Discoverer 9

Launch Failure

Launch Details

Date: 4 Feb 1960, 06:51 pm UTC

Rocket: Thor Agena A (Thor)

Provider: United States Air Force

Mission

Type: Government/Top Secret

Orbit: Low Earth Orbit

Pad: Space Launch Complex 1W, Vandenberg SFB, CA, USA

Mission Description

Discoverer 9 was an American optical reconnaissance satellite, the sixth of ten operational flights of the Corona KH-1 spy satellite series, and the first of them to be equipped with a new, vacuum-proof, polyester-based film. The satellite was not successfully orbited.