Jonathan's Space Pages

Thor 365/Agena 2351	1962 Dec 13

Launch Result

Reached incorrect orbit; payloads deployed.

Launched Objects

COSPAR	JCAT	Name	AltName	Owner	Mass/kg
1962 Beta Tau 1	S00502	POPPY 1A	NRO Mission 7101A (PL120)	NRL	25
1962 Beta Tau 5	S00513	POPPY 1B	NRO Mission 7101B (PL121)	NRL	25
1962 Beta Tau 4	S00508	SURCAL II	SURCAL II	NRL	4
1962 Beta Tau 3	S00507	CALSPHERE I	Calsphere 1A	NRL	1
1962 Beta Tau 2	S00504	Injun 3	Injun 3	SUI	52
1962 Beta Tau 6	A08428	Agena D 2351	Agena D 2351	AF	976
1962 Beta Tau 6	S00520	WILD BILL 2	NRO Mission 7202 (AFTRACK)	AF	5?

Notes

POPPY 1: Operated until late 1965. This rules out beta tau 3 which reentered in 1963. The remaining SSN names include two SURCAL, CALSPHERE and BLACK SPHERE. I suspect that BLACK SPHERE is just another name for CALSPHERE and so we have two duplicates (SURCAL 1 = SURCAL 1A and CALSPHERE = BLACK SPHERE). So any of beta tau 1, 4, 5 could be POPPY 1A/1B. The RAE tables give satellite size/mass info which, *if* correct, can be correlated with the NCST list to solve the puzzle: the POPPY satellites are beta tau 1 and 5.

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