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Rocket file · LV-186

Thor DM-21 Agena-B

United States Air Force · Thor · RETIRED

Thor DM-21 Agena-B is an expendable launch vehicle built by United States Air Force. It first flew on 26 October 1960. It has flown 40 times with 32 successes, a success rate of 80.0%. It has nothing on the Launch Library 2 schedule right now.

Specification

Vehicle spec sheet

ON FILE
HeightNOT ON FILE
DiameterNOT ON FILE
Payload to LEONOT ON FILE
Payload to GTONOT ON FILE
Maiden flight26 October 1960
ReusableNo, expendable
Launch costNOT ON FILE
StatusRETIRED

As listed by Launch Library 2. The cost is Launch Library’s figure, not a quoted price. Figures for rockets outside the sixty most-flown were last read on 2026-11-05.

Flight record

Reliability

ON RECORD
Total flights40
Successful32
Failed8
Success rate80.0%
Landing attempts0
Landing successN/A
Scheduled0

About Thor DM-21 Agena-B

Thor-Agena was a series of orbital launch vehicles.

Upcoming flights

Manifest

EMPTY

Thor DM-21 Agena-B is retired, and no flight is filed.

All upcoming launches

Thor DM-21 Agena-B in the archive

From NASA's public image library and Wikimedia Commons. Each photo shows the credit its licence asks for and links back to where it came from.

Thor Agena B with Discoverer 37 on launch pad (Jan. 13 1962)
Thor Agena B with Discoverer 37 on launch pad (Jan. 13 1962)Wikimedia Commons ↗
Thor-Agena (TAT) configuration used for the KH-5 Argon reconnaissance satellite
Thor-Agena (TAT) configuration used for the KH-5 Argon reconnaissance satelliteNational Reconnaissance Office · public domainWikimedia Commons ↗

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Common questions

How many times has Thor DM-21 Agena-B flown?
40 times, with 32 successes and 8 failures.
What is Thor DM-21 Agena-B's success rate?
80.0%. That's 32 successful flights out of 40 attempts.
How much can Thor DM-21 Agena-B lift to orbit?
Launch Library 2 doesn't list a payload figure for Thor DM-21 Agena-B.
Is Thor DM-21 Agena-B reusable?
No. Launch Library 2 lists Thor DM-21 Agena-B as expendable, so no stage is recovered to fly again.