![]() With various upper stages, Thor boosters have provided the USAF and NASA with a reliable and versatile means of placing payloads into space. ![]() First test flown as an IRBM in 1957 and as a satellite booster in 1958, the Thor has been continuously upgraded to provide more lifting capability. commercial space launches.ĭesigned and developed to be an intermediate range ballistic missile (IRBM) launch vehicle, the Thor has become one of the most successful spacecraft boosters ever built. The reliable Titan also was the booster for the first U.S. Even with the arrival of the Space Shuttle, these launch vehicles and their descendants are stilled used to orbit unmanned spacecraft that cannot be launched by the shuttle. In addition to their military applications, civilian agencies such as NASA used USAF-developed boosters for many of their programs as well. These launch vehicles provided the needed thrust to place into orbit the heavier and more complicated military satellites that the USAF required during the 1960s through the 1980s. The three most important boosters to the United States' unmanned space program were the USAF's Thor, Atlas and Titan rockets. These ballistic missile launchers were modified and used to place many USAF and NASA projects into space. ![]() Over the years, the USAF has developed several types of launch vehicles for the ballistic missile program. ![]()
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