1958-11-28 USA Atlas ICBM Flight

The first successful flight of a highly instrumented Atlas missile to full range on 28 November 1958.

Atlas is a family of US missiles and space launch vehicles that originated with the SM-65 Atlas. The Atlas intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) program was initiated in the late 1950s under the Convair Division of General Dynamics. Atlas became operational in October 1959, but was soon made obsolete as an ICBM by new development, and was retired from this role by 1965.

Atlas required long preparation times which made it unsuitable for a quick launch ICBM. However, this was not a requirement for planned space launches, and so Atlas-derived launch vehicles served a long history as space launchers. Even before its ICBM use ended in 1965, Atlas had placed four Project Mercury astronauts in orbit and was becoming the foundation for a family of successful space launch vehicles, most notably Atlas Agena and Atlas Centaur.

(Reference from Atlas (rocket family))