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A third stage was added to increase the heliocentric (escape) speed. This was the first launch of the Atlas V 551 configuration with five solid rocket boosters, and the first Atlas V with a third stage. [184] On 6 December 2015, Atlas V lifted its heaviest payload to date into orbit – a 16,517 lb (7,492 kg) Cygnus resupply craft. [185]
Five F-1 engines powered the Saturn V's S-IC first stage, while five J-2 engines powered its S-II second stage, and one J-2 the S-IVB third stages. By 1965, Rocketdyne built the vast majority of United States rocket engines, excepting those of the Titan rocket (built by Aerojet), and its payroll had grown to 65,000.
In March 2015, an Atlas V rocket carried NASA's Magnetospheric Multiscale Mission spacecraft, [108] [109] and a Delta IV rocket orbited the GPS IIF-9 satellite on behalf of the U.S. Air Force. [110] [111] The U.S. Air Force's X-37B spaceplane was carried by an Atlas V rocket in May 2015, [112] and a Delta IV orbited the WGS-7 satellite in July ...
The AJ-60A rocket motor was developed between 1999 and 2003 for use on the Atlas V. [2] On January 19, 2006 the New Horizons spacecraft to Pluto was launched directly into a solar-escape trajectory at 16.26 kilometers per second (58,536 km/h; 36,373 mph) from Cape Canaveral using an Atlas V version with 5 of these SRBs and Star 48B third stage. [3]
[4] [5] Later in 2014, the US Congress passed a law requiring the US Air Force to "develop a new propulsion system by 2019 to replace the RD-180 engine" that powers Atlas V used by United Launch Alliance (ULA), because the engine is Russian-made, along with the Russian conflict with Crimea. [6] Dynetics is a key partner in development of the ...
AJ-26 (RP-1/LOX) – Rebranded and modified NK-33 engines imported from Russia. Used as first stage engine for the Antares before being replaced by the RD-181. AJ-60A (Solid – HTPB) – A solid rocket motor formerly used for the Atlas V launch vehicle, until being replaced by the Northrop Grumman GEM-63 in 2021. [37]
The Atlas V can fly in multiple configurations, but only one affects the way Centaur integrates with the booster and fairing: the 5.4 m (18 ft) diameter Atlas V payload fairing attaches to the booster and encapsulates the upper stage and payload, routing fairing-induced aerodynamic loads into the booster. If the 4 m (13 ft) diameter payload ...
An Atlas V mission (SBIRS-5) marked the first use of the RL10C-1-1 version. The mission was successful but observed unexpected vibration, and further use of the RL10C-1-1 model is on hold until the problem is better understood. [27] The engine was used again successfully on SBIRS-6.