Editing Atlas-Centaur (section)

==== Investigation ====
A Congressional investigation in June 1962 called the overall management of the Centaur program "weak", and [[Wernher von Braun]] recommended that it be cancelled in favor of a [[Saturn I]] with an [[RM-81 Agena|Agena upper stage]] for planetary missions. 

In addition, the production Centaur stage had less lift capacity than originally planned, leading to [[DARPA|ARPA]] cancelling Project ADVENT. NASA transferred Centaur development from MSFC to the [[Glenn Research Center|Lewis Research Center]] in [[Ohio]] where a team headed by [[Abe Silverstein]] worked to correct the insulation panel problems and various other design flaws.<ref name=":0">{{cite web |url=http://www.spacelaunchreport.com/aclv3cb.html|title=Atlas Centaur LV-3C Development|last=Kyle|first=Ed|date=May 28, 2005|website=spacelaunchreport.com|publisher=Space Launch Report|access-date=April 15, 2016 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100821064737/http://www.spacelaunchreport.com/aclv3cb.html | archive-date= August 21, 2010 |url-status = usurped}}</ref>

In November 1962, [[John F. Kennedy|President Kennedy]] suggested cancelling Centaur entirely, but was talked out of it on the grounds that the experience gained with liquid hydrogen rocket engines was vital to the success of the [[Apollo program]]. In addition, von Braun now proposed the Saturn-Agena be ruled out for cost reasons – Saturn was too expensive to justify as a launch vehicle for small uncrewed probes, and Agena was causing concerns to both the Air Force and NASA about its reliability.{{citation_needed|date=July 2019}}

Eight Atlas-Centaur test missions were scheduled to be completed by the end of 1964, followed by the first [[Surveyor program]] launch. Centaur was upgraded to a high priority project because of this direct relation to Apollo.<ref>{{cite web|title=An Historical Meeting on Spaceflight: Background and Analysis|url=https://history.nasa.gov/JFK-Webbconv/pages/backgnd.html
|quote=Although Centaur was intended to launch robotic probes to the Moon and outer planets, Webb argued that NASA would also gain vital experience with liquid hydrogen by building Centaur and would be able to apply this experience toward Apollo.
|publisher=NASA|access-date=February 25, 2023}}</ref>

Meanwhile, the [[Department of Defence|Department of Defense]] (DoD) had settled on the [[Titan (rocket family)|Titan]] family for its heavy-lift launching needs and so the Atlas-Centaur would remain a civilian launch vehicle used by NASA to fly scientific and commercial payloads. A conflict between the Air Force, who had primary oversight of the Atlas, and NASA also existed as the Centaur stage required various modifications to the basic Atlas. By 1962, the Air Force had considered the Atlas fully developed and operational and was against any further significant changes to it which might potentially jeopardize the ICBM program. The dispute was ultimately resolved by NASA agreeing to purchase standard [[Atlas D]] vehicles which could be custom-modified for Centaur launches. However, when the Atlas ICBM program ended in 1965, Convair replaced all of the earlier variants with a standardized booster for all space launches.{{citation_needed|date=July 2019}}