List of Atlas LV3B launches

Atlas LV-3B
	An Atlas D LV-3B launching Mercury-Atlas 6
Function	Crewed expendable launch system
Manufacturer	Convair
Country of origin	United States
Size
Height	28.7 metres (94.3 ft)
Diameter	3.0 metres (10.0 ft); width over boost fairing 4.9 metres (16 ft)
Mass	120,000 kilograms (260,000 lb)
Stages	1+1⁄2
Capacity
Payload to LEO
Mass	1,360 kilograms (3,000 lb)
Launch history
Status	Retired
Launch sites	CCAFS LC-14
Total launches	9
Success(es)	7
Failure(s)	2
First flight	29 July 1960
Last flight	15 May 1963
Boosters
No. boosters	1
Powered by	2 Rocketdyne XLR-89-5
Maximum thrust	1,517.4 kilonewtons (341,130 lbf)
Burn time	135 seconds
Propellant	RP-1/LOX
First stage
Diameter	3.0 metres (10.0 ft)
Powered by	1 Rocketdyne XLR-105-5
Maximum thrust	363.22 kilonewtons (81,655 lbf)
Burn time	5 minutes
Propellant	RP-1/LOX
	[edit on Wikidata]

The Atlas LV-3B, Atlas D Mercury Launch Vehicle or Mercury-Atlas Launch Vehicle, was a human-rated expendable launch system used as part of the United States Project Mercury to send astronauts into low Earth orbit. Manufactured by American aircraft manufacturing company Convair, it was derived from the SM-65D Atlas missile, and was a member of the Atlas family of rockets.^[3]

The Atlas D missile was the natural choice for Project Mercury since it was the only launch vehicle in the US arsenal that could put the spacecraft into orbit and also had many flights from which to gather data. But its reliability was far from perfect, and Atlas launches ending in explosions were an all-too common sight at Cape Canaveral. The Atlas had also been originally designed as a weapon system, thus its design and reliability did not need to necessarily be 100% perfect. As such, significant steps had to be taken to human-rate the missile and make it safe and reliable unless NASA wished to spend several years developing a dedicated launch vehicle for crewed programs or else wait for the next-generation Titan II ICBM to become operational. Atlas' stage-and-a-half configuration was seen as preferable to the two stage Titan in that all engines were ignited at liftoff, making it easier to test for hardware problems during pre-launch checks.^[4]

Shortly after being chosen for the program in early 1959, the Mercury astronauts were taken to watch the second D-series Atlas test, which exploded a minute into launch. This was the fifth straight complete or partial Atlas failure and the booster was at this point nowhere near reliable enough to carry a nuclear warhead or an uncrewed satellite, let alone a human passenger. Plans to human-rate Atlas were effectively still on the drawing board and Convair estimated that 75% reliability would be achieved by early 1961 and 85% reliability by the end of the year. Despite the Atlas' developmental problems, NASA had the benefit of conducting Project Mercury simultaneously with the Atlas R&D program which gave plenty of test flights to draw data from as well as test modified equipment for Mercury.^[3]

Launch outcomes

1

2

3

1961

1962

1963

Failure
Success
Cancelled

Launch History


Flight	Crew member	Mission name	Date	Outcome
1	Uncrewed	Mercury Atlas-3	Tuesday, April 25, 1961 11:15 AM EST^[b]^[5]	Failure
1	First flight of the Atlas LV-3B. Was an uncrewed test flight. Resulted in failure. The cause remains disputed.
2	Uncrewed	Mercury Atlas-4	Wednesday, September 13, 1961 10:04 AM EDT^[6]	Success
2	Second uncrewed test flight. The launch was successful.
3	Uncrewed	Mercury Atlas-5	Wednesday Nov 29th, 1961 10:07 AM EST^[6]	Success
3	Final uncrewed test flight. Launch was successful.
4	John Glenn	Mercury Atlas-6	Tuesday, February 20, 1962 9:47 AM EST^[7]	Success
4	First crewed flight of the Atlas LV-3B. Successfully launched John Glenn to become the first American to orbit the Earth. First flight of John Glenn.
5	Scott Carpenter^[8]	Mercury Atlas-7	Thursday, May 24, 1962 8:45 AM EDT^[7]	Success
5	Second crewed flight of the Atlas LV-3B. First flight of Scott Carpenter.
6	Wally Schirra^[9]	Mercury Atlas-8	Wednesday, October 3, 1962 8:15 AM EDT^[7]	Success
6	Third crewed flight of the Atlas LV-3B. First flight of Wally Schirra.
7	Gordon Cooper^[10]	Mercury Atlas-9	Wednesday, May 15, 1963 9:04 AM EDT^[7]	Success
7	Final flight of the Atlas LV-3B. Final crewed flight of the Atlas LV-3B. First flight of Gordon Cooper.
8	Alan Shepard	Mercury-Atlas 10	October 1963^[11]	Cancelled
8	Was to be second flight of Alan Shepard. Was to be final flight of the Atlas LV-3B. Was cancelled because it was determined to be too risky.^[12]

Notes

^ Reference for entire infobox
^ All times are in Eastern Daylight Time.

References

^ "Atlas LV-3B / Mercury". www.astronautix.com. Archived from the original on 27 December 2016. Retrieved 8 July 2021.
^ Wade, Mark. "Atlas LV-3B / Mercury". Encyclopedia Astronautica. Archived from the original on 11 November 2011. Retrieved 24 November 2011.
^ ^a ^b "ch5". history.nasa.gov. Retrieved 8 July 2021.
^ Limited, Alamy. "Stock Photo – The Mercury Atlas rocket (officially designated the Atlas LV-3 B) was an Atlas D missile modified for Project Mercury launches". Alamy. Retrieved 8 July 2021. {{cite web}}: |last= has generic name (help)
^ "1961-1969 Launch Schedule". Space Launch Schedule. Retrieved 22 February 2021.
^ ^a ^b "1961-1969 Launch Schedule (Page 2)". Space Launch Schedule. Retrieved 22 February 2021.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d "1961-1969 Launch Schedule (Page 3)". Space Launch Schedule. 22 February 2021. Retrieved 22 February 2021.
^ "May 24, 1962: NASA Astronaut Scott Carpenter Departs From Earth Aboard Mercury-Atlas 7". spacecoastdaily.com. Retrieved 22 February 2021.
^ KSC, Lynda Warnock. "NASA – Mercury-Atlas 8 (25)". www.nasa.gov. Retrieved 22 February 2021.
^ "Mercury-Atlas 9 (Faith 7)". Supercluster. Retrieved 22 February 2021.
^ "Cancelled spaceflight mission: Mercury 10". www.spacefacts.de. Retrieved 3 March 2021.
^ "Mercury MA-10". www.astronautix.com. Archived from the original on 28 December 2016. Retrieved 3 March 2021.

[2] Reference for entire infobox

[6] All times are in Eastern Daylight Time.

[1] "Atlas LV-3B / Mercury". www.astronautix.com. Archived from the original on 27 December 2016. Retrieved 8 July 2021.

[3] Wade, Mark. "Atlas LV-3B / Mercury". Encyclopedia Astronautica. Archived from the original on 11 November 2011. Retrieved 24 November 2011.

[:0-4] "ch5". history.nasa.gov. Retrieved 8 July 2021.

[5] Limited, Alamy. "Stock Photo – The Mercury Atlas rocket (officially designated the Atlas LV-3 B) was an Atlas D missile modified for Project Mercury launches". Alamy. Retrieved 8 July 2021. {{cite web}}: |last= has generic name (help)

[7] "1961-1969 Launch Schedule". Space Launch Schedule. Retrieved 22 February 2021.

[spacelaunchschedule-8] "1961-1969 Launch Schedule (Page 2)". Space Launch Schedule. Retrieved 22 February 2021.

[spacelaunchschedule2-9] "1961-1969 Launch Schedule (Page 3)". Space Launch Schedule. 22 February 2021. Retrieved 22 February 2021.

[10] "May 24, 1962: NASA Astronaut Scott Carpenter Departs From Earth Aboard Mercury-Atlas 7". spacecoastdaily.com. Retrieved 22 February 2021.

[11] KSC, Lynda Warnock. "NASA – Mercury-Atlas 8 (25)". www.nasa.gov. Retrieved 22 February 2021.

[12] "Mercury-Atlas 9 (Faith 7)". Supercluster. Retrieved 22 February 2021.

[13] "Cancelled spaceflight mission: Mercury 10". www.spacefacts.de. Retrieved 3 March 2021.

[14] "Mercury MA-10". www.astronautix.com. Archived from the original on 28 December 2016. Retrieved 3 March 2021.

[1]

[a]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[b]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]

[9]

[10]

[11]

[12]

v t e Orbital launch systems
List of orbital launch systems Comparison of orbital launch systems
Current	Angara 1.2 A5 Ariane 6 Atlas V Ceres 1 1S Chollima-1 Electron Falcon 9 Block 5 Falcon Heavy Firefly Alpha Gravity-1 GSLV H-IIA H3 Hyperbola-1 Jielong 1 3 KAIROS^† Kaituozhe 2 Kinetica 1 Kuaizhou 1 1A 11 Long March 2C 2D 2F 3A 3B/E 3C 4B 4C 5 5B 6 6A 7 7A 8 11 11H LVM3 Minotaur I IV V C Nuri OS-M1^† Pegasus XL Proton-M PSLV Qaem 100 Qased RS1^† Shavit 2 Simorgh SLS Block 1 Soyuz-2 2.1a / STA 2.1b / STB 2-1v SSLV Starship Tianlong-2 Unha Vega C Vulcan Centaur Zhuque 2
In development	Antares 330 Bloostar Cyclone-4M Deca Epsilon S Eris Gravity-2 Hyperbola-2 Irtysh Kuaizhou 21 31 Long March 9 10 12 Miura 5 MLV Neutron New Glenn New Line 1 NGLV Nova OS-M 2 4 Orbex Prime Pallas-1 Red Dwarf SLS Block 1B Block 2 Soyuz-7 Terran R Tianlong-3 VLM Vega E Zero Zhuque 3 Zuljanah
Retired	Antares 110 120 130^† 230 230+ Ariane 1 2 3 4 5 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 IV Heavy Diamant Dnepr Energia Epsilon Europa I^† II^† 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 original 1 2/2I 3 3M Lambda 4S LauncherOne 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^† Rocket 3 Safir 1 1A 1B Saturn I IB V Scout X-1 Blue Scout II^† X-2^† X-2M X-3 X-3M X-4 X-2B^† B A B-1 D-1 A-1 E-1 F-1 G-1 Shavit original 1 SLV Space Shuttle SPARK^† Sparta SS-520 Start-1 Terran 1^† Thor Able Ablestar 1 2 Agena A B D Burner 1 2 Delta DSV-2U Thorad-Agena SLV-2G SLV-2H Titan II GLV IIIA IIIB IIIC IIID IIIE 34D 23G CT-3 IV Tsyklon R-36-O original 2 3 Universal Rocket UR-500 Proton Proton-K Rokot Strela Vanguard Vega original VLS-1^† Zenit 2 2M 2FG 3SL 3SLB 3F Zhuque 1^†
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	Atlas V**^†† Electron Falcon 9 Block 5 Falcon Heavy Firefly Alpha Minotaur I IV V C Pegasus XL RS1^† SLS Block 1 Vulcan Centaur
In development	Antares 330 Daytona I MLV New Glenn Neutron Nova Red Dwarf SLS Block 1B Block 2 Starship Terran R
Retired	Antares 110/120/130/230/230+^††† 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 IV Heavy Falcon 1 Falcon 9 v1.0 v1.1 v1.2 "Full Thrust" H-I* Juno I Juno II LauncherOne N-I* N-II* Pilot Rocket 3 Saturn I IB V Scout Space Shuttle SPARK Sparta Terran 1 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 ^† - never succeeded ^†† - no new orders accepted ^††† - used Ukrainian first stage

Launch outcomes

Launch History

See also

Notes

References