Mission type | Weather satellite |
---|---|
Operator | NASA[1] |
Harvard designation | 1960 Pi 1 |
COSPAR ID | 1960-016A |
SATCAT no. | 63 |
Mission duration | 376 days |
Spacecraft properties | |
Spacecraft type | TIROS |
Manufacturer | RCA Astro GSFC |
Launch mass | 127 kilograms (280 lb)[2] |
Start of mission | |
Launch date | November 23, 1960, 11:13:03[3] | UTC
Rocket | Thor DM-19 Delta |
Launch site | Cape Canaveral LC-17A |
End of mission | |
Last contact | December 4, 1961 |
Decay date | May 2014 |
Orbital parameters | |
Reference system | Geocentric |
Regime | Low Earth |
Semi-major axis | 6,755.43 kilometers (4,197.63 mi) |
Eccentricity | 0.0014596 |
Perigee altitude | 374 kilometers (232 mi) |
Apogee altitude | 394 kilometers (245 mi) |
Inclination | 48.51 degrees |
Period | 92.09 minutes |
Epoch | December 8, 2013, 11:58:18 UTC[4] |
Instruments | |
Widefield Radiometer Scanning Radiometer Television Camera System | |
TIROS-2 (or TIROS-B) was a spin-stabilized meteorological satellite. It was the second in a series of Television Infrared Observation Satellites. It re-entered in May 2014.[5]