BTW- the Atlas verniers WERE gimbaled for pitch/yaw/roll control. They had to be, because after the main engine shut down before final velocity, and the verniers kept firing to achieve the desired velocity, they had to control all three axes.

Also, the Atlas' outer two "booster" motors, did gimbal. So they provided the primary steering control for the Atlas until later in the launch when the two outer booster engines and the tail section they were mounted to dropped away (by that point the Altas had used up enough fuel that it could fly the rest of the way using just the non-gimbaled center engine's thrust). It is interesting that in old footage of Atlas launches, you could often see the Verniers gimbal many degrees for a moment during launch.

Here's a link about the Atlas Verniers, there's more info out there for however much one wants to google.

http://heroicrelics.org/info/lr-101/lr-101.html

BTW - as for the red "buckets", I didn't say it outright, but now I will. I'm pretty sure those were removed before flight. I am curious as to what purpose they do serve , though not enough to go on a deep dive to google or go on a group on say NasaSpaceFlight Forum to ask....the OP could just as easily do that.

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