Thor Able

by Jean-Jacques Serra
listing by Gunter Krebs
Thor used with Vanguard top stages

In 1958 the only top stages available for space launches were those of Vanguard. The second stage was 8.5 m long and 0.9 m in diameter. It was equipped with an adjustable Aerojet AJ10 motor (nitric acid/UDMH) capable of a 33 kN thrust during 120 seconds. The spin-stabilized third stage was equipped with a solid fuel motor of 14 kN and 30 second burn duration. The Thor Able rocket was 26.9 m high and weighed over 50 tons.

Thor Able was tested in April and May 1958 with the intercontinental launch of Reentry vehicles containing a mouse. But the first 3 space launches carrying Pioneer probes to the Moon between August and November 1958 ended as 2 failures and 1 partial success.

The launcher was used until 1961 to launch a scientific satellite ( Explorer) a interplanetary probe (Pioneer) and a meteorological satellite ( Tiros).

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Thor Able launches

# and serial	Launch id	Payload	Launch date	Type	Status (orbit in perigee x apogee x inc. x period)
1, 116	n/a	ARTV 1 (suborbital)	23 Apr 1958	DM18 Able	Failure: Thor exploded after 146 s
2, 118	n/a	ARTV 2 (suborbital)	10 Jul 1958	DM18 Able
3, 119	n/a	ARTV 3 (suborbital)	23 Jul 1958	DM18 Able
4, 127	n/a	Pioneer 0 (Moon)	17 Aug 1958	DM18 Able 1	Failure: Thor exploded after 17 s
5, 130	n/a	Pioneer 1 (Moon)	11 Oct 1958	DM18 Able 1	Partial failure: 3rd stage produced unsufficient thrust
6, 129	n/a	Pioneer 2 (Moon)	08 Nov 1958	DM18 Able 1	Failure: 3rd stage failed
7, 128	n/a	PGRTV 1 (suborbital)	23 Jan 1959	DM18 Able 2	Partial failure: 1st stage shut down at wrong time
8, 131	n/a	PGRTV 2 (suborbital)	28 Feb 1959	DM18 Able 2
9, 132	n/a	PGRTV 3 (suborbital)	21 Mar 1959	DM18 Able 2
10, 133	n/a	PGRTV 4 (suborbital)	8 Mar 1959	DM18 Able 2
11, 135	n/a	PGRTV 5 (suborbital)	20 May 1959	DM18 Able 2
12, 137	n/a	PGRTV 6 (suborbital)	11 Jun 1959	DM18 Able 2
13, 134	59004	Explorer 06	07 Aug 1959	DM18 Able 3
14, 136	n/a	Transit 1A	17 Sep 1959	DM18 Able 2	Failure: 3rd stage failed
15, 219	60001	Pioneer 5	11 Mar 1960	DM18 Able 4	Probe to solar orbit
16, 148	60002	Tiros 01	01 Apr 1960	DM18 Able 2

Notes: all launches from Cape Canaveral

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