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Aviation History
1962
1962 - 0177.PDF
Part I of this article contained photographs often selected Atlas firings; on this page are ten more to bring the picture up to date. Above, from the left: Atlas 80D (Atlas Able SA), Cape Canaveral, September 25, I960; 57D (Somos /), Point Arguello, October II, I960; IOOD (Mercury Atlas 3), Cape Canaveral, April 25, 1961; 22E, Cape Canaveral, July 7, 1961; and 2F, Cape Canaveral, August 8, 1961 ATLAS.. . All the space programmes listed so far have related to the peace ful use of space under the direction of NASA. There are two other prominent US Air Force programmes which use Atlas as booster with an Agena second stage, namely Midas and Samos. Midas gets its name from "missile defence alarm system"—a satellite warning system against ballistic-missile attack by using an orbiting infrared system sensitive to any enemy ICBM launch. Samos is a similar orbiting system for a continuous reconnaissance mission from a polar orbit using infrared and television as primary survey ing equipment. Although of an interim nature, these unmanned spies are of immense importance at the present time. But the programme which has attracted by far the most attention is project Mercury. In the last week of November the chimpanzee Enos orbited twice in a Mercury capsule launched by Atlas 93D, and was recovered. This man-in-space programme is now on the verge of launching an Astronaut in the first American orbital flight around the Earth. The space Atlases have had their share of troubles, and this has resulted in some modification to the Mercury boosters. In the version of Atlas D matched with Agena, the upper section is strengthened to bear the greater static and dynamic stresses by using heavier-gauge skin instead of being tapered down as on a standard D missile. After two failures, the Mercury boosters now have a similar modification, the four skin sections under the capsule adapter being made from 0.040in material. The adapter has also been strengthened by adding three additional stiffeners. There is a body of opinion at GD-Astronautics which believes that the Mercury failures were the result of the capsule adapters failing, rather than the booster nose section. Be that as it may, the modified Atlas has proved capable of orbiting Mercury—and, incidentally, of hurling itself into orbit with each of the two capsules launched to date. Atlas will make many more orbits before retiring. Five of the most recent shots, in order from the left: 11 ID (Ranger I), Cape Canaveral, August 23, 1961; 88D (Mercury Atlas 4), [Cape Canaveral, September 13, 1961; 32E, Cape Canaveral, November 10, 1961; 4F, Cape Canaveral, November 22, 1961; and6F, Cape Canaveral, December 19, 1961
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