ULA Atlas V 551 New Horizons
Atlas V 551
Status
Success
Date
19 JAN 2006
19:00
Launch Provider
United Launch Alliance
Launch Pad
Space Launch Complex 41
Cape Canaveral SFS, FL, USA
Mission Overview
New Horizons is an interplanetary space probe that was launched as a part of NASA's New Frontiers program. Engineered by the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) and the Southwest Research Institute (SwRI), with a team led by S. Alan Stern, the spacecraft was launched in 2006 with the primary mission to perform a flyby study of the Pluto system in 2015, and a secondary mission to fly by and study one or more other Kuiper belt objects (KBOs) in the decade to follow. It is the fifth artificial object to achieve the escape velocity needed to leave the Solar System.
Rocket
Atlas V 551
Mission Type
Robotic Exploration
Orbit
Solar Escape Trajectory
Stages
2
Livestream
Not availableRocket Details
Atlas V is an expendable launch system in the Atlas rocket family. It was formerly operated by Lockheed Martin and is now operated by United Launch Alliance (ULA), a joint venture with Boeing. Each Atlas V rocket uses a Russian-built RD-180 engine burning kerosene and liquid oxygen to power its first stage and an American-built RL10 engine burning liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen to power its Centaur upper stage. The RD-180 engines are provided by RD Amross, while Aerojet Rocketdyne provides both the RL10 engines and the strap-on boosters used in some configurations. The standard payload fairing sizes are 4 or 5 meters in diameter and of various lengths. Fairings sizes as large as 7.2 m in diameter and up to 32.3 m in length have been considered. The rocket is assembled in Decatur, Alabama and Harlingen, Texas.
Height
59.7 m
Diameter
3.8 m
Launch Mass
573 T
Thrust
12,269 kN