Post by Dave Homewood on Mar 4, 2024 23:27:25 GMT 12
I'd love to see a video of how this went, from The Press, 19 September 1957
UPPER AIR ROCKET
Firing From 20 Miles Up
(N.Z. Press Association—Copyright) (Rec. 10 p.m.) BALTIMORE, September 17.
The United States Air Force announced today that it would fire a four-stage rocket from a balloon-supported platform 100,000 ft above the earth late this month.
The rocket firing, the second phase of an Air Force research project, would be aimed at obtaining scientific data 1000 to 4100 miles above the earth, part of the upper atmosphere never before pierced by man.
The Air Research and Development Command said the rocket would be launched from above Eniwetok Atoll in the Pacific during the latter part of this month. No specific date was announced. A tiny but powerful radio transmitter located in the last stage of the rocket would send back to earth data on cosmic rays, the earth’s magnetic field, and other fields of Air Force scientific interest, the announcement added.
The command said this exploratory research effort had no nuclear aspects, and the United States Atomic Energy Commission was not participating in the project, although its Pacific proving ground would be used. The firing was not an attempt to place a satellite in space, and had no relation to the Navy’s programme, the command said.
The first phase of the project was accomplished on June 28, when what the Air Force described as the world’s largest balloon —200 feet in diameter—successfully lifted nearly two tons of equipment to an altitude of more than 104,000 feet.
UPPER AIR ROCKET
Firing From 20 Miles Up
(N.Z. Press Association—Copyright) (Rec. 10 p.m.) BALTIMORE, September 17.
The United States Air Force announced today that it would fire a four-stage rocket from a balloon-supported platform 100,000 ft above the earth late this month.
The rocket firing, the second phase of an Air Force research project, would be aimed at obtaining scientific data 1000 to 4100 miles above the earth, part of the upper atmosphere never before pierced by man.
The Air Research and Development Command said the rocket would be launched from above Eniwetok Atoll in the Pacific during the latter part of this month. No specific date was announced. A tiny but powerful radio transmitter located in the last stage of the rocket would send back to earth data on cosmic rays, the earth’s magnetic field, and other fields of Air Force scientific interest, the announcement added.
The command said this exploratory research effort had no nuclear aspects, and the United States Atomic Energy Commission was not participating in the project, although its Pacific proving ground would be used. The firing was not an attempt to place a satellite in space, and had no relation to the Navy’s programme, the command said.
The first phase of the project was accomplished on June 28, when what the Air Force described as the world’s largest balloon —200 feet in diameter—successfully lifted nearly two tons of equipment to an altitude of more than 104,000 feet.
