Atlas-Able

The Atlas-Able was an American expendable launch system derived from the SM-65 Atlas missile and a member of the Atlas family of rockets that Convair built. It stacked a stage-and-a-half Atlas missile as first stage with an Able second stage and an Altair third stage, which made it a three-and-a-half-stage rocket, and it was meant to send Pioneer spacecraft towards the Moon. Five Atlas-Able rockets were built. The first used an Atlas C and exploded in a static fire test on 24 September 1959 while meant to carry Pioneer P-1; a second was destroyed in a static firing at Launch Complex 13 and never flew; the other three, which used Atlas D missiles and flew from Launch Complexes 12 and 14 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, all failed to reach orbit.