Thor Able II

In-active

McDonnell Douglas (MDC)

Jan. 23, 1959

Description

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

Specifications
  • Stages
    2
  • Length
    27.3 m
  • Diameter
    2.44 m
  • Fairing Diameter
    2.44 m
  • Launch Mass
    52 T
  • Thrust
    668 kN
Family
  • Name
    Thor Able II
  • Family
  • Variant
    Able II
  • Alias
  • Full Name
    Thor Able II
Payload Capacity
  • Launch Cost
  • Low Earth Orbit
  • Geostationary Transfer Orbit
  • Direct Geostationary
  • Sun-Synchronous Capacity

McDonnell Douglas

Commercial
None
MDC

None

Thor Able II | Tiros 1

McDonnell Douglas | United States of America
Cape Canaveral, FL, USA
April 1, 1960, 11:40 a.m.
Status: Launch Successful
Mission:

TIROS-1 was the first successful low-Earth orbital weather satellite, and the first of a series of Television Infrared Observation Satellites.

Low Earth Orbit
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Thor Able II | Transit 1A

McDonnell Douglas | United States of America
Cape Canaveral, FL, USA
Sept. 17, 1959, 2:34 p.m.
Status: Launch Failure
Mission:

The Transit satellite system was the first satellite navigation system to be used operationally. The system was used to provide accurate location for the US Navy ships. Transit 1A failed to make orbit.

Low Earth Orbit
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Long March 6A
Success
1 day, 6 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
2 days, 1 hour 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, 20 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, 1 hour 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, 17 hours ago
ChinaSat 3A
201 - Wenchang Space Launch Site, People's Republic of China

Chinese communication geostationary satellite for unknown purposes.