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Aviation History
1961
1961 - 1794.PDF
906 FLIGHT, 14 December 19C Missiles and Space flight . . AMERICA'S AIMS IN SPACE 2. The Launch Vehicles and their Operation By KENNETH OWEN America's heavy workhorse for space will be Saturn. The eight-engined first stage (below right) was fitted with dummy upper stages for a successful first flight on October 21. Be/ow, the Saturn blockhouse at Cape Canaveral OVERSHADOWING all else on the United States space-flightscene is Project Apollo, the accelerated manned lunar pro-gramme called for as a major national goal by President Kennedy on May 25 last. The President said, "No single space pro-ject will be more exciting or more impressive, or more important for the long-range exploration of space; none will be so difficult orexpensive to accomplish." Within six months, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration had selected MassachusettsInstitute of Technology as associate contractor for Apollo guidance and control, and were negotiating with North American a S400mprime contract for two of the three main sections of the actual spacecraft. Most of the difficulty and expense referred to by PresidentKennedy in connection with Apollo will arise in the developmeni of the launch vehicles needed to transport the three-man spacecraftto the Moon and back to Earth. Not that this is confined to Apollo, for vehicle development is an obvious key factor in accomplishingall the space missions on which, as described in last week's issue, NASA is currently engaged. The environment in which these launch-vehicle systems are beingdeveloped was described at the recent American Rocket Society meeting in New York by Mr Willis M. Hawkins, vice-president andgeneral manager of Lockheed Missiles and Space Company, who listed four main points of overall design philosophy. First, Mr Hawkins commented, "What we are doing now is justbarely possible and just barely reliable. And on this basis, we are making highly ambitious plans." Secondly, it was true that dollarswere available—but only one year at a time. Thirdly, the USA did not possess the initiative in space; and finally, a new and better ideawas often discovered halfway through a project, i.e., one had to face change. Among the tasks ahead, Mr Hawkins listed three in particular:0) reliability must be improved, (2) costs must be matched to the budget by using the "building block" principle, and (3) changesshould be recognized as being desirable and honourable. There
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