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81-590: USA-215 was launched by an Atlas V launch vehicle , flying in the 501 configuration, operated by United Launch Alliance (ULA). The rocket was launched from Space Launch Complex 3E at the Vandenberg Air Force Base , at 04:03:30 UTC on 21 September 2010. It was identified as NRO Launch 41, and was the twenty-third flight of an Atlas V; the vehicle had the tail number AV-025, and was named Gladys . The satellite's orbit and mission are officially classified; however, it has been located by amateur observers in

162-455: A retrograde low Earth orbit . As of 14 February 2021, it was in an orbit with a perigee of 1,103 km (685 mi), an apogee of 1,105 km (687 mi) and 122.99° of orbital inclination . This article about one or more spacecraft of the United States is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Atlas V Atlas V is an expendable launch system and

243-644: A 100% mission success rate and a 99% vehicle success rate. Aerojet Aerojet was an American rocket and missile propulsion manufacturer based primarily in Rancho Cordova, California , with divisions in Redmond, Washington , Orange and Gainesville in Virginia , and Camden, Arkansas . Aerojet was owned by GenCorp, Inc. , In 2013, Aerojet was merged by GenCorp with the former Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne to form Aerojet Rocketdyne . Aerojet developed from

324-602: A 1936 meeting hosted by Theodore von Kármán at his home. Joining von Kármán, who was at the time director of Guggenheim Aeronautical Laboratory at the California Institute of Technology , were a number of Caltech professors and students, including rocket scientist and astrophysicist Fritz Zwicky and explosives expert Jack Parsons , all of whom were interested in the topic of spaceflight . The group continued to occasionally meet, but its activities were limited to discussions rather than experimentation. Their first design

405-538: A base price for each launch vehicle configuration, which ranges from US$ 109 million for the 401 up to US$ 153 million for the 551. Each additional SRB adds an average of US$ 6.8 million to the cost of the launch vehicle. Customers can also choose to purchase larger payload fairings or additional launch service options. NASA and Air Force launch costs are often higher than equivalent commercial missions due to additional government accounting, analysis, processing, and mission assurance requirements, which can add US$ 30–80 million to

486-476: A fault-tolerant unit. The upgraded FTINU first flew in 2006, and in 2010 a follow-on order for more FTINU units was awarded. In 2015, ULA announced that the Aerojet Rocketdyne-produced AJ-60A solid rocket boosters (SRBs) then in use on Atlas V would be superseded by new GEM 63 boosters produced by Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems . The extended GEM 63XL boosters will also be used on

567-503: A key role in the modern defense picture of the United States. Kármán soon relinquished the presidency: "Haley became Aerojet's second president on August 26, 1942. He proved to be an incredible administrator." The company expanded and required new facilities: "In October, fifteen employees were drawing paychecks. By December we had expanded to about one hundred and fifty employees and in January 1943 we moved to Azusa, California ." In 1943

648-479: A memorial to his sister Josephine de Karman . The company also invested in pure rocket research, developing both a liquid-fueled design and a new solid-fueled design based on a rubber binding agent in partnership with General Tire & Rubber Company . In the immediate post-war era, Aerojet downsized dramatically, but their JATO (jet-assisted take-off) units continued to sell for commercial aircraft operating in hot-and-high conditions. By 1950, their research into

729-556: A number of ICBM projects, including the Titan and Minuteman missiles. They also delivered propulsion systems for the US Navy 's submarine-launched Polaris missile. A new plant was set up in Rancho Cordova that took over most rocket construction, while the original Azusa offices returned primarily to research. One of Azusa's major projects was the development of the infra-red detectors for

810-581: A number of other firms over this period, and their plant in Jonesborough, Tennessee developed the use of depleted uranium ordnance. To this day they are the primary supplier of these weapons. Their electronics and ordnance divisions also collaborated on the SADARM 8" anti-armor artillery round, but this was never put into production. The 1980s saw a brief revival of the aerospace business during President Ronald Reagan 's Strategic Defense Initiative program, but

891-459: A plume of contamination extending northwest under Carmichael . Discovery of TCE contamination at the Sacramento facility also led Aerojet to look into possible contamination of the groundwater at Aerojet's Azusa facility, where much of the testing of JATO's and Rocket engines was conducted before those operations were moved to Sacramento. In 1980, it was announced that there was TCE contamination in

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972-504: A rocket was manufactured at the Everglades plant. An ignition motor, a knocked-down Polaris missile B3 first stage known as “Blowtorch,” was used to jump-start the motor. Between Sept. 25, 1965 and June 17, 1967, three static test firings were done. SL-1 was fired at night, and the flame was clearly visible from Miami 50 km away, producing over 3 million pounds of thrust. SL-2 was fired with similar success and relatively uneventful. SL-3,

1053-662: A schedule acceleration to 2014 was possible if funded. Other than the addition of the Emergency Detection System, no major changes were expected to the Atlas V rocket, but ground infrastructure modifications were planned. The most likely candidate for the human-rating was the N02 configuration, with no fairing, no solid rocket boosters, and dual RL10 engines on the Centaur upper stage. On 18 July 2011, NASA and ULA announced an agreement on

1134-489: A space-faring rocket would cause. Aerojet subcontracted the fabrication of 260-inch-diameter, 24m long chamber. The chambers were designed in short-length, meaning half the size of what the final product would be, hence the names given to the test rockets, SL-1, SL-2 and SL-3. Both motors used a propellant burning rate and nozzle size appropriate for the full length design and were capable of about 1,600,000 kgf thrust for 114 seconds. The large amount of propellant needed for such

1215-705: A third stage. On 6 December 2015, Atlas V lifted its heaviest payload to date into orbit – a 16,517 lb (7,492 kg) Cygnus resupply craft . On 8 September 2016, the OSIRIS-REx Asteroid Sample Return Mission was launched on an Atlas V 411 launch vehicle. It arrived at the asteroid Bennu in December 2018 and departed back to Earth in May 2021 to arrive September 2022 at with a sample ranging from 60 grams to 2 kilograms in 2023. Five Boeing X-37B spaceplane missions were successfully launched with

1296-433: A three-digit designation. The first digit shows the diameter (in meters) of the payload fairing and has a value of "4" or "5" for fairing launches and "N" for crew capsule launches (as no payload fairing is used). The second digit indicates the number of solid rocket boosters (SRBs) attached to the core of the launch vehicle and can range from "0" through "3" with the 4 m (13 ft) fairing, and "0" through "5" with

1377-516: Is for nine launches. Project Kuiper aims to put thousands of satellites into orbit. ULA is Amazon's first launch provider. Two Kuiper test satellites were launched on Atlas V in 2023 because their originally-contracted launch vehicles were not available on time. The remaining eight Atlas V Kuiper launches will each carry a full payload of Kuiper satellites. Most of the Kuiper constellation will use other launch vehicles. Each Atlas V booster configuration has

1458-623: The Boeing Starliner CST-100 spacecraft as part of the Commercial Crew Program . Atlas V is the launch vehicle for Starliner. The first launch of an uncrewed Starliner, the Boeing OFT mission, occurred atop a human-rated Atlas V on the morning of 20 December 2019; the mission failed to meet goals due to a spacecraft failure, though the Atlas V launcher performed well. In 2022, an Atlas V launched an uncrewed Starliner capsule for

1539-774: The Common Core Booster (not to be confused with the Delta IV's Common Booster Core ), is 3.8 m (12 ft) in diameter and 32.5 m (107 ft) in length. It is powered by one Russian NPO Energomash RD-180 main engine burning 284,450 kg (627,100 lb) of liquid oxygen and RP-1 . The booster operates for about four minutes, providing about 4 MN (900,000 lb f ) of thrust. Thrust can be augmented with up to five Aerojet AJ-60A or Northrop Grumman GEM 63 strap-on solid rocket boosters , each providing an additional 1.27 MN (290,000 lb f ) of thrust for 94 seconds. The main differences between

1620-512: The Defense Support Program satellites, used to detect ICBM launches from space. The new research arm was formed as Aerojet Electro-Systems Corp. , and after purchasing a number of ordnance companies, Aerojet Ordnance was created as well. A new umbrella organization oversaw the three major divisions, Aerojet General . President Kennedy 's challenge to place a man on the Moon by the end of

1701-522: The Environmental Protection Agency have been working with Aerojet to ensure that the company cleans up pollution caused by its operations at the site. Under state and federal enforcement orders, Aerojet installed several systems on the borders of its property to pump out and treat contaminated groundwater. Aerojet has also conducted a number of removal actions for onsite soils, liquids, and sludges. In 2003, groundwater sampling data revealed

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1782-469: The F-22 Raptor aircraft and fire suppression systems for military and commercial vehicles. Their space-related products included liquid-fuel engines for expendable and reusable launch vehicles , upper-stage engines, satellite propulsion, large solid boosters , and integrated propulsion subsystems. Aerojet qualified a 4.5-kW Hall effect thruster electric propulsion system based on technology licensed from

1863-531: The SpaceX Falcon 9 . In 2006, ULA offered an Atlas V Heavy option that would use three Common Core Booster (CCB) stages strapped together to lift a 29,400 kg (64,800 lb) payload to low Earth orbit . ULA stated at the time that 95% of the hardware required for the Atlas ;V Heavy has already been flown on the Atlas V single-core vehicles. The lifting capability of the proposed launch vehicle

1944-712: The United Launch Alliance . This led to a proposal to combine the 5-meter-diameter Delta IV tankage production processes with dual RD-180 engines, resulting in the Atlas Phase ;2 . An Atlas V PH2-Heavy consisting of three 5-meter stages in parallel with six RD-180s was considered in the Augustine Report as a possible heavy lifter for use in future space missions, as well as the Shuttle-derived Ares ;V and Ares V Lite . If built,

2025-530: The Vulcan Centaur launch vehicle that will replace the Atlas V. The first Atlas V launch with GEM 63 boosters happened on 13 November 2020. Proposals and design work to human-rate the Atlas V began as early as 2006, with ULA's parent company Lockheed Martin reporting an agreement with Bigelow Aerospace that was intended to lead to commercial private trips to low Earth orbit (LEO). Human-rating design and simulation work began in earnest in 2010, with

2106-757: The Vulcan Centaur rocket. Each Atlas V launch vehicle consists of two main stages. The first stage is powered by a single Russian RD-180 engine burning kerosene and liquid oxygen . The Centaur upper stage is powered by one or two American RL10 engine(s) manufactured by Aerojet Rocketdyne and burns liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen . Strap-on solid rocket boosters (SRBs) are used in many configurations. AJ-60A SRBs were used originally, but they were replaced in November 2020 by Graphite-Epoxy Motor (GEM 63) SRBs for all except Starliner launches. The standard payload fairings are 4.2 or 5.4 m (14 or 18 ft) in diameter with various lengths. The Atlas V

2187-528: The 1960s led to increased civilian work at Aerojet. Previously, they had repeatedly lost contracts for large engines for the Saturn and Nova boosters, being designed in the late 1950s, often to their rival Rocketdyne , but in the end were selected to develop and build the main engine for the Apollo Command/Service Module . In 1962 they were also selected to design a new upper-stage engine to replace

2268-574: The 5 m (16 ft) fairing. As seen in the first image, all SRB layouts are asymmetrical. The third digit represents the number of engines on the Centaur stage, either "1" or "2". All of the configurations use the Single Engine Centaur , except for the "N22" which is only used on Starliner crew capsule missions, and uses Dual Engine Centaur . Atlas V has flown in eleven configurations:    Active    Retired Before 2016, pricing information for Atlas V launches

2349-515: The Army Air Forces finally placed a full order, demanding that 2000 rockets be delivered before year's end. The difficulty of starting out in an industry with no history explains how the founders lost control: Unhappily for us, no bank would lend us money; bankers hadn't yet come to think of rocketry as a stable business. In the spring of 1944 the officers instructed Haley to seek out new sources of assistance. General Tire & Rubber Company

2430-543: The Atlas V and earlier Atlas I and II family launch vehicles are: The Centaur upper stage uses a pressure-stabilized propellant-tank design and cryogenic propellants . The Centaur stage for Atlas V is stretched 1.7 m (5 ft 7 in) relative to the Atlas IIAS Centaur and is powered by either one or two Aerojet Rocketdyne RL10A-4-2 engines, each engine developing a thrust of 99.2 kN (22,300 lb f ). The inertial navigation unit (INU) located on

2511-610: The Atlas V as the initial launch vehicle for its CST-100 crew capsule. CST-100 will take NASA astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS) and was also intended to service the proposed Bigelow Commercial Space Station . A three-flight test program was projected to be completed by 2015, certifying the Atlas V/CST-100 combination for human spaceflight operations. The first flight was expected to include an Atlas V rocket integrated with an uncrewed CST-100 capsule,

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2592-591: The Atlas V to be the booster for its still-under-development Dream Chaser crewed spaceplane . The Dream Chaser was intended to launch on an Atlas V, fly a crew to the ISS, and land horizontally following a lifting-body reentry. However, in late 2014 NASA did not select the Dream Chaser to be one of the two vehicles selected under the Commercial Crew competition. On 4 August 2011, Boeing announced that it would use

2673-593: The Atlas V. It will fly 15 more launches. For planned launches, see List of Atlas launches (2020–2029) . The first payload, the Hot Bird 6 communications satellite, was launched to geostationary transfer orbit (GTO) on 21 August 2002 by an Atlas V 401. On 12 August 2005, the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter was launched aboard an Atlas V 401 launch vehicle from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station (CCAFS). The Centaur upper stage of

2754-694: The Atlas V. The flights are launched on Atlas V 501s from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. The X-37B, also known as the Orbital Test Vehicle (OTV), is a reusable robotic spacecraft operated by USAF that can autonomously conduct landings from orbit to a runway. The first Vandenberg Air Force Base landing at the Space Shuttle 15,000 ft (4,600 m) runway occurred in December 2010. Landings occur at both Vandenberg and Cape Canaveral depending on mission requirements. On 20 December 2019,

2835-454: The Atlas PH2-Heavy was projected to be able to launch a payload mass of approximately 70 t (69 long tons; 77 short tons) into an orbit of 28.5° inclination . The Atlas V Common Core Booster was to have been used as the first stage of the joint US-Japanese GX rocket , which was scheduled to make its first flight in 2012. GX launches would have been from the Atlas V launch complex at Vandenberg Air Force Base, SLC-3E . However,

2916-588: The Busek Corporation. Aerojet is under contract to Lockheed Martin to provide the first two shipsets of the new thruster system for the next generation Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF) system, a US Air Force program. Research into the next generation of advanced or "green" monopropellant engines met with mixed success in the 1990s. HAN engines developed under contract to the US Air Force and Missile Defense Agency provided proof of concept. Aerojet

2997-461: The Centaur provides guidance and navigation for both the Atlas and Centaur and controls both Atlas and Centaur tank pressures and propellant use. The Centaur engines are capable of multiple in-space starts, making possible insertion into low Earth parking orbit , followed by a coast period and then insertion into GTO . A subsequent third burn following a multi-hour coast can permit direct injection of payloads into geostationary orbit . As of 2006 ,

3078-470: The Centaur vehicle had the highest proportion of burnable propellant relative to total mass of any modern hydrogen upper stage and hence can deliver substantial payloads to a high-energy state. Atlas V payload fairings are available in two diameters, depending on satellite requirements. The 4.2 m (14 ft) diameter fairing, originally designed for the Atlas II booster, comes in three different lengths:

3159-580: The Delta II second-stage completed a record 268 successful mission launches since 1960 on February 6, 2009. NASA chose Aerojet to provide the primary design and development of Orion (spacecraft) propulsion systems for the Constellation program . In November 2010, Aerojet was selected by NASA for consideration for potential contract awards for heavy lift launch vehicle system concepts and propulsion technologies. In July 2012, GenCorp, Inc. announced that it

3240-604: The Japanese government decided to cancel the GX project in December 2009. In May 2015, a consortium of companies, including Aerojet and Dynetics , sought to license the production or manufacturing rights to the Atlas V using the AR1 engine in place of the RD-180. The proposal was rejected by ULA. Last flight of the 431 configuration 100th flight of an RD-180 engine ULA has stopped selling

3321-490: The RUAG fairing is much longer and fully encloses both the Centaur upper stage and the payload. Many systems on the Atlas V have been the subject of upgrade and enhancement both prior to the first Atlas V flight and since that time. Work on a Fault Tolerant Inertial Navigation Unit (FTINU) started in 2001 to enhance mission reliability for Atlas vehicles by replacing the earlier non-redundant navigation and computing equipment with

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3402-691: The Shuttle contract in 1986, Aerojet later traded its remaining 5,100 acres in the wetlands of South Dade for 55,000 acres of environmentally sensitive land belonging to the U.S. Bureau of Land Management in Nevada. Those 5,100 acres surrounding the factory site are now controlled by the South Florida Water Management District and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission as a nature preserve. The Aerojet signage still remains for both

3483-530: The State of Florida, exercised its options and pulled out of South Florida for good. The company sold most of its land holdings to the South Dade Land Corporation for $ 6 million. After unsuccessfully trying to farm it, the corporation sold it to Florida for $ 12 million. County and federal courts were kept busy for years with lawsuits between Aerojet, Dade County and the State of Florida. After sadly losing

3564-655: The award of US$ 6.7 million in the first phase of the NASA Commercial Crew Program (CCP) to develop an Emergency Detection System (EDS). As of February 2011, ULA had received an extension to April 2011 from NASA and was finishing up work on the EDS. NASA solicited proposals for CCP phase 2 in October 2010, and ULA proposed to complete design work on the EDS. At the time, NASA's goal was to get astronauts to orbit by 2015. Then-ULA President and CEO Michael Gass stated that

3645-557: The cluster of five J-2s used on the Saturn second stage in the post-Apollo era, but work on their resulting M-1 design was ended in 1965 when it became clear the public's support for a massive space program was waning. During this period, Aerojet built a large concrete pad in San Ramon, California , for the purpose of rocket engine testing for the space program. Before it got used, President Johnson and NASA decided to move these activities to

3726-430: The company shrank during the late 1980s and into the 1990s. As Aerojet downsized, many of their industrial plants were idled, and the company looked for ways to capitalize them. Their massive investment in chemical mixing equipment used to build their solid-fuel rockets was later leased to third parties, notably pharmaceutical companies, under the name Aerojet Fine Chemicals. The division was later sold. Aerojet Real Estate

3807-490: The company were described by von Kármán in his autobiography: On March 19, 1942, Haley obtained our incorporation papers and the Aerojet Engineering Corporation was launched. I was President; Malina was Treasurer; and Haley was Secretary. We had three vice-presidents: Parsons, Summerfield, and Forman. We issued stock to ourselves, and for a brief time Haley seemed to own the entire corporation because, being

3888-406: The cost of a launch. In 2013, launch costs for commercial satellites to GTO averaged about US$ 100 million, significantly lower than historic Atlas V pricing. However, after the rise of reusable rockets , the price of an Atlas V [401] has dropped from approximately US$ 180 million to US$ 109 million, in large part due to competitive pressure that emerged in the launch services marketplace during

3969-461: The damage done, which included paint damage to their cars and the death of thousands of dollars worth of crops. By 1969, NASA had decided to go with liquid-fueled engines for the Saturn V rockets, causing the workers of the Everglades plant to be laid off and the abandonment of the facility. In 1986, after NASA had awarded the Space Shuttle booster contract to Morton Thiokol of Utah, Aerojet sued

4050-517: The early 2010s. ULA CEO Tory Bruno stated in 2016 that ULA needs at least two commercial missions each year in order to stay profitable going forward. ULA is not attempting to win these missions on purely lowest purchase price, stating that it "would rather be the best value provider". In 2016, ULA suggested that customers would have much lower insurance and delay costs because of the high Atlas V reliability and schedule certainty, making overall customer costs close to that of using competitors like

4131-429: The establishment of a provisional perchlorate RfD limit of 0.0001 mg/kg/day in 1992 (to have been achieved by all companies by 1995). This limit was increased to 0.0009 mg/kg/day in 1998, and prior to the results from NAS studies, the limit was reduced to 0.00004 mg/kg/day in 2002. The NAS studies disputed the 0.00004 limit, and recommended its current limit of 0.0007 mg/kg/day. The Aerobee rocket

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4212-594: The fifth major version in the Atlas launch vehicle family . It was designed by Lockheed Martin and has been operated by United Launch Alliance (ULA) since 2006. It is used for DoD , NASA, and commercial payloads. It is America's longest-serving active rocket. After 87 launches, in August 2021 ULA announced that Atlas V would be retired, and all 29 remaining launches had been sold. As of July 2024 , 15 launches remain. Production ceased in 2024. Other future ULA launches will use

4293-462: The first Starliner crew capsule was launched in Boe-OFT un-crewed test flight. The Atlas V launch vehicle performed flawlessly but an anomaly with the spacecraft left it in a wrong orbit. The orbit was too low to reach the flight's destination of ISS , and the mission was subsequently cut short. In its 100 launches (as of June 2024), starting with its first launch in August 2002, Atlas V has achieved

4374-748: The groundwater at Aerojet's facility in Azusa in a hearing chaired by State Senator Esteben Torres. In 1985, it was declared a Superfund Site by the EPA as San Gabriel Superfund Site II and the cleanup done under the Baldwin Park Operable Unit. In 1997, it was also discovered that there was also NDMA and Ammonium Perchlorate contamination in this plume and that Aerojet was once again labeled a Potentially Responsible Party (PRP) in this action. Aerojet sold this facility in 2001 to Northrop Grumman Corporation. Aerojet's disposal of toxic material occurred 20 years prior to

4455-522: The in-flight launch abort system test flight did not materialize, and the third flight, a crewed orbital test flight with two astronauts (in the end NASA's, not Boeing's astronauts) materialized in June 2024 as Boeing Crewed Flight Test . The launch abort system was tested in 2019 in the Boeing Pad Abort Test mission but this did not take place in-flight but from the launch pad. In 2014, NASA selected

4536-433: The land for the plant less than five miles from Everglades National Park . A facility was constructed where the motors could be built and tested ( 25°21′45″N 80°33′38″W  /  25.362392°N 80.560649°W  / 25.362392; -80.560649 ). SW 232nd Avenue was renamed "Aerojet Road". A monolithic 21-foot-diameter (6.4 m) rocket motor was designed, which was too big to be transported by rail. A plan

4617-411: The launch vehicle completed its burns over a 56-minute period and placed MRO into an interplanetary transfer orbit towards Mars. On 19 January 2006, New Horizons was launched by a Lockheed Martin Atlas V 551 rocket. 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

4698-538: The necessity of an EELV heavy-lift variant, including development of an Atlas V Heavy", and to "resolve the RD-180 issue, including coproduction, stockpile , or United States development of an RD-180 replacement". In 2010, ULA stated that the Atlas V Heavy variant could be available to customers 30 months from the date of order. In late 2006, the Atlas V program gained access to the tooling and processes for 5-meter-diameter stages used on Delta IV when Boeing and Lockheed Martin space operations were merged into

4779-464: The only man in the group with cash, he actually put up all the initial capital. We opened offices on East Colorado Street in Pasadena ... we moved to ... 285 West Colorado Street...Thus began ... the world's largest manufacturer of rockets and propellants. In only twenty years it was to grow from six people with a capitalization of $ 1200 into a 700-million-dollar a year business, a staff of nearly 34,000, and

4860-496: The original 9 m (30 ft) version and extended 10 and 11 m (33 and 36 ft) versions, first flown respectively on the AV-008/ Astra 1KR and AV-004/ Inmarsat-4 F1 missions. Fairings of up to 7.2 m (24 ft) diameter and 32.3 m (106 ft) length have been considered but were never implemented. A 5.4 m (18 ft) diameter fairing, with an internally usable diameter of 4.57 m (15.0 ft),

4941-420: The possibility of certifying the Atlas V to NASA's standards for human spaceflight. ULA agreed to provide NASA with data on the Atlas V, while NASA would provide ULA with draft human certification requirements. In 2011, the human-rated Atlas V was also still under consideration to carry spaceflight participants to the proposed Bigelow Commercial Space Station . In 2011, Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC) picked

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5022-421: The road and canal, and although weather-damaged, most of the facility's buildings remain intact. The Nevada property was sold by Aerojet in 1996 to be used for the unbuilt planned community Coyote Springs, Nevada . The AJ-260 -2 rocket motor remains in the silo to this day. In 2013, the massive shed structure covering the silo was dismantled and the silo covered with several 33 ton concrete beams. The facility

5103-643: The rubber binder had led to much larger engines and then to the development of the Aerobee sounding rocket . Aerobee was the first U.S.-designed rocket to reach space (albeit not orbit) and completed over 1,000 flights before it was retired in 1985. Aerojet designed and built a total of 1,182 engines for all four incarnations of the Titan rockets, which were used for civilian projects ranging from Gemini 's crewed flights to solar system explorations including Viking , Voyager , and Cassini . The then recently formed US Air Force selected Aerojet as their primary supplier on

5184-434: The second flight an in-flight launch abort system demonstration in the middle of that year, and the third flight a crewed mission carrying two Boeing test-pilot astronauts into LEO and returning them safely at the end of 2015. These plans were delayed by many years and morphed along the way so that in the end, the first orbital test flight with no crew materialized in 2019, but it was a failure and needed to be reflown in 2022,

5265-412: The second time on Boe-OFT 2 mission; the mission was a success. In June 2024, on Boe-CFT mission, Atlas V carried humans into space for the first time, launching two NASA astronauts to the ISS. Amazon has selected the Atlas V to launch some of the satellites for Project Kuiper . Project Kuiper will offer a high-speed satellite internet constellation service. The contract signed with Amazon

5346-494: The third and what would be the final test rocket, used a partially submerged nozzle and produced 2,670,000 kgf thrust, making it the largest solid-fuel rocket ever. Problems arose during the third test when, near burnout, the rocket nozzle was ejected, causing propellant made of hydrochloric acids to be spread across wetlands in the Everglades and a few crop fields and homes in Homestead. Many residents of Homestead complained about

5427-691: The upcoming space center in Houston, Texas . Similar work continued in the 1970s, delivering the second-stage motor for the MX missile , the Orbital Maneuvering System (OMS) for the Space Shuttle , and the first U.S.-designed cluster bombs . A contract for 30-mm ammunition for the A-10 Thunderbolt II was so extensive that new branch plants were set up in Downey and Chino in 1978. Aerojet also purchased

5508-506: Was an unguided, spin-stabilized sounding rocket designed to launch a 150 lb (68 kg) payload to 200,000 feet (61.0 km). The X-8 was a version of the prolific Aerobee rocket family. 1.8KS7800 is a solid propellant rocket engine designed by Aerojet. It is used in the AIM-7A, AIM7B and AIM7C Sparrow missiles and the Aerobee 300-300A sounding rocket . The designation 1.8KS7800 means that

5589-459: Was buying Aerojet's competitor, Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne ; the acquisition was completed in 2013. Aerojet solid fuel technology was under consideration for use in Apollo's Saturn V first stages. In 1963, the U.S. Air Force provided Aerojet General with $ 3 million in funding to start construction of a manufacturing and testing site several miles southwest of Homestead, Florida . Aerojet acquired

5670-562: Was developed and built by RUAG Space in Switzerland . The RUAG fairing uses carbon fiber composite construction and is based on a similar flight-proven fairing for the Ariane 5 . Three configurations are manufactured to support the Atlas V: 20.7 m (68 ft), 23.4 m (77 ft), and 26.5 m (87 ft) long. While the classic 4.2 m (14 ft) fairing covers only the payload,

5751-569: Was developed by Lockheed Martin Commercial Launch Services (LMCLS) as part of the U.S. Air Force Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) program and made its inaugural flight on 21 August 2002. The vehicle operates from SLC-41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station (CCSFS). It also operated from SLC-3E at Vandenberg Space Force Base until 2022. LMCLS continued to market the Atlas V to commercial customers worldwide until January 2018, when United Launch Alliance (ULA) assumed control of commercial marketing and sales. The Atlas V first stage,

5832-472: Was devised where the rocket motors would be transported by barge to Cape Canaveral . To facilitate barges, a canal was dug (C-111) and a drawbridge installed for the U.S. Highway 1 crossing at mile marker 116 ( 25°17′23″N 80°26′41″W  /  25.289609°N 80.444786°W  / 25.289609; -80.444786 ). This canal became the southernmost freshwater canal in Southeast Florida and

5913-416: Was dubbed the "Aerojet Canal". Efforts are being made to remediate the long term environmental damage caused by the canal, which include the redirection of fresh water from Taylor Slough and thus Florida Bay to Barnes Sound . Additionally, a concrete silo was constructed for the rocket motor, 180 feet deep into the Everglades. Aerojet needed a cylindrical chamber that would withstand the force and power

5994-526: Was limited. In 2010, NASA contracted with ULA to launch the MAVEN mission on an Atlas V 401 for approximately US$ 187 million. The 2013 cost of this configuration for the U.S. Air Force under their block buy of 36 launch vehicles was US$ 164 million. In 2015, the TDRS-M launch on an Atlas 401 cost NASA US$ 132.4 million. Starting in 2016, ULA provided pricing for the Atlas V through its RocketBuilder website, advertising

6075-861: Was more direct in its actions, leasing entire Aerojet buildings and selling off undeveloped Aerojet land. It owned approximately 12,600 acres (51 km ), located 15 miles (24 km) east of downtown Sacramento. The remaining research and development sections of Aerojet were organized into the Aerospace and Defense division (ADS). They continued to develop and produce liquid-fuel, solid-fuel, and air-breathing engines for strategic and tactical missiles, precision strike missiles, and interceptors required for missile defense. Product applications for defense systems included strategic and tactical missile motors; maneuvering propulsion systems; attitude control systems; and warhead assemblies used in precision weapon systems and missile defense , as well as airframe structures required on

6156-452: Was one of his clients and that company showed an interest in Aerojet and began negotiations. In January 1945, General Tire acquired half the stock for $ 75,000. Parsons and Forman also sold their shares, so that, by October, General Tire had control of the majority of Aerojet. Kármán resisted the offers presented to him, until in 1953 when a sizable scholarship fund was offered to be set up as

6237-608: Was one of the United States' most produced and productive sounding rockets . Developed by the Aerojet Corporation, the Aerobee was designed to combine the altitude and launching capability of the V-2 with the cost effectiveness and mass production of the WAC Corporal . More than 1000 Aerobees were launched between 1947 and 1985, returning vast amounts of astronomical, physical, aeronomical, and biomedical data. The Aerojet General X-8

6318-651: Was owned by GenCorp, Inc. , which is headquartered in Rancho Cordova, California . GenCorp, Inc. was known as the General Tire & Rubber Company until 1984. On April 27, 2015, the corporate name of the company was officially changed from GenCorp, Inc. to Aerojet Rocketdyne Holdings, Inc. to honor the company's heritage of continuous product innovation and mission success and to recognize its significant contributions to national defense and space exploration for more than 70 years. From 2002, Aerojet grew steadily to more than 3,500 employees in 2008. Aerojet's rocket engine for

6399-589: Was tested on August 16, 1941, consisting of a small cylindrical solid-fuel motor attached to the bottom of a plane. Takeoff distance was shortened by half, and the USAAF placed an order for experimental production versions. In 1942 von Kármán, Parsons, Frank Malina , Ed Forman, Martin Summerfield and Andrew G. Haley founded the Aerojet Engineering Corporation. Some aspects of the early operation of

6480-712: Was the subject of documentaries Space-Miami and Aerojet Dade: An Unfinished Journey . An urban exploration visit to the site in 2007 was also featured in the documentary Urban Explorers: Into the Darkness . Aerojet's manufacture, testing and disposal methods led to toxic contamination of both the land and groundwater in the Rancho Cordova area, leading to the designation of a Superfund site. Solvents such as trichloroethylene (TCE) and chloroform and rocket fuel by-products such as N-Nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA) and perchlorate were discovered in drinking water wells near Aerojet in 1979. Since then, two State agencies and

6561-730: Was to be roughly equivalent to the Delta ;IV Heavy , which used RS-68 engines developed and produced domestically by Aerojet Rocketdyne. A 2006 report, prepared by the RAND Corporation for the Office of the Secretary of Defense , stated that Lockheed Martin had decided not to develop an Atlas V heavy-lift vehicle (HLV). The report recommended for the U.S. Air Force and the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) to "determine

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