Trajectory & orbital insertion
Ascent path is a representation — true ascent telemetry isn’t public.
Provider
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Provider type
Government
Orbit
Sub
Mission type
Test Flight
Launch site
United States of America
Date
Fri, 21 Apr 1961 05:56:20 GMT
Mission
An experiment where an actual 'artificial meteorite' was flown. This was a 5.8 g steel pellet, which was driven into the atmosphere at 6 km/sec by a 'seventh stage', a shaped charge that accelerated the pellet after burnout of the rocket's six stage. This experiment provided a known reference by which the size of actual meteoroids could be measured according to the luminance of their trails.