SM-65A Atlas

The Convair SM-65A Atlas, or Atlas A, was the first full-scale prototype of the Atlas missile, which first flew on 11 June 1957. Unlike later versions of the Atlas missile, the Atlas A did not feature the stage and a half design. Instead, the booster engines were fixed in place, and the sustainer engine was omitted. The propulsion system used on the initial Atlas As was an early version of the Rocketdyne MA-1 engines with conical thrust chambers that produced a mere 135,000 pounds of thrust, compared with the 360,000 pounds of the fully operational Atlas D. Several pieces of hardware found on the operational Atlas were either missing on the A-series or only partially implemented. Powered flight on the A-series would last about two minutes and compared to later Atlases, long pad hold-down times, with up to 11 seconds between engine start and launcher release.

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Atlas A; X-11
SM-65 Atlas, Convair, United States, 

Atlas, M-65, SM-65 Atlas, SM-65C Atlas, 

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Location: KML, Cluster Map, Maps,

Frameless

Convair XSM-65A launch

Atlas Missile launch- Cape Canaveral, Florida (8594154699)

A Mark 49 thermonuclear warhead

A cross-section diagram showing a W-49 nuclear warhead inside of its re-entry vehicle. The warhead and firing set are shown in red; the fuzing system is shown in green.

Ajman 1NP

Type	Subtype	Date	Description	Notes	Source
commons	image		Convair XSM-65A launch		Commons
commons	image		Atlas Missile launch- Cape Canaveral, Florida (8594154699)		Commons
commons	image		A Mark 49 thermonuclear warhead		Commons
commons	image		A cross-section diagram showing a W-49 nuclear warhead inside of its re-entry vehicle. The warhead and firing set are shown in red; the fuzing system is shown in green.		Commons
commons	image		Ajman 1NP		Commons