National Museum of the U.S. Air Force adds missile to gallery Published May 26, 2006 DAYTON, Ohio -- One of the most successful U.S. satellite launch vehicles of the Cold War era, the Thor Agena A, recently was added in the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force’s Missile and Space Gallery. It is the fifth of 10 vehicles to be added to the gallery. The U.S. Air Force launched the world’s first space photo reconnaissance satellites using rockets like the Thor Agena A. These satellites, secretly code-named Corona, took pictures of the Soviet Union’s bomber and missile bases during the Cold War. According to museum director retired Maj. Gen. Charles D. Metcalf, the Thor Agena A gave the U.S. a new capability to see from space what the USSR and other communist nations were doing. “The addition of this vehicle brings the museum another step closer to telling visitors more about the Cold War,” said General Metcalf. “Displaying the Thor Agena A allows people to better understand our country’s response to the kind of threat we once faced.” The U.S. Air Force and the Central Intelligence Agency jointly managed Corona, which was known to the public as the Discoverer research satellite program. The Thor Agena A launch vehicle combined a Thor ballistic missile with an Agena upper stage. At first, the Agena vehicle was meant to be carried atop Atlas boosters, but the 1957 Soviet launch of Sputnik sped up the U.S. Discoverer program. Thor was the first vehicle available to carry Agenas. Thor and Agena vehicles worked together to put satellites into orbit. The Thor first stage launched the Agena and its satellite payload into a low orbit. Then the Agena boosted the satellite into its final, higher orbit. The Thor-Agena combination was able to put Corona satellites into elliptical orbits that ranged as far as 1,049 miles and as close as 61 miles to the Earth.