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| "SpaceCraft" Saturn second test flight launch cover cancelled at PAFB, April 25, 1962. Signed by Carl Swanson who designed the cachet. |
SA-2, launched on April 25, 1962, was the second flight of the Saturn I launch vehicle, the first flight of Project Highwater, and was part of the American Apollo program. The objectives of SA-2 were much the same as those of SA-1 in that it was primarily a test of the Saturn I rocket and the new H-1 engines. Specifically, its goals were to prove propulsion performance and mission adequacy, vehicle structural design and aerodynamic characteristics, guidance and control systems, and launch facility and ground support equipment.
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| Cover with a printed Project Highwater cachet postmarked at Port Canaveral on April 25, 1962. |
A second objective of both this mission and SA-3 was Project Highwater, the intentional release of ballast water from the second and third stages which allowed scientists to investigate the nature of Earth's ionosphere, as well as noctilucent clouds and the behavior of ice in space. SA-2's dummy upper stages contained approximately 190,000 pounds (86,000 kg) of water, used to simulate the mass of future payloads. Stage two contained 97,000 pounds (44,000 kg) of water, and stage three contained 93,000 pounds (42,000 kg). When the terminate command was sent to the rocket, dynamite charges split the second stage longitudinally, instantly releasing its water load. Primacord charges created several 1-foot (0.30 m) holes in the third stage, releasing its water over a period of several seconds.
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| Photo: Water cloud created during the Project Highwater experiment. |
Cameras on the ground immediately recorded the water cloud, and personnel at a ground station began to observe it about four to five seconds after release. The cloud produced lightning-like effects, which Dr. Wernher von Braun described as "probably the first synthetic thunderstorm ever generated in space."
