The ship was briefly activated, operated by various companies under agreements and bareboat charters, placed in reserve fleets at Mobile, Alabama and in the Hudson River.

[1] Twin Falls Victory, then in the James River reserve fleet, was permanently transferred from the MC to the United States Air Force on 24 March 1960.

The ship eventually was delivered to the Atlantic Missile Range and operated by merchant marine crewmen and contractor technical staff.

Pan American World Airways and its subcontractor RCA MTP operated the radar, telemetry, navigation and weather instrumentation aboard the ship.

On 15 May 1963, she was positioned approximately 350 miles (560 km) ESE of Savannah, Georgia (near 31°03′N 75°00′W / 31.050°N 75.000°W / 31.050; -75.000) as part of Project Mercury, to track Gordon Cooper's extended MA-9 mission.

After a short stop at Ascension Island the Twin Falls sailed to Cape Town, South Africa, en route to the Indian Ocean to track a scheduled missile launch Plans were in place to resupply in Perth, Australia, but due to missile launch schedule changes, she sailed to Port Louis, Mauritius instead.

[1] Renamed SS John W. Brown II, she served as a training facility for that city's Food and Maritime Trade High School.