🚀Launchpad

SM-65D Atlas

Convair

Manufacturer
Convair
Family
Atlas, Atlas D
Maiden flight
1959-04-14
Length
25.15 m
Diameter
3 m
Payload to LEO
1,400 kg
Launches
9
Successful
6

The SM-65D Atlas, or Atlas D, was the first operational version of the U.S. Atlas missile. Atlas D was first used as an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) to deliver a nuclear weapon payload on a suborbital trajectory. It was later developed as a launch vehicle to carry a payload to low Earth orbit on its own, and later to geosynchronous orbit, to the Moon, Venus, or Mars with the Agena or Centaur upper stage.