Samos 2

Samos 2 was an American reconnaissance satellite launched in 1961 as part of the Samos program. It was an early electro-optical reconnaissance spacecraft, meaning that it transmitted images to receiving stations on Earth rather than returning them in a film capsule. Samos 2 was a Samos-E1 spacecraft, based on an Agena-A.

The launch of Samos 2 occurred at 20:31:19 UTC on January 31, 1961. An Atlas LV-3A Agena-A rocket was used, flying from Launch Complex 1-1 at the Point Arguello Naval Air Station. Ten minutes and fourteen seconds later, the Agena's engine cut off, having successfully achieved a low Earth orbit. It was assigned the Harvard designation 1961 Alpha 1.

Samos 2 operated in a Sun-synchronous low Earth orbit, with an apogee of 553 km, a perigee of 474 km, an inclination of 97.4 degrees, and a period of 94.9 minutes. The satellite had a mass of 1915 kg, and measured 6.86 m in length, with a diameter of 1.52 m. It operated successfully, but the images returned were poor. Designed to operate for around ten days, it ceased operations around a month after launch, and decayed from orbit on October 21, 1973.