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Following the introduction of a second-generation, high-resolution
reconnaissance satellite in 1964 came the debut of a second-generation, low- resolution
reconnaissance satellite in 1966. "Kosmos-120" and "Kosmos-124"
were the first-both went into 51-52° inclination orbits. An A-2
("Soyuz") booster was used. The orbital characteristics were identical with
earlier satellites. Presumably, the added payload of the larger booster went into in
creased film capacity and batteries. Lifetime was still the standard 8 days. The
real development in 1966 had nothing to do with hardware;
rather, it was how a group of 13 to 17 year-old English school boys,
their teacher, and a war surplus radio discovered one of the Soviet Union's most closely
guarded secrets. Beginning with "Kosmos-5" in 1962, Geoffery Perry, the
senior physics master, and his students at the Kettering Grammar School had undertaken a
systematic monitoring of the short-wave signals transmitted from Soviet satellites. On 17
March 1966 the Soviet Union launched "Kosmos-112" - a first-generation,
low-resolution satellite. Its new inclination of 72.1° attracted the Kettering group's
attention. When they attempted to determine Kosmos-112's ground track, they made an
interesting discovery-"Kosmos-112" could not have been launched from
Tyuratam. Instead, it appeared to have come from somewhere in northwest Russia. One early
candidate was the southern tip of Novaya Zemlya island used in the Soviet 1961-1962
nuclear test series. The second satellite from this new northern launch site was "Kosmos-114"
in April 1966. Because of the very slight difference in inclination,
the crossing of the two satellites' ground tracks was not precise enough
to show the exact location of the launch site. This was finally pinned down with the
launch of "Kosmos-129" (14 October). When the ground track of its 64.7°
orbit was plotted, it intersected the other satellites' path near the small town of
Plesetsk. The Kettering group had their launch site. The formal announcement came at
the 3 November 1966 autumn meeting of the British
Interplanetary Society. The Soviet Union did not acknowledge the site's existence for
satellite launchings. The site was used for military missions, which was some thing only
"Yankee imperialists" did. The Plesetsk launch site is the old 55-6 ICBM
facility. The Soviet Union had several reasons for using it for satellite launchings. The
expanding Soviet space program was putting a burden on the Tyuratam facility. It had only
one A-booster pad operational until the late 1960s. Plesetsk had two pads. More
important was Tyuratam' s northerly location-62.9° north latitude (equivalent to
Anchorage, Alaska). A rocket will orbit its maximum pay load if it is launched due
east, because the earth's rotation provides an added boost. Tyuratam is at only 46° north
latitude; a reconnaissance satellite must be launched to the northeast if it is to cover
western Europe and the northern U.S. This, however, entails a loss of payload. From
Plesetsk, the rocket would be launched only a little north of east to reach the desired
inclination. During 1966, Plesetsk made six reconnaissance satellite launches out of
twenty-one for the year. At this time, Plesetsk was a dual ICBM and space facility. In
1967, the four SS-6 ICBMs were retired from service and Plesetsk undertook satellite
launchings full time. These launches took place, like those at Tyuratam, between 1P.M. and
4 P.M. local time. Because Plesetsk is farther west, its satellites make one less
orbit before landing in the recover) zone. Of 1967's twenty-two reconnaissance satellite
launches, fourteen came from the Plesetsk facility. Also in 1967 on 12 May-was the
retirement of the first-generation, low-resolution satellites-"Kosmos-157".
Launches
from the two sites could be readily separated by their orbital inclination-Tyuratam
satellites going into 51-52°, 65°, or 69-71° orbits. The Plesetsk inclinations
were 65-66° or 72-73°.
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