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RM-81 Agena

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-==Lockheed Agena==
+#REDIRECT [[RM-81 Agena]]
-'''Agena''' was a rocket upper stage that typically accompanied its payload into orbit to provide electric power, communications and precise stabilization to its payload. It was initiated at the height of the [[Cold War]], primarily to support the super-secret [[CORONA]] payload, the world's first spy satellite. The vehicle was upgraded in two major steps to support heavier and more sophisticated CORONA cameras, film, and recovery provisions. Meanwhile, Agena was adapted for dozens of other military, civilian, and even foreign payloads, including the first successful cameras to the [[Moon]], [[Venus]] and [[Mars]]. In the manned Gemini program, Agena provided a target for orbital rendezvous and docking; it also boosted Gemini astronauts to world-record speed and altitude.
-==History and Uses==
-[[Image:Agena_Spy_Chart (2).jpg|frame|A compilation of Agena usage for CORONA and GAMBIT, spreading over 25 years of absolutely vital service to four successive Presidents. The references present statistics and identities of the 365 Agena missions.]]
-'''Agena A''' was launched atop Thor boosters into polar orbits from California. A few were launched eastward on Atlas boosters from Cape Canaveral. It had enough liquid propellant to fire its Bell engine with some seven tons of thrust for two minutes. However, there were failures of the camera, film, recovery, ground commands, the Agena, its engine and the boosters. The first successful recovery — a world first — followed the thirteenth launch, in August 1960; the first film, with images of much of the USSR, was recovered later that month.
-'''Agena B''' was close behind, with twice the propellant for a four-minute burn and the ability to fire its engine a second time — on orbit. Its failures, while fewer, were not satisfactory to the Air Force, which demanded lower cost as well as higher reliability. [[Lawrence Edwards]], a [[Lockheed]] engineering executive, proposed a standardized Agena with optional extra features to suit individual programs. This was soon approved, with the schedule accelerated. Meanwhile, the Pentagon requested the addition of the powerful new Titan booster to achieve increased payload weight.
-The result was '''Agena D''', the most-used space vehicle in the history of the free world.<ref>Genesis of Agena D: America's Most-Used Space Vehicle, lead article in Cold War Space History: Programmes, Space Chronicle, May 2006. Edited by [[Dwayne A. Day]]. </ref> It flew doubled-up CORONA recovery equipment and another 98 GAMBIT "close look" spy satellites, plus dozens of other missions. A special production line was set up to turn out 40 identical vehicles a year. Edwards remained responsible for the engineering for several years until the Air Force declared Agena D "operational" and imposed a hard-freeze on its design.
-Mission reliability with Agena D shot up to 90 percent and later exceeded 95 percent.
-The Agena family served at least 365 missions over a span of 25 years. To illustrate its myriad uses, in 1966 alone there were 39 successful Agena launches:
-- Thirty-seven were Agena D; two were Agena B.
-- Twenty-eight were sponsored by the [[United States Air Force]], two of those jointly with the [[United States Army]]. Eight were Corona, two were GAMBIT and 13 carried one or more sub-satellites.
-- Eleven were sponsored by NASA; four of those docked with Gemini spacecraft, two went to synchronous orbit or higher, and two sent [[NASA]] spacecraft to the Moon.
-- Thirty flew into polar orbit from Vandenberg Air Force Base and nine departed eastward from Florida. Twelve were boosted by some version of Thor, 24 by Atlas and three by Titan.
-==References==
-{{reflist|}}