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Aviation History
1959
1959 - 0374.PDF
6 February 1959 179 Missiles and Spaceflight FTER living with astronautics on an informal basis for some % considerable time. Flight is happy to make an honest science of her by formally introducing this regular weekly section, which will contain news and feature articles on many international aspects of spaceflight. It appears inevitable at the present time for much of the total rocket and space technology effort to be directed into "defence" channels, and so missiles are part of the title above. This section's debut coincides with a change in Flight's sub-title to Aircraft, Space- craft, Missiles, which is intended to reflect the journal's current scope. In the field of astronautics it is our hope that these pages will not only record the advances of individual nations, but will indicate the limitless possibilities which a combined international effort could achieve. It is our belief that the exploration of space should be carried out rationally, by United Nations teamwork, and not irrationally by individual countries trying to catch up with or beat the other side. Although already there happens to be a Soviet coat-of-arms in orbit around the Sun, this in itself is no valid reason to plant Union Jacks on the Moon or to look for more stars to add to Old Glory. The Inter- national Geophysical Year demonstrated the ability of scientists and engineers in many countries to obtain valuable data by space research and to work together effectively: the world has given politicians and Service chiefs no mandate to extend national barriers into space. Flight's first fifty years have seen phenomenal progress, from the Wright and Voisin aeroplanes described in our first issue to the half- missile, half-aircraft North American X-15 which is just beginning its flight programme. Progress, that is, from man's first powered hops into the air to his first ventures into space. The future of spaceflight is a challenging subject—and one that is awesome in its implications. Thor plus miniature version of Titan guidance system launched on January 23 (news item below) SPACE DISCUSSED BY I.A.S. Speaking at the Honors Night Dinner at the 27th annual meeting of the Institute of the Aeronautical Sciences in New York last week, the administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Dr. T. Keith Glennan, said that the first occupants of the U.S. manned satellites were now being selected from 110 volunteers. These would be reduced to twelve by the end of March, and the final selection would be made just before initial tests began in about two years' time. (As reported in Flight of January 16, the prime contractor for the Project Mercury manned satellite programme is McDonnell Aircraft.) Those who were finally chosen, Dr. Glennan said, would be (1) university graduates with a degree in the physical sciences or engineering, (2) graduates of a military training school for test pilots, with at least 1,500 flying hours, (3) under 40 years of age, and not taller than 5ft llin, and (4) "in superb condition, with the physical and psychological attributes best suited for spaceflight, as determined by aeromedical scientists now working on the project." A number of papers on aspects of spaceflight were presented at the I.A.S. meeting, and a panel discussion on the objectives of space exploration was held. This discussion is the subject of a special report overleaf. FASTER FLIGHT-TEST " ' - if For many years aircraft manufacturers have hastened develop- ment by using existing aeroplanes to flight-test portions of a machine still under construction. Typical cases are the Short Sunderland which carried the fin and rudder of the SA.4 Sperrin, and the Martin B-57 which was fitted with the fore-body and Guidance system of an IM-99 Bomarc missile. The picture above illustrates the process applied to the field of ballistic missiles. Early on the morning of January 23 there was fired from Cape v-anaveral a Thor acting as carrier vehicle to what was described aj a miniature version of the new Titan ICBM guidance system." Iitans guidance is a self-contained, all-airborne, all-inertial package developed by Bosch Arma. It is not an overstatement to describe the system as the most advanced yet to have reached the Production stage. It is housed chiefly in the second stage of the jTussile, the diameter of which is rather mere than 6ft. The con- trivance carried by the Thor on January 23 appears to have been about one-quarter scale. It was reported to haye travelled some 4,400 miles, indicating the provision of propulsion in the second stage. Titan itself has completed some months of static firing in the "battleship" stand at Martin's Denver division, but attempts to get a round off at Cape Canaveral have not yet achieved suc- cess. The first abortive launching occurred on December 20. WEST COAST DISCOVERY -,. Unlike all the U.S. satellite launchings attempted to date (which have been from Cape Canaveral, Florida), the forthcoming Project Discoverer firings will be made from Vandenberg A.F.B., Cali- fornia, over the Pacific missile range. Launching vehicle tests will be followed by animal-carrying satellite firings. Early Discoverer vehicles will use a modified Thor as first stage, with a Lockheed-developed second stage powered by a modified version of the Bell rocket motor originally intended for the powered-bomb pod of the Convair B-58 Hustler. Atlas will later be used in place of Thor as the first stage. SOVIET ROCKET INSTRUMENTS Among details recently released of the rocket launched into solar orbit by the Soyiet Union on January 2 was a description of the equipment carried. The final stage of the rocket was stated to contain (in addition to "devices guaranteeing a normal flight") the following items: The airtight and detachable instrument con- tainer; two transmitters operating on 19.997 and 19.995 Mc/s; a cosmic ray counter; "a radio system determining the trajectory of the flight of the rocket and predicting its further movement"; and the apparatus for forming the "artificial sodium comet." The container consisted of two airtight semi-spherical cases joined together by cross-ribs and a special rubber sealing ring. One of the half-cases, as illustrated in Flight of January 23, car- ried four aerial rods (for a radio transmitter operating on 183.6 Mc/s). Also carried on this section was a magnetometer probe. Inside the container were the following pieces of equipment: (1) radio (operating on 183.6 Mc/s) for controlling the rocket's trajectory, (2) radio transmitter operating on 19.993 Mc/s, (3) telemetry for conveying scientific data to Earth, (4) proton traps
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