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Walk-around of the missile's LOX duct.

Picture 2 of 6.

The LOX tank was located in the forward section of the missile, with the RP-1 tank at the aft; in a typical Atlas launch photo, the forward portion of the missile was white, covered in frost caused by the liquid oxygen's low temperature. Rather than route the LOX duct through the fuel tank (as was done, e.g., on the Saturn V S-IC [first] stage), the LOX duct was mounted externally (as was done, e.g., for the LH₂ feed lines on the Saturn V S-II [second] stage).