Explorer 6 Satellite Launch 1959-08-07 USAF Cape Canaveral; Thor-Able III (Thor 134)

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

The film was silent. I have added music created by myself using the Reaper Digital Audio Workstation and the Independence and Proteus VX VST instrument plugins.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Explorer_6

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

Explorer 6, or S-2, was an American satellite launched on August 7, 1959. It was a small, spheroidal satellite designed to study trapped radiation of various energies, galactic cosmic rays, geomagnetism, radio propagation in the upper atmosphere, and the flux of micrometeorites. It also tested a scanning device designed for photographing the Earth's cloud cover, and transmitted the first pictures of Earth from orbit.

The satellite was launched into a highly elliptical orbit with an initial local time of apogee of 2100 h. The satellite was spin-stabilized at 2.8 rps, with the direction of the spin axis having a right ascension of 217 degrees and a declination of 23 degrees. Four solar cell paddles mounted near its equator recharged the storage batteries while in orbit. Each experiment except the television scanner had two outputs, digital and analog. A UHF transmitter was used for the digital telemetry and the TV signal. Two VHF transmitters were used to transmit the analog signal. The VHF transmitters were operated continuously. The UHF transmitter was operated for only a few hours each day. Only three of the solar cell paddles fully erected, and this occurred during spin up rather than prior to spin up as planned. Consequently, initial operation of the payload power supply was 63% nominal, and this decreased with time. The decreased power caused a lower signal-to-noise ratio affecting most of the data, especially near apogee. One VHF transmitter failed on September 11, 1959, and the last contact with the payload was made on October 6, 1959, at which time the solar cell charging current had fallen below that required to maintain the satellite equipment.

In 1959 an anti-satellite missile test of the Bold Orion rocket used Explorer 6 as a target. The missile successfully passed within 6.4 kilometers (4.0 mi) of the satellite.

Bold Orion’s ASAT mission occurred on Tuesday, 13 October 1959. Launch took place within the Atlantic Missile Range Drop Zone (AMR DZ). The altitude, latitude and longitude of the drop point were 11,000 m (35,000 ft), 29° North and 79° West, respectively. Bold Orion successfully intercepted the Explorer 6 satellite, passing its target at a range of less than 6.5 km (3.5 nmi) and an altitude of 252 km (136 nmi).

The satellite's orbit decayed on July 1, 1961.[5] A total of 827 hours of analog and 23 hours of digital data were obtained.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bold_Orion

The Bold Orion missile, also known as Weapons System 199B (WS-199B), was a prototype air-launched ballistic missile (ALBM) developed by Martin Aircraft during the 1950s. Developed in both one- and two-stage designs, the missile was moderately successful in testing, and helped pave the way for development of the GAM-87 Skybolt ALBM. In addition, the Bold Orion was used in early anti-satellite weapons testing, performing the first interception of a satellite by a missile...

ASAT test

The final test launch of Bold Orion, conducted on October 13, 1959, was a test of the vehicle's capabilities in the anti-satellite role. Launched from an altitude of 35,000 feet (11,000 m) from its B-47 mothership, the missile successfully intercepted the Explorer 6 satellite, passing its target at a range of less than 4 miles (6.4 km) at an altitude of 156 miles (251 km). Had the missile been fitted with a nuclear warhead, the satellite would have been destroyed.

The Bold Orion ASAT test was the first interception of a satellite by any method, proving that anti-satellite missiles were feasible...