General Electric, Missile & Space Division Search this
Materials:
Overall - stainless steel, silver, zinc, lead
Dimensions:
3-D: 22.9 x 12.1 x 8.9cm (9 x 4 3/4 x 3 1/2 in.)
Type:
SPACECRAFT-Uncrewed-Electrical Power
Country of Origin:
United States of America
Summary:
This silver-zinc battery, made by General Electric, was the only power source for the Corona satellite's film return capsule. It provided power to fire spin and despin rockets, deploy the parachute, and operate a RF tracking beacon and flashing strobe light to help in recovery of the capsule. Corona was a highly-classified joint Air Force/Central Intelligence Agency program that successfully launched over 120 photoreconnaissance satellites from 1960-1972. This battery, actually flown on at least one mission, was donated by Robert Andrews to NASM in 1998.
