This US Air Force surveillance satellite was launched from Vandenberg AFB aboard a Thor Agena D rocket. This was the third and final KH-6 (LANYARD) mission that was designed to provide very high resoultion photos (2'), but the best resolution achieved was 6', the same as KH-4B, so LANYARD was discountinued after this 3rd flight in 1963. The initial stimulus for this added resolution was suspected ABM sites around Leningrad. The camera failed after 32 hours. The mission was deemed a success but the image quality was poor.