Mission
SA-2
Result: Successful
Mission Objective
The first payload carried on SA-2 and SA-3 was called Project Highwater, authorized by NASA's Office of Space Sciences. The inert S-IV and S-V stages for these launches carried 109,000 liters, or 30,000 gallons, of ballast water for release in the upper atmosphere. This was used to study the effects on radio transmission and changes in local weather conditions. At an altitude of 150 km, explosive devices ruptured the S-IV and S-V tanks, and in five seconds, ground observers saw the formation of a huge ice cloud estimated to be several kilometers in diameter.
Prelaunch Milestones
2/27/62 - S-I stage ondock at Kennedy
2/27/62 - S-IV dummy stage ondock at Kennedy
2/27/62 - S-IU ondock at Kennedy
4/25/62 - launch vehicle at pad
Launch
April 25, 1962; 9:00:34 a.m. EST
Launch Pad 34
Saturn I
Payload
Water, 95 tons
Dummy second stage
Jupiter nose cone
Orbit
Altitude: 105 km
-> Orbits: suborbital
-> Distance: 80 km downrange
Landing
April 25, 1962
