Atlas-Centaur

Atlas-Centaur

An Atlas-Centaur launching Surveyor 1
Function	Expendable launch system
Manufacturer	Convair General Dynamics
Country of origin	United States
Launch history
Status	Retired
Launch sites	LC-36, Cape Canaveral
Total launches	61
Successes	51
Failures	8
Partial failures	2
Maiden flight	9 May 1962
Last flight	19 May 1983

The Atlas-Centaur was an American expendable launch system designed and built by General Dynamics Convair Division in San Diego, CA. It was derived from the SM-65 Atlas missile. It was a member of the Atlas family of rockets, and was used for 61 orbital launches between 1962 and 1983.^{[1][dead link]} It was replaced by the Atlas G, which still contains a Centaur upper stage on top of an Atlas rocket. It was the first rocket to use cryogenic fuel; the Centaur stage featured two (Pratt and Whitney) Rocketdyne RL-10 engines that used cryogenic propellant: liquid hydrogen(LH2)-473 deg. F and liquid oxygen(LO2) -320 deg. F.

The Atlas-Centaur was a three stage launch vehicle system. Atlas providing the first two stages, and the Centaur providing the upper stage. The Atlas first stage burned kerosene and LO2 due to its higher specific energy. Once depleted, the first stage (two parallel booster engines on either side of the central sustainer engine) separated and fell to earth. The Atlas second (center JPL-5 engine) continued to propel the Atlas and Centaur upper stage to low earth orbit (LEO). On LEO, a pyrotechnic super-zip system would fire and the Centaur would float away from the second stage. Once away, the Centaur could perform multiple burns as required for the specific satellite mission .

Initially, a modified Atlas D, designated LV-3C, was used as the first stage^[2] This was quickly replaced by SLV-3C, and later the SLV-3D, both derived from the standard Atlas SLV-3 rocket. Two spaceflights, with the Pioneer 10 and Pioneer 11 space probes to Jupiter, Saturn, exiting the Solar System, used a three- and-one-half stage configuration, with a "Star-37E" solid-fueled final stage.^{[citation needed]}

Launches were conducted from Launch Complex 36 at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. The fifth launch of an Atlas-Centaur exploded on the launch pad, causing significant damage, and persuading NASA and the Air Force to proceed with the completion of a previously abandoned back-up launch pad at Launch Complex-36B.^[3]Such launch failures turned out to be very rare during the use of the Atlas-Centaur rocket, and its successors.

A number of later rockets were derived from the Atlas-Centaur; the Atlas G, Atlas I, Atlas II, Atlas III, and the Atlas V, the latter of which is still in service.

Variants

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

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