MISSION NAME
ATS 5 5
Status
Success
DATE
12 AUG 1969
LAUNCH PROVIDER
United States Air Force
Launch Pad
Launch Complex 36A
Description
ATS-5, the last spacecraft in the Hughes/NASA ATS program, was launched August 12, 1969, in a near-perfect trajectory for insertion into synchronous orbit. Although injected successfully into orbit, the spacecraft's reverse spin (counterclockwise) prevented successful deployment of the 124 foot gravity gradient booms for the stabilization experiment. However nine of the other 13 experiments aboard the spacecraft returned useful data.
Atlas SLV-3C Centaur
Rocket Description
The Atlas-Centaur was a US expendable launch vehicle derived from the SM-65 Atlas D missile. Launches were conducted from Launch Complex 36 at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.