Launch Success
Liftoff Time (GMT)
22:00:00
Friday August 14, 1964
KH-7 (Keyhole 7) managed by NRO's Program A and operated this US Air Force system boasted long focal length cameras capable of identifying and measuring properties of targets such as missiles and aircraft, surpassing the resolution of the CORONA system. The spacecraft, a 3-axis-stabilized satellite separated from the Agena-D, housed the payload, camera system, and reentry vehicle (SRV), known as the OCV (Orbital Control Vehicle), built by General Electric. The KH-7 camera featured a 112 cm diameter primary mirror and achieved ground resolutions ranging from 0.61 m to 0.91 m, utilizing strip exposure techniques for capturing images with a swath width of 22 km and strip lengths of up to 741 km from its 167-kilometer orbit.
Low Earth Orbit
The Hitchhiker satellites were prototype satellites in the P-11 program, which served scientific purposes. Later P-11 satellites were built as classified SIGINT subsatellites.
1 Payload
79 kilograms
41st
Mission
9th
Mission of 1964
54th
Orbital launch attempt