Though it carried no film and thus conducted no surveillance, Discoverer 2 was both the first satellite equipped with a reentry capsule and the first to return a payload from orbit.

A joint US-Norway recovery operation was mounted, but was unsuccessful, and there was fear that the capsule ended in the possession of the Soviet Union.

The primary goal of the satellites was to replace the U-2 spyplane in surveilling the Sino-Soviet Bloc, determining the disposition and speed of production of Soviet missiles and long-range bombers assess.

The KH-1 payload included the C (for Corona) single, vertical-looking, panoramic camera that scanned back and forth, exposing its film at a right angle to the line of flight.

This emulsion experiment comprised two groups of films arranged horizontally and vertically to measure the intensity and direction of cosmic radiation and to distinguish among electrons, protons, and heavier charged particles.

A metallic Bismuth detector was designed to register induced changes in its sensors from which changes in neutral density could be derived to prevent overexposure in later, photographic missions.

[1] In addition, the spacecraft carried test life support equipment[1] and a "mechanical mouse," a small biomedical payload.

Orientation was provided by a cold nitrogen gas jet-stream system, a scanner for pitch attitude, and an inertial reference package for yaw and roll data.

Though Norway was a Western ally and a member of NATO, the Soviet Union, which shared a border with the Scandinavian country,[8] had a lease to operate several mining facilities on the island.