SM-65A Atlas ICBM in 1958 Naturally, the Atlas V that’s flying today looks nothing like the squat stainless steel rocket that carried John Glenn to orbit in 1962. Aerospace technology has ...

The Atlas missile was the U.S. Air Force’s first operational Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) and developed versions A through F. The listing only states that the facility is an Atlas E ...

This threat perception eventually led to the U.S. developing ICBMs at an accelerated pace, starting with the development of the Atlas ICBM beginning in 1951. Three years later, the U.S. Air Force ...

Because Atlas got a later start than its Russian opposite number, its single-stage design is more modern, more foolproof than the ponderous three-stage Russian ICBM. The Air Force hopes Atlas will ...