LR-105 (Atlas Sustainer) Engine (East Campus)

The museum displays a fairly complete LR-105 (Atlas sustainer) engine. The photos here are from when it was displayed in the East Campus; it has since been relocated to the Main Campus building.

The Atlas employed a "stage and a half" concept, with two outer booster engines and the central sustainer igniting at lift-off. A bit over two minutes later, the booster engines shut down and were jettisoned along with the missile boattail, leaving the central sustainer engine to propel the missile to its final velocity. (At the time, it was difficult enough to reliably ignite a stationary rocket engine on the ground, much less air-start an engine at velocity.)

Stafford Air & Space has a somewhat stripped down LR-105.

Also see my LR-105 cut-away page.