ATLAS-SCORE FACT SHEET

By Cliff Lethbridge

Atlas-Score On Launch Pad, Photo Courtesy NASA

Classification: Space Launch Vehicle

Length: 85 feet

Diameter: 10 feet

Date of First Cape Canaveral Launch: December 18, 1958

Date of Final Cape Canaveral Launch: December 18, 1958

Number of Cape Canaveral Launches: 1

Atlas-Score was an Atlas B test missile with a nose cone modified to carry the Score active communications experiment into low-Earth orbit. An Atlas-Score successfully carried the 8,750-pound Score payload, nicknamed “Chatterbox”, into orbit on December 18, 1958. With the exception of the jettisoned booster engines, the entire Atlas missile body accompanied the payload into orbit. Since the payload never separated, in effect the Atlas-Score itself became a satellite. The Score payload included an audio tape machine which broadcast President Eisenhower’s pre-recorded 58-word Christmas message to the world.