazine
''Life'' (stylized as ''LIFE'') is an American magazine launched in 1883 as a weekly publication. In 1972, it transitioned to publishing "special" issues before running as a monthly from 1978 to 2000. Since then, ''Life'' has irregularly published "special" issues. Originally published from 1883 to 1936 as a general-interest and humor publication, it featured contributions from many important writers, illustrators and cartoonists of its time, such as Charles Dana Gibson and Norman Rockwell. In 1936, Henry Luce purchased the magazine, and relaunched it as the first all-photographic American news magazine. Its place in the history of photojournalism is considered one of its most important contributions to the world of publishing. From 1936 to the 1960s, ''Life'' was a wide-ranging general-interest magazine known for its photojournalism. During this period, it was one of the most popular magazines in the United States, with its circulation regularly reaching a quarter of the U.S. ...
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650309nrlcomposite 5
65 may refer to: * 65 (number) * One of the years 65 BC, AD 65, 1965, 2065 * ''65'' (film), a 2023 American science fiction thriller film * The atomic number of terbium, a chemical element * A type of dish in Indian cuisine, such as Chicken 65, Gobi 65, or Paneer 65 * 65 Cybele, a main-belt asteroid * The international calling code for Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...
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Nimbus 2
Nimbus 2 (also called Nimbus-C) was a meteorological satellite. It was the second in a series of the Nimbus program. Launch Nimbus 2 was launched on May 15, 1966, by a Thor-Agena rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, United States. The spacecraft functioned nominally until January 17, 1969. The satellite orbited the Earth once every 1 hour and 48 minutes, at an inclination of 100°. Its perigee was and its apogee was . Mission The second in a series of second-generation meteorological research and development satellites, Nimbus 2 was designed to serve as a stabilized, Earth-oriented platform for the testing of advanced meteorological sensor systems and the collecting of meteorological data. The polar-orbiting spacecraft consisted of three major elements: (1) a torus-shaped sensory ring, (2) solar paddles, and (3) the control system housing. The solar paddles and control system housing were connected to the sensory ring by a truss structure, giving the ...
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Discoverer 17
Discoverer 17, also known as Corona 9012, was an American optical reconnaissance satellite launched on 12 November 1960 at 20:38:00 GMT. It was the second of ten Corona KH-2 satellites, based on the Agena-B. Background Discoverer 17 was the second of the KH-2 Corona spy satellites, which was distinguished from the predecessor KH-1 series in its incorporation of the improved C' camera, which replaced the C model carried on KH-1 missions. The improved camera had variable image motion compensation so that its carrying satellites could be flown in differing orbits. Like the C camera, the C' was manufactured by Fairchild Camera and Instrument under the supervision of Itek, a defense contractor that specialized in making cameras for spy satellites. The satellite also carried a Transit on Discoverer (TOD) payload Discoverer 16, the first of the KH-2 series, had failed to reach orbit after its launch on 26 October 1960. Mission The launch of Discoverer 17 occurred at 20:38:00 GMT ...
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Thor Agena B With Discoverer 36 On The Launch Pad (Dec
Thor (from ) is a prominent god in Germanic paganism. In Norse mythology, he is a hammer-wielding god associated with lightning, thunder, storms, sacred groves and trees, strength, the protection of humankind, hallowing, and fertility. Besides Old Norse , the deity occurs in Old English as , in Old Frisian as ', in Old Saxon as ', and in Old High German as , all ultimately stemming from the Proto-Germanic theonym , meaning 'Thunder'. Thor is a prominently mentioned god throughout the recorded history of the Germanic peoples, from the Roman occupation of regions of , to the Germanic expansions of the Migration Period, to his high popularity during the Viking Age, when, in the face of the process of the Christianization of Scandinavia, emblems of his hammer, , were worn and Norse pagan personal names containing the name of the god bear witness to his popularity. Narratives featuring Thor are most prominently attested in Old Norse, where Thor appears throughout Norse mythology ...
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