Alouette 2 was a Canadian research satellite launched at 04:48 UTC on November 29, 1965, by a Thor Agena rocket with Explorer 31 from the Western test range at Vandenberg AFB in California.

The name "Alouette" came from the French for "skylark" and from the title of a popular French-Canadian folk song.

It had many more experiments and more sophisticated support systems than the earlier satellite.

[2] RCA Victor of Montreal, Quebec, was the prime contractor; Havilland Aircraft of Toronto, Ontario, served as associate contractor.

[3] After the Alouette 2 was launched, the upper stage of the rocket used to launch the satellite became a derelict object that would continue to orbit Earth for many years.