Space Launch Now - Thor Able I

Thor Able I

In-active

McDonnell Douglas (MDC)

April 24, 1958

Description

American orbital launch vehicle. Thor with Able stage derived from Vanguard second stage.

Specifications

Stages
2
Length
30.0 m
Diameter
2.44 m
Fairing Diameter
2.44 m
Launch Mass
51 T
Thrust
667 kN

Family

Name
Thor Able I
Family
―
Variant
Able I
Alias
―
Full Name
Thor Able I

Payload Capacity

Launch Cost
$8900000
Low Earth Orbit
120 kg
Geostationary Transfer Orbit
―
Direct Geostationary
―
Sun-Synchronous Capacity
―

McDonnell Douglas

Commercial

None

MDC

None

Previous Flights

flew on three previous launch(es).

Thor Able I | Pioneer 2

McDonnell Douglas | United States of America
Cape Canaveral, FL, USA
Nov. 8, 1958, 7:30 a.m.

Status: Launch Failure

Mission:

The third pioneer orbiter, pioneer 2 intended to enter lunar orbit but failed to make orbit when the third stage failed to ignite.

Lunar Orbit

Explore Share

Thor Able I | Pioneer 1

McDonnell Douglas | United States of America
Cape Canaveral, FL, USA
Oct. 11, 1958, 8:42 a.m.

Status: Launch Successful

Mission:

The second pioneer orbiter, pioneer 1 intended to enter lunar orbit but missed the Moon after a third stage partial failure.

Lunar Orbit

Explore Share

Thor Able I | Able I (Pioneer)

McDonnell Douglas | United States of America
Cape Canaveral, FL, USA
Aug. 17, 1958, 12:18 p.m.

Status: Launch Failure

Mission:

The first pioneer orbiter, pioneer 0 was a lunar orbiter intended to enter a lunar orbit for observation. However, the mission failed 77 seconds into launch.

Lunar Orbit

Explore Share

Recent Launches

Long March 6A

Success

1 day, 4 hours ago

Tianhui 5 Group 02

Launch Complex 9A - Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center, People's Republic of China

A pair of satellites officially described as for cartographic surveying purposes, details TBD.

Firefly Alpha

Success

1 day, 23 hours ago

FLTA005 (Noise of Summer)

Space Launch Complex 2W - Vandenberg SFB, CA, USA

Fifth flight of the Firefly Alpha small sat launcher, carrying eight cubesats for NASA's ELaNa 43 (Educational Launch of a Nanosatellite) mission.

Falcon 9

Success

2 days, 18 hours ago

Starlink Group 8-9

Space Launch Complex 40 - Cape Canaveral, FL, USA

A batch of 20 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.

H3-22

Success

5 days ago

Advanced Land Observing Satellite-4 (ALOS-4)

Yoshinobu Launch Complex LP-2 - Tanegashima Space Center, Japan

The Advanced Land Observing Satellite-4 (ALOS-4) is a Japanese satellite designed to observe the Earth's surface using a phased array type L-band syn…

Long March 7A

Success

6 days, 15 hours ago

ChinaSat 3A

201 - Wenchang Space Launch Site, People's Republic of China

Chinese communication geostationary satellite for unknown purposes.