KH-7 Gambit Spy Satellite First Launch (4001) 1963-07-12 USAF; VAFB; Atlas-Agena 201D

more at http://quickfound.net/

Silent.

United States Air Force

1369th Photographic Squadron

Vandenberg Air Force Base

July 12, 1963

"BYEMAN codenamed GAMBIT, the KH-7 (Air Force Program 206) was a reconnaissance satellite used by the United States from July 1963 to June 1967. Like the older CORONA system, it acquired imagery intelligence by taking photographs and returning the undeveloped film to earth..."

Originally a public domain film from the US Air Force, slightly cropped to remove uneven edges, with the aspect ratio corrected, and one-pass brightness-contrast-color correction & mild video noise reduction applied.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KH-7_Gambit

Wikipedia license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

BYEMAN codenamed GAMBIT, the KH-7 (Air Force Program 206) was a reconnaissance satellite used by the United States from July 1963 to June 1967. Like the older CORONA system, it acquired imagery intelligence by taking photographs and returning the undeveloped film to earth. It achieved a typical ground-resolution of 2 ft (0.61 m) to 3 ft (0.91 m). Though most of the imagery from the KH-7 satellites was declassified in 2002, details of the satellite program (and the satellite's construction) remained classified until 2011.

In its summary report following the conclusion of the program, the National Reconnaissance Office concluded that the GAMBIT program was considered highly successful in that it produced the first high-resolution satellite photography, 69.4% of the images having a resolution under 3 ft. (0.91 m); its record of successful launches, orbits, and recoveries far surpassed the records of earlier systems; and it advanced the state of the art to the point where follow-on larger systems could be developed and flown successfully. The report also stated that Gambit had provided the intelligence community with the first high-resolution satellite photography of denied areas, the intelligence value of which was considered "extremely high". In particular, its overall success stood in sharp contrast to the two first-generation photoreconnaissance programs, Corona, which suffered far too many malfunctions to achieve any consistent success, and Samos, which was essentially a complete failure with all satellites either being lost in launch mishaps or returning no usable imagery.

GAMBIT emerged in 1962 as an alternative to the less-than-successful CORONA and the completely failed SAMOS, although CORONA was not cancelled and in fact continued operating alongside the newer program into the early 1970s. While CORONA used the Thor-Agena launch vehicle family, GAMBIT would be launched on Atlas-Agena, the booster used for SAMOS. After the improved KH-8 satellite was developed during 1965, operations shifted to the larger Titan IIIB launch vehicle...

Each GAMBIT-1 satellite was about 15 feet (4.5 m) long, 5 feet (1.5 m) wide, weighed about 1,154 pounds (523 kilograms), and carried about 3000 feet (914 meters) of film...

Camera Optics Module

The Camera Optics Module of KH-7 consists of three cameras: a single strip camera, a stellar camera, and an index camera... The camera and film transport system were manufactured by Eastman Kodak Company...The S/I camera was provided by Itek, and horizon sensors were provided by Barnes Engineering Co...

The primary contractor for the Orbital Control Vehicle and the Recovery Vehicle was General Electric. Films were to be retrieved mid-air by a C-130 Hercules specially outfitted for that purpose.

Mission

All KH-7 satellites were launched from Point Arguello, which became part of Vandenberg Air Force Base in July 1964. KH-7 satellites flew 38 missions, numbered 4001-4038, of which 34 returned film, and of these, 30 returned usable imagery. Mission duration was 1 to 8 days.[9] KH-7 satellites logged a total of almost 170 operational days in orbit.

Functionality

A high-resolution instrument, the KH-7 took detailed pictures of "hot spots" and most of its photographs are of Chinese and Soviet nuclear and missile installations, with smaller amounts of coverage of cities and harbors.[10] Most of the imagery from this camera, amounting to 19,000 images, was declassified in 2002...