The Athena I, known as the Lockheed Launch Vehicle (LLV) at the time of its first flight and Lockheed Martin Launch Vehicle (LMLV) at the time of its second flight,
was an American small
expendable launch system
An expendable launch system (or expendable launch vehicle/ELV) is a launch vehicle that can be launched only once, after which its components are either destroyed during reentry or discarded in space. ELVs typically consist of several rocket s ...
which was used for four launches between 1995 and 2001. It is a member of the
Athena
Athena or Athene, often given the epithet Pallas, is an ancient Greek goddess associated with wisdom, warfare, and handicraft who was later syncretized with the Roman goddess Minerva. Athena was regarded as the patron and protectress of ...
family of rockets, along with the larger
Athena II
The Athena II is an American small expendable launch system which was used for three launches between 1998 and 1999, and which was scheduled to return to service in 2012 but has not been flown again . It is a member of the Athena family of rocket ...
.
The Athena I is a three-stage rocket, consisting of solid first and second stages, and a
monopropellant
Monopropellants are propellants consisting of chemicals that release energy through exothermic chemical decomposition. The molecular bond energy of the monopropellant is released usually through use of a catalyst. This can be contrasted with bipro ...
liquid-fuelled third stage. The first stage is a
Castor 120
The Castor family of solid-fuel rocket stages and boosters built by Thiokol (now Northrop Grumman) and used on a variety of launch vehicles. They were initially developed as the second-stage motor of the Scout rocket. The design was based on the ...
, which is also used on some versions of the
Taurus
Taurus is Latin for 'bull' and may refer to:
* Taurus (astrology), the astrological sign
* Taurus (constellation), one of the constellations of the zodiac
* Taurus (mythology), one of two Greek mythological characters named Taurus
* '' Bos taur ...
rocket. An
Orbus 21D
Orbus may refer to:
* ''Orbus'' (novel), 2009, by Neal Asher
*Orbus, a French radio network
*Orbus-21S, the Intelsat 603 satellite's 1990/1992 upper-stage rockets