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on August 6, 1968. Secrecy surrounding the satellite was tight, and the Air Force would say nothing other than that an "experimental payload" had been launched and it was the first "secret" launch conducted from the Cape since 1963. After a successful launch and orbital deployment, the satellite's mission ended disastrously when a ground controller sent an erroneous command that sent it into an unrecoverable tumble. The second Canyon was launched in April 1969, followed by the third in
September 1970. Both satellites performed erratically, with their transmissions often cutting out or becoming intermittent. Despite these problems Canyons 2 and 3 returned much useful intelligence information, particularly regarding Chinese military maneuvers during the winter of 1970-71 when tensions between China and the USSR were at an all-time high, and also intelligence on North Vietnam for the 1972 Christmas Bombing campaign. The fourth Canyon, launched on December 4, 1971, never made it to orbit. The Atlas booster's sustainer engine shut down early in the launch and the booster drifted off its path, leading to a Range Safety destruct less than two minutes after liftoff. The weather on launch day was extremely wet, foggy, and overcast, thus the booster had been out of visibility when the failure happened and the Air Force did not make an announcement for three days. The failure momentarily delayed the planned launch of an Atlas-Centaur with an Intelsat satellite until the Air Force Mishap Review Board could complete their investigation and relieve the Atlas-Centaur of guilt by association. A fuel line obstruction was suspected of having blocked the flow of propellants to the sustainer gas generator, and the way was cleared for the Intelsat launch, which took place on December 20. Three more Canyons were launched in 1972, 1975, and 1977, all of which performed well and gathered considerable intelligence on Soviet activities as well as Arab communications during the 1973
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The Air Force did not acknowledge the existence of the program at all until 1990, thirteen years after the last Canyon was launched. However, the
Soviets found out about it as early as 1975 and began taking preventative measures to stop their radio communications from being tapped into, including the
61:
Seven Canyon satellites were launched from 1968 to 1977, all with Atlas SLV-3A (extended Atlas tanks for longer burn time) Agena D vehicles from LC-13 at Cape
Canaveral rather than Vandenberg Air Force Base, due to the necessity of placing them in a geostationary orbit. The first Canyon was launched
70:
replacement of satellite dishes with landlines. In addition, Geoffrey Prime, a
British member of the Government Communication Headquarters, had contacts with the KGB and funneled various information regarding US satellite intelligence, which may have included details on Canyon.
53:. They carried large parabolic reflecting dishes, estimated at 10m in diameter, and signals were transmitted to a center in Bad Aibling, West Germany. The Canyon satellites were eventually replaced with the next generation of COMINT satellites, the
57:
series. Unlike contemporary photo-reconnaissance satellites, Canyon was not a bus satellite integrated into the Agena stage and it separated once placed in geostationary orbit. The program is still classified.
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launched between 1968 and 1977. Also known by its program number AFP-827, the satellites were developed with the participation of the
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The Canyon program was succeeded by Chalet/Vortex, whose maiden voyage took place in June 1978.
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468:"CANYON – SIGINT Spacecraft Series – ( NRO/USAF/NSA Program AFP-827)"
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The satellites each had a mass of 700 kg and were launched from
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Failed to achieve orbit. Atlas sustainer engine failure.
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U.S. Military Uses of Space, 1945-1991 Vol 1, Guide.
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457:(2003-06-06) Speculation on the CANYON launches
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438:(1998-08-22) Lists U.S. SIGINT launches
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525:: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (
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23:Atlas-SLV3A Agena-D launching Canyon 7
542:Gunter's Space Page - information on
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30:was a series of seven United States
412:- China's SIGINT satellites in GEO
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491:National Security Archive. 1991.
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399:Central Intelligence Agency
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1189:Geosynchronous Earth orbit
487:Richelson, Jeffrey T. ed.
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1082:Enhanced Imaging System
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1401:Signals intelligence
406:- Canyon's successor
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289:Atlas SLV-3A Agena-D
249:Atlas SLV-3A Agena-D
215:Atlas SLV-3A Agena-D
177:Atlas SLV-3A Agena-D
139:Atlas SLV-3A Agena-D
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504:. Archived from
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133:6 August 1968
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47:Atlas/Agena D
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1072:KH-11 Kennen
1049:KH-10 Dorian
1044:KH-9 Hexagon
1029:KH-6 Lanyard
1019:KH-4B Corona
1014:KH-4A Corona
991:Photographic
806:Magnum/Orion
742:
510:. Retrieved
506:the original
496:
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483:
472:. Retrieved
470:. 2007-06-28
462:
443:
424:
321:18 June 1975
234:
108:Launch site
75:
72:
68:
60:
44:
27:
26:
1151:White Cloud
1034:KH-7 Gambit
1009:KH-3 Corona
1004:KH-2 Corona
999:KH-1 Corona
552:(in French)
359:23 May 1977
100:Launch date
1375:Categories
1349:USA number
1024:KH-5 Argon
895:Technology
512:2009-09-19
474:2013-06-11
417:References
410:Qianshou-3
393:- Another
351:1977-038A
313:1975-055A
275:1972-101A
201:1970-069A
163:1969-036A
125:1968-063A
90:COSPAR ID
36:Air Force
1174:Jumpseat
1105:Lacrosse
829:Jumpseat
637:Gambit 3
632:Gambit 1
521:cite web
451:Archived
432:Archived
385:See also
361:18:13:00
346:OPS 9751
323:09:00:00
308:OPS 4966
270:OPS 9390
196:OPS 7329
158:OPS 3148
120:OPS 2222
114:Remarks
95:SATCAT №
1356:USA-193
1342:Unknown
1315:R&D
1212:Mercury
1179:Trumpet
1156:Samos-F
912:USA-193
907:GeoLITE
852:Samos-F
834:Trumpet
753:Mercury
642:Hexagon
627:Lanyard
610:Keyhole
603:Optical
596:Imaging
235:Unnamed
1241:MASINT
1222:Vortex
1202:Magnum
1197:Canyon
1124:SIGINT
917:Colony
886:SLDCOM
811:Mentor
743:Canyon
728:SIGINT
617:Corona
544:Canyon
395:SIGINT
111:Orbit
102:(UTC)
40:COMINT
28:Canyon
1329:MiTEx
1297:SBIRS
1287:MIDAS
1256:FORTE
1227:GSSAP
1146:Poppy
1100:Quill
1077:Misty
1067:Samos
982:IMINT
857:Poppy
784:ELINT
769:Poppy
714:FIA-R
704:Quill
697:Radar
684:Samos
677:Other
663:Misty
656:Misty
622:Argon
373:LC-13
370:CCAFS
355:10016
335:LC-13
332:CCAFS
317:07963
297:LC-13
294:CCAFS
285:22:20
279:06317
257:LC-13
254:CCAFS
245:22:33
223:LC-13
220:CCAFS
211:01:00
205:04510
185:LC-13
182:CCAFS
173:02:30
167:03889
147:LC-13
144:CCAFS
135:11:08
129:03334
86:Name
1302:STSS
1271:Vela
1266:DMSP
1141:GRAB
902:STEX
774:NOSS
527:link
1292:DSP
1261:GPS
1110:FIA
922:RPP
881:SDS
844:LEO
821:HEO
793:GEO
668:EIS
261:N/A
240:N/A
1377::
523:}}
519:{{
42:.
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515:.
477:.
Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Additional terms may apply.
