U.S. Air Force SM-65 Atlas-F Historical

U.S. Air Force SM-65 Atlas-F Historical (HM1UOC)

Location: Huntsville, AL 35805 Madison County
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Country: United States of America
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N 34° 42.614', W 86° 39.27'

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The ATLAS rocket was American's first Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM). It was first successfully launched in December, 1955. Originally a weapons delivery system, the Atlas D was selected by NASA to be the rocket that sent American astronauts into Earth orbit. It was used on all orbital Mercury missions from John Glenn's flight, Mercury-Atlas 6 (MA-6) onward. Scott Carpenter (MA-7), Walter Schirra (MA-8) and Gordon Cooper (MA-9) all few atop this unique booster. After the Mercury program, NASA continued to use the Atlas to launch spacecraft such as the Gemini Agena Target Vehicle, Mariner and Pioneer space probes.

This ATLAS-F rocket, slightly more powerful than the Series-D, is nearly identical in structure. It has a stainless steel skin that is extremely thin and lightweight, but fragile. It had to stay pressurized or it collapsed under its own weight. It was also a "stage-and-a-half" rocket. In order to save weight and maintain power when needed, the two outer engines and a portion of the aft section would separate from the rocket . This shed unneeded weight but left the tanks intact and the center engine still burning.

Length: 71.2ft (21.7m) without payload
Diameter: 10ft (3m)
Width: 16ft (4.9m)
Weight: 267, 136lbs (121,171 kg)
Thrust: 387,000lbs (1,721,463N)
· 165,000lbs (733,957N)
per booster (x2)
· 57,000lbs (253,549N) sustainer
Propellant: Liquid oxygen and RP-1 kerosene
Contractors:
· Convair Corporation/General Dynamics (fuselage)
· Rocketdyne Division, North American Aviation, Inc. (propulsion)
Details
HM NumberHM1UOC
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Marker ConditionNo reports yet
Date Added Monday, September 26th, 2016 at 1:02pm PDT -07:00
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Locationbig map
UTM (WGS84 Datum)16S E 531638 N 3840964
Decimal Degrees34.71023333, -86.65450000
Degrees and Decimal MinutesN 34° 42.614', W 86° 39.27'
Degrees, Minutes and Seconds34° 42' 36.84" N, 86° 39' 16.2" W
Driving DirectionsGoogle Maps
Area Code(s)256
Which side of the road?Marker is on the right when traveling East
Closest Postal AddressAt or near 1 Tranquility Base, Huntsville AL 35805, US
Alternative Maps Google Maps, MapQuest, Bing Maps, Yahoo Maps, MSR Maps, OpenCycleMap, MyTopo Maps, OpenStreetMap

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