3 .

Weather Satellites: NIMBUS B

NIMBUS B

Launch date: May 18, 1968

Launch site: Vandenberg Air Force Base, California

Launch vehicle: Thorad (Long-Tank Thor)

PROGRAM OBJECTIVE:

NIMBUS B (scheduled to be NIMBUS-III) was to be the first US weather satellite to make day and night global measurements from space of temperatures at varying levels in the atmosphere. Other mission objectives included providing support for international programs designed to gather vital oceanographic data, and large-scale atmospheric data for use in newly designed computer prediction models of the atmosphere.

SATELLITE DESCRIPTION:

Two minutes after launch, a booster malfunction forced a command destruct of the rocket and satellite. The rocket and spacecraft debris fell into the Pacific Ocean between Jalama Beach and San Miguel Island.

PARTICIPANTS:

NASA, General Electric, ITT, ESSA, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, US Weather Bureau, USAF Air Weather Service, Bureau of Commercial Fisheries, Nuclear Regulatory Commission.