Discoverer 11
Thor Agena A
United States Air Force
Mission
Discoverer 11
Type: Government/Top Secret
Discoverer 11 was an American optical reconnaissance satellite. The eighth of ten operational flights of the Corona KH-1 spy satellite series, it successfully employed the first space-worthy camera film; however, Discoverer’s film return capsule was lost during reentry on 16 Apr when the satellite’s spin motors exploded.
Location
Space Launch Complex 1E
Vandenberg SFB, CA, USA
710 rockets have launched from Vandenberg SFB, CA, USA.
Rocket
Thor Agena A – McDonnell Douglas
- Family: Thor
- Length: 28 m
- Diameter: 2.44 m
- Launch Mass: 53 T
- Low Earth Orbit Capacity: 250 kg
The Thor Agena A was manufactured by McDonnell Douglas with the first launch on 1959-01-21. Thor Agena A has 9 successful launches and 6 failed launches with a total of 15 launches. Thor-Agena was a series of orbital launch vehicles. The rockets used Thor first stages and Agena second stages. They are thus cousins of the more-famous Thor-Deltas, which founded the Delta rocket family.
Agency
United States Air Force – USAF
- Type: Government
- Abbreviation: USAF
- Country: USA
