Thor DM-18 Agena A or just Thor-Agena was a series of orbital launch vehicles. The rockets used the Douglas-built Thor first stage and the Lockheed-built Agena second stages. They are thus cousins of the more-famous Thor-Deltas, which founded the Delta rocket family. The first attempted launch of a Thor-Agena was in January 1959. The first successful launch was on 28 February 1959, launching Discoverer 1. It was the first two-stage rocket to place a satellite into orbit.[1]
.jpg)
Launch statistics
editLaunch history
edit| Date/Time (UTC) |
Rocket | S/N | Launch Site | Payload | Function | Orbit | Outcome | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1959-02-28 21:49:16 |
Thor DM-18 Agena-A | Thor 163 Agena 1022 |
VAFB LC-75-3-4 | Discoverer 1 | Reconnaissance | LEO | Failure | Maiden flight of Thor-Agena. Agena telemetry lost T+730 seconds. Fate of the payload unknown, but generally presumed to have impacted somewhere in Antarctica. |
| 1959-04-13 21:18:39 |
Thor DM-18 Agena-A | Thor 170 Agena 1018 |
VAFB LC-75-3-4 | Discoverer 2 | Reconnaissance | LEO | Success | |
| 1959-06-03 20:09:20 |
Thor DM-18 Agena-A | Thor 174 Agena 1020 |
VAFB LC-75-3-4 | Discoverer 3 | Reconnaissance | LEO | Failure | Agena attitude control malfunction pointed the stage in the wrong direction, sending it into the Pacific Ocean rather than orbit. |
| 1959-06-25 22:47:45 |
Thor DM-18 Agena-A | Thor 179 Agena 1023 |
VAFB LC-75-3-5 | Discoverer 4 | Reconnaissance | LEO | Failure | Agena developed insufficient thrust to attain orbital velocity. |
| 1959-08-13 19:00:08 |
Thor DM-18 Agena-A | Thor 192 Agena 1029 |
VAFB LC-75-3-4 | Discoverer 5 | Reconnaissance | LEO | Success | |
| 1959-08-19 19:24:44 |
Thor DM-18 Agena-A | Thor 200 Agena 1028 |
VAFB LC-75-3-5 | Discoverer 6 | Reconnaissance | LEO | Success | |
| 1959-11-07 20:28:41 |
Thor DM-18 Agena-A | Thor 206 Agena 1051 |
VAFB LC-75-3-4 | Discoverer 7 | Reconnaissance | LEO | Success | |
| 1959-11-20 19:25:24 |
Thor DM-18 Agena-A | Thor 212 Agena 1050 |
VAFB LC-75-3-5 | Discoverer 8 | Reconnaissance | LEO | Failure | Orbit too eccentric for use of return capsule |
| 1960-02-04 18:51:45 |
Thor DM-18 Agena-A | Thor 218 Agena 1052 |
VAFB LC-75-3-4 | Discoverer 9 | Reconnaissance | LEO | Failure | Premature Thor cutoff. Agena could not attain orbital velocity. |
| 1960-02-19 20:15:14 |
Thor DM-18 Agena-A | Thor 223 Agena 1054 |
VAFB LC-75-3-5 | Discoverer 10 | Reconnaissance | LEO | Failure | Thor flight control malfunction. RSO T+52 seconds. |
| 1960-04-15 20:30:37 |
Thor DM-18 Agena-A | Thor 234 Agena 1055 |
VAFB LC-75-3-5 | Discoverer 11 | Reconnaissance | LEO | Success | |
| 1960-06-29 22:00:44 |
Thor DM-18 Agena-A | Thor 160 Agena 1053 |
VAFB LC-75-3-4 | Discoverer 12 | Reconnaissance | LEO | Failure | Agena attitude control malfunction. |
| 1960-08-10 20:37:54 |
Thor DM-18 Agena-A | Thor 231 Agena 1057 |
VAFB LC-75-3-5 | Discoverer 13 | Reconnaissance | LEO | Success | First successful recovery of a manmade object from orbit. |
| 1960-08-18 19:57:08 |
Thor DM-18 Agena-A | Thor 237 Agena 1056 |
VAFB LC-75-3-4 | Discoverer 14 | Reconnaissance | LEO | Success | |
| 1960-09-13 22:14 |
Thor DM-18 Agena-A | Thor 246 Agena 1058 |
VAFB LC-75-3-5 | Discoverer 15 | Reconnaissance | LEO | Success |
References
edit- ^ "Thor Agena A". www.astronautix.com. Archived from the original on December 27, 2016. Retrieved 2021-08-03.
- ^ "Thor Agena". Gunter's Space Page. Retrieved 2021-08-03.
- ^ "Thor-DM18 Agena-A". Gunter's Space Page. Retrieved 2021-08-03.
- ^ "Discoverer-14 1960-010A". NASA. 14 May 2020. Retrieved 4 August 2021.
- ^ TRW Space Log. TRW Systems Group. August 4, 1960. pp. 10–12 – via Google Books.