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Author
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Topic: Atlas-Centaur 5 launch failure
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Apollo-Soyuz
Member Posts: 1205
From: Shady Side, Md
Registered: Sep 2004
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posted 09-26-2004 05:33 PM
   
I am trying to find information on the Atlas-Centaur 5 launch failure on March 2, 1965. This launch was a developemental flight of the Atlas-Centaur launch vehicle. I have always been fascinated with this launch. The Atlas booster shut down 2 seconds after liftoff. I am trying to find any information, photos of this failure and hope some member of this group can steer me in the right direction. Thank you for any help anybody can provide.  ------------------
John Macco
Shady Side, MD |
Ben
Member Posts: 1896
From: Cape Canaveral, FL
Registered: May 2000
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posted 09-26-2004 05:45 PM
Pad 36A hosted the successful Atlas Centaur AC-10/Surveyor 1 launch in 1966, but was also the site of the Cape's biggest on-pad explosion on March 2, 1965. That was when AC-5 suffered an improper RP-1 pre-valve closing two seconds after lift off, causing the booster engines to shut down. The 149 ton rocket then fell back through the launch stand into the flame trench, creating a huge fireball that put the pad out of commission for more than a year. From: http://www76.pair.com/tjohnson/heritag.html ------------------
-Ben http://www.geocities.com/ovcolumbia/ |
star51L
Member Posts: 340
From: Vilano Beach, FL, USA
Registered: Aug 2002
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posted 09-26-2004 05:49 PM
Nice find Ben...hope you are fine through the latest storm.Was able to find a little help:
http://www.astronautix.com/articles/thelures.htm
http://home.cfl.rr.com/atlas/history_atlas.html |
Ken Havekotte
Member Posts: 2915
From: Merritt Island, Florida, Brevard
Registered: Mar 2001
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posted 10-04-2004 02:09 PM
John--How much info do you need about AC-5? I have photos, including the explosion on pad 36A, + tons of newspaper clippings, on-site press reports, magazine articles, NASA and GD-Convair press kits, and much more. About 2+ seconds after liftoff of AC-5, both Atlas Booster engines cut off causing the vehicle to settle back on the launch base of the pad that resulted in a massive 200-ft. high fireball. What caused the failure was a Booster RP-1 fuel prevalve that closed, shutting off the fuel supply to the twin Atlas Booster rocket engines. The valve, which was located at the outlet of the RP-1 (kerosene) tank, was used only for ground operations. The launch was to be an experimental (R&D) test flight planned to prepare the upper Centaur stage for future launches of the Surveyor soft-landing lunar probes. AC-5 was supposed to be the first Centaur rocket to fly with an up-rated Atlas/MA-5 propulsion system and propellant ultilization features. Centaur's payload, a Surveyor dynamic model, wasn't aimed at the moon. The flight plan called for the spacecraft engineering model to be aimed at a "paper moon," -- a point some 248,000 statute miles in space representing the moon for flight test purposes. What else would you like to know, John, as I'll be happy to fax/copy whatever articles, reports, etc. you might have need of. Just let me know. |
Apollo-Soyuz
Member Posts: 1205
From: Shady Side, Md
Registered: Sep 2004
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posted 10-04-2004 07:03 PM
Ken- I will take a copy of anything you have on this launch failure. It always fascinated me as it was the first major launch explosion since the heyday of rocketry. Did you get my emails that pertained to ASTP? email me offlist. Thank you for anything you send me relating to the AC-5 launch failure. ------------------
John Macco
Shady Side, MD | |
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