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List of Thor DM-18 Agena-A launches

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A Thor-Agena launch vehicle, ready to launch the Discoverer 37 (KH-3) spacecraft, on 13 January 1962

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]

Launch statistics

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Launch outcome

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1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
  •   Success
  •   Failure

Launchpad

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1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
  •   VAFB LC-75-3-4
  •   VAFB LC-75-3-5

Launch history

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The data in this table comes from[2] and [3][4][5]
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

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  1. ^ "Thor Agena A". www.astronautix.com. Archived from the original on December 27, 2016. Retrieved 2021-08-03.
  2. ^ "Thor Agena". Gunter's Space Page. Retrieved 2021-08-03.
  3. ^ "Thor-DM18 Agena-A". Gunter's Space Page. Retrieved 2021-08-03.
  4. ^ "Discoverer-14 1960-010A". NASA. 14 May 2020. Retrieved 4 August 2021.
  5. ^ TRW Space Log. TRW Systems Group. August 4, 1960. pp. 10–12 – via Google Books.
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