Vela 1A

Vela 1A
Operator	USAF
COSPAR ID	1963-039A
SATCAT no.	00674
Mission duration	6 months (planned)
Spacecraft properties
Manufacturer	TRW
Launch mass	150 kilograms (330 lb)
Power	90 W
Start of mission
Launch date	October 17, 1963, 02:24 (1963-10-17UTC02:24Z)
Rocket	Atlas-LV3 Agena-D
Launch site	Cape Canaveral LC-13
Orbital parameters
Reference system	Geocentric
Regime	Highly Elliptical
Perigee altitude	101,081 kilometres (62,809 mi)
Apogee altitude	116,582 kilometres (72,441 mi)
Inclination	38.7°
Period	6,486.2 minutes
Epoch	October 17, 1963 (1963-10-17)
Vela ← None Vela 1B →

Vela 1A (or Vela 1) was a military satellite developed to detect nuclear detonations to monitor compliance with the 1963 Partial Test Ban Treaty by the Soviet Union.

Launch

Vela 1A was launched on October 17, 1963 from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida, by an Atlas-Agena launch vehicle. Vela 1A was launched along with Vela 1B and with ERS 12.^[1]

Mission

Vela 1A was a spin-stabilized 124-kg satellite comprising the first launch in a series of six Vela launches. Together with its twin Vela 1B, their objectives were to monitor nuclear weapons explosions in space and to study x-rays, gamma-rays, neutrons, and charged particles as the satellites passed through interplanetary space, the bow shock, the magnetosheath, and the magnetotail.^[2]