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Biosatellite program

Biosat 1 / Biosatellite A
Mission type Bioscience
Operator NASA
COSPAR ID 1966-114A
SATCAT no. 02632
Mission duration 30 days
Spacecraft properties
Manufacturer ARC / General Electric
Launch mass 950 kilograms (2,090 lb)
Start of mission
Launch date 14 December 1966, 19:20:00 (1966-12-14UTC19:20Z) UTC
Rocket Delta G 471/D43
Launch site Cape Canaveral LC-17A
End of mission
Landing date 15 February 1967 (1967-02-16)
Orbital parameters
Reference system Geocentric
Regime Low Earth
Eccentricity 0.00105
Perigee 295 kilometers (183 mi)
Apogee 309 kilometers (192 mi)
Inclination 33.5º
Period 90.5 minutes
Biosat 2 / Biosatellite B
Mission type Bioscience
Operator NASA
COSPAR ID 1967-083B
SATCAT no. 09236
Spacecraft properties
Manufacturer ARC / General Electric
Launch mass 955 kilograms (2,105 lb)
Start of mission
Launch date 7 September 1967, 22:04:00 (1967-09-07UTC22:04Z) UTC
Rocket Delta G 475/D51
Launch site Cape Canaveral LC-17B
End of mission
Landing date 19 January 1968 (1968-01-20)
Orbital parameters
Reference system Geocentric
Regime Low Earth
Eccentricity 0.00202
Perigee 286 kilometres (178 mi)
Apogee 313 kilometres (194 mi)
Inclination 33.5º
Period 90.8 minutes
Biosat 3 / Biosatellite D
Mission type Bioscience
Operator NASA
COSPAR ID 1969-056A
SATCAT no. 04000
Mission duration 8.8 days
Spacecraft properties
Manufacturer ARC / General Electric
Launch mass 1,546 kilograms (3,408 lb)
Start of mission
Launch date 22 June 1969, 22:04:00 (1969-06-22UTC22:04Z) UTC
Rocket Delta N 539/D70
Launch site Cape Canaveral LC-17A
End of mission
Landing date 7 July 1969 (1969-07-08)
Landing site Oahu, Hawaii, USA
Orbital parameters
Reference system Geocentric
Regime Low Earth
Eccentricity 0.00144
Perigee 221 kilometers (137 mi)
Apogee 240 kilometers (150 mi)
Inclination 33.5º
Period 92 minutes

NASA launched three satellites named Biosatellite 1, 2 and 3 between 1966 and 1969.

NASA's Biosatellite program was a series of three satellites to assess the effects of spaceflight, especially radiation and weightlessness, on living organisms. Each was designed to reenter and be recovered at the end of its mission.

Its primary goal was that it intended to determine effects of space environment, particularly weightlessness, on life processes at three levels of organization: basic biochemistry of the cell; structure of growth of cells and tissues; and growth and form of entire plants and animals.

The Biosatellite 1, also known as abbreviated Biosat 1 and as Biosatellite A, was a first artificial satellite unmanned U.S. belonging to Biosatellite program for biological research. It was released on December 14, 1966 by a rocket Delta G from Launch Complex 17A of the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. The Biosatellite 1 was the first series Biosatellite satellites. It was released in an initial orbit of 296 km perigee 309 km apogee and 33.5 degrees of orbital inclination, with period 90.5 minutes.

The Biosatellite 1 was carrying several specimens for the study of the effects of the space environment on biological processes. The capsule was returning to land separated from the vehicle properly, but his rocket did not work, for which it was not possible to recover the capsule as expected and did not obtain scientific data. Reentered the atmosphere uncontrollably due to atmospheric drag, on February 15, 1967.

The Biosatellite 2, also known as abbreviated as Biosat 2 and as Biosatellite B, was a second artificial satellite unmanned U.S. belonging to Biosatellite program for biological research. It was released on September 7, 1967 by a rocket Delta G Launch Complex 17B of the Air Force from Cape Canaveral station.

The Biosatellite 2 was carrying 13 Biological experiments that used insect, frog eggs, plants and microorganisms. The capsule returned ahead of time because of the tropical storm threat in the recovery area and communication problems between the capsule and ground stations. The main objective of the mission was to determine if the level of radiation sensitivity of living organisms in space is greater, or less than on land, for which disposed of a radiation source in front of the capsule.

The Biosatellite 3, also known as abbreviated Biosat 3 and as Biosatellite D, was a third artificial satellite unmanned U.S. belonging to Biosatellite program for biological research.


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