Corona reconnaissance satellite and orbital capsule recovery
Satélite de reconocimiento Corona y recuperación de cápsulas en órbita
- Date
- agosto de 1960 · confidence high
- Place
- Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, United States
- Credited to
- CIA and US Air Force (Lockheed, Itek, Kodak)
- Field
- Movement
What it is
The Corona programme photographed the USSR from space and returned the film in a parachuted capsule. Discoverer 13 (August 1960) was the first object recovered from orbit and Discoverer 14 the first film caught in mid-air.
The programme was secret until 1995, with 'Discoverer' as a scientific cover. The first photographic success was the Corona 14 mission (Discoverer 14).
What it led to
- arms-control verification and the end of the 'missile gap'
- satellite mapping of the Earth
- capsule-recovery techniques reused in scientific and crewed missions