Thor-Agena was a series of orbital

launch vehicle A launch vehicle is typically a rocket-powered vehicle designed to carry a payload (a crewed spacecraft or satellites) from Earth's surface or lower atmosphere to outer space. The most common form is the ballistic missile-shaped multistage ...

s. The launch vehicles used the

Douglas Douglas may refer to: People * Douglas (given name) * Douglas (surname) Animals * Douglas (parrot), macaw that starred as the parrot ''Rosalinda'' in Pippi Longstocking * Douglas the camel, a camel in the Confederate Army in the American Civil ...

-built

Thor Thor (from ) is a prominent list of thunder gods, god in Germanic paganism. In Norse mythology, he is a hammer-wielding æsir, god associated with lightning, thunder, storms, sacred trees and groves in Germanic paganism and mythology, sacred g ...

first

stage Stage, stages, or staging may refer to: Arts and media Acting * Stage (theatre), a space for the performance of theatrical productions * Theatre, a branch of the performing arts, often referred to as "the stage" * ''The Stage'', a weekly Brit ...

and the Lockheed-built Agena second stages. They are thus cousins of the more-famous Thor-Deltas, which founded the

Delta Delta commonly refers to: * Delta (letter) (Δ or δ), the fourth letter of the Greek alphabet * D (NATO phonetic alphabet: "Delta"), the fourth letter in the Latin alphabet * River delta, at a river mouth * Delta Air Lines, a major US carrier ...

rocket family. The first attempted launch of a Thor-Agena was in January 1959. The first successful launch was on 28 February 1959, launching ''

Discoverer 1 Discoverer 1 was the first of a series of satellites which were part of the Corona (satellite), CORONA reconnaissance satellite program. It was launched on a Thor-Agena, Thor-Agena A rocket on 28 February 1959 at 21:49:16 GMT from Vandenberg Ai ...

''. It was the first two-stage launch vehicle to place a satellite into orbit.

Missions

Among other uses, the clandestine

CORONA Corona (from the Latin for 'crown') most commonly refers to: * Stellar corona, the outer atmosphere of the Sun or another star * Corona (beer), a Mexican beer * Corona, informal term for the coronavirus or disease responsible for the COVID-19 ...

program used Thor-Agena from June 1959 until January 1968 to launch

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

military

reconnaissance satellite A reconnaissance satellite or intelligence satellite (commonly, although unofficially, referred to as a spy satellite) is an Earth observation satellite or communications satellite deployed for military or intelligence applications. The ...

s operated by the

Central Intelligence Agency The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA; ) is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States tasked with advancing national security through collecting and analyzing intelligence from around the world and ...

(CIA). During this program, Thor-Agena

s were used in 145 launch attempts, now known to have been part of satellite surveillance programs. Also, ''

Alouette 1 ''Alouette 1'' is a deactivated Canadian satellite that studied the ionosphere. Launched in 1962, it was Canada's first satellite, and the first satellite constructed by a country other than the Soviet Union or the United States. Canada was ...

,''

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

's first satellite, was launched on a Thor-Agena B.

Versions

Thor-Agena A

* Thor-Agena A (Thor-DM18 Agena-A) was used for 16 launches between 21 January 1959 and 13 September 1960 * The

Discoverer 14 Discoverer 14, also known as Corona 9009, was a spy satellite used in the Corona program managed by Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) of the Department of Defense and the United States Air Force. On 19 August 1960, usable photographic fil ...

satellite used in the CORONA spy satellite program was launched by a Thor-Agena A. On 19 August 1960, usable photographic film from the satellite was recovered by a

Fairchild C-119 Flying Boxcar The Fairchild C-119 Flying Boxcar (Navy and Marine Corps designation R4Q) is an American military transport aircraft developed from the World War II-era Fairchild C-82 Packet, designed to carry cargo, personnel, Litter (rescue basket), litte ...

recovery aircraft. This was the first successful recovery of film from an orbiting satellite and the first mid-air recovery of an object returning from

Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to Planetary habitability, harbor life. This is enabled by Earth being an ocean world, the only one in the Solar System sustaining liquid surface water. Almost all ...

orbit.

Thor-Agena B

* Thor-Agena B (Thor-DM21 Agena-B or Thor-SLV2 Agena-B) was used for 44 launches between 26 October 1960 and 15 May 1966 * Includes a variant with Solid Rocket Boosters (TAT Agena-B or Thor-SLV2A Agena-B) * First successful launch: 12 November 1960 with ''

Discoverer 17 Discoverer 17, also known as Corona 9012, was an American optical reconnaissance satellite launched on 12 November 1960 at 20:38:00 GMT. It was the second of ten Corona KH-2 satellites, based on the Agena-B. Background Discoverer 17 was the se ...

'' * Last launch: 15 May 1966 with ''

Nimbus 2 Nimbus 2 (also called Nimbus-C) was a meteorological satellite. It was the second in a series of the Nimbus program. Launch Nimbus 2 was launched on May 15, 1966, by a Thor-Agena rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, United State ...

Thor-Agena D

* Thor-Agena D (Thor-DM21 Agena-D or Thor-SLV2 Agena-D) was used for 83 launches between 28 June 1962 and 17 January 1968 * Includes a variant with Solid Rocket Boosters (TAT Agena-D or Thor-SLV2A Agena-D) * First launch: 28 June 1962 with '' KH-4 19'' * Last launch: 17 January 1968 with ''Multigroup 3 and Setter 1B-2''

1963 Mystery Cloud

On 28 February 1963, the maiden flight of Thrust-Augmented Thor Agena (TAT Agena-D) launch vehicle carrying a spy satellite into orbit was launched from

Vandenberg Air Force Base Vandenberg may refer to: * Vandenberg (surname), including a list of people with the name * USNS ''General Hoyt S. Vandenberg'' (T-AGM-10), transport ship in the United States Navy, sank as an artificial reef in Key West, Florida * Vandenberg S ...

. The launch vehicle went off course and mission control detonated the launch vehicle at an altitude of before it could reach orbit. The launch vehicle detonation produced a large circular cloud that appeared over the southwestern United States. Due to its mysterious nature, appearing at a very high altitude and being visible for hundreds of miles, the cloud attracted widespread attention and was published by the news media. The cloud was featured on the cover of ''Science Magazine'' in April 1963, ''Weatherwise'' Magazine in May 1963, and had a full page image published in the May issue of ''

Life Magazine ''Life'' (stylized as ''LIFE'') is an American magazine launched in 1883 as a weekly publication. In 1972, it transitioned to publishing "special" issues before running as a monthly from 1978 to 2000. Since then, ''Life'' has irregularly publi ...

''. Prof. James MacDonald at the

University of Arizona The University of Arizona (Arizona, U of A, UArizona, or UA) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Tucson, Arizona, United States. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, it ...

Institute for Atmospheric Physics investigated the phenomena and linked it to the Thor launch vehicle launch after contacting military personnel at Vandenberg Air Force Base. When the launch records were later declassified, the United States Air Force released a memo explaining that the cloud was the result of a military operation.

Version table

The following table lists the different Thor-Agena versions, designations and configurations:

References

{{Thor and Delta rockets 1959 in spaceflight 1962 in spaceflight 1963 in spaceflight Thor (rocket family) Military space program of the United States