Athena RTV

The Athena RTV was a research missile, developed by Atlantic Research Co., designed to simulate the re-entry conditions of intercontinental ballistic missiles.

[2] The missile, spin-stabilized, consisted of four stages: the first two lifting the payload to about 200 km, and the third and fourth stages accelerating it to a peak velocity of 6700 m/s on the downward trajectory.

The US Army managed the test range, while the USAF Space and Missile Systems Organization oversaw the program.

Later, the larger Athena-H variant was developed for continued re-entry testing.

[5][6] Athena-H was launched 18 times between 1971 and 1974 from Green River and Wake Island.