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	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) 56 (ISEE-1) 57 (IUE) 58 (HCMM) 59 (ICE) 61 (Magsat) 62 (DE-1) 63 (DE-2) 64 (SME) 66 (COBE) 67 (EUVE) 68 (SAMPEX)

MIDEX	50 (IMP-8) 69 (RXTE) 71 (ACE) 77 (FUSE) 78 (IMAGE) 80 (WMAP) 84 (Swift) 85 thru 89 (THEMIS) 92 (WISE) ICON^‡ TESS^‡

SMEX	68 (SAMPEX) 70 (FAST) 73 (TRACE) 74 (SWAS) 75 (WIRE) 81 (RHESSI) 83 (GALEX) 90 (AIM) 91 (IBEX) 93 (NuSTAR) 94 (IRIS)

UNEX	72 (SNOE) 82 (CHIPSat)

MO	79 (HETE-2) CINDI Suzaku TWINS Hitomi GOLD^‡ NICER^‡

International	INTEGRAL

Italics indicates probes that failed to deploy or otherwise malfunctioned · ^‡ indicate missions yet to launch.

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