Athena 1 rocket launching from Kodiak Island in Alaska (Sept. 30, 2001)

The Athena rocket has undergone several name changes in its lifetime. Initially developed as the Lockheed Launch Vehicle (LLV) at its inception at Lockheed, the name was changed to the Lockheed Martin Launch Vehicle when its developing company merged with Martin Marietta. Late in the program's life the name was finally changed to the current name of Athena. The Lockheed SR-71, remarkably advanced for its time and unsurpassed in many areas of performance The Lockheed U-2 first flew in 1955 providing much needed intelligence on Soviet bloc countries Lockheed Corporation was an aerospace company founded in 1912 which merged with Martin Marietta in 1995 to form...

The Athena first stage is a Castor-120.

Launches

Athena II with Lunar Prospector

• DLV - The Demonstration Launch Vehicle (DLV) was launched in August 1995.
• Lewis - An Athena I launched the NASA Lewis satellite on Aug. 22, 1997.
• Lunar Prospector - An Athena II launched NASA's Lunar Prospector on Jan. 6, 1998.
• ROCSAT-1 - An Athena I launched ROCSAT-1 for the Republic of China (Taiwan) on Jan. 26, 1999.
• IKONOS - An Athena II launched IKONOS, a commercial earth observation satellite, on Sept. 24, 1999.
• Kodiak Star - An Athena launched Kodiak Star for NASA and the Space Test Program on Sept. 30, 2001.

NASAs Lunar Prospector The Lunar Prospector mission was the third selected by NASA for full development and construction as part of the Discovery Program. ... Motto: Three Principles of the People (三民主義 San-min Chu-i) Anthem: National Anthem of the Republic of China Capital Taipei (de facto)  Nanjing (de jure)1  Largest city Taipei Official languages Mandarin (GuóyÇ”) Government Semi-presidential system  -  President Chen Shui-bian  -  Vice President Annette Lu  -  Premier Su Tseng-chang... IKONOS is a commercial earth observation satellite that collects high-resolution imagery at 1- and 4-meter resolution. ... Earth observation satellites are satellites specifically designed to observe Earth from orbit, similar to reconnaissance satellites but intended for non-military uses such as environmental monitoring, meteorology, map making etc. ... The United States Department of Defense (DOD) Space Test Program (STP) is conducted by the United States Air Force Space Development and Test Wing at Kirtland Air Force Base. ...

External links

• Lockheed Martin official page
• Encyclopedia Astronautica

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Athena (rocket)