atlascentaur

This is the Centaur stage that was designed for use with the space shuttle. It was scheduled to launch the Galileo probe to Jupiter. In fact, in the upper left quadrant, the sign behind the viewing stand has a picture of Jupiter and Saturn. There were many risks involving having a liquid fueled rocket in the shuttle's cargo bay: in the case of an abort, the explosive liquid fuel of the Centaur would have to be jettisoned. Moreover, the increasing weight of the shuttle and the Centaur stage meant that the shuttle main engines would have to operate at 109% for part of the ascent phase. The increase in risk was significant, but engineers and astronauts had signed off on it. However, following the space shuttle Challenger explosion on January 28, 1986, the program was cancelled.

Here's a short video about choosing the boosters for the Galileo mission. It includes some musings on Congress' role in the process: vimeo.com/87712113

Last of the Surveyor lunar landing spacecraft is boosted aloft by Atlas-Centaur 15 on the morning of January 7, 1968. The mission was a success.

Atlas-Centaur 15 1st stage: Atlas SLV-3 2nd stage: Centaur Launched 07 Jan 1968 from ETR 36A Payload: Suveyor 7

Here's a link to a flight report for Atlas-Centaur 15: ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19700011207...

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