On July 7, 1961, the U.S. Air Force launched a satellite called Discoverer 26 into orbit with a classified payload.
Discoverer 26 was part of a series of reconnaissance or spy satellites whose missions were kept top-secret by the American government until 1992. While other Discoverer satellites were spying on Russia, China and the Middle East, Discoverer 26 was used to conduct experiments and new test spacecraft engineering techniques in orbit. The mission also evaluated the Agena-B second-stage rocket booster. This part of the launch vehicle contained instruments that could measure how ions and micrometeoroids in low-Earth orbit affected the spacecraft. After 32 trips around the planet, the satellite's reentry capsule plunged into Earth's atmosphere before it was successfully recovered.
Discoverer 26 was part of a series of reconnaissance or spy satellites whose missions were kept top-secret by the American government until 1992. While other Discoverer satellites were spying on Russia, China and the Middle East, Discoverer 26 was used to conduct experiments and new test spacecraft engineering techniques in orbit. The mission also evaluated the Agena-B second-stage rocket booster. This part of the launch vehicle contained instruments that could measure how ions and micrometeoroids in low-Earth orbit affected the spacecraft. After 32 trips around the planet, the satellite's reentry capsule plunged into Earth's atmosphere before it was successfully recovered.
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00:00On this day in space.
00:03In 1961, the U.S. Air Force launched a satellite called Discoverer 26 into orbit with a classified payload.
00:10Discoverer 26 was part of a series of reconnaissance, or spy, satellites
00:14whose missions were kept top secret by the American government until 1992.
00:18While other Discoverer satellites were spying on Russia, China, and the Middle East,
00:22Discoverer 26 was used to conduct experiments and test new spacecraft engineering techniques in orbit.
00:28The mission also evaluated the Agena B second-stage rocket booster.
00:33This part of the launch vehicle contained instruments that could measure how ions
00:36and micrometeoroids in low Earth orbit affected the spacecraft.
00:40After 32 trips around the planet, the satellite's re-entry capsule plunged into Earth's atmosphere
00:45before it was successfully recovered.
00:47And that's what happened on this day in space.
00:50NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology