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40-399: The MKV concept provided the capability for more than one kill vehicle to be launched from a single booster . The system included a carrier vehicle with on-board sensors and a number of kill vehicles, each equipped with its own navigation thrusters and weighing around 10 pounds (4.5 kg). With multiple kill vehicles on a single target "cloud" the probability for a hit on the actual warhead

80-666: A redesigned spacecraft bus weighing 575 pounds (261 kg), and were launched on November 5 and November 28, 1964, to fly by the planet Mars . Mariner 3 failed after a successful launch when its payload shroud failed to open. These Mariners carried cameras, and Mariner 4 successfully returned pictures of Mars as it flew by. The 540-pound (240 kg) Mariner 5 was successfully launched to Venus on June 14, 1967, and flew by in October, probing Venus's atmosphere with radio waves, scanning its brightness in ultraviolet light , and sampling solar particles and magnetic field fluctuations above

120-686: A review board which undertook a wholesale reevaluation of the Atlas-Agena as a launch vehicle. The board found that quality control and checkout procedures were poor, and that this situation was exacerbated by the several dozen configurations of the booster, as each individual DoD and NASA program necessitated custom modifications to the Atlas and Agena, and the latter also differed in its Atlas and Thor variants. The board recommended improved quality control, better hardware, and also establishing one standardized launch vehicle for all space programs. The result

160-663: A second time by late 2020, with several having been flown a third time as well. In late 2020, Rocket Lab guided the booster of their Electron rocket for a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean with a parafoil after launching the Return to Sender mission , as part of a program to catch the booster with a helicopter and reuse it on later missions. Rocket boosters used on aircraft are known as jet-assisted take-off (JATO) rockets. Various missiles also use solid rocket boosters. Examples are: Atlas-Agena The Atlas-Agena

200-443: Is a rocket (or rocket engine ) used either in the first stage of a multistage launch vehicle or in parallel with longer-burning sustainer rockets to augment the space vehicle 's takeoff thrust and payload capability. Boosters are traditionally necessary to launch spacecraft into low Earth orbit (absent a single-stage-to-orbit design), and are especially important for a space vehicle to go beyond Earth orbit. The booster

240-527: Is dropped to fall back to Earth once its fuel is expended, a point known as booster engine cut-off (BECO). Following booster separation , the rest of the launch vehicle continues flight with its core or upper-stage engines. The booster may be recovered, refurbished and reused, as was the case of the steel casings used for the Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Boosters . The SM-65 Atlas rocket used three engines, one of which

280-442: Is enhanced. The capability of the system to intercept multiple independent targets was also planned to be tested. The MKV mission was to destroy medium-range through intercontinental-range ballistic missiles equipped with multiple warheads or countermeasures by using a single interceptor missile. During an actual hostile ballistic missile attack, the carrier vehicle with its cargo of small kill vehicles would have maneuvered into

320-581: The Gemini crewed spacecraft to practice rendezvous and docking . However, the launch vehicle family was originally developed for the Air Force and most of its launches were classified DoD payloads. The Atlas-Agena was a two-and-a-half-stage rocket, with a stage-and-a-half Atlas missile as the first stage, and an RM-81 Agena second stage. Initially, Atlas D missiles, redesignated as the LV-3, were used as

360-555: The Gemini 9A mission using a backup Augmented Target Docking Adapter atop an Atlas, but with no Agena rocket stage. Two more GATVs were successfully launched and used on Gemini 11 and Gemini 12 . A series of five Lunar Orbiter spacecraft were launched from August 1966 through August 1967, to help select landing sites for the Apollo lunar landing program by mapping the Moon's surface. Each spacecraft weighed 850 pounds (390 kg) and

400-665: The Block I Rangers, each weighing 446 pounds (202 kg) and instrumented to perform radiometric temperature measurements of the planet, and to measure interplanetary magnetic fields and particles. Mariner 1's Atlas-Agena malfunctioned and went off course, requiring its destruction approximately 5 minutes after liftoff. Mariner 2 successfully made the 3½-month flight, becoming the first spacecraft to fly by another planet. It carried microwave and infrared radiometers, and sensors for cosmic dust, solar plasma and high-energy radiation , and magnetic fields . Mariner 3 and Mariner 4 used

440-473: The Gemini 6A mission, which performed rendezvous with Gemini 7 without docking. The GATV was first successfully launched for Gemini 8 on March 16, 1966, permitting the first successful docking in space. GATV-8 was later used as the secondary Agena target for Gemini 10 , which also docked with its own GATV. GATV-9 failed to orbit when the Atlas suffered a control malfunction, forcing a similar reschedule of

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480-596: The ISDS and destruct of the Agena. The Ranger spacecraft were designed to impact the Moon, returning photographs of the lunar surface until their destruction. The spacecraft was designed in three Blocks, all similar in appearance with a forward antenna and magnetometer , supported by a boom, with more sensors and two solar panels and a dish antenna mounted at the base. The first two Block I spacecraft, Ranger 1 and Ranger 2 , were launched on August 23 and November 18, 1961, not to

520-584: The Moon but its cameras failed to return pictures. The last three Rangers were finally successful: Ranger 7 in July 1964, Ranger 8 in February 1965, and Ranger 9 in March 1965. The Mariner spacecraft were built by NASA 's Jet Propulsion Laboratory . Mariner 1 and Mariner 2 were twins, launched on July 22 and August 27, 1962, to fly by the planet Venus . The first two craft used the same spacecraft bus as

560-569: The Moon to be two orders of magnitude greater than in interplanetary space, but slightly less than the near-Earth environment. Orbiting Astronomical Observatory was a series of NASA satellites flown between 1966 and 1972 for astronomy studies. The first OAO (launched April 8, 1966) used a one-off Atlas variant, mating an Agena D to the LV-3C variant of the Atlas and encased in a Centaur-type payload shroud. The remaining three launches used actual Atlas-Centaur vehicles. Applications Technology Satellite

600-470: The Moon, but in intended high Earth orbits to test the Atlas-Agena and spacecraft capabilities. However, the Agena malfunctioned on both flights and left the probes trapped in a useless low Earth orbit from which they soon decayed. The Block II missions, Ranger 3 , Ranger 4 , and Ranger 5 , were launched away from Earth in January, April, and October 1962, but all three failed due to either malfunctions of

640-579: The Pentagon 's budget would be reshaped. Under this proposal the MKV program would be terminated. A similar program was restarted in August 2015, when Raytheon, Boeing, and Lockheed Martin were contracted to design a Multi-Object Kill Vehicle concept. Raytheon released information that seemed to indicate they were exclusively involved in this work, but it was incorrect. Booster (rocketry) A booster

680-519: The Thor and did not make its maiden voyage on an Atlas for months, when Midas 3 launched on July 12, 1961. The Atlas LV-3 Agena B was used between 1961 and 1965 for a variety of NASA and DoD programs, including Ranger , Mariner , Samos, and Midas but proved a unreliable, with only 21 successes in 28 flights. In late 1962, after Ranger 5 suffered a booster malfunction, albeit a minor one that ground controllers were able to work around, NASA convened

720-547: The USSR and China before giving way to KH-8 Gambit in 1967. Rhyolite / Canyon was a series of Air Force satellites flown between 1968 and 1978 for SIGNIT intelligence on Atlas SLV-3A Agena. One Canyon mission failed when its Atlas went off course and had to be destroyed. These were the final launches of Atlas-Agena vehicles aside from the one-off Atlas F/Agena used to launch Seasat. Vela consisted of two sets of Air Force satellites flown in 1964–65 to monitor Soviet compliance with

760-483: The adapter section between the two vehicles and would activate if a series of tripwires were broken. During the coasting period between staging, the ISDS charges were disabled. It was also wired to the Atlas's own FTS (Flight Termination System) and would be activated if a destruct command was sent to the Atlas. The Agena could also have a separate FTS for use after the Atlas portion of the launch, although NASA planetary probes omitted them for weight-saving reasons and due to

800-550: The first stage. These were later replaced by the standardized Atlas SLV-3 , and its derivatives, the SLV-3A and B. The final Atlas-Agena launch used an Atlas E/F . Launches were conducted from Launch Complexes 12 , 13 and 14 at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station , and Launch Complexes 1 and 2 at Point Arguello (now SLC-3 and 4 at Vandenberg Air Force Base ). The earliest Agena variant

840-465: The flight trajectory used, which meant that destruct of the Agena was no longer possible following staging. The Gemini-Agena Target Vehicle had a specially modified Range Safety destruct system designed to fire slugs into the propellant tanks rather than the conventional method of rupturing them externally, since an inadvertent activation in orbit could endanger the Gemini astronauts. The very first Atlas-Agena flight, Midas 1 in February 1960, failed when

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880-618: The following years, mostly for the KH-7 Gambit and Vela programs, and also for a few NASA missions like Mariner. + The Atlas SLV-3B Agena-D was a specific variant used to launch the first OAO satellite in 1966. The Atlas SLV-3 Agena-B was a specific variant used to launch the OGO-3 satellite in 1966. The Atlas SLV-3A Agena-D was a variant with a extended tank, for twelve launches including OGO-5 and Canyon/ Rhyolite SIGINT satellites, between 1968 and 1978. The last Atlas-Agena

920-513: The path of an enemy missile. Using tracking data from the Ballistic Missile Defense System and its own seeker, the carrier vehicle would have dispensed and guided the kill vehicles to destroy any warheads or countermeasures. After successful development, MKV was planned to be deployed on board Ground-Based Interceptor (GBI) missiles, Kinetic Energy Interceptor (KEI) and SM-3 Block IIA as well. The MKV technology

960-457: The planet. The Agena rocket stage was used as the passive docking target for the Gemini crewed space program. After docking, the Agena could also be fired by the astronauts to raise the combined Gemini-Agena spacecraft into a higher orbit. The first attempt at such a docking mission was made for the Gemini 6 mission on October 25, 1965, but the Agena suffered an engine failure and did not reach orbit. This forced postponement and replanning of

1000-430: The probe or launch vehicle difficulties. Ranger 3 missed the Moon entirely. Ranger 4's solar panels failed to deploy, and the navigation system failed, sending the probe to impact the lunar far side without returning any pictures or data. Ranger 5 suffered an unknown failure which deprived it of power, and it missed the Moon by 725 kilometers (391 nautical miles). Ranger 6 , launched January 30, 1964, successfully impacted

1040-404: The program was cancelled at the end of 1962 without ever demonstrating any operational capability. KH-7 Gambit was a series of Air Force satellites flown between 1963 and 1966 for photoreconnaissance on Atlas-Agena D. Although there were a number of mission failures, Gambit overall was highly successful in comparison with the bungled Samos program and it returned high-value area reconnaissance of

1080-535: The second stage and the payload, the booster returns to launch site or flies to a drone ship and lands vertically . After landing multiple boosters both on land and on drone ships in 2015–2016, a landed stage was first reflown in March 2017: Rocket core B1021 that had been used to launch a re-supply mission to the ISS when new in April 2016 was subsequently used to launch the satellite SES-10 in March 2017. The program

1120-463: The test included having the MKV-L hover under its own power and prove its capability to recognize and track a surrogate target in a flight environment. During the test, the MKV-L's propulsion system demonstrated maneuverability while tracking a target . The MKV-L transmitted video and flight telemetry to the ground. On April 6, 2009, United States Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates announced that

1160-406: The unproven ISDS system mistakenly activated at staging, rupturing the Atlas's LOX tank and causing the breakup of the Agena. The ISDS system was redesigned afterwards and this failure mode did not repeat itself. Two Atlas-Agena vehicles (Mariner 1 and Canyon 4) were intentionally destroyed when the Atlas went off-course and two others (MIDAS 6 and MIDAS 8) broke up in flight resulting in activation of

1200-490: Was 4.9 feet (1.5 m) in diameter, minus the four extended solar panels. All launches were successful, and a total of 99 percent of the surface of the Moon (near and far side) was mapped with resolution as high as 3 ft 3 in (1 meter). Altogether the Orbiters returned 2180 high resolution and 882 medium resolution frames. The spacecraft also carried micrometeoroid sensors, which showed the average micro-meteoroid flux near

1240-571: Was a series of NASA satellites flown in 1967–69 to perform various technology tests. Only the first ATS was launched on an Atlas-Agena, the remainder using Atlas-Centaurs. ATS-1 was a partial failure when the Agena failed to restart, leaving it in LEO. Orbiting Geophysical Observatory was a series of NASA satellites flown between 1964 and 1969 for magnetosphere studies. These satellites used several different booster types, including Thor-Agenas. Five of them used Atlas-Agenas, and OGO 5 (launched March 4, 1968)

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1280-583: 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 launched 109 times between 1960 and 1978. It was used to launch the first five Mariner uncrewed probes to the planets Venus and Mars , and the Ranger and Lunar Orbiter uncrewed probes to the Moon. The upper stage was also used as an uncrewed orbital target vehicle for

1320-621: Was being developed on a dual-path basis by Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company, designated MKV-L, and the Raytheon Company (MKV-R). The Missile Defense Agency announced that a test of the MKV-L was conducted 2 December 2008, at the National Hover Test Facility at Edwards Air Force Base , California. Preliminary indications were that planned test objectives were achieved. Objectives of

1360-480: Was fixed to the fuel tank, and two of which were mounted on a skirt which dropped away at BECO. This was used as an Intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM); to launch the crewed Project Mercury capsule into orbit; and as the first stage of the Atlas-Agena and Atlas-Centaur launch vehicles. Several launch vehicles, including GSLV Mark III and Titan IV , employ strap-on boosters. NASA 's Space Shuttle

1400-500: Was flown in 1978 to launch SEASAT , on a repurposed Atlas F missile designated Atlas E/F Agena D . Included on Atlas-Agena vehicles was the Inadvertent Separation Destruct System (ISDS) to destroy the Agena in the event that it separated prematurely from the Atlas, a situation that could be caused by a booster hard-over or if the Atlas self-destructed in flight. The ISDS charges were mounted on

1440-548: Was intended to reduce launch prices significantly, and by 2018, SpaceX had reduced launch prices on a flight-proven boosters to US$ 50 million , the lowest price in the industry for medium-lift launch services. By August 2019, the recovery and reuse of Falcon 9 boosters had become routine, with booster landings/recovery being attempted on more than 90 percent of all SpaceX flights, and successful landings and recoveries occurring 65 times out of 75 attempts. In total 25 recovered boosters have been refurbished and subsequently flown

1480-611: Was the Agena A in 1959–60, which did not have restart capability, mostly flown on Thor-Agena boosters for the Discoverer program. The early Atlas LV3 Agena A variant was flown four times for the Midas and Samos programs ( Midas 1, Midas 2, Samos 1, and Samos 2), with two failures. Late in 1960, Lockheed introduced the uprated Agena B stage which was restartable and had longer propellant tanks for more burn time. It first flew on

1520-583: Was the Atlas LV-3 Agena D , a standardized version of the Atlas D core and Agena B which would be the same on every launch (at least as far as the Atlas was concerned, Agena Ds often still had customized setups, especially for DoD payloads). The Agena D first flew in July 1963, starting a series of 15 successful launches for NASA and Air Force programs, including Ranger, Mariner, Midas, and Gambit. The Atlas SLV-3 Agena D first flew in August 1964. Forty-seven Atlas SLV-3 Agena D boosters were flown over

1560-612: Was the first crewed vehicle to use strap-on boosters. Launch vehicles like Delta IV Heavy and Falcon Heavy employ strap-on liquid rocket boosters . The booster casings for the Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Boosters were recovered and refurbished for reuse from 1981 to 2011 as part of the Space Shuttle program . In a new development program initiated in 2011, SpaceX developed reusable first stages of their Falcon 9 rocket . After launching

1600-638: Was the sole civilian use of the Atlas SLV-3A Agena. Missile Defense Alarm System was a series of Air Force satellites flown between 1960 and 1966 for infrared detection of ballistic missile exhaust plumes on Atlas-Agena A, B, and D. There were several failures and overall program performance was poor, but it would give way to the more successful DSP satellites. Samos was a series of Air Force satellites flown between 1960 and 1962 for photoreconnaissance on Atlas-Agena A and B. There were several failures, including an on-pad explosion of an Atlas, and

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