The San Diego Missile That Helped Launch Americans Into Space

The San Diego Missile That Helped Launch Americans Into Space | San Diego Uncovered

SAN DIEGO UNCOVERED

The San Diego Missile That Helped Launch Americans Into Space

One of the strangest transformations in San Diego history began with a weapon designed for nuclear war.

It ended up carrying Americans into orbit.

The Atlas missile was developed and built by Convair in San Diego—and the technology created for the Cold War became a cornerstone of America's early space program.

Atlas Wasn't Originally a Space Rocket

Atlas began as an intercontinental ballistic missile.

Its purpose was grim: carry a nuclear warhead thousands of miles quickly enough to serve as part of America's strategic deterrent during the Cold War.

Convair had been studying long-range missile concepts since the years immediately after World War II, but the program repeatedly faced uncertainty as military priorities and technology changed.

Then the Cold War Changed the Equation

By the mid-1950s, advances in nuclear warheads made long-range ballistic missiles far more practical.

The Atlas program suddenly became urgent.

Convair's San Diego operation moved into an intense development effort, and the company formed Convair Astronautics as a division focused on the missile.

San Diego Built a Huge New Facility for Atlas

The project became so large that it needed a new home.

In 1956, Convair announced plans for a roughly $40 million, million-square-foot plant on Kearny Mesa to support Atlas production.

Thousands of engineers, technicians and other employees became connected to the program.

The aviation industry that had already transformed San Diego was evolving into aerospace.

The First Atlas Test Was Built in San Diego

The first Atlas A test missile was manufactured by Convair and transported to Cape Canaveral for launch.

On June 11, 1957, the first Atlas test vehicle lifted off.

It did not complete its intended mission.

Early Atlas development was filled with failures—an important detail sometimes lost when the program is remembered only for its later success.

The Engineers Kept Going

Six months later, on December 17, 1957, an Atlas successfully flew roughly 500 miles and reached its target area.

San Diego History Center accounts describe the Convair plant erupting in celebration after the successful test.

For a program operating under Cold War pressure, each successful launch moved Atlas closer to becoming an operational weapon.

Atlas Became America's First Operational ICBM

The Atlas ultimately became the United States Air Force's first operational intercontinental ballistic missile.

Its military career, however, would be relatively short.

Newer solid-fueled missiles such as Minuteman were easier to store, faster to launch and better suited to long-term strategic deployment.

Atlas was being overtaken as a weapon almost as soon as it became operational.

But Atlas Had Another Talent

An intercontinental missile and a space launch vehicle share the same fundamental problem:

How do you accelerate a payload to enormous speed and lift it beyond the atmosphere?

Atlas had been designed to throw a warhead across continents.

That same lifting power could send satellites—and eventually people—toward orbit.

Atlas Went to Space Before It Carried Astronauts

On December 18, 1958, an Atlas launched the SCORE communications satellite into orbit.

SCORE carried a recorded Christmas message from President Dwight D. Eisenhower that was transmitted from space.

It was an early demonstration that the missile's future might extend far beyond its original military purpose.

Then NASA Needed a Rocket Powerful Enough for Orbit

America's first crewed space program was Project Mercury.

The initial Mercury flights used Redstone rockets for short suborbital missions.

But orbit required much more energy.

NASA turned to a modified version of the Atlas D.

The Combination Was Called Mercury-Atlas

Instead of a nuclear warhead, the Atlas carried a small Mercury spacecraft.

The transformation is remarkable when viewed from today's perspective.

A rocket created as one of the Cold War's most intimidating weapons became the machine America trusted to carry an astronaut toward orbit.

February 20, 1962

At Cape Canaveral, astronaut John Glenn climbed into the Mercury spacecraft Friendship 7.

Beneath him stood an Atlas launch vehicle descended directly from the missile program developed by Convair.

The rocket ignited and lifted Glenn into space.

He completed three orbits of Earth.

John Glenn became the first American to orbit the planet.

San Diego Was Part of That Moment

The launch happened in Florida.

The astronaut was from Ohio.

The mission belonged to NASA and the entire country.

But the rocket underneath Glenn traced directly back to Convair's Atlas program in San Diego.

It's one of the city's most consequential connections to the Space Race—and one many San Diegans rarely hear about.

Atlas Launched Four Mercury Astronauts

Modified Atlas launch vehicles were used for the final four crewed Mercury missions.

Those flights carried John Glenn, Scott Carpenter, Wally Schirra and Gordon Cooper into orbit in 1962 and 1963.

The rocket initially designed to carry weapons had become America's first crewed orbital booster.

The Technology Kept Evolving

Atlas was paired with increasingly sophisticated upper stages, including Agena and Centaur.

These combinations launched satellites and scientific spacecraft and sent missions toward other parts of the solar system.

Atlas evolved from missile into a family of launch vehicles whose descendants served the American space program for decades.

The Atlas Story Also Changed San Diego

The missile program helped transform San Diego's economy from aircraft manufacturing toward aerospace, electronics and advanced engineering.

Convair Astronautics employed thousands of people and helped create a regional concentration of missile and space expertise.

But the industry could also be volatile. When missile programs shifted or contracts ended, thousands of local jobs could disappear quickly.

San Diego's Aerospace Boom Wasn't Permanent

By the early 1960s, employment tied to some Convair and Astronautics programs was already falling.

That is an important counterpoint to the heroic version of aerospace history.

Government-funded technology programs can create enormous bursts of employment and innovation—but communities can also become vulnerable when those programs change.

San Diego experienced both sides.

From Airplanes to Missiles to Space

There is a remarkable progression in San Diego's twentieth-century history.

Glenn Curtiss experimented with early naval aircraft here.

Ryan built the Spirit of St. Louis.

Consolidated and Convair built aircraft on an industrial scale.

Then Convair engineers applied aerospace expertise to Atlas.

And Atlas helped carry Americans into orbit.

A Weapon Became a Vehicle of Exploration

That may be the most fascinating part of the Atlas story.

The engineering itself was neither peaceful nor hostile.

Its purpose depended on what sat on top.

Put a nuclear warhead on Atlas and it was a strategic weapon.

Put a Mercury capsule on it and it became a vehicle for human exploration.

The same fundamental technology could threaten the world—or help humanity leave it.

The Atlas Legacy Is Preserved in San Diego

The San Diego Air & Space Museum holds an extensive Convair/General Dynamics Atlas archive containing photographs and records documenting the program.

An Atlas missile also stands at the museum's Gillespie Field annex, a physical reminder of the era when San Diego engineers were helping solve some of America's hardest aerospace problems.

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When John Glenn became the first American to orbit Earth, the world watched Cape Canaveral.

But part of the story began thousands of miles away.

In San Diego.

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Sources & Further Reading

• San Diego History Center — Timeline of San Diego History, 1930–1959
• San Diego History Center — City of the Dream, Chapter Six
• San Diego History Center — City of the Dream, Chapter Eight
• San Diego Air & Space Museum — General Dynamics Atlas Missile
• San Diego Air & Space Museum — Convair/General Dynamics Atlas Image Collection
• National Park Service — The Atlas Missile
• National Museum of the U.S. Air Force — Convair LV-3B / SM-65D Atlas