SM-65E Atlas
The SM-65E Atlas, or Atlas-E, was an operational variant of the Atlas missile. It first flew on 11 October 1960, and was deployed as an operational ICBM from September 1961 until April 1966. Following retirement as an ICBM, the Atlas-E, along with the Atlas-F, was refurbished for orbital launches as the Atlas E/F. The last Atlas E/F launch was conducted on 24 March 1995, using a rocket which had originally been built as an Atlas E.

As fully operational ICBMs, the Atlas E and F, which differed only in guidance systems, had upgraded engines and inertial control instead of the Atlas D's radio ground guidance. The ignition system was also different from the one used on the D-series, which used a "wet" start, meaning that the propellants were injected into the combustion chamber prior to ignition, and a hypergolic igniter on the fully developed version. The Atlas E/F for comparison used pyrotechnic cartridges and a dry start (ignition coming before propellant injection) for an extremely rapid ignition that required no hold-down time on the pad to prevent combustion instability. The booster engines had separate gas generators unlike the Atlas D which had one gas generator for both engines. The launcher system used for the E and F series was also different than the D series, eliminating the hold-down arms in favor of a mechanism that would immediately release the missile as thrust built up.

Atlas-E launches were conducted from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, at Launch Complexes 11 and 13, and Vandenberg Air Force Base at OSTF-1, LC-576 and SLC-3.
Q7578232
Atlas
MISC
Q177471
ICBM
Concept
Q7391030
Atlas-F
MISC
Q4130
orbit
Concept
Q12403688
Atlas E/F
MISC
Q334465
Cape Canaveral Air Force Station
LOC
Q918344
11
LOC
Q926485
13
LOC
Q461492
Vandenberg Air Force Base
LOC
Q1729736
OSTF-1
LOC
Q175127
LC-576
LOC
Q2510103
SLC-3
LOC
Q7391028
SM-65E Atlas
MISC
1960-10-11T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
11 October 1960
DATE
1961-09-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
September 1961
DATE
1966-04-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
April 1966
DATE
1995-03-24T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
24 March 1995
DATE
-65^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#decimal
-65
NUMBER
+11^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#decimal
11
NUMBER
+13^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#decimal
13
NUMBER
-1^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#decimal
-1
NUMBER
-576^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#decimal
-576
NUMBER
-3^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#decimal
-3
NUMBER
subclass of
instance of
first flight
part of
part of