Thor-Agena Knowpia

Summary

Thor-Agena
Size
A Thor-Agena launch vehicle, ready to launch the Discoverer 37 (KH-3) spacecraft, on 13 January 1962
Function	Expendable launch system
Country of origin	United States
Height	Thor-Agena-A: 28m Thor-Agena-B: 31m Thor-Agena-D: 31m
Diameter	2.44m (8 ft)
Mass	Thor-Agena-A: 53,130kg Thor-Agena-B: 56,507Kb Thor-Agena-D: 56,507Kg
Stages	2
Launch history
Status	Retired
Launch sites	Vandenberg Air Force Base
Total launches	145
First flight	1959-01-21
Last flight	1968-01-17

Thor-Agena was a series of orbital launch vehicles.^[1] 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.

Uses

Among other uses, the clandestine CORONA program used Thor-Agenas from June 1959 until January 1968 to launch United States military reconnaissance satellites operated by the CIA. During this program, Thor-Agena launch vehicles were used in 145 launch attempts ^[2] now known to have been part of satellite surveillance programs.

Also, Alouette 1, Canada's first satellite, was launched on a Thor-Agena-B.

1963 Mystery Cloud

On February 28, 1963, a Thor-Agena rocket carrying a spy satellite into orbit was launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base. The rocket went off course and mission control detonated the rocket at an altitude of 44 km before it could reach orbit. The rocket detonation produced a large circular cloud that appeared over the southwestern United States. Due to its mysterious nature, appearing at a very high altitude and being visible for hundreds of miles, the cloud attracted widespread attention and was published by the news media. The cloud was featured on the cover of Science Magazine in April 1963, Weatherwise Magazine in May 1963, and had a full page image published in the May issue of Life Magazine.^[3]^[4] Prof. James MacDonald at the University of Arizona Institute for Atmospheric Physics investigated the phenomena and linked the it to the Thor Rocket launch after contacting military personnel at Vandenburg Air Force Base. When the launch records were later declassified, the United States Air Force released a memo explaining that the cloud was the result of a military operation.^[5]^[6]

Versions

Thor-Agena-A^[7]

16 launches between 21 January 1959 and 13 September 1960.
The Discoverer 14 satellite used in the CORONA spy satellite program was launched by a Thor-Agena-A. On 19 August 1960 usable photographic film from the satellite was recovered by a Fairchild C-119 Flying Boxcar recovery aircraft. This was the first successful recovery of film from an orbiting satellite and the first mid-air recovery of an object returning from Earth orbit.^[8]

Thor-Agena-B^[9]^[10]

44 launches between 26 October 1960 and 15 May 1966.
Includes a variant with Solid Rocket Boosters
First successful launch: 12 November 1960 with Discoverer 17.
Last launch: 15 May 1966 with Nimbus 2.

Thor-Agena-D^[11]^[12]

83 launches between 28 June 1962 and 17 January 1968.
Includes a variant with Solid Rocket Boosters
First launch: 28 June 1962 with KH-4 19.
Last launch: 17 January 1968 with Multigroup 3 & Setter 1B-2.

References

^ https://space.skyrocket.de/doc_lau/thor_agena.htm
^ Day, Dwayne; Logsdon, John; Latell, Brian (1998). Eye in the Sky: The Story of the Corona Spy Satellites. Smithsonian Institution Press. pp. 236–245. OCLC 36783934.
^ MacDonald, James (19 April 1963). "Stratospheric Cloud Over Northern Arizona". Science Magazine. pp. 292–294.
^ "Mystery Cloud". Life Magazine. 14 May 1963. p. 73.
^ Jackson, Jeff G. (26 January 1995), 30th Space Wing History, Vandenburg AFB, California: Department of the Air Force, pp. 1–2
^ MacDonald, James (15 June 1963). "Cloud Ring In The Upper Stratosphere" (PDF). Weatherwise. pp. 99–148.
^ https://space.skyrocket.de/doc_lau_det/thor-dm18_agena-a.htm
^ "Discoverer-14 1960-010A". NASA. 14 May 2020. Retrieved 6 January 2021. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
^ https://space.skyrocket.de/doc_lau_det/thor-dm21_agena-b.htm
^ https://space.skyrocket.de/doc_lau_det/thor-slv2a_agena-b.htm
^ https://space.skyrocket.de/doc_lau_det/thor-slv2a_agena-d.htm
^ https://space.skyrocket.de/doc_lau_det/thor-dm21_agena-d.htm

v t e Orbital launch systems
List of orbital launch systems Comparison of orbital launch systems
Current	Angara A5 Antares 230+ Ariane 5 Atlas V Ceres-1 Delta IV Heavy Electron Epsilon Falcon 9 Block 5 Falcon Heavy Firefly Alpha^† GSLV Mk II Mk III H-IIA Hyperbola-1 Jielong 1 Kuaizhou 1 1A 11^† Kaituozhe 2 LauncherOne Long March 2C 2D 2F 3A 3B/E 3C 4B 4C 5 5B 6 7 7A 8 11 Minotaur I IV V C OS-M1^† Pegasus XL Proton-M PSLV Qased Rocket 3^† Safir Shavit Simorgh^† Soyuz-2 2.1a / STA 2.1b / STB 2-1v Unha Vega Zenit 3SL 3SLB 3F Zhuque-1^†
In development	Agnibaan Amur Angara 1.2 Antariksh - 1 Ariane 6 Bloostar Chetak Cyclone-4M Eris Firefly Beta H3 Hyperbola-2 Irtysh Kuaizhou 21 31 Long March 921 rocket 9 Miura 5 Neutron New Glenn New Line 1 Nuri OS-M2 OS-M4 Orbex Prime Phoenix Red Dwarf SLV-1T SLV-VT SLS Block 1 Block 1B Block 2 Soyuz-7 SSLV Starship Terran 1 R Vega C Vega E Vikram - I Vikram - II Vikram - III Vulcan Zero Zhuque-2
Retired	Antares 110 120 130^† 230 Ariane 1 2 3 4 ASLV Athena I II Atlas B D E/F G H I II III LV-3B SLV-3 Able Agena Centaur Black Arrow Conestoga^† Delta A B C D E G J L M N 0100 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 II III IV Diamant Dnepr Energia Europa^† Falcon 1 Falcon 9 v1.0 v1.1 v1.2 "Full Thrust" Feng Bao 1 GSLV Mk I H-I H-II H-IIB Juno I Juno II Kaituozhe-1 Kosmos 1 2I 3 3M Lambda 4S Long March 1 1D^† 2A 2E 3 3B 4A Mu 4S 3C 3H 3S 3SII V N1^† N-I N-II Naro-1 Paektusan Pilot-2^† R-7 Luna Molniya M L Polyot Soyuz original FG L M U U2 Soyuz/Vostok Sputnik Voskhod Vostok L K 2 2M R-29 Shtil' Volna^† Saturn I IB V Scout SLV Space Shuttle SPARK^† Sparta SS-520 Start-1 Thor Able Ablestar Agena Burner Delta DSV-2U Thorad-Agena Titan II GLV IIIA IIIB IIIC IIID IIIE 34D 23G CT-3 IV Tsyklon original 2 3 Universal Rocket UR-500 Proton Proton-K Rokot Strela Vanguard VLS-1^† Zenit 2 2M
Classes	Sounding rocket Small-lift launch vehicle Medium-lift launch vehicle Heavy-lift launch vehicle Super heavy-lift launch vehicle
This Template lists historical, current, and future space rockets that at least once attempted (but not necessarily succeeded in) an orbital launch or that are planned to attempt such a launch in the future Symbol ^† indicates past or current rockets that attempted orbital launches but never succeeded (never did or has yet to perform a successful orbital launch)

v t e Orbital launch systems developed in the United States
Active	Antares 230+ Atlas V Delta IV Heavy Falcon 9 Block 5 Falcon Heavy Firefly Alpha LauncherOne Minotaur I IV V C Pegasus XL Astra Rocket 3
In development	Firefly Beta New Glenn Red Dwarf SLS Block 1 Block 1B Block 2 Starship Terran 1 R Vulcan
Retired	Antares 110/120/130/230** Athena I II Atlas B D E/F G H I II III LV-3B SLV-3 Able Agena Centaur Conestoga Delta A B C D E G J L M N 0100 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 II III IV Falcon 1 Falcon 9 v1.0 v1.1 v1.2 "Full Thrust" H-I* Juno I Juno II N-I* N-II* Pilot Saturn I IB V Scout Space Shuttle SPARK Sparta Thor Able Ablestar Agena Burner Delta DSV-2U Thorad-Agena Titan II GLV IIIA IIIB IIIC IIID IIIE 34D 23G CT-3 IV Vanguard
* - Japanese projects using US rockets or stages ** - uses Russian engines

Thor and Delta rockets

Rockets

Thor

Delta

Alphabetical	Delta A Delta B Delta C Delta D Delta E Delta F Delta G Delta J Delta L Delta M Delta N
Numerical	Delta 0100 Delta 1000 Delta 2000 Delta 3000 Delta 4000 Delta 5000 Delta 6000 Delta 7000 Delta 8000 Delta 9000
Modern	Delta II Delta III Delta IV Delta IV Heavy

Export

Launch sites

Canaveral	(S)LC-17 LC-18B SLC-37B
Johnston	LE-1 LE-2
Tanegashima	Osaki
Vandenberg	SLC-1 SLC-2 SLC-3 SLC-6 SLC-10
Bases	Bardney Breighton Caistor Carnaby Catfoss Coleby Grange Driffield Feltwell Folkingham Full Sutton Harrington Hemswell Ludford Magna Melton Mowbray Mepal North Luffenham North Pickenham Polebrook Shepherds Grove Tuddenham

Components

Boosters

First stages

Common Booster Core

Upper Stages

Delta	Delta-A Delta-D Delta-E Delta-F Delta-K Delta-P DCSS
Other	Able Ablestar Agena Altair Burner FW-4D IABS PAM-D Star UM-129

Engines

Manufacturers

Rocket	Douglas McDonnell Douglas Boeing United Launch Alliance
Engines	Aerojet Alliant Rocketdyne Thiokol TRW

Launches