| This rocket was destined to be a museum piece. During it's lifetime it was canceled, restarted and eventually canceled. Unfortunately, it never launched anything. It is based on the successful upper stage used on Atlas rockets still in use today. The Centaur G was to ride in the Space Shuttle to launch spacecraft to Jupiter. Galileo and Ulysses were to be launched in May of 1986. After Challenger exploded earlier that year, it was decided that carrying liquid hydrogen fuel in the payload bay was too dangerous and the program was canceled permanently. Development of hardware and facilites cost over $700 million. |
