Documents / FOIA release
This is National Intelligence Estimate 11-5-61, Soviet Technical Capabilities in Guided Missiles and Space Vehicles. It was submitted by the Director of Central Intelligence and concurred in by the United States Intelligence Board on 25 April 1961. The estimate assesses Soviet surface-to-air, antimissile, air-to-air, air-to-surface, ballistic, ICBM, naval and space programs. It concludes that the first Soviet ICBM unit was probably operational around 1 January 1960. It also says there is no evidence the Soviets are developing offensive space weapons. It contains no UFO material.
“The Advance”10 pages
Table 2 (Continued) SPUTNIK VII (1981 BETA) SPUTNIK VIII (1001 GAMMA) Venus Probe Success SPUTNIK IX (1081 THETA) SPUTNIK N (1061 IOTA) SPUTNIK XI (1961 MU) Weight (lbs.) Configuration Diameter ((t) of SLIM- Iltes. Length (ft) of Sat,ellite Date Launched Orbit Period Perigee (s.' m.) Apogee (s. m.) ...L. Inclination to Equator (degrees). Remarks 14,202 Unknown Unknown Unknown 4 Feb. 1001 80.8 up to Orbit 17 .. 135 194 05.10 Venus probe fail- ure. Approx. 14,000 Unknown Unknown Unknown 12 Feb. 1001 89.42 125.2 198.6 05.01 VifillIA probe suceesi 10,380 Unknown Unknown Unknown 0 Mitt. 1001 88.20 (Rev.) 114 154 .- 64.87 Successfully recovered 10,1352 Unknown Unknown ' Unknown 25 Mar. 1001 88.42 (Rev.) 111 154 64.54 . Successfulfy recovered 10,428. Unknown. Unknown. Unknown. 12 Apr. 11161. 811.00 (Rev.). 110. 188. 65.00. Successfully recovered (manned), • Most of these data are based on Soviet announcements or displays. In a few cases telemetry or other inforinntion ccnfirms experiments or clittn. •• Not Including the last stage which did not separate In the caso of Sputnik II. • The meaning of the word "instrumentation" is not known. A weight of 3,257 lbs. seems high for Instrumentation only. d At 2352Z, 18 May, deorbiting was Initiated, but due to malfunction in the orientation system the vehicle entered a new orbit having cm period of 04.25 min- utes, a perigee of 190 s.m., and an apogee of 428 e.m. • A transfer to a higher energy orbit is believed to have occurred during the 18th orbit.
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FOIA release, from the cia-readingroom collection. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is above. 101 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.