The successful orbiting
of the 184.3 pound Sputnik 1 launched man - in quite dramatic fashion -
on a quest to ever greater distances from earth. Engineers and
scientists realized that
with modifications and increased thrust, the rocket which launched Sputnik
could reach to the moon and beyond. The race was on.
would be significant
tasks for us in the Vanguard program and that we should start to plan for
bigger things to come afterwards. Nevertheless. rumors have it that the
Lunchbox report soon found its way to the Pentagon's incinerator for classified
documents.
As the Navy's Vanguard development got underway in late 1955, a Technical
Panel on the Earth Satellite Program of the US National Committee for the
IGY. consisting mostly of prominent scientists from universities. was charged
with the selection of payloads for the four scheduled IGY satellites. Although
some strong contenders had already been identified. the panel wished to
give the entire US scientific community an opportunity to present its ideas
in a special Symposium on Scientific Uses of Earth Satellites at the University
of Michigan. Ann Arbor, in late January 1956. Of the 34 papers, four were
from Signal Corps scientists of SRDL. One of these proposals, a first simple
concept to obtain images of the earth's cloud cover by Stroud and Nordberg,
was then accepted by the panel and tentatively scheduled as payload for
the fourth (and last) Vanguard satellite. SRDL was given NSF funding for
this project.
But in addition to this definite instrumentation package. SRDL and other
Signal Corps organizations soon be involved in other tasks. The technical
operation and maintenance of the primary satellite tracking and telemetry
groundstations of the Vanguard Minitrack network, one in the US and five
in South America, were assigned by DoD to the Signal Corps and were carried
out by the Army Communications Systems Division. Related to this phase
of work, SRDL assisted later in calibrating the Minitrack system by producing
signals from outer space generated by bouncing radiowaves off the moon
using its advance Diana radar facility at Belmar. N.J. |
While we at SRDL were busy on our limited IGY assignments, particularly
on plans for future satellites which would be developed through military
projects, the Army Ordnance Corps' rocket and missile activities were refocused
in the establishment in 1956 of the Army Ballistic Missile Agency (ABMA)
at Huntsville, Alabama. Maj. Gen. J. B. Medaris was commander and the yon
Braun team was one of its essential elements. Although the rejection of
the Orbiter had been a disappointment for the rocket experts, they soon
found useful new ways to advance related rocket and missile technology.
Their vital new mission was to develop and operationally test missile nose
cones which could sustain the mechanical and thermal stresses of re-entry
from space into the atmosphere. In pursuit of this task, the Redstone missile
concept was advanced to the more powerful and sophisticated Jupiter C configurations,
which in a historical test-flight on 20 September 1956 reached an unprecedented
altitude of 682 miles and landed 3400 miles downrange from the launching
site at Cape Canaveral.
This test demonstrated, beyond doubt, that the Jupiter C had the full capability
of placing a good size satellite payload into orbit. Considering the fact
that the Vanguard project seemed to be already in serious trouble, Gen.
Medaris pleaded with the Washington authorities for permission to provide
our nation with the first satellite, but his request was not granted. In
a wise move, he salted two sets of Jupiter C hardware away in safe storage
in case Washington should ever change its mind and quick action should
be required.
SPUTNIK
I
As a tragic consequence of Washington's refusal, the Russians beat us to
the punch and surprised the entire world with Sputnik I, which they sent
into orbit by means of a powerful military rocket on 4 October 1957.
I shall never forget the impact of this event on all of us at SRDL who
had been trying day and night to secure for our nation first place in space.
During the preceding days. I had attended one of those international IGY
committee conferences in which the Russians were prominently represented.
From the very beginning, we had a serious problem with the translation
of their presentations and pronouncements, which eventually was provided
by interpreters from the USSR Washington Embassy. The Russians mentioned
that their satellites would be called Sputniks, which stands for traveling
companion, and we were most anxious to get information on their launching
dates. There was considerable confusion on the valid translations of their
answers which ranged from "in the next days" to "in the near future." But
when at a closed executive session of the US delegation on 3 October. it
was disclosed that the Russians had informally requested further US support
with Backer-Nunn optical tracking cameras, it was concluded that their
tracking network was not yet finished and that no immediate satellite launches
should be expected. In view of our slipping Vanguard schedules, this was
a happy conclusion which prompted me to plan to spend a rare weekend without
professional chores.
But I had hardly returned from Washington when the telephone rang.
1 must admit that we were poorly prepared for such an event and other organizations,
particularly the IGY |
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