The following table gives a listing of all missions organized according to mission number order. The statement "mission failed" is made
under the mission description for missions that failed to acquire imagery.
| KH4 Mission | Date Launched | Short Mission Description
|
|---|
| 9031 | 27-29Feb62 | *First mission of the KH4 series. Much of film slightly out of focus.
|
| 9032 | 18Apr62 | *Best mission to date.
|
| 9033 | 28Apr62 | Mission failed. Parachute ejector squibs holding parachute container cover failed to fire. No recovery.
|
| 9034A | See KH5 | |
| 9035 | 30May62 | *Slight corona static on film.
|
| 9036 | 2Jun62 | Mission failed. During air catch, chute tore loose. Capsule sank.
|
| 9037 | 23Jun62 | Corona static occurs on some film.
|
| 9038 | 28Jun62 | *Severe corona static.
|
| 9039 | 21Jul62 | Aborted after 6 photo passes. Heavy corona and radiation fog.
|
| 9040 | 28Jul62 | *No filters on slave horizon cameras. Heavy corona and radiation fog.
|
| 9041 | 2Aug62 | *Severe corona and radiation fog.
|
| 9042A | See KH5 |
|
| 9043 | 17Sep62 | Capping shutter malfunction, slight corona and radiation fog.
|
| 9044 | 29Aug62 | *Erratic vehicle attitude. Radiation fog minimal.
|
| 9045 | 29Sep62 | *First use of stellar camera, erratic vehicle attitude, numerous light leaks.
|
| 9046A | See KH5 |
|
| 9047 | 5Nov62 | Camera door malfunctioned, flare degraded 15% of film.
|
| 9048 | 24Nov62 | Some film exposed through base.
|
| 9049 | 4Dec62 | Mission failed. During air catch chute tore, capsule sank.
|
| 9050 | 14Dec62 | Best mission to date.
|
| 9051 | 7Jan63 | Erratic vehicle attitude. Frame ephemeris not created.
|
| 9052 | 28Feb63 | Mission failed. Destroyed by range safety officer, 100 seconds after launch.
|
| 9053 | 1Apr63 | Best imagery to date.
|
| 9054 | 12Jun63 | *Some imagery seriously affected by corona.
|
| 9055A | See KH5 |
|
| 9056 | 26Jun63 | *Experimental camera carried. Film affected by light leaks.
|
| 9057 | 18Jul63 | Best mission to date.
|
| 9058A | See KH5 |
|
| 9059A | See KH5 |
|
| 9060 | 9Nov63 | Mission failed. No orbit.
|
| 9061 | 27Nov63 | Mission failed. Return capsule separated from satellite but remained in orbit.
|
| 9062 | 21Dec63 | Corona static fogged much of film.
|
| 9065A | See KH5 |
|
| 9066A | See KH5 |
|
| KH4A Mission | Date Launched | Short Mission Description
|
|---|
| 1001 | 24Aug63 | *First mission of KH4A. Some film was fogged. Two buckets but 10012 was never recovered.
|
| 1002 | 23Sep63 | *Severe light leaks, 10022 never recovered, indefinite postponement of KH4A series.
|
| 1003 | 24Mar64 | Mission failed. Guidance system failed. No orbit.
|
| 1004 | 15Feb64 | *Main cameras operated satisfactorily. Minor degradatons due to static and light leaks.
|
| 1005 | 27Apr64 | Mission failed. Recovery vehicle impacted in Venezuela.
|
| 1006 | 4Jun64 | Highest quality imagery attained to date from the KH4 system.
|
| 1007 | 19Jun64 | Outoffocus area on some film.
|
| 1008 | 10Jul64 | *Cameras operated satisfactorily, some light leaks.
|
| 1009 | 5Aug64 | *Cameras operated successfully.
|
| 1010 | 14Sep64 | *Small out of focus areas on both cameras at random times throughout the mission.
|
| 1011 | 5Oct64 | *Primary mode of recovery failed on second portion of the mission (10112). Small out of focus areas present at random on both cameras.
|
| 1012 | 17Oct64 | *Vehicle attitude became erratic on the second portion of the mission necessitating an early recovery.
|
| 1013 | 2Nov64 | *Program anomaly occurred immediately after launch when both cameras operated for 417 frames. Main cameras ceased operation on rev 52D of first portion of mission negating second portion. About 65% of aft camera film is out of focus.
|
| 1014 | 18Nov64 | *Cameras operated successfully.
|
| 1015 | 19Dec64 | *Discrepancies in planned and actual coverage due to telemetry problemsduring the first 6 revolutions. Small outoffocus areas on film from aft camera.
|
| 1016 | 15Jan65 | *Smearing of highly reflective images due to reflections within camera.
|
| 1017 | 25Feb65 | *Capping shutter malfunction occurred during last 5 passes of mission.
|
| 1018 | 25Mar65 | *Cameras operated successfully. First KH4A reconnaissance system to be launched into a retrograde orbit.
|
| 1019 | 29Apr65 | *Cameras operated successfully. Malfunction in recovery mode on 10192 negated recovery.
|
| 1020 | 9Jun65 | *All cameras operated satisfactorily. Erratic attitude caused an early recovery after the second day of 10202.
|
| 1021 | 18May65 | *Aft camera ceased operation on pass 102.
|
| 1022 | 19Jul65 | *All cameras operated satisfactorily.
|
| 1023 | 17Aug65 | * Program anomaly caused the fore camera to cease operation during revolutions 103132.
|
| 1024 | 22Sep65 | *All cameras operated satisfactorily. Cameras not operated on passes 88D93D.
|
| 1025 | 5Oct65 | *Main cameras operated satisfactorily.
|
| 1026 | 28Oct65 | * All cameras operated satisfactorily.
|
| 1027 | 9Dec65 | *Erratic attitude necessitated recovery after two days of operation. All cameras operated satisfactorily.
|
| 1028 | 24Dec65 | * Cameras operated satisfactorily.
|
| 1029 | 2Feb66 | *Both panoramic cameras were operational throughout.
|
| 1030 | 9Mar66 | *All cameras operated satisfactorily.
|
| 1031 | 7Apr66 | *The aftlooking camera malfunctioned after the recovery of bucket "1". No material was received in bucket "2" (10312).
|
| 1032 | 3May66 | Mission failed. Vehicle failed to achieve orbit.
|
| 1033 | 24May66 | *The stellar camera shutter of bucket "2" remained open for approximately 200 frames.
|
| 1034 | 21Jun66 | *Failure of velocity/altitude programmer produced poor imagery after revolution 5.
|
| 1035 | 20Sep66 | *All cameras operated satisfactorily. First mission flown with pan geometry modification.
|
| 1036 | 9Aug66 | *All cameras operated satisfactorily.
|
| 1037 | 8Nov66 | *Second pan geometry mission. Higher than normal base plus fog encountered on both main camera records.
|
| 1038 | 14Jan67 | *Fair image quality.
|
| 1039 | 22Feb67 | *Normal KH4 mission. Light from horizon camera on both main camera records during 10391.
|
| 1040 | 30Mar67 | Satellite flown nose first, all cameras operated satisfactorily.
|
| 1041 | 9May67 | *Due to the failure of the booster cutoff switch, the satellite went into a highly eccentric orbit. Significant image degradation.
|
| 1042 | 16Jun67 | *Small outoffocus area in forward camera of 10421.
|
| 1043 | 7Aug67 | *Forward camera film came out of the rails on pass 230D. Film degraded past this point.
|
| 1044 | 2Nov67 | *All cameras operated fine.
|
| 1045 | 24Jan68 | *All cameras operated satisfactorily.
|
| 1046 | 14Mar68 | * Image quality good for 10461 and fair for 10462.
|
| 1047 | 20Jun68 | *Outoffocus imagery is present on both main camera records.
|
| 1048 | 18Sep68 | *Film in the forward camera separated and camera failed on mission 10482, also the stellar/index camera unit failed.
|
| 1049 | 12Dec68 | *Degraded film
|
| 1050 | 19Mar69 | *Due to abnormal rotational rates after revolution 22, the mission was terminated after a total of three days collecting photography.
|
| 1051 | 2May69 | *Imagery of both pan camera records is soft and lacks crispness and edge sharpness.
|
| 1052 | 22Sep69 | *Last of the KH4A missions, all camera systems operated satisfactorily.
|
| KH4B Mission | Date Launched | Short Mission Description |
|---|
| 1101 | 15Sep67 | First mission of the KH4B series. Best film to date.
|
| 1102 | 9Dec67 | *Noticeable image smear for forward camera, but best imagery to date.
|
| 1103 | 1May68 | *Outoffocus imagery is present on both main camera records.
|
| 1104 | 7Aug68 | *Best imagery to date on any KH4 systems. Bicolor and color infrared experiments were conducted on this mission.
|
| 1105 | 3Nov68 | *Image quality is variable and displays areas of soft focus and image smear.
|
| 1106 | 5Feb69 | *The best image quality to date.
|
| 1107 | 24Jul69 | Forward camera failed on pass 1 and remained inoperative throughout the rest of the mission.
|
| 1108 | 4Dec69 | Cameras operated satisfactorily and the mission carried 811 ft of aerial color film added to the end of the film supply.
|
| 1109 | 4Mar70 | Cameras operated satisfactorily but the overall image quality of both the forward and aft records is variable.
|
| 1110 | 20May70 | The overall image quality is less than that provided by recent missions and 2,000 feet of S0349 (new film) was spliced into the regular film.
|
| 1111 | 23Jul70 | The overall image quality is good.
|
| 1112 | 18Nov70 | The forward camera failed on pass 104 and remained inoperative throughout the rest of the mission.
|
| 1113 | 17Feb71 | Mission failed due to failure of Thor booster. Destroyed shortly after launch.
|
| 1114 | 24Mar71 | *The overall image quality is good and comparable to the best of past missions. Onboard program failed after pass 235, ceasing photographic acquisition.
|
| 1115 | 10Sep71 | *Overall image quality is good.
|
| 1116 | 19Mar72 | *Very successful mission and image quality was good.
|
| 1117 | 25May72 | *Last KH4B mission. Very successful mission, image quality was good. Final CORONA mission.
|
