| NASA Center: |
Kennedy Space Center |
| Image # : |
GroundAtlas |
|---|
| Date : |
04/23/1961
|
|---|
|
Title
Unloading Atlas Launch Vehicle
Full Description
The Atlas launch vehicle is shown being unloaded at Cape
Canaveral, Florida. This vehicle was expected to launch a
Mercury spacecraft (without any astronauts aboard), built by
McDonnell Aircraft Corp., into orbit. The Atlas attempted to
place the Mercury spacecraft into its first orbital flight. The
spacecraft was supposed to be launched in an orbital flight path
and reentry was to be initiated about 90 minutes later as the
craft neared the end of the first orbit. Unfortunately, this
Atlas exploded at launch. Atlas was designed to launch payloads
into low Earth orbit, geosynchronous transfer orbit or
geosynchronous orbit. NASA first launched Atlas as a space
launch vehicle in 1958. Project SCORE, the first communications
satellite that transmitted President Eisenhower's pre-recorded
Christmas speech around the world, was launched on an Atlas. For
all three robotic lunar exploration programs, Atlas was used.
Atlas/ Centaur vehicles launched both Mariner and Pioneer
planetary probes. The current operational Atlas II family has a
100% mission success rating. For more information about Atlas,
please see Chapter 2 in Roger Launius and Dennis Jenkins' book
To Reach the High Frontier published by The University Press of
Kentucky in 2002.
Keywords
Atlas Mercury launch vehicle Eisenhower SCORE communications, 61-
MA3-1
Subject Category
Atlas
Reference Numbers
- Center:
KSC
- Center Number:
GroundAtlas
- GRIN DataBase Number:
GPN-2003-00041
Source Information
- Creator/Photographer: NASA
- Original Source: NASA
| Resolution | Format | Width
(Pixels) | Height
(Pixels) | Size
(KBytes) |
| Thumbnail |
JPEG |
89 |
71 |
8 |
| Small |
JPEG |
711 |
571 |
278 |
| Medium |
JPEG |
1482 |
1189 |
1,238 |
| Large |
JPEG |
2963 |
2378 |
7,025 |
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Updated Aug 20, 2009
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