Success
Explorer 16
Earth Science
National Aeronautics and Space Administration(NASA)Government
Scout X-3
LEOorbit
Explorer 16 was the second in the series of micrometeoroid satellites orbited by NASA. Its purpose was to obtain data on the near-earth meteoroid environment, thus providing an accurate estimate of the probability of penetration in spacecraft structures by meteoroids and allowing a more confident definition of the relationship between penetration flux and material thickness to be derived.
Sunday, December 16, 1962 at 2:33 PM
Mission details
Orbital Attempt
#221
NASA Mission
#45
Pad Launch
#9
Location Launch
#19
Designator
1962-070
Launch Window
NET
Dec 16, 1962, 2:33 PM
Schedule Changes
1 update
Wallops Flight Facility, Virginia, USA
Wallops Flight Facility is a rocket launch site on Wallops Island on the Eastern Shore of Virginia, United States, just east of the Delmarva Peninsula and north-northeast of Norfolk. The facility is operated by the Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, and primarily serves to support science and exploration missions for NASA and other federal agencies. WFF includes an extensively instrumented range to support launches of more than a dozen types of sounding rockets; small expendable suborbital and orbital rockets; high-altitude balloon flights carrying scientific instruments for atmospheric and astronomical research; and, using its Research Airport, flight tests of aeronautical research aircraft, including uncrewed aerial vehicles.
Timezone
America/New_York
Local Launch Time
Dec 16, 1962, 9:33 AM
Total Launches
86
Total Landings
0
Coordinates
37.9333, -75.4678
Scout X-3 Specs
The Scout family of rockets were were American launch vehicles designed to place small satellites into orbit around the Earth. The Scout multistage rocket was the first orbital launch vehicle to be entirely composed of solid fuel stages.
Length
24 m
Diameter
1.01 m
Launch Mass
17 t
Thrust
513 kN
LEO Capacity
87 kg
Launch Cost
$9M
Reusable
No
Maiden Flight
1962
Fastest Turnaround
2d 10h
Total Launches
5
Successful
4
Failed
1
Consecutive Success
2
Maiden flight: Dec 16, 1962
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is an independent agency of the executive branch of the United States federal government responsible for the civilian space program, as well as aeronautics and aerospace research. NASA have many launch facilities but most are inactive. The most commonly used pad will be LC-39B at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Founded
1958
Administrator
Administrator: Jared Isaacman
Total Launches
142
Successful
122
Failed
20
Pending
5
Consecutive Success
12