Titan was a family of United States expendable rockets used between 1959 and 2005. The Titan I and Titan II were part of the US Air Force's intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) fleet until 1987. The space launch vehicle versions contributed the majority of the 368 Titan launches,including all the Project Gemini crewed flights of the mid-1960s. Titan vehicles were also used to lift US military payloads as well as civilian agency reconnaissance satellites and to send interplanetary scientific probes throughout the Solar System.
The SM-65 Atlas was the first operational intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) developed by the United States and the first member of the Atlas rocket family. It was built for the U.S. Air Force by the Convair Division of General Dynamics at an assembly plant located in Kearny Mesa,San Diego.
The Martin Marietta SM-68A/HGM-25A Titan I was the United States' first multistage intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM),in use from 1959 until 1962. Though the SM-68A was operational for only three years,it spawned numerous follow-on models that were a part of the U.S. arsenal and space launch capability. The Titan I was unique among the Titan models in that it used liquid oxygen and RP-1 as propellants;all subsequent versions used storable propellants instead.
The PGM-17A Thor was the first operative ballistic missile of the United States Air Force (USAF). It was named after the Norse god of thunder. It was deployed in the United Kingdom between 1959 and September 1963 as an intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM) with thermonuclear warheads. Thor was 65 feet (20 m) in height and 8 feet (2.4 m) in diameter.
Big Joe 1 (Atlas-10D) launched an uncrewed boilerplate Mercury capsule from Cape Canaveral,Florida on 9 September 1959. The purposes of the Big Joe 1 were to test the Mercury spacecraft ablative heat shield,afterbody heating,reentry dynamics attitude control and recovery capability. It was also the first launch of a spacecraft in Project Mercury.
Mercury-Atlas 1 (MA-1) was the first attempt to launch a Mercury capsule and occurred on July 29,1960 at Cape Canaveral,Florida. The spacecraft was unmanned and carried no launch escape system. The Atlas rocket suffered a structural failure 58 seconds after launch at an altitude of approximately 30,000 feet (9.1 km) and 11,000 feet (3.4 km) down range. All telemetry signals suddenly ceased as the vehicle was passing through Max Q. Because the day was rainy and overcast,the booster was out of sight from 26 seconds after launch,and it was impossible to see what happened.
The Titan II was an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) developed by the Glenn L. Martin Company from the earlier Titan I missile. Titan II was originally designed and used as an ICBM,but was later adapted as a medium-lift space launch vehicle to carry payloads to Earth orbit for the United States Air Force (USAF),National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Those payloads included the USAF Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP),NOAA weather satellites,and NASA's Gemini crewed space capsules. The modified Titan II SLVs were launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base,California,up until 2003.
The Thor-Able was an American expendable launch system and sounding rocket used for a series of re-entry vehicle tests and satellite launches between 1958 and 1960. It was a two-stage rocket,consisting of a Thor IRBM as a first stage and a Vanguard-derived Able second stage. On some flights,an Altair solid rocket motor was added as a third stage. It was a member of the Thor family and an early predecessor of the Delta.
The Atlas-Centaur was a United States expendable launch vehicle derived from the SM-65 Atlas D missile. The vehicle featured a Centaur upper stage,the first such stage to use high-performance liquid hydrogen as fuel. Launches were conducted from Launch Complex 36 at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station (CCAFS) in Florida. After a strenuous flight test program,Atlas-Centaur went on to launch several crucial spaceflight missions for the United States,including Surveyor 1,Mariner 4,and Pioneer 10/11. The vehicle would be continuously developed and improved into the 1990s,with the last direct descendant being the highly successful Atlas II.
The RTV-A-2 Hiroc was a product of the United States' first effort to develop an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). The project was named MX-774. The project was canceled in 1947,but leftover funds were used to build and launch three of the planned 10 research vehicles designated RTV-A-2. The design included several innovations;the gimbaled thrust chambers provided guidance control,the internal gas pressure was used to support the airframe and the nose cap was separable. All of these concepts were later used on the Atlas missile and the first two on the Viking rocket. Also developed as part of MX-774 was the Azusa guidance system which was not used on the Hiroc missile but did contribute to the Atlas missile as well as many other early guided missiles launched from Cape Canveral.
The Missile Defense Alarm System,or MIDAS,was a United States Air Force Air Defense Command system of 12 early-warning satellites that provided limited notice of Soviet intercontinental ballistic missile launches between 1960 and 1966. Originally intended to serve as a complete early-warning system working in conjunction with the Ballistic Missile Early Warning System,cost and reliability concerns limited the project to a research and development role. Three of the system's 12 launches ended in failure,and the remaining nine satellites provided crude infrared early-warning coverage of the Soviet Union until the project was replaced by the Defense Support Program. MiDAS represented one element of the United States's first generation of reconnaissance satellites that also included the Corona and SAMOS series. Though MIDAS failed in its primary role as a system of infrared early-warning satellites,it pioneered the technologies needed in successor systems.
The Convair SM-65A Atlas,or Atlas A was the first full-scale prototype of the Atlas missile,which first flew on 11 June 1957. Unlike later versions of the Atlas missile,the Atlas A did not feature the stage and a half design. Instead,the booster engines were fixed in place,and the sustainer engine was omitted. The propulsion system used on the initial Atlas As was an early version of the Rocketdyne MA-1 engines with conical thrust chambers that produced a mere 135,000 pounds of thrust,compared with the 360,000 pounds of the fully operational Atlas D. Several pieces of hardware found on the operational Atlas were either missing on the A-series or only partially implemented. Powered flight on the A-series would last about two minutes and compared to later Atlases,long pad hold-down times,with up to 11 seconds between engine start and launcher release.
The Convair SM-65B Atlas,or Atlas B,also designated X-12 was a prototype of the Atlas missile. First flown on 19 July 1958,the Atlas B was the first version of the Atlas rocket to use the stage and a half design with an operational sustainer engine and jettisonable booster engine section. Unlike later Atlas models,the Atlas B used explosive bolts to jettison the booster section.
The SM-65C Atlas,or Atlas C was a prototype of the Atlas missile. First flown on 24 December 1958,the Atlas C was the final development version of the Atlas rocket,prior to the operational Atlas D. It was originally planned to be used as the first stage of the Atlas-Able rocket,but following an explosion during a static test on 24 September 1959,this was abandoned in favor of the Atlas D. Atlas C was similar to Atlas B,but had a larger LOX tank and smaller RP-1 tank due to technical changes to the Rocketdyne engines. Improvements in materials and manufacturing processes also resulted in lighter-weight components than the Atlas A and B. Booster burn time was much longer than the A/B series,up to 151 seconds. All launches took place from LC-12 at CCAS.
The SM-65D Atlas,or Atlas D,was the first operational version of the U.S. Atlas missile. Atlas D was first used as an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) to deliver a nuclear weapon payload on a suborbital trajectory. It was later developed as a launch vehicle to carry a payload to low Earth orbit on its own,and later to geosynchronous orbit,to the Moon,Venus,or Mars with the Agena or Centaur upper stage.
The SM-65E Atlas,or Atlas-E,was an operational variant of the Atlas missile. It first flew on October 11,1960,and was deployed as an operational ICBM from September 1961 until April 1966. Following retirement as an ICBM,the Atlas-E,along with the Atlas-F,was refurbished for orbital launches as the Atlas E/F. The last Atlas E/F launch was conducted on March 24,1995,using a rocket which had originally been built as an Atlas E.
The Atlas G,also known as Atlas G Centaur-D1AR was an American expendable launch system derived from the Atlas-Centaur. It was a member of the Atlas family of rockets and was used to launch seven communication satellites during the mid to late 1980s. Atlas G consisted of an improved Atlas core with modernized avionics and stretched propellant tanks. The Centaur stage also had several updated components and other technical improvements. Atlas G flew 7 times,with all missions aiming to go to a geostationary transfer orbit. It was replaced by the near-identical Atlas I,which had an improved guidance system and offered a larger payload fairing.
Launch Complex 11 (LC-11) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station,Florida,is a launch complex used by Atlas missiles between 1958 and 1964. It is the southernmost of the launch pads known as Missile Row. When it was built,it,along with complexes 12,13 and 14,featured a more robust design than many contemporary pads,due to the greater power of the Atlas compared to other rockets of the time. It was larger,and featured a concrete launch pedestal that was 6 metres (20 ft) tall and a reinforced blockhouse. The rockets were delivered to the launch pad by a ramp on the southwest side of the launch pedestal.
The Mercury-Redstone Launch Vehicle,designed for NASA's Project Mercury,was the first American crewed space booster. It was used for six sub-orbital Mercury flights from 1960–1961;culminating with the launch of the first,and 11 weeks later,the second American in space. The four subsequent Mercury human spaceflights used the more powerful Atlas booster to enter low Earth orbit.
The Atlas LV-3B,Atlas D Mercury Launch Vehicle or Mercury-Atlas Launch Vehicle,was a human-rated expendable launch system used as part of the United States Project Mercury to send astronauts into low Earth orbit. Manufactured by Convair,it was derived from the SM-65D Atlas missile,and was a member of the Atlas family of rockets. With the Atlas having been originally designed as a weapon system,testing and design changes were made to the missile to make it a safe and reliable launch vehicle. After the changes were made and approved,the US launched the LV-3B nine times,four of which had crewed Mercury spacecraft.
