AeroVia Logo
AeroVia
Home
Resources
Courses
Community
About
Back to Vehicle Families

Atlas F Orbital Launch Vehicle

Atlas F was a silo-based liquid-propellant Atlas ICBM variant later used for reentry research and orbital launch missions. Three Atlas F vehicles launched groups of OV1 research satellites from Vandenberg in 1968 and 1969.

Atlas F Orbital Launch Vehicle
NASA/Bill Ingalls · Stored/public JPEG is byte-identical to the NASA canonical 201108050008HQ large asset (1279x1920, SHA-256 54592683e90ae091eefed5173f1276a07ae2326599475516c32c208dbfd60e1c). NASA Images API metadata identifies the exact image as Atlas V Rocket Launches with Juno Spacecraft, photographed by NASA/Bill Ingalls, and describes the Atlas V/Juno launch from Space Launch Complex 41 on August 5, 2011. NASA current Images and Media Usage Guidelines state that NASA content may be used factually or informationally with NASA acknowledged, while NASA-hosted third-party content is marked and NASA use does not convey rights; commercial use must not imply endorsement and NASA logos and identifiers remain protected: https://www.nasa.gov/nasa-brand-center/images-and-media/. This is an asset-level, conservative factual/editorial reuse basis with NASA/Bill Ingalls attribution, not a blanket license for promotional content, merchandise, NASA branding, or endorsement. · Source
Follow this vehicle family

Future launches and major activity directly linked to this vehicle family.

Identity

Aliases
SM-65F AtlasAtlas SM-65FAtlas F orbital launcher
Family Name
Atlas F
Full Name
Atlas F Orbital Launch Vehicle
Status
retired
Type
rocket

Details

Description
Atlas F was a silo-based liquid-propellant Atlas ICBM variant later used for reentry research and orbital launch missions. Three Atlas F vehicles launched groups of OV1 research satellites from Vandenberg in 1968 and 1969.
First Flight Year
1,968
Last Flight Year
1,969
Manufacturer
Operator
Parent Vehicle Family
Propulsion Configurations
  • Entries
    • Nested value
    • Nested value
    • Nested value
    Name
    Atlas F MA-3 exact stage-and-a-half configuration
    Notes
    NASA's Atlas F historical table identifies MA-3 as two LR-89-NA-5 booster engines, one LR-105-NA-5 sustainer, and two LR-101-NA-7 vernier engines. The vernier entry uses Aerojet/Rocketdyne's existing generic MA-5 vernier identity because the exact dash-number boundary is not established in the current source set. Mission-specific TE 364 apogee kick motors are not inferred into the common Atlas F stage record.
Rocket Specs
Reusability
expendable

Links

Official Url
https://www.secretsdeclassified.af.mil/Fact-Sheets/Display/Article/4151597/convair-lv-3b-sm-65d-atlas/

Assets & Meta

Creation Time
July 18, 2026 at 23:17:57 UTC
Updated Time
August 1, 2026 at 17:58:54 UTC
Image
Download

Other

Search Name
Atlas F Orbital Launch Vehicle SM-65F Atlas Atlas SM-65F Atlas F orbital launcher