KH-5 ARGON was a series of reconnaissance satellites produced by the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 from February 1961 to August 1964. The KH-5 operated similarly to the Corona

Corona (satellite)

The Corona program was a series of American strategic reconnaissance satellites produced and operated by the Central Intelligence Agency Directorate of Science & Technology with substantial assistance from the U.S. Air Force...

 series of satellites, as it ejected a canister of photographic film

Photographic film

Photographic film is a sheet of plastic coated with an emulsion containing light-sensitive silver halide salts with variable crystal sizes that determine the sensitivity, contrast and resolution of the film...

. At least 12 missions were attempted, but at least 7 resulted in failure. The satellite was manufactured by Lockheed

Lockheed Corporation

The Lockheed Corporation was an American aerospace company. Lockheed was founded in 1912 and later merged with Martin Marietta to form Lockheed Martin in 1995.-Origins:...

. Launches used Thor-Agena

Thor-Agena

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. The first attempted launch of a Thor-Agena was in January 1959...

 rockets flying from Vandenberg Air Force Base

Vandenberg Air Force Base

Vandenberg Air Force Base is a United States Air Force Base, located approximately northwest of Lompoc, California. It is under the jurisdiction of the 30th Space Wing, Air Force Space Command ....

, with the payload being integrated into the Agena

RM-81 Agena

The RM-81 Agena was an American rocket upper stage and satellite support bus which was developed by Lockheed initially for the canceled WS-117L reconnaissance satellite program...

.

Payload

Different versions of the satellite varied in mass

Mass

Mass can be defined as a quantitive measure of the resistance an object has to change in its velocity.In physics, mass commonly refers to any of the following three properties of matter, which have been shown experimentally to be equivalent:...

 from 1150 kilogram

Kilogram

The kilogram or kilogramme , also known as the kilo, is the base unit of mass in the International System of Units and is defined as being equal to the mass of the International Prototype Kilogram , which is almost exactly equal to the mass of one liter of water...

s to 1500 kg. At least two missions deployed ELINT subsatellites. Ground resolution for the satellite was 140 meters, with a swath of 556 km. The onboard camera had a focal length

Focal length

The focal length of an optical system is a measure of how strongly the system converges or diverges light. For an optical system in air, it is the distance over which initially collimated rays are brought to a focus...

 of 76 mm. The purpose of the system, which produced relatively low-resolution images compared to other spy satellites, was to provide imagery for mapmaking

Cartography

Cartography is the study and practice of making maps. Combining science, aesthetics, and technique, cartography builds on the premise that reality can be modeled in ways that communicate spatial information effectively.The fundamental problems of traditional cartography are to:*Set the map's...

 purposes. This was one of the tasks that had originally been planned for the Samos

Samos (satellite)

The Samos E or SAMOS program was a relatively short-lived series of reconnaissance satellites for the United States in the early 1960s, also used as a cover for the intitial development of the KH-7 Gambit system...

 series of satellites equipped with the (quickly cancelled) "E-4" cameras. Each satellite took photographs for less than a week before returning its film.

The satellite was in use during the same period as the KH-2-KH-4A Corona

Corona (satellite)

The Corona program was a series of American strategic reconnaissance satellites produced and operated by the Central Intelligence Agency Directorate of Science & Technology with substantial assistance from the U.S. Air Force...

 and the KH-6

KH-6

Codenamed Lanyard, the KH-6 was the unsuccessful first attempt to develop and deploy a high-resolution optical reconnaissance satellite by the United States National Reconnaissance Office. Launches and launch attempts spanned the period from March to July 1963. The project was quickly put together...

 Lanyard satellites. Later satellites were the KH-4B and KH-7

KH-7

Codenamed Gambit, the KH-7 was a reconnaissance satellite used by the United States from July 1963 to June 1967. Like the older CORONA system, it acquired imagery intelligence by taking photographs and returning the undeveloped film to earth. It achieved a typical ground-resolution of to...

. Images from three of the successful missions returned the first images of Antarctica from space.

Launches

Name	Launch Date	NSSDC ID International Designator The International Designator, also known as COSPAR designation, and in the United States as NSSDC ID, is an international naming convention for satellites...	Alt Name	Alt Name	Mass (kg)	Decay Date	Notes
KH-5 9014A	1961-02-17	1961-005A	Discoverer 20	1961 Epsillon	1100	1962-07-28	Film capsule not ejected
KH-5 9016A	1961-04-08	1961-011A	Discoverer 23	1961 Lambda	1150	1962-04-16	Film capsule ejected into wrong orbit, not recovered
KH-5 9018A	1961-06- 8	DISC24	Discoverer 24	1961-F05	1150	---	Failed to orbit
KH-5 9020A	1961-07-21	DISC27	Discoverer 27	1961-F07	1150
Failed to orbit
KH-5 9034A	1962-05-15	1962-018A	FTV 1126	1962 Sigma	1150	1962-06-20	Successful.
KH-5 9042A	1962-09- 1	1962-044A	FTV 1132	1962 A Upsillon	1150	1962-10-01	Film capsule sank.
KH-5 9046A	1962-10- 9	1962-053A	FTV 1134	1962 B Epsillon	1500	1962-10-17	Successful.
KH-5 9055A	1963-04-26	1963-F07	OPS 1008	1963-F07	1150
Failed to orbit
KH-5 9058A	1963-08-29	1963-035A	OPS 1561	1963-035	1000	1963-09-30	Successful; deployed ELINT subsatellite
KH-5 9059A	1963-10-29	1963-042A	OPS 2437	1963-042	1500	1963-11-29	Successful; deployed ELINT subsatellite
KH-5 9065A	1964-06-13	1964-030A	OPS 3236	1964-030	1500	1964-07-14	Successful.
KH-5 9066A	1964-08-21	1964-048A	OPS 2739	1964-048	1500	1964-09-20	Successful.

See also

• KH-1 thru 4 CORONA
  Corona (satellite)
  The Corona program was a series of American strategic reconnaissance satellites produced and operated by the Central Intelligence Agency Directorate of Science & Technology with substantial assistance from the U.S. Air Force...
  
  , KH-6
  KH-6
  Codenamed Lanyard, the KH-6 was the unsuccessful first attempt to develop and deploy a high-resolution optical reconnaissance satellite by the United States National Reconnaissance Office. Launches and launch attempts spanned the period from March to July 1963. The project was quickly put together...
  
  -LANYARD, KH-7
  KH-7
  Codenamed Gambit, the KH-7 was a reconnaissance satellite used by the United States from July 1963 to June 1967. Like the older CORONA system, it acquired imagery intelligence by taking photographs and returning the undeveloped film to earth. It achieved a typical ground-resolution of to...
  
  , KH-8
  KH-8
  The KH-8, codenamed Gambit 3 was a long-lived series of reconnaissance satellites of the "Key Hole" series used by the United States from July 1966 to April 1984, and also known as Low Altitude Surveillance Platform. The satellite ejected canisters of photographic film that were retrieved as they...
  
  -GAMBIT
• KH-9-HEXAGON "Big Bird
  Big Bird (satellite)
  KH-9 HEXAGON, commonly known as Big Bird, was a series of photographic reconnaissance satellites launched by the United States between 1971 and 1986. Of twenty launch attempts by the United States Air Force, all but one were successful. Photographic film aboard Big Bird was sent back to Earth in...
  
  "
• KH-10-DORIAN or Manned Orbital Laboratory
• KH-11
  KH-11
  The KH-11 KENNAN, renamed CRYSTAL in 1982 and also referenced by the codenames 1010, and "Key Hole", is a type of reconnaissance satellite launched by the American National Reconnaissance Office since December 1976...
  
  , KH-12, KH-13
  KH-13
  Enhanced Imaging System , officially referred to as "Enhanced Imagery System", previously known as 8X, and sometimes unofficially known as Misty 2 and KH-13, is an American reconnaissance satellite programme...
  
  .
• Satellite imagery
  Satellite imagery
  Satellite imagery consists of photographs of Earth or other planets made by means of artificial satellites.- History :The first images from space were taken on sub-orbital flights. The U.S-launched V-2 flight on October 24, 1946 took one image every 1.5 seconds...
  
  
• Cold War
  Cold War
  The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...