The satellite provided continuous coverage of the Sun during the International Quiet Solar Year from March through October 1965.

It was quickly combined, to provide civilian cover (launches being unclassified at that time),[1] with the concurrently conceived United States Naval Research Laboratory's GRAB satellite project,[2] which would collect information on foreign radars and communications installations.

[6] The mission was successful, despite POPPY 1's elliptical (rather than the planned circular) orbit, and data was returned for 28 months.

[10] SOLRAD 7B flew on the NRL Composite 5 mission, which lofted an unprecedented[11] eight satellites on a single Thor Augmented Delta-Agena D rocket (including POPPY 4, an electronic signals intelligence (ELINT) surveillance package, GGSE-2, GGSE-3, Surcal 2B, SECOR 3, OSCAR 3, and Dodedcapole 1) on March 9, 1965, from Vandenberg Air Force Base Space Launch Complex 1, Pad 2.

[13] The operational period allowed monitoring of the Sun to continue almost without interruption after SOLRDAD 7B's predecessor, SOLRAD 7A, ceased transmitting usable data on February 5, 1965.