Editing Atlas-Centaur (section)

=== Program ===
Originally under [[DARPA|ARPA]] supervision, Centaur was transferred to [[NASA]] in July 1959, eleven months after the program's inception. The Air Force retained overall supervision in part because they intended to use Centaur to launch a network of military communications satellites known as ADVENT. A constellation of ten satellites would provide round-the-clock instant communications for the three main branches of the US military. The first three would be launched on an Atlas-Agena, then the remainder on Centaur. ADVENT never got off the drawing board, but Centaur quickly found a use for several NASA planetary probe projects, namely [[Mariner program|Mariner]] and [[Surveyor program|Surveyor]].

An initial lack of funds caused the project to take far longer than intended. Under original timetables, Centaur was to make its first flight in January 1961.