Surveyor-SD 1

Launch Failure

Liftoff Time (GMT)

13:25:00

Tuesday March 2, 1965

Watch Replay

Official Livestream

Mission Details

Launch Notes

Booster fuel prevalves accidentally closed at T+2 seconds, causing loss of booster engine thrust. Vehicle fell back onto the pad and exploded.

Surveyor-SD 1

Wiki

This mission was designed to rehearse a complete Atlas Centaur 5 upper-stage burn in support of NASA's Surveyor lunar lander program. During an actual mission, the Centaur would boost its payload on a direct ascent trajectory to the Moon. On this test flight, NASA planned to deliver the payload, a non-functioning model known as SD-1, into an orbit of about 104 x 575,800 miles (167 x 926,625 kilometers) that simulated a lunar transfer trajectory. Less than 2 seconds after liftoff at 13:25 UT on March 2, 1965, a faulty valve that incorrectly closed caused both Atlas main engines to shut down. As a result, the booster fell back onto the pad and exploded.

Highly Elliptical Orbit

1 Payload

951 kilograms

Rocket

Retired
Atlas-LV3C Centaur-C

Active 1964 to 1965


Stages

2

Launch Site

SLC-36A

Cape Canaveral SFS, Florida, USA

Fastest Turnaround

46 days 2 hours

Stats

Atlas-Centaur


5th

Mission

1st

Mission of 1965

1965


18th

Orbital launch attempt