 This delay was explained by the fact that Air Force programs such as MIDAS were taking much longer to develop than Ranger.In addition, as 1961 ended, Agena Bs had malfunctioned no less than seven times (the two Ranger launches and five Thor-Agena launches).Major General Osmond Ritland, Commander of the Air Force Space Systems Division in Inglewood, California, promised NASA that all problems with Agena would be corrected and, because they also affected DoD programs, the issue was being taken "quite seriously".