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The Atlas D lifted off Pad 12 at 4:55 p.m. EST carrying the second 200 pound Project FIRE spacecraft on a 5,000 mile ballistic trajectory to expand scientific knowledge of reentry heating. A velocity package using the solid propellant Antares II rocket motor will add the speed needed to drive the re-entry payload back into the atmosphere at 25,000 mph. The payload will reach an apogee of approximately 500 statute miles about 2,440 down range before starting re-entry into the atmosphere. At the speed Project FIRE will attain, the temperature of the gasses in the shock wave area just ahead of the blunt reentry body will approach 20,000 degrees Fahrengeit. As a result from data received from this flight, scientists will be able to predict more accurately, for engineering purposes, the heating associated with entry into the Earth's atmosphere at speeds up to and beyond that of the Apollo command module on its return from lunar flights.