Thor DM-21 Ablestar

Thor family · built by United States Air Force · maiden flight 1960-04-13

Profile data last updated: 2026-08-29T15:37:07.354998+00:00 | 7531-10-18

The Thor-Ablestar, or Thor Able-Star, also known as Thor-Epsilon was an early American expendable launch system consisting of a PGM-17 Thor missile, with an Ablestar upper stage. It was a member of the Thor family of rockets, and was derived from the Thor-Able.

Specifications

29.0 mLength

1.44 mDiameter

51 tLaunch mass

2Stages

760 kNLiftoff thrust

Payload Capacity

150 kgTo LEO

Lifetime Launch Record

As reported by Launch Library 2 across this rocket's entire history, not just the launches tracked on this site.

19Total launches

13Successful

6Failed

0Upcoming

Launches Tracked on This Site

19In our archive

68.4%Success rate

Apr 13, 1960 12:02 UTCEarliest tracked

Aug 13, 1965 22:11 UTCMost recent

Mission	Date	Status
Thor DM-21 Ablestar \| Transit-O 5	Aug 13, 1965 22:11 UTC	Success
Thor DM-21 Ablestar \| Transit-O 4	Jun 24, 1965 22:35 UTC	Success
Thor DM-21 Ablestar \| Transit-O 3	Mar 11, 1965 13:39 UTC	Success
Thor DM-21 Ablestar \| Transit-O 2 & 5E-5	Dec 13, 1964 00:08 UTC	Success
Thor DM-21 Ablestar \| Transit-O 1	Oct 06, 1964 17:04 UTC	Success
Thor DM-21 Ablestar \| Transit-5BN 3	Apr 21, 1964 18:50 UTC	Failure
Thor DM-21 Ablestar \| Transit-5BN 2	Dec 05, 1963 21:51 UTC	Success
Thor DM-21 Ablestar \| Transit 5BN-1	Sep 28, 1963 20:22 UTC	Success
Thor DM-21 Ablestar \| ANNA 1B	Oct 31, 1962 08:08 UTC	Success
Thor DM-21 Ablestar \| ANNA 1A	May 10, 1962 12:06 UTC	Failure
Thor DM-21 Ablestar \| 5 Payloads Rideshare	Jan 24, 1962 09:30 UTC	Failure
Thor DM-21 Ablestar \| Transit 4B & TRAAC	Nov 15, 1961 22:26 UTC	Success
Thor DM-21 Ablestar \| Transit 4A & Injun-1 & Solrad 3	Jun 29, 1961 04:23 UTC	Success
Thor DM-21 Ablestar \| Transit 3B & LOFTI-1	Feb 22, 1961 03:45 UTC	Partial Failure
Thor DM-21 Ablestar \| Transit 3A	Nov 30, 1960 19:50 UTC	Failure

Wikipedia