GAMBIT 20

[WallE]

Was this a Range Safety destruct or not? Apparently the Atlas programmer accidentally issued simultaneous BECO/SECO commands and it necessitated several design modifications to prevent a recurrence. It was listed as an RSO destruct for years and there is a contemporary newspaper report where an Air Force spokesman states that the vehicle was intentionally destroyed after wandering off course, however the Perry history of GAMBIT merely states that it "followed a ballistic arc to impact 680 miles downrange in the Pacific Ocean" and GD/A docs do not seem to indicate that any destruct action was taken.

This flight has always kind of puzzled me.