Hitchhiker 1

Hitchhiker 1 (or Hitchhiker P-11 4201) was a satellite launched by U.S. Air Force on June 27, 1963. It was launched with the aim of studying and measuring cosmic radiation. The satellite was the first successful satellite of the P-11 program, following the failure of the first Hitchhiker satellite in March 1963.

Hitchhiker 1

Mission type	Technology
Operator	U.S. Air Force
COSPAR ID	1963-025B
SATCAT no.	614
Spacecraft properties
Bus	P-11
Manufacturer	Lockheed Martin / MIT
Launch mass	80 kilograms (180 lb)
Start of mission
Launch date	June 27, 1963, 19:55 (1963-06-27UTC19:55Z) UTC[1]
Rocket	Thor-SLV2A Agena-D
Launch site	Vandenberg 75-1-2
Orbital parameters
Reference system	Geocentric
Regime	Medium Earth
Eccentricity	0.16898
Perigee altitude	330 kilometres (210 mi)
Apogee altitude	3,060 kilometres (1,900 mi)
Inclination	82.1°
Period	120.3 minutes
Epoch	June 27, 1963 (1963-06-27)

Launch of Hitchhiker 1.

Instruments

• 1 Geiger tube (40-4 MeV)
• 1 Faraday cup plasma
• 1 Electron detector (0.3-5.0 MeV)
• 1 Proton detector (0.7-5.3 MeV)
• 2 electrostatic analysers (4-100 keV)

See also

• Spaceflight portal

• Corona program