Thor-Agena

	A Thor-Agena launch vehicle, ready to launch the Discoverer 37 (KH-3) spacecraft, 13 January 1962
Function	Expendable launch system
Country of origin	United States
Size
Height	Thor-Agena A: 28 m (92 ft); Thor-Agena B: 31 m (102 ft); Thor-Agena D: 31 m (102 ft)
Diameter	2.44 m (8 ft 0 in)
Mass	Thor-Agena A: 53,130 kg (117,130 lb); Thor-Agena B: 56,507 kg (124,577 lb); Thor-Agena D: 56,507 kg (124,577 lb)
Stages	2
Launch history
Status	Retired
Launch sites	Vandenberg Air Force Base
Total launches	145
First flight	21 January 1959
Last flight	17 January 1968
	[edit on Wikidata]

Thor-Agena was a series of orbital launch vehicles.^[1] The launch vehicles 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 launch vehicle to place a satellite into orbit.

Missions

Among other uses, the clandestine CORONA program used Thor-Agena from June 1959 until January 1968 to launch United States military reconnaissance satellites operated by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). During this program, Thor-Agena launch vehicles were used in 145 launch attempts,^[2] now known to have been part of satellite surveillance programs.

Also, Alouette 1, Canada's first satellite, was launched on a Thor-Agena B.

1963 Mystery Cloud

On 28 February 1963, a Thor-Agena launch vehicle carrying a spy satellite into orbit was launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base. The launch vehicle went off course and mission control detonated the launch vehicle at an altitude of 44 km (27 mi) before it could reach orbit. The launch vehicle detonation produced a large circular cloud that appeared over the southwestern United States. Due to its mysterious nature, appearing at a very high altitude and being visible for hundreds of miles, the cloud attracted widespread attention and was published by the news media. The cloud was featured on the cover of Science Magazine in April 1963, Weatherwise Magazine in May 1963, and had a full page image published in the May issue of Life Magazine.^[3]^[4] Prof. James MacDonald at the University of Arizona Institute for Atmospheric Physics investigated the phenomena and linked it to the Thor launch vehicle launch after contacting military personnel at Vandenberg Air Force Base. When the launch records were later declassified, the United States Air Force released a memo explaining that the cloud was the result of a military operation.^[5]^[6]

Versions

Thor-Agena A:^[7]

16 launches between 21 January 1959 and 13 September 1960
The Discoverer 14 satellite used in the CORONA spy satellite program was launched by a Thor-Agena A. On 19 August 1960, usable photographic film from the satellite was recovered by a Fairchild C-119 Flying Boxcar recovery aircraft. This was the first successful recovery of film from an orbiting satellite and the first mid-air recovery of an object returning from Earth orbit.^[8]

Thor-Agena B:^[9]^[10]

44 launches between 26 October 1960 and 15 May 1966
Includes a variant with Solid Rocket Boosters
First successful launch: 12 November 1960 with Discoverer 17
Last launch: 15 May 1966 with Nimbus 2

Thor-Agena D:^[11]^[12]

83 launches between 28 June 1962 and 17 January 1968
Includes a variant with Solid Rocket Boosters
First launch: 28 June 1962 with KH-4 19
Last launch: 17 January 1968 with Multigroup 3 and Setter 1B-2

Thor-Agena versions
Thor-Agena A
Thor-Agena B
Thor-Agena D

References

^ Krebs, Gunter D. "Thor Agena". Gunter's Space Page.
^ Day, Dwayne; Logsdon, John; Latell, Brian (1998). Eye in the Sky: The Story of the Corona Spy Satellites. Smithsonian Institution Press. pp. 236–245. ISBN 9781560987734. OCLC 36783934.
^ MacDonald, James (19 April 1963). "Stratospheric Cloud Over Northern Arizona". Science Magazine. Vol. 140, no. 3564. pp. 292–294. doi:10.1126/science.140.3564.292.b.
^ "Mystery Cloud". Life Magazine. 14 May 1963. p. 73.
^ Jackson, Jeff G. (26 January 1995), 30th Space Wing History, Vandenberg AFB, California: Department of the Air Force, pp. 1–2
^ MacDonald, James (15 June 1963). "Cloud Ring In The Upper Stratosphere" (PDF). Weatherwise. pp. 99–148.
^ Gunter D., Gunter D. "Thor-DM18 Agena-A". Gunter's Space Page.
^ "Display: Discoverer-14 1960-010A". NASA. 28 October 2021. Retrieved 5 November 2021. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
^ Krebs, Gunter D. "Thor-DM21 Agena-B". Gunter's Space Page.
^ Krebs, Gunter D. "Thor-SLV2A Agena-B". Gunter's Space Page.
^ Krebs, Gunter D. "Thor-SLV2A Agena-D". Gunter's Space Page.
^ Krebs, Gunter D. "Thor-DM21 Agena-D". Gunter's Space Page.

[1] Krebs, Gunter D. "Thor Agena". Gunter's Space Page.

[2] Day, Dwayne; Logsdon, John; Latell, Brian (1998). Eye in the Sky: The Story of the Corona Spy Satellites. Smithsonian Institution Press. pp. 236–245. ISBN 9781560987734. OCLC 36783934.

[3] MacDonald, James (19 April 1963). "Stratospheric Cloud Over Northern Arizona". Science Magazine. Vol. 140, no. 3564. pp. 292–294. doi:10.1126/science.140.3564.292.b.

[4] "Mystery Cloud". Life Magazine. 14 May 1963. p. 73.

[5] Jackson, Jeff G. (26 January 1995), 30th Space Wing History, Vandenberg AFB, California: Department of the Air Force, pp. 1–2

[6] MacDonald, James (15 June 1963). "Cloud Ring In The Upper Stratosphere" (PDF). Weatherwise. pp. 99–148.

[7] Gunter D., Gunter D. "Thor-DM18 Agena-A". Gunter's Space Page.

[nssdc-8] "Display: Discoverer-14 1960-010A". NASA. 28 October 2021. Retrieved 5 November 2021. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.

[9] Krebs, Gunter D. "Thor-DM21 Agena-B". Gunter's Space Page.

[10] Krebs, Gunter D. "Thor-SLV2A Agena-B". Gunter's Space Page.

[11] Krebs, Gunter D. "Thor-SLV2A Agena-D". Gunter's Space Page.

[12] Krebs, Gunter D. "Thor-DM21 Agena-D". Gunter's Space Page.

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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