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Juno II | NASA S-46

Army Ballistic Missile Agency | United States of America
Cape Canaveral, FL, USA
March 23, 1960, 1:35 p.m.
Status: Launch Failure
Mission:

Explorer 5 was a United States satellite with a mass of 15.7 kg. It was the last of the original series of Explorers built, designed, and operated by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

Medium Earth Orbit
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Thor Able IV | Pioneer V

McDonnell Douglas | United States of America
Cape Canaveral, FL, USA
March 11, 1960, 1 p.m.
Status: Launch Successful
Mission:

Pioneer 5 was a spin-stabilized space probe in the NASA Pioneer program used to investigate interplanetary space between the orbits of Earth and Venus.

Heliocentric N/A
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Atlas Agena A | Midas 1

Convair | United States of America
Cape Canaveral, FL, USA
Feb. 26, 1960, 5:25 p.m.
Status: Launch Failure
Mission:

The MIDAS Series 1 (Military Defense Alarm System) satellites, MIDAS 1 and 2, were the first development models for the MIDAS early warning system.

Low Earth Orbit
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Thor Agena A | Discoverer 10

McDonnell Douglas | United States of America
Vandenberg SFB, CA, USA
Feb. 19, 1960, 8:15 p.m.
Status: Launch Failure
Mission:

Discoverer 10 was an American optical reconnaissance satellite, the seventh of ten operational flights of the Corona KH-1 spy satellite series.

Low Earth Orbit
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Thor Agena A | Discoverer 9

McDonnell Douglas | United States of America
Vandenberg SFB, CA, USA
Feb. 4, 1960, 6:51 p.m.
Status: Launch Failure
Mission:

Discoverer 9 was an American optical reconnaissance satellite, the sixth of ten operational flights of the Corona KH-1 spy satellite series, and the first of them to be equipped with a new, vacuum-proof, polyester-based film. The satellite was not successfully orbited.

Low Earth Orbit
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Little Joe | LJ-1B

North American Aviation | United States of America
Wallops Island, Virginia, USA
Jan. 21, 1960, 2:23 p.m.
Status: Launch Successful
Mission:

The Little Joe 1B was a suborbital launch escape system test of the Mercury spacecraft, conducted as part of the U.S. Mercury program. The mission also carried a female rhesus monkey (Macaca mulatta) named Miss Sam in the Mercury spacecraft.

Suborbital
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Little Joe | LJ-2

North American Aviation | United States of America
Wallops Island, Virginia, USA
Dec. 4, 1959, 4:20 p.m.
Status: Launch Successful
Mission:

The Little Joe 2 was a suborbital test flight of the Mercury space capsule, carrying the rhesus monkey Sam close to the edge of space. He was sent to test the space equipment and the adverse effects of space on humans.

Suborbital
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Atlas-Able | P-3

Convair | United States of America
Cape Canaveral, FL, USA
Nov. 26, 1959, 7:26 a.m.
Status: Launch Failure
Mission:

The Pioneer P-1, -3, -30 and -31 series was intended to be a lunar orbiter probe, but the mission failed shortly after launch. The objectives were to place a highly instrumented probe in lunar orbit, to investigate the environment between the Earth and Moon, and to develop technology for controlling and maneuvering spacecraft from Earth.

Lunar Orbit
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Thor Agena A | Discoverer 8

McDonnell Douglas | United States of America
Vandenberg SFB, CA, USA
Nov. 20, 1959, 7:25 p.m.
Status: Launch Successful
Mission:

The KH-1 (Keyhole-1) was the first attempt in the Corona-program to build an optical reconnaissance satellite. These satellites were all launched under the name Discoverer.

Low Earth Orbit
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Thor Agena A | Discoverer 7

McDonnell Douglas | United States of America
Vandenberg SFB, CA, USA
Nov. 7, 1959, 8:28 p.m.
Status: Launch Successful
Mission:

The KH-1 (Keyhole-1) was the first attempt in the Corona-program to build an optical reconnaissance satellite. These satellites were all launched under the name Discoverer.

Low Earth Orbit
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