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Family: Atlas. Country: USA. Status: Hardware. Department of Defence Designation: X-12.
First all-up version of Atlas ICBM, with jettisonable booster engines and single engine sustainer on core. '1 1/2' stage launch vehicle.
SpecificationsLaunches: 8. Failures: 4. Success Rate: 50.00% pct. First Launch Date: 09 July 1958. Last Launch Date: 04 February 1959. LEO Payload: 70 kg. to: 185 km Orbit. at: 32.0 degrees. Liftoff Thrust: 161,850 kgf. Total Mass: 110,740 kg. Core Diameter: 3.1 m. Total Length: 26.0 m. Flyaway Unit Cost $: 14.21 million. in 1985 unit dollars.
- Stage Number: 0. 1 x Atlas MA-2 Gross Mass: 3,050 kg. Empty Mass: 3,050 kg. Thrust (vac): 154,734 kgf. Isp: 282 sec. Burn time: 135 sec. Isp(sl): 248 sec. Diameter: 4.9 m. Span: 4.9 m. Length: 0.0 m. Propellants: Lox/Kerosene No Engines: 2. XLR-89-5
- Stage Number: 1. 1 x Atlas B Gross Mass: 107,610 kg. Empty Mass: 3,980 kg. Thrust (vac): 37,038 kgf. Isp: 309 sec. Burn time: 240 sec. Isp(sl): 215 sec. Diameter: 3.1 m. Span: 4.9 m. Length: 21.9 m. Propellants: Lox/Kerosene No Engines: 1. XLR-105-5
Atlas B Chronology
1958 Jul 9 - LV Configuration: Atlas 3B. Launch Site: Cape Canaveral . Launch Complex: LC11. FAILURE: Flight Control Failure.
1958 Aug 2 - LV Configuration: Atlas 4B.
1958 Aug 28 - LV Configuration: Atlas 5B. Launch Site: Cape Canaveral . Launch Complex: LC11.
1958 Sep 14 - LV Configuration: Atlas 8B. Launch Site: Cape Canaveral . Launch Complex: LC14.
1958 Sep 18 - LV Configuration: Atlas 6B. Launch Site: Cape Canaveral . Launch Complex: LC13. FAILURE: Propulsion Failure.
1958 Nov 17 - LV Configuration: Atlas 9B. Launch Site: Cape Canaveral . Launch Complex: LC11. FAILURE: Propulsion Failure.
1958 Nov 28 - LV Configuration: Atlas 12B.
- Atlas B first full range flight.
Less than 18 months after the first flight, a USAF Atlas made its first successful operational test flight in a 6,325 statute-mile flight, landed close to its target.
1958 Dec 18 - - 23:02 GMT. LV Configuration: Atlas s/n 10B. Launch Site: Cape Canaveral . Launch Complex: LC11.
1959 Jan 15 - LV Configuration: Atlas 13B. Launch Site: Cape Canaveral . Launch Complex: LC14. FAILURE: Propulsion Failure.
1959 Feb 4 - LV Configuration: Atlas 11B. Launch Site: Cape Canaveral . Launch Complex: LC11.
Bibliography:- 45 - Koelle, Heinz Hermann,, Handbook of Astronautical Engineering, McGraw-Hill,New York, 1961.
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Last update 12 March 2001.
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