Space Launch Now - Thor Agena D

Thor Agena D

In-active

McDonnell Douglas (MDC)

June 28, 1962

Description

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.

Specifications

Stages
2
Length
31.0 m
Diameter
2.44 m
Fairing Diameter
2.44 m
Launch Mass
56.0 T
Thrust
667.0 kN

Family

Name
Thor Agena D
Family
―
Variant
Agena D
Alias
―
Full Name
Thor Agena D

Payload Capacity

Launch Cost
$22170000
Low Earth Orbit
―
Geostationary Transfer Orbit
―
Direct Geostationary
―
Sun-Synchronous Capacity
―

McDonnell Douglas

Commercial

None

MDC

None

Previous Flights

flew on 13 previous launch(es).

Thor Agena D | KH-4 23

McDonnell Douglas | United States of America
Vandenberg SFB, CA, USA
July 19, 1963, midnight

Status: Launch Successful

Mission:

The KH-4 (Keyhole-4) was fourth version in the Corona-program to build an optical reconnaissance satellite.

Low Earth Orbit

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Thor Agena D | Poppy 4A & 4B

McDonnell Douglas | United States of America
Vandenberg SFB, CA, USA
June 15, 1963, 2:29 p.m.

Status: Launch Failure

Mission:

Poppy was the follow-on ELINT system, which succeeded the Grab ELINT satellite system.

Low Earth Orbit

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Thor Agena D | KH-5 8

McDonnell Douglas | United States of America
Vandenberg SFB, CA, USA
April 26, 1963, 8:12 p.m.

Status: Launch Failure

Mission:

KH-5 (Keyhole 5, codenamed Argon) was the area survey component of the Corona program.

Low Earth Orbit

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Thor Agena D | KH-4 20

McDonnell Douglas | United States of America
Vandenberg SFB, CA, USA
April 1, 1963, 11:01 p.m.

Status: Launch Successful

Mission:

The KH-4 (Keyhole-4) was fourth version in the Corona-program to build an optical reconnaissance satellite.

Low Earth Orbit

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Thor Agena D | KH-4 18

McDonnell Douglas | United States of America
Vandenberg SFB, CA, USA
Jan. 7, 1963, 9:09 p.m.

Status: Launch Successful

Mission:

The KH-4 (Keyhole-4) was fourth version in the Corona-program to build an optical reconnaissance satellite.

Low Earth Orbit

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Thor Agena D | KH-4 17

McDonnell Douglas | United States of America
Vandenberg SFB, CA, USA
Dec. 14, 1962, 9:26 p.m.

Status: Launch Successful

Mission:

The KH-4 (Keyhole-4) was fourth version in the Corona-program to build an optical reconnaissance satellite.

Low Earth Orbit

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Thor Agena D | Poppy 3A & 3B

McDonnell Douglas | United States of America
Vandenberg SFB, CA, USA
Dec. 13, 1962, 4:07 a.m.

Status: Launch Successful

Mission:

Poppy was the follow-on ELINT system, which succeeded the Grab ELINT satellite system.

Low Earth Orbit

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Thor Agena D | KH-4 16

McDonnell Douglas | United States of America
Vandenberg SFB, CA, USA
Dec. 4, 1962, 9:30 p.m.

Status: Launch Successful

Mission:

The KH-4 (Keyhole-4) was fourth version in the Corona-program to build an optical reconnaissance satellite.

Low Earth Orbit

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Thor Agena D | Star-Rad

McDonnell Douglas | United States of America
Vandenberg SFB, CA, USA
Oct. 26, 1962, 4:14 p.m.

Status: Launch Successful

Mission:

Star-Rad (Starfish Radiation) was a military scientific payload to study the artificial radiation belts created by the Starfish-Prime nuclear test.

Elliptical Orbit

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Thor Agena D | KH-4 13 & RM 4

McDonnell Douglas | United States of America
Vandenberg SFB, CA, USA
Sept. 29, 1962, 11:34 p.m.

Status: Launch Successful

Mission:

The KH-4 (Keyhole-4) was fourth version in the Corona-program to build an optical reconnaissance satellite. KH-4 13 carried the RM 4 radiometer payload (identical to RM 3) for background measurements for the MIDAS program.

Low Earth Orbit

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Thor Agena D | KH-4 11 & RM 3

McDonnell Douglas | United States of America
Vandenberg SFB, CA, USA
Aug. 29, 1962, 1 a.m.

Status: Launch Successful

Mission:

The KH-4 (Keyhole-4) was fourth version in the Corona-program to build an optical reconnaissance satellite. KH-4 11 also carried the RM 3 radiometer payload for background measurements for the MIDAS program.

Low Earth Orbit

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