During the first quarter of 1960, there were three Thor launchings from the cape which were said to be testing animproved engine. Each flew what was called at the time an experimental low-drag fairing covering the Mk 2re-entry vehicle. These looked very much like a Jupiter re-entry vehicle. Can anyone enlighten me on this?
I think that the Agena B could restart only once or twice. When they developed the Agena D it had a multi-start capability.
As I understand things, the Thor-Delta used an improved first-second stage separation system that was tested on the last two Thor-Able launchings. The Thor-Ablestar launch failure of April 1964 has always seemed to be something of a mystery as to what exactly went wrong. I have always thought that the Thor-Agena -D launch of the Star-rad payload of October 1962 must have looked like the 1962 Ferret vehicles, with just a simple nose cone atop the Agena. Any comments?