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Atlas · Convair

Atlas LV-3 Agena B

retired
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Specifications

Status
retired
Height
20.27 m
Diameter
3.05 m
Mass
130,000 kg
First flight
1961-01-31
Total launches
29
Success / Fail
21 / 8

The Atlas-Agena 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 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.

Payloads it launched · 29

RANGER 9
Lunar
RANGER 8
Lunar
OGO 1
HEO
RANGER 7
Lunar
RANGER 6 (RA-6)
Lunar
ERS 9
MEO
MIDAS 7/ERS 10
MEO
DASH 2
LEO
DASH 1
MEO
ERS 6
MEO
ERS 5
LEO
MIDAS 6 (FTV 1169)
MEO
FTV 2405
Payload
RANGER 5
Heliocentric
MARINER 2
Heliocentric
SAMOS 10 (FTV 2404)
LEO
SAMOS 9 (FTV 2403)
LEO
SAMOS 8 (FTV 2402)
LEO
SAMOS 7 (FTV 2401)
Payload
RANGER 4
Lunar
MIDAS 5 (STRONGBACK)
MEO
SAMOS 6
LEO
RANGER 3
Heliocentric
SAMOS 5
LEO