Encyclopedia entry

Atlas Centaur D

Launch vehicle · USA

Original archive entry. The text, images and links below are kept as they were written.

American orbital launch vehicle. Version with Centaur D upper stage.

LEO Payload: 1,700 kg (3,700 lb). Payload: 1,700 kg (3,700 lb) to a GTO.

Chronology

7 events

14:31 GMT - . Launch Site: Cape Canaveral. Launch Complex: Cape Canaveral LC36B. LV Family: Atlas. Launch Vehicle: Atlas Centaur D.

Surveyor; Atlas Centaur 6 - . Payload: Surveyor-SD-2. Mass: 950 kg (2,090 lb). Nation: USA. Agency: JPL, NASA. Class: Moon. Type: Lunar probe. Spacecraft: Surveyor. USAF Sat Cat: 1503 . COSPAR: 1965-064A. Centaur AC-6 launched dummy Surveyor payload into a barycentric / translunar orbit..

01:00 GMT - . Launch Site: Cape Canaveral. Launch Complex: Cape Canaveral LC36B. LV Family: Atlas. Launch Vehicle: Atlas Centaur D. FAILURE: Centaur propellant leak.. Failed Stage: U.

Surveyor Model - . Payload: Surveyor SD-3. Mass: 784 kg (1,728 lb). Nation: USA. Agency: JPL, NASA. Class: Moon. Type: Lunar probe. Spacecraft: Surveyor. Decay Date: 1966-05-05 . USAF Sat Cat: 2139 . COSPAR: 1966-030A. Apogee: 336 km (208 mi). Perigee: 182 km (113 mi). Inclination: 30.70 deg. Period: 89.70 min. Launch vehicle test. Payload was dummy Surveyor spacecraft..

14:41 GMT - . Launch Site: Cape Canaveral. Launch Complex: Cape Canaveral LC36A. LV Family: Atlas. Launch Vehicle: Atlas Centaur D.

Surveyor 1 - . Payload: Surveyor SC-1. Mass: 269 kg (593 lb). Nation: USA. Agency: JPL, NASA. Class: Moon. Type: Lunar probe. Spacecraft: Surveyor. Decay Date: 1966-06-02 . USAF Sat Cat: 2185 . COSPAR: 1966-045A.
The first operational Atlas/Centaur (AC-10) carried the NASA Surveyor I spacecraft to the moon in a direct ascent lunar transfer trajectory. This was the first in a series of seven Surveyors designed to develop soft-landing technology and to provide basic scientific and engineering data in support of Project Apollo. On 2 June, Surveyor I became the first U.S. spacecraft to soft-land on the moon and transmit television pictures Surveyor 1 soft landed on the moon in the Ocean of Storms and began transmitting the first of more than 11,150 clear, detailed television pictures to Jet Propulsion Laboratory's Deep Space Facility, Goldstone, Calif. The landing sequence began 3,200 kilometers above the moon with the spacecraft traveling at a speed of 9,700 kilometers per hour. The spacecraft was successfully slowed to 5.6 kilometers per hour by the time it reached 4-meter altitude and then free-fell to the surface at 13 kilometers per hour. The landing was so precise that the three footpads touched the surface within 19 milliseconds of each other, and it confirmed that the lunar surface could support the LM. It was the first U.S. attempt to soft land on the moon.

12:32 GMT - . Launch Site: Cape Canaveral. Launch Complex: Cape Canaveral LC36A. LV Family: Atlas. Launch Vehicle: Atlas Centaur D.

Surveyor 2 - . Payload: Surveyor SC-2. Mass: 292 kg (643 lb). Nation: USA. Agency: JPL, NASA. Class: Moon. Type: Lunar probe. Spacecraft: Surveyor. Decay Date: 1966-09-23 . USAF Sat Cat: 2425 . COSPAR: 1966-084A.
Soft lunar landing attempt failed. Surveyor II was launched from Cape Kennedy at 8:32 a.m. EDT. The Atlas-Centaur launch vehicle placed the spacecraft on a nearly perfect lunar intercept trajectory that would have missed the aim point by about 130 kilometers. Following injection, the spacecraft successfully accomplished all required sequences up to the midcourse thrust phase. This phase was not successful because of the failure of one of the three vernier engines to ignite, causing eventual loss of the mission. Contact with the spacecraft was lost at 5:35 a.m. EDT, September 22, and impact on the lunar surface was predicted at 11:18 p.m. on that day.

11:12 GMT - . Launch Site: Cape Canaveral. Launch Complex: Cape Canaveral LC36B. LV Family: Atlas. Launch Vehicle: Atlas Centaur D.

Surveyor SD-4 - . Payload: Surveyor SD-4. Mass: 951 kg (2,096 lb). Nation: USA. Agency: JPL, NASA. Class: Moon. Type: Lunar probe. Spacecraft: Surveyor. Decay Date: 1966-11-06 . USAF Sat Cat: 2512 . COSPAR: 1966-095A. Apogee: 406,200 km (252,400 mi). Perigee: 166 km (103 mi). Inclination: 29.60 deg. Period: 15,912.00 min. Launch vehicle test. Centaur D AC-9 put Surveyor spacecraft payload into geosynchronous transfer orbit.

07:05 GMT - . Launch Site: Cape Canaveral. Launch Complex: Cape Canaveral LC36B. LV Family: Atlas. Launch Vehicle: Atlas Centaur D.

Surveyor 3 - . Payload: Surveyor SC-3. Mass: 283 kg (623 lb). Nation: USA. Agency: JPL, NASA. Class: Moon. Type: Lunar probe. Spacecraft: Surveyor. Decay Date: 1967-04-20 . USAF Sat Cat: 2756 . COSPAR: 1967-035A. Soft landed on Moon; perrformed soil sample tests and imaged lunar surface..

11:53 GMT - . Launch Site: Cape Canaveral. Launch Complex: Cape Canaveral LC36A. LV Family: Atlas. Launch Vehicle: Atlas Centaur D.

Surveyor 4 - . Payload: Surveyor SC-4. Mass: 283 kg (623 lb). Nation: USA. Agency: JPL, NASA. Class: Moon. Type: Lunar probe. Spacecraft: Surveyor. Decay Date: 1967-07-17 . USAF Sat Cat: 2875 . COSPAR: 1967-068A. Soft lunar landing attempt failed..