FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1963
1963 - 2045.PDF
LIGHT International, 21 November 1963 847 At White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico, on November 7 a test was made of the escape rocket system to be used in NASA's Project Apollo. The "boilerplate" version of the command module of the Apollo spacecraft was carried to a height of 5,000ft when the rockets of the escape tower were fired, after which the tower was jettisoned and the spacecraft model descended to Earth by parachute (see "Emergency Test for Apollo") EMERGENCY TEST FOR APOLLO An "off-the-pad jbort test" involving a boiler-plate command module of the three-man Apollo spacecraft was successfully carried out at the White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico, on November 7. The full-scale module reached an altitude of about 5,000ft and was recovered by parachutes. Purpose of the test was to determine the stability and operational characteristics of the escape configuration. The 9,0001b test vehicle, cone-shaped, 134inhigh with a base diameter of 154in, was made of aluminium alloy; the simulated heat shield consisted of a sand wich construction with aluminium-alloy inner and outer skins separated by resin-impregnated glass laminations. The jettisonable escape tower was a truncated rectangular pyramid built of welded tubular titanium alloy. This supported a solid-propellant motor of 155,0001b thrust with four nozzles canted at 35°. The boiler-plate module was lifted from the ground solely by the thrust of the tower-mounted escape rocket. At lift-off a pitch- control motor located at right angles to the centre line of the escape rocket, near the top, fired to provide lateral displacement from the pad. It produced a thrust of 3,4001b for 0.5sec. Cosmos 21 was launched from the Soviet Union on November 11. Preliminary orbital data quoted by Tass for the satellite comprised period, 88.5min; apogee, 229km (142 miles); perigee, 195km (121 miles) and inclination, 64° 50'. Cosmos 22 Five days later, on November 16, the launch of Cosmos 22 was announced. The satellite was stated by Tass to have a period of 90.3min; apogee, 394km (245 miles); perigee 205km (127 miles) and inclination 64° 56'. IMP Launch Due The first of seven Interplanetary Monitoring Platform (IMP) satellites planned by the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration is scheduled to be launched by Delta ftom Cape Canaveral this month. The spacecraft will measure magnetic fields, cosmic rays and solar winds in a highly eccentric orbit that will extend initially from a perigee of 125 miles to an apogee of more than 173,000 miles. Comparative Missile Strengths A booklet published by the Insti tute of Strategic Studies on November 8 includes estimates of ballistic missiles deployed by East and West. The Western Alliance B stated to have 475 ICBMs of 2,500 miles range and over, as against the Communist bloc's "100-plus." Fleet ballistic missiles are said to number 192 for the West and 100 for Communist countries. It is also stated that the Soviet Union has 30 missile- carrying submarines but that "Soviet claims that a true Polaris-type missile which can be fired from a submerged submarine has been successfully developed, must be treated with caution." Strap-on Boosts The Thrust Augmented Thor, developed by the USAF, is being added to the US National Launch Vehicle Program. Agreement has been reached between the Department of Defense and NASA to use it as the booster for both Agena and Delta vehicles. The new Thor configuration, already tested with Thor- Agena by the Air Force, includes three Thiokol XM-33 solid- propellant rockets fitted to quick-release mountings at the base of the Thor booster, increasing the launching thrust to more than 330,0001b. The solids burn for about 40sec, dropping off some 40 to 65sec after lift-off depending on range safety factors. It is estimated that the Thrust Augmented Thor-Delta (TAD) will put about 1,0001b into a close Earth-orbit compared with 8001b for the standard vehicle. Preparing for Gemini A Titan 2 ICBM launched from Cape Canaveral on November 1 included "damping devices for smoothing out propellant flow," this aspect being considered a source of vibration troubles in previous test-vehicles. Also aboard was a malfunction detection system of sensors to detect faults in critical regions of the booster. Both items are vital to use of the Titan 2 as a booster for the NASA two-man Gemini spacecraft. "Materials in Space Technology," a new book edited by K. W. Gatland and G. V. E. Thompson, is published* today, November 21. Combining the work of 20 British and American specialists in the fields of metallurgy and fabrication, separate chapters are devoted to aluminium and its alloys, magnesium, beryllium, high- strength steels, refractory metals, polymers, graphite, ablators, and "new materials" for astronautics. There are also chapters dealing with the effects on materials of high-energy radiation and, import antly, the environmental testing of equipment. The chapters are based on papers presented at BIS symposia in November 1961 and September 1962. * Iliffe Books Ltd, Dorset House, Stamford Street, London SE1, in conjunction with the British Interplanetary Society. Price 65s (by post, 66s Id)
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
