After a string of successes, Mariner 1 was lost on 22 July when the Atlas flew off course and at T + 293 seconds was destroyed by the range safety officer. With Ranger 3 was able to restart to leave parking orbit, but a guidance fault made the probe miss the Moon by some by 37,000 kilometres. After SAMOS 4 was lost on 22 November, SAMOS 5 was successfully placed into orbit on 22 December but failed to return its film capsule. MIDAS 4 was successfully dispatched on 21 October, but on 18 November Ranger 2 was stranded in parking orbit when an inoperative roll gyroscope prevented the Agena restarting. The next launch on 9 September with SAMOS 3 was a total loss when the vehicle exploded on the pad. On 23 August 1961, on the second mission, the Agena attained low 'parking orbit' and then failed to restart to make the burn that was to insert the Ranger 1 spacecraft into a highly elliptical orbit. The Atlas-Agena-B had the MA-3 power plant.15 Of 28 launches between 12 July 1961 and 21 March 1965, eight suffered problems. On 11 October the Agena with the first of the Satellite and Missile Observation System (SAMOS) satellites failed, but the second was launched on 31 January 1961. On the first launch, on 26 February 1960, the Agena with the first satellite for the Missile Defense Alarm System (MIDAS) failed to separate from its booster, but the second was inserted into orbit on 24 May. The Atlas-Agena-A employed the MA-2 power plant.14 Two of four launches failed. As the Agena was stretched to carry more propellant, and its engine was made both more powerful and capable of being restarted in space, it became available in A, B and D models (the planned C model was cancelled). The decommissioned Atlas-D missiles were fitted with Agena upper stages for use as space launchers.
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