The Athena H was used for the same purpose as the original Athena, but was of
completely different configuration. It used a much larger and more powerful
first stage with four strap-on boosters, but had only three main stages.
The Air Force launched 18 Athena Hs between April 1971 and June 1974.
(US Air Force Photo courtesy of Andrey Lysenko)
Dimensions
Length: 60 feet (18 m)
Diameter: 40 inches (1.02 m)
Weight: 30,000 pounds (13600 kg)
Propellant: Solid
Booster: 4x Thiokol XM19 Recruit; 156 kN (35000 lb) each for 1.5 s
1st stage: Thiokol Castor 4; 428 kN (96000 lb) for 54 s
2nd stage: ABL/Hercules X-259 Antares 2; 93 kN (21000 lb) for 6 s
3rd stage: Aerojet Alcor IA; 49 kN (11000 lb) for 23 s
Altitude: 125 miles (>200 km)
First Firing: April 1971