Discoverer 29, also known as Corona 9023, was an American optical
reconnaissance satellite
A reconnaissance satellite or intelligence satellite (commonly, although unofficially, referred to as a spy satellite) is an Earth observation satellite or communications satellite deployed for military or intelligence applications.
The ...
which was launched in 1961. It was the first
KH-3 Corona satellite, which was based on an
Agena-B rocket.
The launch of Discoverer 29 occurred at 20:00 UTC on 30 August 1961. A
Thor DM-21 Agena-B rocket was used, flying from
Launch Complex 75-3-4 at the
Vandenberg Air Force Base
Vandenberg may refer to:
* Vandenberg (surname), including a list of people with the name
* USNS ''General Hoyt S. Vandenberg'' (T-AGM-10), transport ship in the United States Navy, sank as an artificial reef in Key West, Florida
* Vandenberg S ...
.
Upon successfully reaching orbit, it was assigned the
Harvard designation 1961 Psi 1.
Discoverer 29 was operated in a
low Earth orbit
A low Earth orbit (LEO) is an geocentric orbit, orbit around Earth with a orbital period, period of 128 minutes or less (making at least 11.25 orbits per day) and an orbital eccentricity, eccentricity less than 0.25. Most of the artificial object ...
, with a
perigee
An apsis (; ) is the farthest or nearest point in the orbit of a planetary body about its primary body. The line of apsides (also called apse line, or major axis of the orbit) is the line connecting the two extreme values.
Apsides perta ...
of , an
apogee of , 82 degrees of
inclination
Orbital inclination measures the tilt of an object's orbit around a celestial body. It is expressed as the angle between a reference plane and the orbital plane or axis of direction of the orbiting object.
For a satellite orbiting the Eart ...
, and a
period of 91 minutes.
The satellite had a mass of ,
and was equipped with a
panoramic camera with a
focal length
The focal length of an Optics, optical system is a measure of how strongly the system converges or diverges light; it is the Multiplicative inverse, inverse of the system's optical power. A positive focal length indicates that a system Converge ...
of , which had a maximum resolution of .
Images were recorded onto film, and returned in a
Satellite Recovery Vehicle two days after launch, but all of the images returned were found to be out of focus.
The Satellite Recovery Vehicle used by Discoverer 29 was SRV-554.
Once its images had been returned, Discoverer 29 remained in orbit until it
decayed on 9 September 1961.
References
Spacecraft launched in 1961
Spacecraft which reentered in 1961
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