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Thor-Able

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1958-1960 US space rocket system

Size
Thor-Able on display at theAir Force Space & Missile Museum
Function	Expendable launch system
Manufacturer	Douglas/Aerojet
Country of origin	United States
Height	26.9 metres (88 ft) – 27.8 metres (91 ft)
Diameter	2.44 metres (8 ft 0 in)
Mass	51,608 kilograms (113,776 lb)
Stages	2–3
Capacity
Payload to 640kmLEO
Mass	120 kilograms (260 lb)

Associated rockets
Family	Thor
Derivative work	Thor-Ablestar Delta
Comparable	Luna
Launch history
Launch sites	LC-17A,Canaveral
Total launches	9 suborbital 7 orbital
Success(es)	7 suborbital 3 orbital
Failure(s)	2 suborbital 4 orbital
First flight	24 April 1958
Last flight	1 April 1960
Carries passengers or cargo	Pioneer Transit Tiros

First stage –Thor
Powered by	1LR79-7
Maximum thrust	758.71 kilonewtons (170,560 lbf)
Specific impulse	282 seconds (2.77 km/s)
Burn time	165 seconds
Propellant	RP-1/LOX
Second stage –Able
Powered by	1AJ10-101
Maximum thrust	34.69 kilonewtons (7,800 lbf)
Specific impulse	270 seconds (2.6 km/s)
Burn time	115 seconds
Propellant	HNO₃/UDMH
Third stage (optional) –Altair
Powered by	1X-248
Maximum thrust	12.45 kilonewtons (2,800 lbf)
Specific impulse	256 seconds (2.51 km/s)
Burn time	38 seconds
Propellant	Solid

[edit on Wikidata]

TheThor-Able was an Americanexpendable launch system used for a series ofre-entry vehicle tests andspacecraft launches between1958 and1960.

It was atwo-stage rocket, consisting of aThor IRBM as a first stage and aVanguard-derivedAble second stage. Forsatellite orspace probe launches, anAltair solid rocket motor was added as a third stage. It was a member of theThor family and an early predecessor of theDelta.^[1]^[2]

TheAble upper stage name represents its place as the first in the series, from theJoint Army/Navy Phonetic Alphabet.^[3]

Launches

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Sixteen Thor-Able were launched, nine onsub-orbital re-entry vehicle test flights, four on probe and three onorbital satellite launch attempts. Six of the launches resulted in failures, in which three of those were the result of the additionalAltair upper stage, added to the rocket to allow it to launch spacecraft beyond a sub-orbital trajectory. All sixteen launches occurred fromCape Canaveral Air Force Station Launch Complex 17A.^[4]

Airframes

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The Thor-Able vehicle had a stronger airframe than the standard Thor IRBM and had the inertial guidance system replaced by a radio guidance package mounted on the Able stages. It saw its first test on 23 April 1958 whenThor-Able 116 was launched from LC-17A with a biological nose cone containing a mouse named MIA (Mouse In Able). At 19:10 EST, the Thor's engine ignited and drove the Able stage and its passenger into the sky. Two minutes and fifteen seconds after launch, at an altitude of 50 miles (80 km), the Thor exploded and sent the hapless rodent into the Atlantic Ocean instead of space. The cause of the failure was traced to a turbopump bearing coming loose and resulting in pump shutdown and instant loss of thrust. With no attitude control, the Thor pitched down and its LOX tank ruptured from aerodynamic loads. On 9 July,Thor-Able 118 lifted off for a second attempt with a mouse named MIA II. The booster, including the unproven Able stage, performed successfully and the biological nose cone was driven back into the atmosphere for a splashdown in the South Atlantic, but recovery crews failed to locate the capsule and it sank into the ocean. A third attempt was made on 23 July. The press refused to call the mouse by the name of MIA III, so she was instead christened "Wickie", after a local female news reporter who had covered the space program at Cape Canaveral. Unfortunately, Wickie was no luckier than her predecessors when recovery crews once again failed to locate the capsule after splashdown, but telemetry data confirmed the mouse's survival from liftoff through reentry and proved comprehensively that living organisms could survive space travel.

Attention now turned toThor-Able 127 andPioneer 0, the world's firstlunar probe. This flight took place on 17 August, but ended embarrassingly when the Thor exploded 77 seconds into the launch due to another turbopump malfunction. After an Atlas missile test a month later also failed due to the turbopumps, the Air Force Ballistic Missile Division quickly replaced the pumps in all of their missiles and this problem did not repeat itself again.

On 10 October,Pioneer 1 was launched onThor-Able 130. The second stage shut down too early and the probe did not have sufficient velocity to escape Earth's gravity. It re-entered the atmosphere and burned up 43 hours after launch.

Pioneer 2 was launched on 8 November (Thor-Able 129) and reentered the atmosphere less than an hour after launch when the third stage failed to ignite.

The next six Thor-Able flights were suborbital tests for the Air Force (23 January, 28 February, 21 March, 8 April, 20 May, and 11 June 1959). All of these were successful except the first one, which failed to stage due to an electrical problem and fell into the Atlantic Ocean.

On 7 August,Explorer 6 (a scientific satellite) was launched onThor-Able 134 and successfully orbited.

On 17 September,Transit 1A onThor-Able 136 failed to orbit due to the third stage again failing to ignite.

On 3 November,Pioneer 5 was successfully launched onThor-Able 219. Intended originally as a Venus probe, technical delays caused it to be launched after the 1959 Venus window had closed so that it was instead sent into aheliocentric orbit.

The final Thor-Able launch wasThor-Able 148, orbitingTiros-1 on 1 April 1960.

Thor-Able 127 withPioneer 0 (17 August 1958)
Thor-Able 130 withPioneer 1 (10 October 1958)
Thor-Able 129 withPioneer 2 (8 November 1958)
Thor-Able 134 withExplorer 6 (7 August 1959)
Thor-Able 136 withTransit 1A (17 September 1959)
Thor-Able 219 withPioneer 5 (3 November 1959)
Thor-Able 148 withTiros-1 (1 April 1960)

References

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^Krebs, Gunter."Thor Able". Gunter's Space Page. Retrieved2008-11-10.
^Wade, Mark."Delta". Encyclopedia Astronautica. Archived fromthe original on 2013-08-17. Retrieved2008-11-10.
^Wells, Helen T.; Whiteley, Susan H. & Karegeannes, Carrie E. (1976).Origins of NASA Names. NASA Science and Technical Information Office. p. 5. NASA SP-4402.
^Lethbridge, Cliff."Thor-Able Fact Sheet".Cape Canaveral Rocket and Missile Programs. Spaceline. Archived fromthe original on 2007-06-13. Retrieved2008-11-10.

External links

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Space Technology Laboratories Documents Archive

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 Eris^† Falcon 9 Block 5 Falcon Heavy Firefly Alpha Gravity-1 GSLV 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 6C 7 7A 8 11 11H 12 LVM3 Minotaur I IV V C New Glenn Nuri OS-M1^† Pegasus XL Proton-M PSLV Qaem 100 Qased Shavit 2 Simorgh SLS Block 1 Soyuz-2 2.1a / STA 2.1b / STB Spectrum^† SSLV Starship Tianlong-2 Unha Vega C Vulcan Centaur Zhuque 2E
In development	Antares 330 Bloostar Blue Whale 1 Ceres-2 Cyclone-4M Deca Eclipse Epsilon S Gravity-2 HANBIT-NANO Hyperbola-2 Irtysh Kinetica 2 2H 3 KSLV-III Kuaizhou 21 31 Long March 9 10 Miura 5 Neutron New Line 1 NGLV Nova OS-M 2 4 Orbex Prime Pallas-1 Red Dwarf RFA One 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-IIA 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 2-1v Soyuz/Vostok Sputnik Voskhod Vostok L K 2 2M R-29 Shtil' Volna^† Rocket 3 RS1^† 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^† 2
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 New Glenn Pegasus XL SLS Block 1 Vulcan Centaur
In development	Antares 330 Daytona I Eclipse 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 RS1^† 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 and production stopped ^††† - used Ukrainian first stage

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