By early 1958, this had been replaced by an improved model with a bell-shaped thrust chamber and 150,000 pounds of thrust. After a run of successful launches during the first half of 1959, Missile 191, the first to be launched by a Royal Air Force crew, suffered another control malfunction while being launched from VAFB. At 19:10 EST, the Thor's engine roared to life and drove the Able stage and its tiny passenger into the evening sky. Burner 2 used a Thiokol Star 37B motor (TE-M-364-2). Delta American orbital launch vehicle. After the Soviet launches of Sputnik 1–2 in late 1957, US Secretary of Defense Charles Wilson announced that both Thor and Jupiter would go into service as his final act before leaving office. All missions were launched from LC-17A at Cape Canaveral. The entire launch sequence, from starting to roll back the missile shelter through to ignition of the rocket engine and lift-off, took approximately 15 minutes. Thor 114 was destroyed by Range Safety 150 seconds into launch when the guidance system lost power and Thor 120's engine shut down slightly under two minutes after liftoff.

LC-17B consequently had to be repaired for the second time in four months. Developed in the 1950's, the PGM-17 Thor IRBM (Intermediate Range Ballistic Missile) soon became one of Americas most important space launchers. The guidance system tried to compensate, but the resulting structural loads exceeded the strength of the missile tankage. The cause of the failure was traced to a turbopump bearing coming loose and resulting in pump shutdown and instant loss of thrust. The following four months did not include any turbopump failures, but the 17 August launch of the world's first lunar probe on Thor-Able 127 ended in an explosion due to a turbopump failure.

Thor was first used as a launch vehicle during the testing program of the warhead reentry vehicle for the The Able stage from the Atlas reentry vehicle tests was upgraded to become the Able I with a third stage consisting of an unguided Altair X-248 solid-fuel rocket motor. Five successful Thor tests were conducted in June–July 1958, the last one carrying a mouse named Wickie on a biological mission; the capsule sank into the ocean and could not be recovered. The Thrust Augmented Thor (TAT) was developed to handle the growing satellites of the The Thrust-Augmented Long Tank Thor/Agena incorporated modifications allowing 49,000 lb (22,000 kg) more propellant and was capable of sending payloads ranging from 1400 to about 2800 pounds into 100-nautical-mile (190 km) polar circular orbits. Missile 101, the first flight-ready Thor, arrived at Cape Canaveral in October 1956. Delta began as Thor, a crash December 1955 program to produce an intermediate range ballistic missile using existing … The Army had suspended Jupiter launches for four months until the turbopump issues could be resolved, and as a result no more pump failures affected that program.

The Delta launch vehicle was America's longest-lived, most reliable, and lowest-cost space launch vehicle.
A month later, Atlas 6B also suffered a turbopump failure and the Air Force gave in and agreed to replace the turbopumps in all of their missiles, after which there were no more launch failures due to a turbopump problem. This was both out of fear of Soviet capabilities and also to avoid political repercussions from the workplace layoffs that would result at either Douglas or Chrysler if one of the two missiles were canceled.

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