May 8th - on this day in 1962, the United States conducted the first suborbital flight test of the newly developed Centaur-A upper stage, launching on an Atlas-LV3C rocket from Launch Complex 36A at Cape Canaveral. At T 54 seconds, the liquid hydrogen tank ruptured, resulting in the loss of the launch vehicle. Centaur was redesigned extensively as a result of the mishap. Following multiple changes and upgrades over the years, Centaur stages are still in use, with the new Centaur V serving as the