Launch Partial Failure
Liftoff Time (GMT)
19:12:00
Friday December 22, 1961
The sustainer cutoff timer failed, causing the Atlas to burn to propellant depletion and putting the payload in a higher-than-planned orbit.
The Samos E or SAMOS ("Satellite and Missile Observation System") program was a relatively short-lived series of reconnaissance satellites for the United States in the early 1960s, also used as a cover for the initial development of the KH-7 Gambit system.
Low Earth Orbit
1 Payload
11th
Mission
8th
Mission of 1961
50th
Orbital launch attempt