The secondary task of the ship was space research (X-rays, gamma rays, neutrons, magnetic field and charged particles).

Vela 2A was released on July 17, 1964, from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida, through an Atlas-Agena launch vehicle.

[4] Vela 2A was rotationally stabilized (2 rotations per sec.).

The ship could work in real time mode (one data frame per second) or in data recording mode (one frame every 256 seconds).

The second one was used until the next pair of Vela satellites were launched.