Explorer S-45 was a

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil List of government space agencies, space program ...

satellite, which was lost in a launch failure in February 1961. The satellite was intended to operate in a

highly elliptical orbit A highly elliptical orbit (HEO) is an elliptic orbit with high eccentricity, usually referring to one around Earth. Examples of inclined HEO orbits include Molniya orbits, named after the Molniya Soviet communication satellites which used them ...

, from which it was to have provided data on the shape of the ionosphere, and on the

Earth's magnetic field Earth's magnetic field, also known as the geomagnetic field, is the magnetic field that extends from Earth's interior out into space, where it interacts with the solar wind, a stream of charged particles emanating from the Sun. The magnetic ...

. It was part of the

Explorer program The Explorers program is a NASA exploration program that provides flight opportunities for physics, geophysics, heliophysics, and astrophysics investigations from space. Launched in 1958, Explorer 1 was the first spacecraft of the United Stat ...

, and would have been designated Explorer 10 had it reached orbit. A second identical satellite, Explorer S-45A, also failed to achieve orbit when it was launched.

Launch

Explorer S-45 was launched aboard a Juno II launch vehicle, serial number AM-19F. The launch took place from Launch Complex 26B at the

Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Cape Canaveral Space Force Station (CCSFS) is an installation of the United States Space Force's Space Launch Delta 45, located on Cape Canaveral in Brevard County, Florida. Headquartered at the nearby Patrick Space Force Base, the statio ...

(CCAFS) at 00:13:16

GMT Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) is the mean solar time at the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, London, counted from midnight. At different times in the past, it has been calculated in different ways, including being calculated from noon; as a cons ...

on 25 February 1961. The launch vehicle malfunctioned after the second stage separated, and contact with the payload was lost. The third stages subsequently failed to ignite, resulting in the satellite failing to achieve orbit.

References

{{Orbital launches in 1961 Spacecraft launched in 1961 Satellite launch failures Explorers Program

Launch

See also

References