KH-7 Gambit

A KH-7 GAMBIT-1 launch configuration (with Agena D service module).

A KH-7 GAMBIT-1 on-orbit configuration (w/o Agena D service module).

A GAMBIT Reconnaissance System.

A KH-7 GAMBIT in launch configuration on display at the National Museum of the United States Air Force in Dayton, Ohio.

Each GAMBIT-1 satellite was about 4.5 m (15 ft) long, 1.5 m (4 ft 11 in) wide, weighed about 523 kg (1,153 lb), and carried about 914 m (2,999 ft) of film.[3]

A feasibility study for the Geodetic Orbital Photographic Satellite System reveals three subsystems for U.S. optical reconnaissance satellites in the 1960s: the Orbital (or Orbiting) Control Vehicle (OCV), the Data Collection Module (DCM), and the Recovery Section (RS).[4] For the KH-7, the DCM is also called the Camera Optics Module (COM), and is integrated in the OCV, which has a length of 5.5 m (18 ft) and a diameter of 1.52 m (5 ft 0 in).[5]

Orbital Control Vehicle and Recovery Vehicle

A film capsule being retrieved.

The primary contractor for the Orbital Control Vehicle and the Recovery Vehicle was General Electric.[1] Films were to be retrieved mid-air by a C-130 Hercules specially outfitted for that purpose.[8]

All KH-7 satellites were launched from Point Arguello, which became part of Vandenberg Air Force Base in July 1964. KH-7 satellites flew 38 missions, numbered 4001-4038, of which 34 returned film, and of these, 30 returned usable imagery. Mission duration was 1 to 8 days.[9] KH-7 satellites logged a total of almost 170 operational days in orbit.[1]

A KH-7 image of the Chinese Shuanchengtzu Missile Center A, May 1967.

A high-resolution instrument, the KH-7 took detailed pictures of "hot spots" and most of its photographs are of Chinese and Soviet nuclear and missile installations, with smaller amounts of coverage of cities and harbors.[10] Most of the imagery from this camera, amounting to 19,000 images, was declassified in 2002 as a result of Executive order 12951,[11] the same order which declassified CORONA, and copies of the films were transferred to the U.S. Geological Survey's Earth Resources Observation Systems office.[12] Approximately 100 frames covering the state of Israel remain classified.[13]

In early 1964, the CIA toyed with the idea of using GAMBIT to photograph military installations in Cuba, but this was dismissed as unworkable as the satellites were primarily designed with higher-latitude Soviet territory in mind and because it would mean wasting an entire satellite on the Latin America-Caribbean area which had little else of interest to U.S. intelligence services. It was decided that U-2 spyplane flights were more-than-adequate to provide coverage of Cuban activity.

Mission 4009 included an ELINT P-11 subsatellite for radar monitoring, which was launched into a higher orbit.[14][15]

A KH-7 GAMBIT optical reconnaissance satellite.

(NSSDC ID Numbers: See COSPAR)

An enlargement of a photograph of the U.S. Capitol taken by KH-7 mission 4025 on 19 February 1966.

A KH-7 GAMBIT optical reconnaissance satellite.

Section source: Space Review[7]

GAMBIT marked the first use of next-generation launch vehicle systems as Convair and Lockheed, the builders of the Atlas-Agena booster, began introducing improved, standardized launchers to replace the multitude of customized variants used up to 1963, which caused endless mix ups, poor reliability, and mission failures. This followed a recommendation by the Lewis Spaceflight Center in Cleveland, Ohio that Atlas and Agena switch to one standard configuration for both NASA and Air Force launches, with uniform testing and checkout procedures, as well as improved materials and fabrication processes for the various hardware components in the boosters. The Agena D, a standardized Agena B, arrived first, with the uprated Atlas SLV-3 taking another year to fly. The first eight GAMBIT flown still used custom-modified Atlas D ICBM cores, with GAMBIT 4010 in August 1964 being the first use of the SLV-3. Afterwards, all GAMBIT used SLV-3s aside from 4013, which used the last old-style Atlas remaining in the inventory.

In early 1963, the GAMBIT program began with failures. On 11 May 1963, the first GAMBIT satellite sat atop Atlas-Agena 190D on SLC-4W at Vandenberg Air Force Base awaiting launch. An air bubble formed while loading LOX into the booster and as soon as propellant filling was stopped, the bubble damaged the fill/drain valve. This quickly caused both the LOX and helium pressure gas to escape from the tank, depressurizing the Atlas's balloon skin and causing the entire launch vehicle to crumple to the ground. The RP-1 tank ruptured and spilled its contents onto the pad. There was no fire or explosion, but the Agena sustained minor damage and the satellite a considerable amount as the cameras were crushed in by impact with the ground and had their lenses destroyed. The pad itself was undamaged except for a steel beam cracked by exposure to the super-chilled LOX, which was repaired in two days. Fortunately, the satellite on the booster was not the same one planned for the actual launch and the payload shroud had also remained in one piece, preventing any unauthorized parties from seeing the GAMBIT. Secrecy surrounding the program was strict and knowledge of GAMBIT limited only to those directly involved in the program. While the early CORONA and SAMOS flights had been merely billed to the public as scientific missions, it became increasingly difficult to explain why they failed to return any scientific data. In late 1961, President John F. Kennedy ordered a veil of secrecy placed around the photoreconnaissance program and by GAMBIT's debut in 1963, DoD announcements described no details other than the launching of a "classified payload".

The Agena was sent back to Lockheed for repairs and a different Atlas (vehicle 201D) was used, and the first successful GAMBIT mission was launched on 12 July 1963. The launch vehicle performed perfectly and inserted GAMBIT into polar orbit with a 189 km (117 mi) altitude. The Air Force designated this mission number 4001.

Aerospace Corporation recommended that, during GAMBIT's first flights, the Orbital Control Vehicle (OCV) should remain attached to the Agena. This was a proven successful process for other Agena tests; and whereas the OCV was not. This decision limited GAMBIT's functionality, meaning that photographs could only be taken of targets directly below the vehicle. Once the successful photographic phase of the mission 4002 was completed, the OCV and the Agena were separated and the reentry vehicle would come down into the ocean northwest of Hawaii. The re-entry vehicle was caught in mid-air with a C-130 Hercules aircraft using a modified version of the Fulton surface-to-air recovery system. The film canister was then immediately transported to Eastman Kodak's Hawkeye facility in Rochester, New York for processing.[16] The developed results was sent to US Air Force imagery research analysts in Washington, DC.

GAMBIT mission 4003, was launched on 25 October 1963. The film canister was again ejected successfully after the photographic phase and the capsule recovered by an aircraft. Other tests were carried out with the OCV.

GAMBIT mission 4004 was launched and its film canister recovered on 18 December 1963. Missions 4005 through 4007 were also successful.

In May 1964, mission 4008 suffered major problems when the Agena did an unexplained roll during the boost phase. Even with OCV system problems, the film canister was able to return some imagery.

A variety of problems occurred with many of the remaining missions including poor or no imagery. Many of these difficulties were caused by the unreliable wire recording system carried by the GAMBITs (tape recorders were not yet in widespread use in the mid-1960s). Two satellites ended up in the Pacific Ocean. The first of them was 4012, launched on October 8, 1964. The Agena engine shut down after 1.5 seconds of operation and the GAMBIT did not attain orbit. An investigation of the failure found that an electrical short occurred in an engine relay box, resulting in a cutoff signal being issued 0.4 seconds after ignition. As soon as the engine arming command was stopped at 1.5 seconds, the Agena propulsion system shut down. Examination of factory records for the Agena found that a pair of metal screws from a little-used terminal connector had broken off and disappeared to parts unknown; it was speculated that they landed somewhere as to cause a short. Telemetry data indicated otherwise entirely normal performance of all Agena systems. The other failure was 4020, launched on 12 July 1965 when the Atlas programmer accidentally issued simultaneous SECO and BECO commands, the resultant propulsion system shutdown sending the launch vehicle into the Pacific Ocean some 1,090 km (680 mi) downrange. The latter was the first flight witnessed by newly arrived Brig. Gen John L. Martin who replaced Maj. Gen Robert Greer as head of the KH-7 program. Martin cracked down and began demanding higher workmanship and quality standards. He is credited with having significantly improved the success rate of the program.

It was noted that the GAMBIT flights through the first half of 1964 had been mostly successful, but a string of malfunctions occurred starting in the second half of the year and continuing through the first half of 1965. These included the two above-mentioned launch failures plus GAMBIT 4013 which did not return any imagery and GAMBIT 4014 which suffered a battery explosion. GAMBIT 4019 did not return any imagery either. Eventually, it was determined that the culprit was an extra structure added to the SLC-4W umbilical tower that sent resonant vibration through the Atlas-Agena stack at liftoff, jarring random components in the booster and/or spacecraft loose.

The KH-7 GAMBIT was an overall success, even with some failures; thus providing National Reconnaissance Office and the President with quality intelligence collection. Following KH-7 projects had greatly improved major upgrades in the spacecraft and its camera systems.

The total cost of the 38 flight KH-7 program from FY1963 to FY1967, without non-recurring costs, and excluding five GAMBIT cameras sold to NASA, was US$651.4 million in 1963 dollars (inflation adjusted US$ 6.23 billion present day).[17] Non-recurring costs for industrial facilities, development, and one-time support amounted to 24.3% of the total program cost, or US$209.1 million. The resulting total program costs were US$860.5 million in 1963 dollars (inflation adjusted US$ 8.23 billion present day).[1]

• CORONA series: KH-1, KH-2, KH-3, KH-4
• KH-5 ARGON
• KH-8 GAMBIT-3 (concurrent operations)
• KH-9 HEXAGON or "Big Bird"
• KH-10 DORIAN or Manned Orbital Laboratory
• KH-11 KENNEN, KH-12, KH-13
• SAMOS

• Satellite imagery
• Cold War
• First images of Earth from space

• Mark Wade (9 August 2003) KH-7 Encyclopedia Astronautica Accessed April 23, 2004
• KH-7 GAMBIT GlobalSecurity.org
• Gallery of KH-7 pictures at USGS
• NIMA 2002 Declassification FAQ (mirror at GlobalSecurity.org)

• US Geological Survey Satellite Images: Photographic imagery from KH-7 Surveillance and KH-9 Mapping system (1963 to 1980)