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Atlas Mercury Booster ID
I have an old photograph of an Atlas-Mercury spacecraft on the pad,
and at the base of the Atlas booster is the number 670 (or possibly 620). Does anyone out there know which launch this corresponds to? Thanks - SteveO |
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SteveO wrote:
I have an old photograph of an Atlas-Mercury spacecraft on the pad, and at the base of the Atlas booster is the number 670 (or possibly 620). Does anyone out there know which launch this corresponds to? The number probably reads 67D, which would make it the unmanned Mercury-Atlas 2 (MA-2) launch of February 21, 1961. Jim Davis |
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Jim Davis wrote: The number probably reads 67D, which would make it the unmanned Mercury-Atlas 2 (MA-2) launch of February 21, 1961. Speaking of Atlas rockets- last night I was watching the Discovery Wings channel, and their program "Secret Satellite" about the Corona program. At one point they show footage of what appears to be a Atlas-Agena (it's from quite a distance, so it's a bit hard to be certain) in which the unfueled rocket is sitting on the pad when the Agena falls off the top as the Atlas suffers a Lox tank failure and comes apart like shredding aluminum foil- does anyone know about this particular incident? Did the Lox tank lose it's nitrogen stabilizing pressure, or was it over-pressurized and rupture? It might have been a Thor-Agena, but it looked more Atlas-Agena to me. Pat |
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In article ,
Pat Flannery wrote: At one point they show footage of what appears to be a Atlas-Agena (it's from quite a distance, so it's a bit hard to be certain) in which the unfueled rocket is sitting on the pad when the Agena falls off the top as the Atlas suffers a Lox tank failure and comes apart like shredding aluminum foil- does anyone know about this particular incident? As it happens, the September issue of Spaceflight had an article by Joel Powell on "unreported Atlas depressurization accidents". You probably saw the Atlas-Agena collapse sequence from the Vandenberg PAO videotape "30 Years of Glory", which was unidentified for a number of years. It's now thought to have been Atlas 190D, destroyed 11 May 1963, probably during facilities checkout or crew training in preparation for the first KH-7 GAMBIT launch (which occurred two months later). The Agena and payload do not seem to have been flight hardware. Did the Lox tank lose it's nitrogen stabilizing pressure, or was it over-pressurized and rupture? A gas bubble in the plumbing created a hydraulic ram effect that damaged the LOX plumbing connections to the Atlas. The launch crew managed to drain the LOX tank but ended up depressurizing it in the process, and so it collapsed, dropping the Agena. The still-full Atlas RP-1 tank then split and spilled, but fortuitously there was no fire or explosion, and after cleanup the pad needed only minor repairs. -- "Think outside the box -- the box isn't our friend." | Henry Spencer -- George Herbert | |
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Henry Spencer wrote: You probably saw the Atlas-Agena collapse sequence from the Vandenberg PAO videotape "30 Years of Glory", which was unidentified for a number of years. It's now thought to have been Atlas 190D, destroyed 11 May 1963, probably during facilities checkout or crew training in preparation for the first KH-7 GAMBIT launch (which occurred two months later). The Agena and payload do not seem to have been flight hardware. That's nice to know, I'd hate to be near the pad when a load of hydrazine and nitric acid comes plummeting out of the sky towards me. What really comes across in the video is how thin the balloon tanks on the Atlas were. You read about that a lot, but in the film they look about as sturdy as the aluminum foil dome over a pan of Jiffy-Pop popcorn- they don't just rupture, they spread out in the wind like a ship's sails. |
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Pat Flannery wrote in message ...
Jim Davis wrote: The number probably reads 67D, which would make it the unmanned Mercury-Atlas 2 (MA-2) launch of February 21, 1961. Speaking of Atlas rockets- last night I was watching the Discovery Wings channel, and their program "Secret Satellite" about the Corona program. At one point they show footage of what appears to be a Atlas-Agena (it's from quite a distance, so it's a bit hard to be certain) in which the unfueled rocket is sitting on the pad when the Agena falls off the top as the Atlas suffers a Lox tank failure and comes apart like shredding aluminum foil- does anyone know about this particular incident? Did the Lox tank lose it's nitrogen stabilizing pressure, or was it over-pressurized and rupture? It might have been a Thor-Agena, but it looked more Atlas-Agena to me. According to Joel Powell on the Yahoo Group - Missile Talk: "The first (and only) book about Atlas was published way back in 1960: John Chapman's "Atlas, The Story of a Missile. I am pleased to announce that the long wait for a follow-on Atlas book is over - Apogee Books will publish "Atlas - The Ultimate Weapon, By Those Who Built It" in the Spring of 2005. The author is Chuck Walker, a former General Dynamics (Convair-Astronautics) engineer who was involved in the development and planning of the Atlas missile from 1953 through the 1960's. The book covers the development and testing of Atlas from the MX-774 precursor in 1948 to the Atlas A prototype in 1957-58. Construction of the Atlas D, E and F bases are covered in detail, as is the testing, deployment (and decommissioning) of the Atlas weapons from 1959 to 1965. The second part of the book covers Atlas' second career as a space booster from the SCORE orbital flight in late 1958 to the upcoming retirement of the original balloon-tank Atlas in February 2005. A complete chronology of all 582 Atlas launches is included in the appendices. This book will be extensively illustrated with many unique photographs from the former Convair archives now housed at the San Diego Aerospace Museum. Details such as the page count, format and price are not yet available, but the author or myself (contributing editor) would be happy to answer inquiries about the book (see attachment). Details should be released early next year at the website of Apogee Books. Joel Powell" - Rusty Barton |
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Super news!
Can I order mine now? - Ed Kyle |
#9
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The "67D" number was the Atlas "tail number". It showed that this was
the 67th D-series Atlas booster built - one of several Atlas-D boosters that were built on Convair's ICBM production line for the Mercury Atlas program. Other D-series Atlas vehicles, which had radio-inertial guidance, were used for ICBM test launches, served as operational missiles on standby, or were topped by Agena upper stages for unmanned space missions. - Ed Kyle http://www.geocities.com/launchreport/ |
#10
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Not all of the D series used "radio" guidance.
There were D "AIG" or All Inrtia Guidance boosters. I can't remember exctly when they being launched but it was before June of 1962 when I left the Cape. The pod on the side was much larger than the regular D series so that they could fit the guidance system in it. As I vaguely recall, the AIG guidance was built "ARMA". Can't recall much more than that since it's been a long time and I was in telemetry at the time. By the spring of 1963 we were launching mostly the E and F series at the Cape. Harry wrote in message oups.com... The "67D" number was the Atlas "tail number". It showed that this was the 67th D-series Atlas booster built - one of several Atlas-D boosters that were built on Convair's ICBM production line for the Mercury Atlas program. Other D-series Atlas vehicles, which had radio-inertial guidance, were used for ICBM test launches, served as operational missiles on standby, or were topped by Agena upper stages for unmanned space missions. - Ed Kyle http://www.geocities.com/launchreport/ |
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