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The Agena Satellite and The Discoverer Programme

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 July 2016

Ronald Smelt
Ronald Smelt*
Affiliation:
Satellite Systems, Lockheed Missiles and Space Division
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Extract

The history of the Agena space vehicle starts in the years immediately following the Second World War, when the Rand Corporation under a contract with the U.S. Air Force examined the potential applications of satellites, recognising their technical feasibility as an additional bonus from an inter-continental ballistic missile development programme. The U.S. Air Force kept this concept alive throughout the development phase of the ICBM programme; the Lockheed Aircraft Corporation actually received its first contract, for detailed engineering studies, in 1955. The Agena space vehicle has grown from these beginnings and is now the vehicle selected for a large variety of U.S. space projects. Most of these are satellites, but they include a few space probes and moon explorers.

Type
Astronautics and Guided flight Section
Information
The Aeronautical Journal , Volume 65 , Issue 611 , November 1961 , pp. 713 - 723
Copyright
Copyright © Royal Aeronautical Society 1961

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References

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