KH-1, KH-2, KH-3, KH-4, KH-4A, KH-4B, Argon (KH-5), Lanyard (KH-6)
Summary
CORONA is the name for the first operational space photo reconnaissance satellite. President Dwight David Eisenhower approved the project in February 1958. The project was conceived to take pictures in space of the Soviet Bloc countries and de-orbit the photographic film for processing and exploitation.
President Clinton signed an Executive Order on 22 February 1995, directing the declassification of intelligence imagery acquired by the first generation of U.S. photo reconnaissance satellites; the systems code named CORONA, ARGON and LANYARD. The order provides for the declassification of more than 860,000 images of the earth's surface, collected between 1960 and 1972.
Early imagery collections were driven, in part, by the need to confirm purported developments in Soviet strategic missile capabilities. Worldwide photographic coverage was also used to produce maps and charts for the Department of Defense and other U.S. Government mapping programs. A speech made on 24 February 1995 by Admiral William O. Studeman, Acting Director of Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), recounts some of them important achievements of the historical satellite imagery reconnaissance programs.
The Corona vehicle was launched by a THOR booster and used the AGENA spacecraft as the upper stage. While in orbit, Corona took photographs with a constant rotating stereo panoramic camera system and loaded the exposed photographic film into recovery vehicles. The vehicles were de-orbited and recovered by Air Force C-119 aircraft while floating to earth on a parachute.
The major components of the CORONA camera system are shown in detailed drawings and photographs of the systems used.
Side and Top View of the CORONA camera and recovery system as seen on display at the Central Intelligence Agency. The camera is currently in storage at the National Air and Space Museum being readied for display in late 1996.
CORONA spacecraft were built from 1959-72 by Lockheed Space Systems under Central Intelligence Agency and U.S. Air Force contracts spanning 145 launches that provided intelligence the government has called "virtually immeasurable."
CORONA's payload was a vertical looking, reciprocating, 70-degree panoramic camera developed by Itek that exposed Eastman Kodak film by scanning at right angles to the line of flight. Resolution in early flight years was in the range of 35 to 40 feet. By 1972, CORONA delivered resolutions of six to 10 feet, routinely. In the 1970s, flights could remain on orbit for 19 days, provide accurate attitude, position, and mapping information, and return coverage of 8,400,000 nm2 per mission.
After 13 years, the CORONA program ended with a launch on May 25, 1972. Recently released National Intelligence Estimates reveal that CORONA:
Imaged all Soviet medium-range, intermediate-range
and ICBM complexes
Imaged each Soviet submarine class from deployment
to operational bases
Provided inventories of Soviet bombers and fighters
Revealed the presence of Soviet missiles in Egypt
protecting the Suez Canal
Identified Soviet nuclear assistance to the People's
Republic of China
Monitored the SALT I treaty
Uncovered the Soviet ABM program and sites (GALOSH,
HEN HOUSE, etc.)
Identified Soviet atomic weapon storage installations
Identified People's Republic of China missile
launching sites
Determined precise locations of Soviet air defense
missile batteries
Observed construction and deployment of the Soviet
ocean surface fleet
Identified Soviet command and control installations
and networks
Provided mapping for Strategic Air Command targeting
and bomber routes
Identified the Plesetsk Missile Test Range, north
of Moscow
The intelligence community used the designators KH-1, KH-2, KH-3, KH-4, KH-4A, and KH-4B for the CORONA systems. The ARGON systems were designated KH-5 and the LANYARD systems KH-6. These KH (Keyhole) designators are used throughout this guide to describe system characteristics and accomplishments. Mission numbers were a principal means for indexing the reconnaissance imagery and associated collateral data.
*A very limited amount of color test film was attached to the end of missions 1104, 1105, 1106 and 1108.
Temporal Coverage
The first successful photographs from space were taken on 18 August 1960 by the KH-1 system and the last of the imagery of this collection was acquired on 31 May 1972 by the KH-4B system. The CORONA imagery was acquired by satellite-borne camera systems. The satellites were designed to deorbit a film capsule (referred to as a "bucket")from space with mid-air recovery of the returning capsule by a specially equipped aircraft. Early systems operated with a single bucket, while later systems were configured with two buckets; the KH-4A was the first satellite with multiple film buckets.
Early systems (KH-1, KH-2, KH-3 and KH-6) carried a single panoramic camera, or a single frame camera (KH-5), while the later systems (KH-4, KH-4A, and KH-4B) carried two panoramic cameras with 30 degrees separation angle. For KH-4, KH-4A,and KH-4B missions, the two cameras are referred to as fore (for forward looking) and aft (for rear ooking). The KH-6 camera was programmed to tilt between fore and aft to cover the same land area twice during a photographic pass and thus to acquire stereo coverage.
The Corona, Argon, and Lanyard satellites were U.S. photographic surveillance satellites used from the late 50's through the early 70's. The satellites were designed to assess how rapidly the Soviet Union was producing long-rangem bombers and ballistic missiles, and where they were being deployed. The programs' worldwide photographic coverage was also used to produce maps and charts for the Department of Defense and other U.S. government mapping programs.
The satellites used film canisters that were returned to earth in capsules (a.k.a. "buckets") for evaluation. These capsules were designed to be recovered by a specially equipped aircraft during parachute descent, but were also designed to float to permit recovery from the ocean. All film was black-and-white, with the exception of some small samples of infrared and color film carried on some missions as experiments.
The first launches of the Corona program were announced by the USAF as satellites in the Discoverer series. This Discoverer program, then described as a satellite technology development effort, was in reality mainly a cover for the Corona photographic missions. However, the Discoverer program did not solely consist of surveillance missions, and included non-imaging test flights to verify technologies and fix recurring technical problems in the Corona series, as well as 2 flights to test sensors for the MIDAS early warning satellite system. Following Discoverer 38, the Discoverer program was terminated, and a veil of secrecy was placed on all photographic surveillance missions and related test missions.
The KH- (KeyHole) designation is used to refer to all photographic reconnaissance satellites. The number following the KH- designation indicates what type camera system was used on the satellite. This designation system came into use during 1962 with the 4th camera system, with its predecessors retroactively identified as KH-1, KH-2, and KH-3.
In 1995, President Clinton signed an Executive Order directing the declassification of intelligence imagery acquired by the Corona, Argon, and Lanyard missions. The order provides for the declassification of more than 860,000 images of the Earth's surface, collected between 1960 and 1972. These images are now publicly available.
Little information is available about the various satellite designs. However, some details about the various camera systems have been made available. Early systems (KH-1, KH-2, KH-3 and KH-6) carried a single panoramic camera, or a single frame camera (KH-5), while later systems (KH-4, KH-4A, and KH-4B) carried two panoramic cameras looking 30 degree apart (one looking forward, the other looking rear). The KH-6 camera was programmed to tilt between fore and aft to cover the same land area twice during a photographic pass and thus provide stereo coverage. Early systems operated with a single bucket, while later systems were configured with two buckets; the KH-4A was the first satellite with multiple film buckets. Additionally, the fore and aft camera's film were packaged separately for missions that carried twin panoramic cameras. Occasionally one of the pair of cameras malfunctioned or was programmed to halt, while its mate continued to operate.
.
.
Camera, Film, and Image Parameters
Table
Of the 144 total Corona missions, 102 were successful. Of the 11 Argon missions, 6 were successful. Of the 3 Lanyard missions, 1 was successful.
