1962 in spaceflight.html

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Launches

This is a list of spaceflights launched in 1962.

This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

Launch Date/Time	Rocket	Launch Site	Launch Contractor	Payload	Operator	Orbit	Mission/ Function	Re-Entry/ Destruction	Outcome	Remarks
January 13	Thor Agena-B	Vandenberg AFB	US Air Force	Discoverer 37	US Air Force	LEO	Spy satellite	N/A	Failure
January 24	Thor Able-Star	LC-17, Cape Canaveral	DoD	LOFTI 2A	DoD	LEO	Low frequency research	January 24, 1962	Failure	First attempt to launch 5 satellites. Failure due to programmer malfunction
				SECOR 1A	DoD	LEO	Satellite navigation system
				Solrad 4A	DoD	LEO	Solar physics (covert ELINT)
				Injun 2	DoD	LEO	Ionospheric research
				Surcal 1	DoD	LEO	Surveillance
January 26 20:30 GMT	Atlas Agena-B	LC-12, Cape Canaveral	NASA	Ranger 3	NASA	Intended: Lunar impact, Actual:Lunar fly-by	Lunar research	January 28, 1962 (last signal), now in heliocentric orbit	Partial failure	Missed the moon by 36,800 km due to malfunction in booster guidance system
February 8 12:29 GMT	Delta DM-19	LC-17, Cape Canaveral	NASA	TIROS 4	NASA	LEO	Weather satellite	June 30, 1962 (last signal)	Successful
February 20 14:47 GMT	Convair Atlas D	LC-14, Cape Canaveral	US Air Force	Mercury-Atlas 6 1 Astronaut (John Glenn)	NASA	LEO	Manned Orbital Flight	February 20, 1962 19:43 GMT	Successful	First American manned orbital spaceflight.
February 21 18:44 GMT	Thor Agena-B	Vandenberg AFB	US Air Force	Samos F2-1	US Air Force	LEO	Surveillance	N/A	Successful
February 27 21:50 GMT	Thor Agena-B	Vandenberg AFB	US Air Force	Discoverer 38	US Air Force	LEO	Surveillance	March 3, 1962	Successful	Aerial capsule recovery
March 7 16:04 GMT	Delta DM-19	LC-17, Cape Canaveral	NASA	OSO 1	NASA	LEO	Solar physics	May 1964 (last signal)	Successful
March 7 19:12 GMT	Atlas Agena-B	Vandenberg AFB	US Air Force	Samos 6	US Air Force	LEO	Surveillance	N/A	Partial success	Film capsule recovery failed
March 16 12:00 GMT	Kosmos	Kapustin Yar	USSR	Cosmos 1 aka Sputnik 11	USSR	LEO	Technology, Ionospheric research	N/A	Successful
March 29 07:27 GMT	Scout X-2	Wallops Island		P21A		Sub-orbital	Ionospheric research	N/A	Successful
April 6 17:16 GMT	Kosmos	Kapustin Yar	USSR	Cosmos 2 aka Sputnik 12	USSR	LEO	Ionospheric research	N/A	Successful
April 9 15:50 GMT	Atlas Agena-B	Vandenberg AFB	US Air Force	MIDAS 5	US Air Force	LEO	Surveillance	N/A	Successful
April 18		Vandenberg AFB	US Air Force	Discoverer 39 (1962 Lambda 1)	US Air Force	LEO	Space research	May 25, 1962	Successful
April 23 20:50 GMT	Atlas Agena-B	LC-12, Cape Canaveral	NASA	Ranger 4	NASA	Lunar impact	Lunar research	April 26, 1962	Failure	Moon-impact, but on the far side, no scientific data transmitted
April 24 04:04 GMT	Kosmos	Kapustin Yar	USSR	Cosmos 3 aka Sputnik 13	USSR	LEO	Ionospheric research	N/A	Successful
April 25 14:00 GMT	Saturn I (C-1)	LC-34, Cape Canaveral	NASA	Highwater	NASA	Sub-orbital	Test Saturn 1 Launch vehicle. Investigate ice cloud in upper atmosphere.	April 25, 1962 14:02 GMT	Successful	Self destructed after objectives completed
April 26	Scout X-2	SLC-5, Vandenberg AFB	US Navy	SOLRAD 4B	US Navy	LEO	Solar physics (covert ELINT)	April 26, 1962	Failure
April 26 10:04 GMT	Kosmos	Baikonur	USSR	Cosmos 4 aka Sputnik 14	USSR	LEO	Surveillance	N/A	Successful
April 26 18:00 GMT	Delta DM-19	LC-17, Cape Canaveral	NASA, UK Science Research Council	Ariel 1 aka UK 1	NASA	LEO	Space physics	November 9, 1964	Successful	First British experiments in orbit
April 26 21:36 GMT	Atlas Agena-B	Vandenberg AFB	US Air Force	Samos 7	US Air Force	LEO	Space physics	April 28, 1962	Successful
May 10	Thor Able-Star	LC-17, Cape Canaveral	US Air Force	Anna 1A	US Air Force	LEO	Satellite navigation system	N/A	Failure
May 15 19:40 GMT	Thor Agena-B	Vandenberg AFB	US Air Force	KH-5 9034A	US Air Force	LEO	Surveillance	May 19, 1962	Successful	Capsule recovered
May 24	Scout X-2	SLC-5, Vandenberg AFB	DoD	DMSP-1A F1	DoD	LEO	Military weather satellite	N/A	Failure
May 24 12:45 GMT	Convair Atlas D	LC-14, Cape Canaveral	US Air Force	Mercury-Atlas 7 1 Astronaut (Scott Carpenter)	NASA	LEO	Manned Orbital Flight	May 24, 1962 17:41 GMT	Successful
May 28 03:07 GMT	Kosmos	Kapustin Yar	USSR	Cosmos 5 aka Sputnik 15	USSR	LEO	Earth science	N/A	Successful
May 30 00:28 GMT	Thor Agena-B	Vandenberg AFB	US Air Force	KH-4 4 (1962 Phi 1)	US Air Force	LEO	Surveillance	June 2, 1962	Successful	Capsule recovered
June 1	Vostok 2	Baikonur	USSR	Cosmos (6)	USSR	LEO	Surveillance	N/A	Failure
June 2 00:43 GMT	Thor Agena-B	Vandenberg AFB	US Air Force	OSCAR 2	Project Oscar	LEO	Amateur radio satellite	N/R	Successful
June 2 00:43 GMT	Thor Agena-B	Vandenberg AFB	US Air Force	KH-4 5 (KH-4 9036)	US Air Force	LEO	Surveillance	N/R	Partial failure	Capsule not recovered
June 17 18:14 GMT	Atlas Agena-B	Vandenberg AFB	US Air Force	Samos 8	US Air Force	LEO	Surveillance	N/A	Successful
June 18 20:24 GMT	Thor Agena-B	Vandenberg AFB	US Air Force	Samos F2-2 (1962 Omega 1)	US Air Force	LEO	Surveillance	N/A	Successful
June 19 12:14 GMT	Delta DM-19	LC-17, Cape Canaveral	NASA	TIROS 5	NASA	LEO	Weather satellite	May 14, 1963 (deactivated)	Successful
June 23 00:28 GMT	Thor Agena-B	Vandenberg AFB	US Air Force	KH-4 6 (KH-4 9037)	US Air Force	LEO	Surveillance	N/A	Successful
June 28 00:12 GMT	Thor Agena-D	Vandenberg AFB	US Air Force	KH-4 7 (KH-4 9038)	US Air Force	LEO	Surveillance	July 2, 1962	Successful	Capsule recovered
June 30 16:04 GMT	Kosmos	Kapustin Yar	USSR	Cosmos 6 aka Sputnik 16	USSR	LEO	Surveillance	N/A	Successful
July 18 20:53 GMT	Atlas Agena-B	Vandenberg AFB	US Air Force	Samos 9	US Air Force	LEO	Surveillance	N/A	Successful
July 21 00:57 GMT	Thor Agena-B	Vandenberg AFB	US Air Force	KH-4 8 (KH-4 9039)	US Air Force	LEO	Surveillance	July 21, 1962	Partial success	Aborted after 6 orbits
July 22 09:21 GMT	Atlas Agena-B	LC-12, Cape Canaveral	NASA	Mariner 1	NASA	Intended: Venus Fly-by	Venus exploration	July 22, 1962	Failure	Failed 293 seconds after launch
July 28 00:28 GMT	Thor Agena-B	Vandenberg AFB	US Air Force	KH-4 9 (KH-4 9040)	US Air Force	LEO	Surveillance	August 1, 1962	Successful	Capsule recovered
July 28 09:21 GMT	Vostok 2	Baikonur	USSR	Cosmos 7 aka Sputnik 17	USSR	LEO	Surveillance, Space science	N/A	Successful
August 2 00:28 GMT	Thor Agena-D	Vandenberg AFB	US Air Force	KH-4 10 (KH-4 9041)	US Air Force	LEO	Surveillance	August 6, 1962	Successful	Capsule recovered
August 5 18:00 GMT	Atlas Agena-B	Vandenberg AFB	US Air Force	Samos 10	US Air Force	LEO	Surveillance	N/A	Successful
August 11 08:30 GMT	A-1	LC-1, Baikonur	RVSN	Vostok 3, 1 Cosmonaut (Andrian Nikolayev)	RVSN	LEO	Manned Orbital Flight	August 15, 1962 06:56 GMT	Successful
August 12 08:02 GMT	A-1	LC-1, Baikonur	RVSN	Vostok 4, 1 Cosmonaut (Pavel Popovich)	RVSN	LEO	Manned Orbital Flight	August 15, 1962 06:59 GMT	Successful
August 18 05:02 GMT	Kosmos	Kapustin Yar	USSR	Cosmos 8 aka Sputnik 18	USSR	LEO	Surveillance	N/A	Successful
August 23 11:45 GMT	Scout X-2	SLC-5, Vandenberg AFB	US Air Force	DMSP-1A F2	US Air Force	LEO	Military weather satellite	N/A	Successful
August 25 02:52 GMT	Molniya	Baikonur	USSR	Sputnik 19 (Venera 2a)	USSR	Intended: Venus landing	Venus exploration	August 28, 1962	Failure	Escape stage failed
August 27 06:53 GMT	Atlas Agena-B	LC-12, Cape Canaveral	NASA	Mariner 2	NASA	Venus Fly-by	Venus exploration	January 3, 1963 (last signal)	Successful	First successful US Venus mission. Fly-by on December 14, 1962
August 29 01:12 GMT	Thor Agena-D	Vandenberg AFB	US Air Force	KH-4 11 (KH-4 9044)	US Air Force	LEO	Surveillance	September 2, 1962	Successful	Capsule recovered
September 1 02:24 GMT	Molniya	Baikonur	USSR	Sputnik 20 (Venera 2b)	USSR	Intended: Venus landing	Venus exploration	September 6, 1962	Failure	Escape stage failed
September 1 20:38 GMT	Thor Agena-B	Vandenberg AFB	US Air Force	KH-5 6 (KH-4 9042A)	US Air Force	LEO	N/A	September 2, 1962	Partial success	Capsule not recovered
September 12 01:40 GMT	Molniya	Baikonur	USSR	Sputnik 21 (Venera 2c)	USSR	Intended: Venus landing	Venus exploration	September 12, 1962	Failure	Third stage exploded
September 17 20:38 GMT	Thor Agena-B	Vandenberg AFB	US Air Force	KH-4 12	US Air Force	LEO	Surveillance	September 18, 1962	Successful	Capsule recovered
September 17 20:38 GMT	Thor Agena-B	Vandenberg AFB	US Air Force	TRS 2 (ERS 2)	US Air Force	LEO	Solar cells damage test	N/A	Failure	Failed to deploy
September 18 08:52 GMT	Delta DM-19	LC-17, Cape Canaveral	NASA	TIROS 6	NASA	LEO	Weather satellite	October 21, 1963 (last signal)	Successful
September 27 09:36 GMT	Vostok 2	Baikonur	USSR	Cosmos 9	USSR	LEO	Surveillance	N/A	Successful
September 29 06:05 GMT	Thor Agena-B	Vandenberg AFB	NASA	Alouette 1	Canadian Defence Research Board-Defence Research Telecommunications Establishment	LEO	Ionospheric research	Still in orbit, last signal: September 1971	Successful	First Canadian satellite
September 29 23:45 GMT	Thor Agena-D	Vandenberg AFB	US Air Force	KH-4 13 (KH-4 9045)	US Air Force	LEO	Surveillance	N/A	Successful	First use of stellar camera
October 2 21:30 GMT	Delta-A	LC-17, Cape Canaveral	NASA	Explorer 14	NASA	HEO	Energetic particles research	N/A	Successful
October 3 12:15 GMT	Convair Atlas D	LC-14, Cape Canaveral	US Air Force	Mercury-Atlas 8 1 Astronaut (Walter Schirra)	NASA	LEO	Manned Orbital Flight	October 3, 1962 21:28 GMT	Successful
October 9 18:58 GMT	Thor Agena-B	Vandenberg AFB	US Air Force	KH-5 7 (KH-4 9046A)	US Air Force	LEO	Surveillance	October 13, 1962	Successful	Capsule recovered
October 17 09:21 GMT	Vostok 2	Baikonur	USSR	Cosmos 10	USSR	LEO	Surveillance	N/A	Successful
October 18 16:59 GMT	Atlas Agena-B	LC-12, Cape Canaveral	NASA	Ranger 5	NASA	Intended: Lunar impact	Lunar research	now in heliocentric orbit	Failure	Missed the moon by 725 km
October 20 03:50 GMT	Kosmos	Kapustin Yar	USSR	Cosmos 11	USSR	LEO	Surveillance, Space research	N/A	Successful
October 24 17:55 GMT	Molniya	Baikonur	USSR	Sputnik 22 (Mars 1c)	USSR	Intended: Mars fly-by	Mars exploration	October 24, 1962	Failure	Failed while still in earth orbit
October 25	Kosmos	Kapustin Yar	USSR	Cosmos (12)	USSR	LEO	N/A	N/A	Failure
October 26 16:19 GMT	Thor Agena-D	Vandenberg AFB	US Air Force	STARAD 1	US Air Force	HEO	Magnetospheric research	N/A	Successful
October 27 23:17 GMT	Delta-A	LC-17, Cape Canaveral	NASA	Explorer 15	NASA	HEO	Energetic particles research	N/A	Successful
October 31 08:09	Thor Able-Star	LC-17, Cape Canaveral	US Air Force	Anna 1B	US Air Force	LEO	Satellite navigation system	N/A	Successful
November 1 16:14 GMT	Molniya	Baikonur	USSR	Mars 1 (Sputnik 23)	USSR	Mars fly-by	Mars exploration	March 21, 1963 (last signal), now in heliocentric orbit	Partial failure	Loss of signal at earth-distance of 107 mio km, Mars fly-by on June 19, 1963 without data transmission
November 4 15:35 GMT	Molniya	Baikonur	USSR	Sputnik 24	USSR	Mars landing	Mars exploration	January 19, 1963	Failure	Burn for Mars trajectory failed, destroying spacecraft
November 5 22:19 GMT	Thor Agena-B	Vandenberg AFB	US Air Force	KH-4 14 (KH-4 9047)	US Air Force	LEO	Military satellite	December 3, 1962	Successful
November 11 20:24 GMT	Atlas Agena-B	Vandenberg AFB	US Air Force	Samos 11	US Air Force	LEO	Surveillance	N/A	Successful
November 11 20:24 GMT	Atlas Agena-B	Vandenberg AFB	US Air Force	TRS-1 (ERS-1)	US Air Force	LEO	Solar cell damage test	N/A	Successful
November 16 17:45 GMT	Saturn I (C-1)	LC-34, Cape Canaveral	NASA	Highwater	NASA	Sub-orbital	Test Saturn 1 Launch vehicle. Investigate ice cloud in upper atmosphere.	November 16, 1962 17:49 GMT	Successful	Self destructed after objectives completed
November 24 22:04 GMT	Thor Agena-B	Vandenberg AFB	US Air Force	KH-4 15 (KH-4 9048)	US Air Force	LEO	Surveillance	N/A	Successful
December 4 21:36 GMT	Thor Agena-D	Vandenberg AFB	US Air Force	KH-4 16 (KH-4 9049)	US Air Force	LEO	Surveillance	N/A	Partial failure	Capsule not recovered
December 13 23:30 GMT	Delta-B	LC-17, Cape Canaveral	NASA	Relay 1	NASA	MEO	Communications satellite	February 10, 1965 (last signal)	Successful
December 13 04:04 GMT	Thor Agena-D	Vandenberg AFB	US Navy	Injun 3	US Navy	HEO	Magnetosphere research	August 25, 1968	Successful
				SURCAL 1A	US Air Force	HEO	Surveillance	N/A	Successful
				SURCAL 2A	US Air Force	HEO	Surveillance	N/A	Successful
				Calsphere 1A	US Air Force	HEO	Surveillance	N/A	Successful
				1962 Beta Tau 1 Poppy 1	US Air Force	HEO	Surveillance	N/A	Successful
December 14 21:22 GMT	Thor Agena-D	Vandenberg AFB	US Air Force	KH-4 17 (KH-4 9050)	US Air Force	LEO	Surveillance	December 18, 1962	Successful	Capsule recovered
December 16 14:38 GMT	Scout X-3	Wallops Island	NASA	Explorer 16	NASA	LEO	Micrometeorid satellite	July 1963	Successful
December 17	Atlas Agena-B	Vandenberg AFB	US Air Force	TRS-3 (ERS-3)	US Air Force	LEO	Solar cell damage test	December 17, 1962	Failure
				TRS-4 (ERS-4)	US Air Force	LEO	Solar cell damage test
				MIDAS 6	US Air Force	LEO	Surveillance
December 19 01:26 GMT	Scout X-3	SLC-5, Vandenberg AFB	US Navy	Transit 5A	US Navy	LEO	Satellite navigation system	N/A	Successful
December 22 09:21 GMT	Vostok-2	Baikonur	USSR	Cosmos 12	USSR	LEO	Surveillance	December 30, 1962	Successful	Capsule recovered

Deep Space Rendezvous in 1962

January 28 — Ranger 3 missed Moon by 36,793 km (impact mission)
April 26 — Ranger 4 impacted the far side of the Moon, no pictures
October 21 — Ranger 5 missed Moon by 724 km (impact mission)
December 14 — Mariner 2 flyby of Venus (34,773 km)

References

Generic references:

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Preceded by 1961	Timeline of spaceflight 1962	Succeeded by 1963