Scout X-2 was an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 expendable launch system

Expendable launch system

An expendable launch system is a launch system that uses an expendable launch vehicle to carry a payload into space. The vehicles used in expendable launch systems are designed to be used only once , and their components are not recovered for re-use after launch...

 and sounding rocket

Sounding rocket

A sounding rocket, sometimes called a research rocket, is an instrument-carrying rocket designed to take measurements and perform scientific experiments during its sub-orbital flight. The origin of the term comes from nautical vocabulary, where to sound is to throw a weighted line from a ship into...

 which was flown twice in 1962. It was a four stage rocket, based on the earlier Scout X-1

Scout X-1

Scout X-1 was an American expendable launch system and sounding rocket which was flown seven times between August 1960 and October 1961. Four orbital and three suborbital launches were made, with four of the launches resulting in failures....

, uprated first and third stages. It was a member of the Scout family of rockets.

The Scout X-2 used an Algol 1D first stage, instead of the earlier Algol 1B used on the Scout X-1. The third stage was the Antares 2A, a more powerful version of the Antares 1A used on earlier variants of the Scout rocket. The second and fourth stages were the same as those used on the Scout X-1; a Castor 1A and an Altair 1A respectively.

The first Scout X-2 was launched on a suborbital flight at 07:27 GMT on 29 March 1962. It flew from Launch Area 3

Wallops Flight Facility Launch Area 3

Launch Area 3 at the Wallops Flight Facility is a launch complex which was used, mostly by Scout rockets, between 1960 and 1985. Forty one Scout launches occurred from the complex, making both orbital and suborbital. In addition, four Nike sounding rockets were launched from the complex in...

 of the Wallops Flight Facility

Wallops Flight Facility

Wallops Flight Facility , located on the Eastern Shore of Virginia, is operated by NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, primarily as a rocket launch site to support science and exploration missions for NASA and other U.S. government agencies...

. The flight carried plasma

Plasma (physics)

In physics and chemistry, plasma is a state of matter similar to gas in which a certain portion of the particles are ionized. Heating a gas may ionize its molecules or atoms , thus turning it into a plasma, which contains charged particles: positive ions and negative electrons or ions...

 and aeronomy

Aeronomy

Aeronomy is the science of the upper region of the atmosphere, where dissociation and ionization are important. The term aeronomy was introduced by Sydney Chapman, and the above definition stems from 1960. Today the term also includes the science of the corresponding regions of the atmospheres of...

 experiments to an apogee of 6291 kilometres (3,909.1 mi), and was successful. The second flight, launched on 26 April, carried the Solrad 4B satellite. It failed to reach orbit. Following this launch, the Scout X-2 was replaced by the upgraded Scout X-2M

Scout X-2M

Scout X-2M was an American expendable launch system which was flown three times between May 1962 and April 1963. It was a four stage rocket, based on the earlier Scout X-2, but with an MG-18 upper stage instead of the Altair used on the X-2...

.