Atlas Missile Base, Atlas Missile Factory, & 1st Successful Atlas-E Launch 1961-02-24 US Air Force (Patreon)

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Silent footage, no soundtrack.

Originally a public domain film from the US Air Force, slightly cropped to remove uneven edges, with the aspect ratio corrected, and one-pass brightness-contrast-color correction & mild video noise reduction applied.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SM-65_Atlas

Wikipedia license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

The SM-65 Atlas was the first operational intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) developed by the United States and the first member of the Atlas rocket family. It was built for the U.S. Air Force by the Convair Division of General Dynamics at an assembly plant located in Kearny Mesa, San Diego. Atlas became operational in October 1959, but was soon made obsolete as an ICBM by new development, and was retired from this role by 1965.

Atlas required long preparation times which made it unsuitable for a quick launch ICBM. However, this was not a requirement for planned space launches, and so Atlas-derived launch vehicles served a long history as space launchers. Even before its ICBM use ended in 1965, Atlas had placed four Project Mercury astronauts in orbit and was becoming the foundation for a family of successful space launch vehicles, most notably Atlas Agena and Atlas Centaur. Mergers led to the acquisition of the Atlas Centaur line by the United Launch Alliance. Today ULA supports the larger Atlas V, which combines the Centaur upper stage with a new booster. Until 2001, many retired Atlas ICBMs were refurbished and combined with upper stages to launch satellites...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SM-65E_Atlas

The SM-65E Atlas, or Atlas-E, was an operational variant of the Atlas missile. It first flew on 11 October 1960, and was deployed as an operational ICBM from September 1961 until April 1966. Following retirement as an ICBM, the Atlas-E, along with the Atlas-F, was refurbished for orbital launches as the Atlas E/F...

Background

The SM-65E Atlas, or Atlas-E, was an operational variant of the Atlas missile. It first flew on 11 October 1960, and was deployed as an operational ICBM from September 1961 until April 1966. Following retirement as an ICBM, the Atlas-E, along with the Atlas-F, was refurbished for orbital launches as the Atlas E/F. The last Atlas E/F launch was conducted on 24 March 1995, using a rocket which had originally been built as an Atlas E.

As fully operational ICBMs, the Atlas E and F, which differed only in guidance systems, had upgraded engines and inertial control instead of the Atlas D's radio ground guidance. The ignition system was also different from the one used on the D-series, which used a "wet" start, meaning that the propellants were injected into the combustion chamber prior to ignition, and a hypergolic igniter on the fully developed version. The Atlas E/F for comparison used pyrotechnic cartridges and a dry start (ignition coming before propellant injection) for an extremely rapid ignition that required no hold-down time on the pad to prevent combustion instability. The booster engines had separate gas generators unlike the Atlas D which had one gas generator for both engines. The launcher system used for the E and F series was also different than the D series, eliminating the hold-down arms in favor of a mechanism that would immediately release the missile as thrust built up.

Atlas-E launches were conducted from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, at Launch Complexes 11 and 13, and Vandenberg Air Force Base at OSTF-1, LC-576 and SLC-3.

1960-61

The Atlas E testing program commenced on October 11, 1960 when Missile 3E was launched from Cape Canaveral's LC-13. At around 40 seconds into launch, the sustainer hydraulic system lost pressure. After booster jettison, the missile lost attitude control, tumbled, and broke up at T+154 seconds. On November 30, the second attempt, Missile 4E, repeated the same failure except that the missile remained structurally intact until impact in the ocean. Both of these failures were traced to radiated heat that caused a failure of the sustainer hydraulic rise-off disconnect, which ruptured and allowed the hydraulic fluid to escape; they resulted in shielding being added to protect the rise-off disconnect...