Atlas SLV-3

The following versions of the launch system were produced:{{cite web|last=Krebs|first=Gunter D.|title=Atlas Family".|publisher=Gunter's Space Page|access-date=March 4, 2023|url= https://space.skyrocket.de/doc_lau_fam/atlas.htm}}

{{cite web|title=Advanced Atlas Launch Vehicle DIGEST|url=http://www.aerospaceprojectsreview.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/Advanced-Atlas-Launch-Vehicle-Digest.pdf|publisher=Convair Division of General Dynamics|access-date=November 5, 2022}}

The standard Atlas-Agena vehicle is best known for launching the Augmented Target Docking Adapter (ATDA) in support of the Gemini 9A mission. This occurred on 1 June 1966, and was the first flight of the Atlas SLV-3 as an independent vehicle.{{cite web|url=https://history.nasa.gov/SP-4203/ch14-5.htm|title=On The Shoulders of Titans - Chap. 14|access-date=2011-10-30|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100311114534/https://history.nasa.gov/SP-4203/ch14-5.htm|archive-date=2010-03-11}} The ATDA failed because the payload shroud did not detach.{{cite book|title=Kennedy Space Center Story|chapter=Chapter 3. Mercury and Gemini|year=1991|url=https://www.nasa.gov/centers/kennedy/about/history/story/ch3.html|access-date=March 4, 2023}}

The rocket was also used for three suborbital tests of X-23 PRIME reentry vehicles. A leftover SLV-3 from the PRIME program was used to launch a collection of small scientific satellites from VAFB's SLC-3E on August 16, 1968.{{cite web|last=Krebs|first=Gunter D.|title=PRIME (SV-5D)|publisher=Gunter's Space Page|access-date=March 5, 2023|url=https://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/prime.htm}}

Most Atlas-Agena SLV-3s were used for classified DoD payloads, especially KH-7 GAMBIT.{{cite book|title=Assured Access: A History of the United States Air Force Space Launch Enterprise, 1945–2020|author1=David N. Spires|url=https://www.airuniversity.af.edu/Portals/10/AUPress/Books/B_173_Spires_Assured_Access_.pdf

|publisher=Air University Press|access-date=March 4, 2023}}{{rp|44-46}}

A Burner II upper stage could be used to increase payload.{{cite web|last=Krebs|first=Gunter D.|title=Atlas-SLV3 Burner-2|publisher=Gunter's Space Page|access-date=March 5, 2023 |url=https://space.skyrocket.de/doc_lau_det/atlas-slv3_burner-2.htm}}

• Thrust (pounds): 389,000
• Booster ISP: 252.5
• Sustainer ISP: 214.2
• Vernier ISP: 190.9/237.7
• Main impulse propellants (pounds): 246,549
• Launch weight (pounds): 260,928
• Booster jettison weight (pounds): 7,368
• Sustainer jettison weight (pounds): 6,569

File:ATDA atop Atlas launch vehicle launched from Kennedy Space Center.jpg|ATDA launch, Atlas SLV-3, June 1, 1966

File:Atlas SLV-3.jpg|PRIME launch, Atlas SLV-3 rocket with a Burner II upper stage, August 16, 1968.

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{{clear|left}}SLV-3A was the baseline SLV-3 with extended propellant tanks for longer burn time. It was used to launch OGO-3 in 1968, all remaining launches being classified Aquacade (Canyon/Rhyolite) SIGINT satellites. All launches took place from LC-13 at Cape Canaveral.{{rp|149}}

• Thrust (pounds): 395,000
• Booster ISP: 258.9/296.8
• Sustainer ISP: 215.3/308.9
• Vernier ISP: 190.9/237.7
• Main impulse propellants (pounds): 295,356
• Launch weight (pounds): 310,073
• Booster jettison weight (pounds): 7,464
• Sustainer jettison weight (pounds): 6,805

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SLV-3B was a one-off Atlas used to launch the first OAO satellite, which consisted of the SLV-3C Atlas with the Agena and payload enclosed in a full-width fairing. The configuration was launched once, on August 4, 1966, from Cape Canaveral Launch Complex 12 to deliver the OAO satellite to orbit.{{cite web|last=Krebs|first= Gunter D.|title=Atlas-SLV3B Agena-D"|publisher=Gunter's Space Page|access-date=March 5, 2023 |url=https://space.skyrocket.de/doc_lau_det/atlas-slv3b_agena-d.htm}}

SLV-3C was the standard Atlas-Centaur booster, without the tapered forward section to accommodate the smaller Agena stage. The Atlas Centaur effort started in 1958 at the Advanced Research Projects Agency. On establishment of NASA, the effort transferred to NASA and ultimately under the auspices of the NASA Lewis Research Center. General Dynamics Convair division was contracted to make modifications to the Atlas booster and design the cryogenic Centaur upper stage with the engines for the upper stage being furnished as Government Furnished Equipment via a separate contract between the U.S. Government and Pratt & Whitney.{{cite web|title=Centaur Program Overview|url=https://www1.grc.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/Centaur-Program-Overview-1963.pdf|publisher=NASA|access-date=December 10, 2022}}

Atlas Centaur (SLV-3C) was designed to deliver the Surveyor moon lander missions to soft landings on the lunar surface as part of the buildup for the Apollo program.{{cite web|title=Reflections on Centaur Upper Stage Integration by the NASA Lewis (Glenn) Research Center|author1=Scott R. Graham|date=April 2015|url=https://ntrs.nasa.gov/api/citations/20150007890/downloads/20150007890.pdf|publisher=NASA|access-date=March 4, 2023}}

File:Mariner 7 launch (KSC-69P-223).jpg|Mariner 7 launch, Atlas SLV-3C.

File:Surveyor-6 launch.jpg|Surveyor 6 launch, Atlas-Centaur (AC-14)

File:Atlas I-CENTAUR.jpg|Mariner 9 launch, Atlas-Centaur

SLV-3D had the same Atlas core as SLV-3C, with an enhanced Centaur stage. The SLV-3D model used an upgraded Centaur D1A to launch the Pioneer 11 spacecraft to Jupiter and Saturn. It was also used to launch four U.S. Navy FLTSATCOM communications satellites to geosynchronous transfer orbit.{{rp|51, 199}}

File:Atlas-Centaur with Mariner 10 at LC 36B.jpg|Mariner 10 launch, Atlas SLV-3D Centaur-D1A

File:Pioneer G (Pioneer 11) launch.jpg|Pioneer 11 launch, Atlas-Centaur 30

{{reflist}}

• [https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraft/display.action?id=1966-046A NASA Space Science Data Coordinated Archive] Gemini 9 Target B

{{Atlas rockets}}

{{Expendable launch systems}}

{{US launch systems}}

{{Use American English|date=January 2014}}

Category:Rockets and missiles

Category:Atlas (rocket family)