Portal:Spaceflight/Selected article/Week 18 2009

Athena was a Lockheed Martin expendable launch system which underwent several name changes in its lifetime. Development began at the Lockheed Corporation in 1993, where the design was known as the Lockheed Launch Vehicle. The name was changed to the Lockheed Martin Launch Vehicle when Lockheed merged with Martin Marietta. Late in the program's life the name was finally changed to Athena, and all of the launches after the demonstration flight in August 1995 were conducted using that name. (more...)