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View From the Radar Installation

A "three-launcher" type Atlas D missile base from the 565th SMS at F.E. Warren AFB just outside of Cheyenne, WY. The original Atlas missile was designed in the...
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A "three-launcher" type Atlas D missile base from the 565th SMS at F.E. Warren AFB just outside of Cheyenne, WY. The original Atlas missile was designed in the late 1950s and produced by the Convair Division of General Dynamics,[2] to be used as an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). It was a liquid-fuel rocket burning liquid oxygen and RP-1 in three engines configured in an unusual "stage-and-a-half" or "Parallel Staging" design: its two outboard booster engines were jettisoned during ascent, while its center sustainer engine, fuel tanks and other structural elements were retained into orbit.

The missiles saw only brief ICBM service, and the last squadron was taken off operational alert in 1965. From 1962 to 1963, Atlas boosters launched the first four American astronauts to orbit the Earth. Various Atlas II models were launched 63 times between 1991 and 2004. There were only six launches of the Atlas III, all between 2000 and 2005. The Atlas V is still in service, with launches planned until 2020.

There were three different styles of operational Atlas missile complexes built. They were designated as type D, E and F. There were 8 Atlas D, 27 Atlas E and 72 Atlas F operational missile complexes built. They were controlled by 10 different Air Force bases located throughout the United States. Each Air Force base was assigned a Strategic Missile Squadron which supported the missile complexes that had been constructed near that particular base. F.E Warren AFB was unique in that it had two Atlas D squadrons and one Atlas E squadron assigned. Most of the bases involved were located in the central states, however, some sites were constructed in New York and Washington State.
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