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Aviation History
1964
1964 - 2130.PDF
FLIGHT International, 23 July 1964 151 smaller and with metal fins is the 06, whose first-flight date is given also as April 11, 1937. Two other early rockets were displayed. One was the 09 vehicle of 1933, measuring 240.5cm by 18cm diameter and, at a launch weight of 19kg, stated to be capable of carrying a 6.2kg payload to 45km. The other was the GIRD-X, 216.5cm long, 14cm diameter, 2kg payload, 29kg launch weight, developing 70kg thrust for 2O-22sec. A line of part-sectioned rocket engines began with the 52kg thrust engine of the 09 rocket, its burning time quoted as 15-18sec. Others comprised the OR-1 of 1929-30, developing 5kg thrust; A. Tsander's rocket engine 10, 70kg thrust for 20-22sec; the 150kg-thrust 12K used in the 05 vehicle; Tsander's 02 project, of 100kg thrust; the ORM-65 of 1936, using kerosine fuel and nitric- acid oxidiser to produce a thrust of 175kg; the M-29 of 1938, employing ethyl alcohol and liquid oxygen to give 200kg thrust for 70sec; and a 140kg-thrust rocket engine (kerosine and nitric acid) whose application was described as "rocket-plane RM-318" of 1940. On into the main halls of the pavilion, where the exhibits are mounted close against red, rough-textured backdrops, almost cavelike yet giving an uncanny feeling of the vast| dimension of outer space. The historical story is continued, with an MMR-1 meteorological rocket, the transparent nosecone of an MR-1 rocket, an A-l geophysical rocket (a height of 110km and a "weight of research apparatus" of 737kg is quoted), and a "high-altitude geophysical station," alias a rocket payload which on February 15, 1961 photographed the solar corona during the period of the solar eclipse. One intriguing display consists of a glass screen on which are scribed what appear to be the accurate outlines of 23 rockets, all in a row and all unidentified. Between the 22nd and 23rd from the left, however, is drawn the badge of the International Geophysical Year—a hint, perhaps, that number 23 might conceivably be intended to represent the vehicle which launched Sputnik 1. The rockets are shown at various heights, but this appears to be based on considerations of good display design rather than achieved rocket performance. Appropriately, you have to look up to Sputnik 1, or at least to the shiny facsimile thereof that hangs from the ceiling above your head. Nearby are replicas of Sputnik 2 and the capsule in which it carried the dog Laika into orbit, and Sputnik 3 and its instruments. (On returning from Moscow I refreshed my memory by looking up the news reports in the British papers at the time of Sputnik 2. The great event was given due recognition: "Animal welfare organizations in many different parts of the world have expressed horror at the use of a dog in the satellite. The National Canine Defence League is asking dog-lovers everywhere to observe a silent minute each day. The RSPCA has advised all who wish to protest to do so at the Russian Embassy in London."...) Dominating the central hall is the massive bulk of the Lunik 2 final stage and nosecone; and something that looks like a shiny, domed, winged dustbin with an umbrella frame for an aerial. The only shiny, domed, winged dustbin with an umbrella frame for an aerial with which I was familiar was the Soviet Venus probe of February 1961. Sure enough, this is it. The shape of Lunik 2 is there, together with two starred, trans- parent display tubes inside which rotate replicas of the two spheres of pentagonal badges which the spacecraft and the final stage deposited on the lunar surface on September 14, 1959. And Lunik 3, effectively lit from a bowl of coloured glass pieces below and with its lens flaps open on top. Suddenly it seems an age ago—it was in October 1959—that this probe took its pictures of the far side of the Moon. Rocket experiments with animals are illustrated by three dog- carrying capsules, including one of the type used for Belka and Strelka in the second "spaceship satellite," alias Sputnik 5. The main focus of interest in the whole pavilion, however, is the final hall, which is devoted to the theme of manned spaceflight. Not that any Vostok is on display, but there are examples of cosmonauts' Top of page, crowds examine the display model of the Sputnik 3 satellite Left, instrument container of MR-I rocket (left), credited with a height of 100km; an unidentified nosecone; and a "model for research on aerodynamic characteristics" desig- ned in 1951-53 by Leningrad Industrial Institute Right: the effective presentation of Lunik 3, which photographed the far side of the Moon in October 1959. Note lens flaps in the open position at the top of the spacecraft.
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