Scout X-2 was an American

expendable launch system An expendable launch system (or expendable launch vehicle/ELV) is a launch vehicle that can be launched only once, after which its components are destroyed during reentry or impact with Earth, or discarded in space. ELVs typically consist of s ...

and

sounding rocket A sounding rocket or rocketsonde, sometimes called a research rocket or a suborbital rocket, is an instrument-carrying rocket designed to take measurements and perform scientific experiments during its sub-orbital flight. The rockets are often ...

which was flown twice in 1962. It was a four-stage rocket, based on the earlier

Scout X-1 Scout X-1 was an American expendable launch system and sounding rocket which was flown seven times between August 1960 and October 1961. Four orbital and three suborbital launches were made, with four of the launches resulting in failures. The ...

, uprated first and third stages. It was a member of the

Scout Scout may refer to: Youth movement *Scout (Scouting), a child, usually 10–18 years of age, participating in the worldwide Scouting movement ** Scouts (The Scout Association), section for 10-14 year olds in the United Kingdom ** Scouts BSA, sect ...

family of rockets. The Scout X-2 used an Algol 1D first stage, instead of the earlier

Algol 1B The Algol family of solid-fuel rocket stages and boosters is built by Aerojet (now Aerojet Rocketdyne) and used on a variety of launch vehicles. It was developed by Aerojet from the earlier Jupiter Senior and the Navy Polaris programs. Upgrade ...

used on the Scout X-1. The third stage was the Antares 2A, a more powerful version of the

Antares 1A The Star is a family of US solid-propellant rocket motors originally developed by Thiokol and used by many space propulsion and launch vehicle stages. They are used almost exclusively as an upper stage, often as an apogee kick motor. The number ...

used on earlier variants of the Scout rocket. The second and fourth stages were the same as those used on the Scout X-1; a Castor 1A and an Altair 1A respectively. The first Scout X-2 was launched on a suborbital flight at 07:27 GMT on 29 March 1962. It flew from Launch Area 3 of the

Wallops Flight Facility Wallops Flight Facility (WFF) is a rocket launch site on Wallops Island on the Eastern Shore of Virginia, United States, just east of the Delmarva Peninsula and approximately north-northeast of Norfolk, VA, Norfolk. The facility is operated ...

. The flight carried plasma and

aeronomy Aeronomy is the scientific study of the upper atmosphere of the Earth and corresponding regions of the atmospheres of other planets. It is a branch of both atmospheric chemistry and atmospheric physics. Scientists specializing in aeronomy, know ...

experiments to an

apogee An apsis (; ) is the farthest or nearest point in the orbit of a planetary body about its primary body. The line of apsides (also called apse line, or major axis of the orbit) is the line connecting the two extreme values. Apsides perta ...

of , and was successful. The second flight, launched on 26 April, carried the Solrad 4B satellite. It failed to reach orbit. Following this launch, the Scout X-2 was replaced by the upgraded

Scout X-2M Scout X-2M was an American expendable launch system which was flown three times between May 1962 and April 1963. It was a four-stage rocket, based on the earlier Scout X-2, but with an MG-18 upper stage instead of the Altair used on the X-2. It w ...

References

* * * * 1962 in spaceflight X-2 {{rocket-stub