Discoverer 14 was a US spy satellite used in the Corona program managed by Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) of the Department of Defense and the United States Air Force. On 19 August 1960, usable photographic film images of the Soviet Union taken by the satellite were recovered by a C-119 recovery aircraft. This was the first successful recovery of film from an orbiting satellite and the first mid-air recovery of an object returning from Earth orbit.
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| Discoverer 14 launch cover with Goldcraft cachet, postmarked at Vandenberg AFB on August 18, 1960. |
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| Discoverer 14 launch cover with H.Flick cachet, postmarked at Vandenberg AFB on August 18, 1960. |
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| Photo: How capsule will be caught using a modified C-119 cargo plane with a trailing recovery gear. |
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| Discoverer 14 recovery cover with Goldcraft cachet, postmarked at Vandenberg AFB on August 19, 1960. |
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| Discoverer 14 recovery cover with H.Flick cachet, postmarked at Vandenberg AFB on August 19, 1960. |
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| Photo: Illustration of the technique used to recover returning space capsule from Discoverer 14. The satellite carried cameras and film starting with Discoverer 14. |
(Reference from
Discoverer 14)
