Midas 12

This Missile Defense Alarm System (MIDAS) satellite was launched along with SECOR 8 from Vandenberg AFB aboard an Atlas Agena D rocket. The MIDAS program, also known as Air Force Program 461, carried out 12 launches between 1960 and 1966 using four different types of increasingly sophisticated infrared sensors. The objective was to develop a satellite that could carry an infrared sensor to detect ICBM launches.