S-56 (satellite)

S-56 was an American satellite launched by NASA on 4 December 1960 as part of the Explorers program.^[1] The satellite was composed of a 3.66 meter (12 foot) diameter inflatable sphere, and was intended to study the density of the upper atmosphere. S-56 was launched on a Scout X-1 rocket, but failed to reach orbit due to the second stage not igniting. It was replaced by the identical Explorer 9 (S 56A) spacecraft.^[2]

Citations

↑ "S-56". Encyclopedia Astronautica.
↑ "Explorer: AD". Gunter's Space Page.

Explorers program

Explorer 1 2 3 4 5 6 (S-2) 7 (S-1a) 8 S-56 9 (S-56A) 10 11 (S-15) 14 (EPE-B) 17 (AE-A) 19 30 (Solrad 8) 32 (AE-B) 33 (IMP-D) 34 35 (IMP-E) 37 (Solrad 9) 39 42 (Uhuru) 44 (Solrad 10) 48 (SAS B) 49 (RAE-B) 52 (Hawkeye 1) 53 (SAS C) 57 (IUE) 58 (HCMM) 59 (ICE) 61 (Magsat) 62 (DE-1) 63 (DE-2) 64 (SME) 66 (COBE) 67 (EUVE) 68 (SAMPEX) 69 (RXTE) 70 (FAST) 71 (ACE) 72 (SNOE) 73 (TRACE) 74 (SWAS) 75 (WIRE) 77 (FUSE) 78 (IMAGE) 79 (HETE-2) 80 (WMAP) 81 (RHESSI) 82 (CHIPSat) 83 (GALEX) 84 (Swift) 85 thru 89 (THEMIS) 90 (AIM) 91 (IBEX) 92 (WISE) 93 (NuSTAR) 94 (IRIS)

Italics indicates probes that failed to deploy or otherwise malfunctioned

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