Vela 1A (or Vela 1) was a US military satellite developed to detect nuclear detonations to monitor compliance with the 1963 Partial Test Ban Treaty.
== Launch == Vela 1A was launched on October 17, 1963 from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida, by an Atlas-Agena launch vehicle. Vela 1A was launched along with Vela 1B and with ERS 12.
== Mission == Vela 1A was a spin-stabilized 124-kg satellite comprising the first launch in a series of six Vela launches. Together with its twin Vela 1B, their objectives were to monitor nuclear weapons explosions in space and to study x-rays, gamma-rays, neutrons, and charged particles as the satellites passed through interplanetary space, the bow shock, the magnetosheath, and the magnetotail.
== See also == Vela (satellite)