Atlas: The Ultimate Weapon by Those Who Built It (Apogee Books Space Series)

The insider's story of the Atlas rocket, America's first intercontinental ballistic missile, is offered in this careful history of the rocket in its roles as both a civilian and a military vehicle. Written by the manager of program control for the Atlas project, this tell-all includes intimate details of the rocket, including its origins as the MX-774 prototype missile, the difficult development and deployment of its nuclear payload, the activation and deactivation of the Atlas rocket as part of the Strategic Air Command squadrons, and a host of previously unpublished pictures. The missile's development as a civilian rocket is also documented, including details on its role in the Project Mercury manned spaceflights and its use today as the high-performance Centaur and Agena rocket stages used for satellite and space probe launches. Appendixes of the Atlas flight history, a detailed key of program events and milestones, and biographies of prominent Atlas managers are also included.