Atlas-Able

Atlas-Able

An Atlas-Able launching Pioneer P-30
Function	Expendable launch system
Manufacturer	Convair General Dynamics
Country of origin	United States
Launch history
Status	Retired
Launch sites	LC-12, 13 & 14, Cape Canaveral
Total launches	3
Failures	3
Maiden flight	26 November 1959
Last flight	15 December 1960

The Atlas-Able was an American expendable launch system derived from the SM-65 Atlas missile. It was a member of the Atlas family of rockets, and was used to launch several Pioneer spacecraft towards the Moon. Of the five Atlas-Able rockets built, two failed during static firings, and the other three failed to reach orbit.^[1]

The Atlas-Able was a three and a half stage rocket, with a stage and a half Atlas missile as the first stage, an Able second stage, and an Altair third stage.^[2] The first Atlas-Able used an Atlas C as the first stage,^[3] but this exploded during a static fire test. The remaining launches used Atlas D missiles. Launches were conducted from Launch Complexes 12 and 14 at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. One launch was planned from Launch Complex 13, however this became the second Atlas-Able to be destroyed during a static firing, and hence never launched.^[1]

References

v t e Atlas rockets Main articles Atlas family SM-65 Atlas Rockets Prototypes MX-774 Atlas A Atlas B Atlas C Missiles Atlas D Atlas E Atlas F Launch Systems Alphabetical Atlas B Atlas D Atlas E/F Atlas G Atlas H Upper Stages Atlas-Able Atlas-Agena Atlas-Centaur Numerical Atlas I Atlas II Atlas III Atlas V Other Atlas LV-3B Atlas SLV-3 GX Launch sites Cape Canaveral LC-11 LC-12 LC-13 LC-14 (S)LC-36 SLC-41 Vandenberg LC-576 SLC-3 SLC-4 Bases Altus Dyess Fairchild Forbes Francis E. Warren Lincoln Offutt Plattsburgh Schilling Walker Components Boosters Aerojet SRM Castor 4A MA First Stages Common Core Booster Upper Stages Able Agena Altair Burner Centaur IABS MSD OIS PTS SGS Star SVS Trident Engines AJ-10 B-8048 B-8081 B-8096 LR-89 LR-105 R-4D RD-180 RL10 RS-56 Corporations Manufacturers Rocket Convair General Dynamics Lockheed Lockheed Martin Engines Aerojet NPO Energomash Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne Thiokol LSPs International Launch Services United Launch Alliance Launches 1957-1959 1960-1969 1970-1979 1980-1989 1990-1999 2000-2009 2010-2019

v t e Expendable launch systems Current Spaceflight portal Ariane 5 Atlas V Delta II IV Dnepr-1 GSLV H-IIA H-IIB Kaituozhe-1 Kosmos-3M Long March 1D 2C 2D 2F 3A 3B 3C 4B 4C Minotaur I IV Naro-1 Paektusan Pegasus Proton-M PSLV Rokot Safir Shavit Shtil' Start-1 Strela Soyuz U FG 2 Taurus Tsyklon-2 Unha Vega VLS-1 Volna Zenit 2 2M 3SL 3SLB 3F Planned Angara Antares Athena Ic IIc Ausroc IV GSLV III Haas Long March 5 6 7 Minotaur V Naro-2 Rocket Lab RPS (420, 550) Simorgh SLS Southern Cross Soyuz-2-1v SPARK Tsyklon-4 VLM VLS-Alfa VLS-Beta Previous Ariane 1 2 3 4 ASLV Athena I II Atlas B D E/F G H I II III LV-3B SLV-3 Able Agena Centaur Black Arrow Conestoga Delta A B C D E G J L M N 0100 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 III Diamant Energia Europa Falcon 1‡ Feng Bao 1 H-I H-II J-I Juno I Juno II Kosmos 1 2I 3 Lambda 4S Long March 1 2A 2E 3 4A Mu 4S 3C 3H 3S 3SII V) N1 N-I N-II Pilot Proton UR-500 K R-7 Luna Molniya M Polyot Soyuz L M U2 Soyuz/Vostok Sputnik Voskhod Vostok L K 2 2M Saturn I IB V INT-21 Scout SLV Sparta Thor Able Ablestar Agena Burner Delta DSV-2U Thorad-Agena Titan II GLV IIIA IIIB IIIC IIID IIIE 34D 23G CT-3 IV Tsyklon 3 Vanguard ‡ – Falcon 1 was designed for partial reuse. However, recovery failed on the first three flights and the remaining vehicles were flown expendably.

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