The nose cone, which contained instrumentation, would separate from the rocket booster. This made the rocket lighter as only the nose cone and its instruments and recording camera had to be able to survive recovery, rather than the entire rocket. The unique innovations of the Hiroc missiles, such as the gimbaled thrust chambers, and the internal pressure supported airframe, would go on to utilized in the Atlas rockets. Several were made in the Atlas, such as the aluminum used for the missiles airframe of the Hiroc, was changed to stainless steel in the Atlas. The early Atlas utilized the MX-774 project developed Azusa interferometry based guidance system which served Cape Canaveral during the early space age. The engines of the Atlas missiles were also much more powerful, generating a total of of thrust, compared to the Hiroc's total of thrust.