Citation
Cape Kennedy

Material Information

Title:
Cape Kennedy America's spaceport
Creator:
Scarboro, C. W
Milner, Stephen B. ( joint author )
Place of Publication:
[Little Rock? Ark
Publisher:
[s.n.]
Publication Date:
Language:
English
Physical Description:
223 p. : illus. (part col.) maps, ports. ; 28 cm.

Subjects

Subjects / Keywords:
Astronautics -- United States ( lcsh )

Notes

General Note:
Originally published in 1965 under title: Pictorial history of Cape Kennedy, 1950-1965.
Statement of Responsibility:
by C.W. Scarboro and Stephen B. Milner. Illustrated by Donald J. Mackey.

Record Information

Source Institution:
University of Florida
Rights Management:
All applicable rights reserved by the source institution and holding location.
Resource Identifier:
01511411 ( OCLC )
65029042 ( LCCN )

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Full Text





A Message from
the Governor of Florida







0 e


r ce0e t

































CAPE KENNEDY
AMERICA'S SPACEPORT








ABOUT THE COVER:
A multiple exposure of an Atlas-
Agena launch taken by Air Force
photographer Chuck Rogers.


by C. W. Scarboro and Stephen B. Milner
Illustrated by Donald J. Mackey






















Introduction and

Acknowledgments


At the end of 1964 the first printing of this
book was introduced under the title of "Pictorial
History of Cape Kennedy 1950 to 1965." Since
that time America's space program has taken giant
strides forward and, to keep abreast of these inno-
vations, an updated work has been prepared.
Stephen B. Milner's documented and authori-
tative writing, coupled with Donald J. Mackey's
lifelike and detailed illustrations and Chuck Rogers'
expert photographic consultation, make this book,
in our opinion, not only an interesting but highly
educational presentation of one of the world's most
active news datelines-Cape Kennedy and the John
F. Kennedy Space Center, NASA.
Recognition is also extended to Major Robert
A. Zehring, Chief of the Public Information Divi-
sion of the United States Air Force Eastern Test
Range, Mr. Marven R. Whipple, Chief of the His-
torical Division of the Air Force Eastern Test
Range, Mr. Gatha F. Cottee of the John F. Kennedy
Space Center, NASA, Public Information Office
and to Mr. J. E. Hanks, Technical Liaison Officer,
Canaveral District, U. S. Army Corps of Engineers.
Last, but by no means least, to C. Armitage
Harper, vice president of Pioneer Press, Little
Rock, Arkansas, whose firm did an excellent job
of transforming our raw material into an attrac-
tive finished product.
To all of these fine gentlemen, again I say,
thank you.
C. W. Scarboro


Copyright 1966 by C. W. Scarboro and C. Armitage Harper
Library of Congress Catalog Card No. 65-29042


PHOTO CREDITS: The photographs in this publication portraying Cape Kennedy,
the Air Force Eastern Test Range, and the John F. Kennedy Space Center (NASA),
the installations, facilities, rockets, spacecraft, equipment, and miscellaneous sub-
jects associated with the svace program are official releases of the United States
Air Force and NASA. The contents also include photographs supplied by various
industrial contractors.


Printed in U.S.A.
Pl9ER
796















This book is dedicated
to all young people in whose
hands the future rests.





C. W. Scarboro has been a part of the Cape
Kennedy scene for the past several years. His
earlier book "Pictorial History of Cape Ken-
nedy," presented an overview of the nation's
Spaceport up to this current edition.
Scarboro is also president and executive di-
rector of International Space Clubs, an organ-
ization composed of youths throughout the
world who want to keep abreast of aerospace
news.
He resides with his wife and four children in
Satellite Beach, Fla., in the Cape area.







An accredited correspondent, Stephen B.
Milner has represented various news media
at America's Spaceport.
He holds a master's degree in communications
research from the Pennsylvania State Uni-
versity.
The writer lives in Cocoa Beach, adjacent to
Cape Kennedy.







A versatile artist, Donald J. Mackey has in-
cluded many of his realistic drawings of Cape
Kennedy and the Kennedy Space Center in U 7
this pictorial presentation.
Mackey, a senior technical designer for Dow
Chemical Co. at the Spaceport, is noted for his
detailed and lifelike work.
He studied at the Chicago Art Institute and
has served as art director for several news-
papers and advertising agencies.
Mackey also does fine art work in addition to
his reproductions of Spaceport facilities.





The name Chuck Rogers has become almost
synonymous with Missile Photography. In his
nine years at Cape Kennedy Chuck has photo-
graphed every type of Rocket, from the first
U. S. Satellite to today's Titan IIIC and
Saturn. His camera artistry has appeared
internationally in such publications as LIFE,
NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC and PARIS
MATCH. Chuck has also earned a reputation
as a free-lance photographer, displaying his
talents in such varied places as industrial ad-
vertising and editorial coverage for News and
Sports magazines.









Contents


Vice President Humphrey outlines U. S. Space Program--------- 7

Comments by the commander of the A. F. Eastern Test Range --- 12

Comments by the director, John F. Kennedy Space Center, NASA ----- 13

Dr. Robert H. Goddard-his Life and Contributions to
American Rocket Research --------------- 14

The U. S. Army Corps of Engineers' Story at America's Spaceport -- 18

The Air Force Eastern Test Range -..-------------------------. 28

The John F. Kennedy Space Center, NASA--..---------------------- 34

Inside America's Spaceport _____------------- 39

The Path of a Rocket from the Factory to the Launch Pad ---- 52

Visits by Presidents Lyndon B. Johnson and John F. Kennedy---- 68

"Dere Kape Kennedy" ------------------------. 76

Major Missile Programs at Cape Kennedy Since 1950 ----- 79

Ballistic Missiles --.------------------..... ---. 104

Color Portfolio ------------..- ------------ 113

Introduction to Satellites -.------------------- --- 129

Manned Space Flight 1----------------------.- --- 1..148

Mercury-the First Step to the Moon ---------...... 153

Gemini-the Intermediate step to the Moon ---------------------------- 162

Apollo-Manned Lunar Exploration 1---------- 91

The News Media and America's Spaceport ------ 198

Summary and Concluding Notes -- -------205

Glossary of Frequently Used Space Terms ---------209

Chronology of Events at America's Spaceport --------- 213









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Lyndon B. Johnson
President of the United States
"Space is clearly the great breakthrough of human
knowledge for centuries to come ."


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Vice-President

Hubert H. Humphrey

Outlines Government's

Role in Space Research


(Speech was delivered in March 1965 at a dinner
honoring the late Dr. Robert H. Goddard, Amer-
ica's father of modern rocketry.)

As MANY of you know, just as soon as I became Vice
President, my space problems started. First, there
was my home. People said it was too small. But I
refused to move.
Then there was my office. My former Senate
colleagues, sentimental to the end, decided that my
office as Vice President was too large. That time
I moved-one of the rare occasions in American
history when anyone expanded into smaller
quarters.
Honestly, getting the Gemini into orbit is noth-
ing compared to getting a Vice President settled
down.
Then the President said, "Hubert, you better
forget about office space, and start worrying about
outer space."
Many of you apparently have wondered precisely
what kind of chairman of the National Aeronautics
and Space Council I will be.
That at least, is the word I get along a non-
electronic grapevine.
Of course, there could be no more appropriate
place than at this dinner honoring Robert Goddard,
the father of our space program, for a new NASC
chairman to present his views.
We are all greatly in Dr. Goddard's debt. The
way of space is the way of the pioneer-it is the
way of the builder. And Robert Goddard was a
pioneer and a builder-a true visionary.
Robert Goddard said, "Every vision is a joke
until the first man accomplishes it." Well, we have
seen some of the results of Robert Goddard's vision,
and it is no longer a joke, but a magnificent reality.
Each of you has a long-standing, deep interest
in this reality-in our national aeronautics and
space programs.
President Johnson and the space program
President Lyndon Johnson, both as Senator and
as Vice President, provided strong, persistent, and
visionary leadership and support. He will continue
to do so.
And I intend to continue, as best I can, that
Lyndon Johnson tradition. That is the kind of
chairman I hope to be.
I am an advocate of a dynamic space program-


Hubert H.
Humphrey
Vice President
of the
United States




a program which
will succeed in
reaching the goals
we have set-and
one which will set
new goals-one e
that can see be-
yond the moon and into fields where we can only
speculate about the knowledge awaiting us.
And I can promise you this will not be an advo-
cacy simply of formal duty and responsibility.
What I have learned of our space and aeronautics
programs has made me an enthusiastic advocate.
It has also made me an eager student. I don't
expect to become an "instant expert", but I do
intend to learn by study and asking many questions.
I want to know if we are going to reach the goals
of our late President John Kennedy. Or has there
been slippage? If there has been, why did it
happen?
Is there unnecessary duplication of space
efforts? Or, is there inadequate teamwork and
faulty interfacing of information between agen-
cies and between government and industry?
If we aren't doing what we should, I want to
know why not. If the fault lies with an apathetic
people forgetting the value of our space efforts, I
will carry the message of the program to them.
If the fault rests with the Congress cutting back,
for cutting alone, I hope to be able to help there.
And if it appears that in government or in indus-
try, there is weak administration, casual technol-
ogy, sloppy or wasteful work, then together, all of
us must act.
This is the kind of role I have tried to play during
the 16 years I spent in the Senate working for
good education-for better health and welfare pro-
grams-for urgently needed civil rights legisla-
tion. It is my role today as we work for the Great
Society.
Let me assure you that the Great Society envis-
ioned by President Lyndon Johnson is not one lim-
ited to the fight against poverty, ignorance, disease,
and intolerance. The Great Society requires, in
addition, an urgent quest for excellence, for intel-
lectual attainment, for crossing new frontiers in
science and technology.








How much does it cost?
Let me emphasize that an adequately funded,
well-directed space program is an integral part
of our nation's commitment to its future, to its
greatness.
As one who has been an advocate of domestic
programs which do cost money and which are not
yet finished-who knows that much remains to be
done and knows how expensive it will be-I have
been asked how strongly I support the space pro-
gram which, according to some, will take billions
during the next decade.
This strong and prosperous economy permits us
to do many things and to do them well. We can
put a man on the moon at the same time as we help
to put a man on his feet. We conquer space even
as we conquer poverty.
I do not consider our domestic needs to be com-
petitive with our space needs-any more than I
consider them to be competitive with our national
defense requirements. We can afford to do what
is needed in space, in general welfare, and for our
national defense.
Are we spending too much on Space-and not
enough on problems associated with our own
planet? Both, it should be obvious, are bound
together.
It is not a question of space or social welfare.
It is not the moon or medicare.
It is not Apollo or education.
It isn't Pegasus or poverty programs.
It isn't launch pads or highways.
We can and must do all these things. Our rich
and dynamic nation-growing richer every day-
can afford all of these things. Our space dollars
need not-and will not-deprive, starve or deci-
mate any other useful programs.
One reason why I do support our space efforts
strongly has to do with what might be called its
social and economic spin-off. Let's just look at
one domestic program-education.
Educational benefits reaped from space research
The spin-off from the space program in educa-
tion has been tremendous.
Since its beginnings in 1958, the space program
has served as a spring tonic to the American edu-
cation system. It has done this from the grade
school through the post graduate university.
It has challenged-and it will challenge increas-
ingly-our finest and most creative minds to the
solution of new, vital, and complex tasks.
The exploration of space represents the "frontier
of our times" which either this country or another
will explore.
Aside from the physical frontier of space, it also
represents a frontier of technology and knowledge
-an unending quest for new materials, improved
techniques, more skilled scientists and engineers,
better technicians and managers. Possibly the one
most precious resource in this conquest is that of


highly trained and dedicated people which it has
attracted and developed.
And, our American schools have risen to the
space challenge. In the grade schools and high
schools, science courses have been modernized and
new ones added. New textbooks have been written.
Science teachers have been attending refresher
courses to keep pace with rapid scientific advances.
The most gifted of our students are encouraged
to expand their talents by means of scholarships
and other assistance. Through the National De-
fense Education Act, which was passed in 1958,
after Sputnik I, over 50,000 gifted science students
have benefited from loans and fellowships.
NASA supports universities throughout the
country in training space-oriented scientists and
engineers; in building laboratories; in conducting
space-aeronautics research.
Currently, almost 2000 Ph.D's are in NASA-sup-
ported training at 131 colleges and universities.
Soon these programs will exist in 142 institutions
and cover every one of our fifty states. And con-
sider the diffusion of knowledge resulting from
such a program.
We are training advanced scholars in such
diverse fields as astronomy, physics, metallurgy
and chemistry-to name just a few.
Practical application of space technology
If the space program had no other side effect
beyond what it has done for education in the United
States, it would be worth it. But obviously, educa-
tion is not the only field where benefits can be
measured.
Resources devoted to space progress create more
resources for many, many other purposes. In
medical research, in the biological sciences, in our
earth sciences as well as in the life sciences, our
space program has brought vast gains to our nation
and our people. It will continue to do so.
And our space programs have already demon-
strated their usefulness in direct, practical, and
peaceful ways. President Johnson reminded me
recently of a speech he made about two years ago,
indicating that the Weather Bureau predicts the
following savings, based on accurate weather pre-
diction just five days in advance.
We will save two and one half billion dollars a
year in agriculture, 45 million dollars in the lumber
industry, 100 million in surface transportation; 75
million dollars in retail marketing; and 3 billion
dollars in water resources management.
As the result of the competence of our weather
satellites, we are already providing the nations of
the world timely warnings on a global basis.
Certainly, too, we have much to gain from the
accomplishments in communications.
Here again our system of private capital and
government sponsored research has helped to tie
the world community closer together through com-
munications satellites.








And our space program has provided great stim-
ulation to our economic and technological growth.
After all, every dime of our space money is spent
right here on earth. So far, there are no sub-
contractors on the moon.
The space program has meant profits, jobs, eco-
nomic growth. In the last six months of 1964, the
Department of Defense alone spent over 5 billion
dollars on missile and space systems and aircraft.
DOD spent in contract awards for experimental,
developmental, test and research work in missile
space work almost 3 billion dollars.
The space program has meant jobs too. As you
know, there have been 300,000 men and women
employed on the Apollo program alone.
It has infused our economy with new life. It
has founded new research. It has developed hard-
ware and constructed laboratories and other useful
facilities.
And I want to underscore an undeniable fact of
this infusion-the teamwork between our privately
financed and privately run companies on the one
hand and the Federal Government on the other is
one of the major sources of strength of the whole
national space program. In fact, it is basic to the
strength of this great country.
By the year 2000 this country will be even greater
-quantitatively as well as qualitatively. Our pop-
ulation will have doubled. I checked with the Cen-
sus Bureau yesterday and they tell me there will
be 361,947,000 people then-90% in cities, 40%
along our seaboards.
And to meet the needs of that population, our
country cannot stand still. Our economy-a con-
tinued and strengthened partnership economy-
must not stand still. And if the economy must grow
rapidly, our technology cannot pause or stop. We
are still a developing nation our future is
unlimited.
But, even if we could not tonight point to a single
immediate dollar return from the space program,
we must continue-for that is man's history, as
well as our destiny.
The pace of scientific discovery has increased.
Only 39 years ago this month, knowledge and
intelligence conspired within an American pioneer
named Robert Goddard and we had a liquid fuel
rocket.
Suddenly, in these few short years, man now
moves at speeds 4000 times faster than his own
legs can carry him. And in Colonel John Glenn,
who is here with us tonight, we have a man who
has already done this.
Thus we have seen in our own lifetime the world
move from horsepower in its literal sense to men
thrust into orbit about its earth. Who wishes to
stop there? Not America. Not its people or its
President. Not any man or woman in this room.
As Chairman of the Space Council, I do not
intend to oversee the slowing down of our pace. I


do not intend to witness the diminishing of our
efforts.
If we were the only nation engaged in a space
program, it would still be in our best self-interest
to increase our efforts.
But, of course, we are not the only nation explor-
ing outer space. This week's news from the Soviet
Union should emphasize what we have already
known well. The Soviets are investing great
energy, vast resources, and know-how with great
success in their space program.
Our military security rests on the same advanced
research and technology as the space program. If
we ever face a major confrontation with our ene-
mies-whoever they may be-it will be in terms
of Winston Churchill's "Wizard War".
If we are not strong in "wizard warfare", we are
doomed.
Our national security alone would suggest reason
enough for us to strive for absolute leadership in
space exploration.
Wherever we stand, we cannot stand still.
Each time we pause, we have had a shock from
the Soviet efforts in space-from Sputnik in 1957
to the man in a space suit yesterday.
We can and do salute the Russian achievements!
We can and do admire Russian science and tech-
nology. We can and do hope for totally peaceful
uses of outer space. We can and do demonstrate
our eagerness to cooperate with everyone in this
quest.
But, we would be foolish if we did not under-
stand the military implications of Soviet space
science, as well as our own.
Each Russian shock has produced action here.
But a mature nation should not need shock treat-
ment. We are a peaceful nation; we are a peace-
loving people; but we would ignore the real inter-
ests of the free world if we diminished our military
efforts in space.
And even as we must explore every responsible
avenue for peacemaking and peacekeeping, we
must ensure that our military space program
receives its full measure of support.
Two years ago in a speech, I said, "This is a
wonderful time in which to live. It challenges the
best in us. It calls for doing the impossible-per-
forming miracles. Mediocrity must give way to
excellence, timidity to daring, fear to courage.
"We dream of sending a man to the moon in this
decade. We know that dream will be fulfilled only
with a sacrifice, a commitment, a plan and a
program."
I am delighted to have made my "maiden voyage"
into outer space speeches among those of you who
have indicated by your actions, your willingness to
do the impossible-your commitment to excellence,
daring, courage-to a plan and a program which
will make America a great society in a great, and
explored universe.













































House of Representatives Committee on Science and Astronautics


Senate Committee on Aeronautical and Space Sciences

Clinton P. Anderson, (D-N.Mex.), Chairman


MAJORITY: (11 Democrats)
Clinton P. Anderson, New Mexico
Richard B. Russell, Georgia
Warren G. Magnuson, Washington
Stuart Symington, Missouri
John Stennis, Mississippi
Stephen M. Young, Ohio
Thomas J. Dodd, Connecticut
Howard W. Cannon, Nevada
Spessard L. Holland, Florida
Walter F. Mondale, Minnesota
Joseph D. Tydings, Maryland


MINORITY: (5 Republicans)
Margaret Chase Smith, Maine
Bourke B. Hickenlooper, Iowa
Carl T. Curtis, Nebraska
Len B. Jordan, Idaho
George D. Aiken, Vermont
James J. Gehrig, Acting Staff Director


















































House Committee on Science and Astronautics

George P. Miller (D., Calif.), Chairman


MAJORITY: (21 Democrats)
George P. Miller, California
Olin E. Teague, Texas
Joseph E. Karth, Minnesota
Ken Hechler, West Virginia
Emilio Q. Dadario, Connecticut
J. Edward Roush, Indiana
Bob Casey, Texas
John W. Davis, Georgia
William F. Ryan, New York
Thomas N. Downing, Virginia
Joe D. Waggoner, Jr., Louisiana


Don Fuqua, Florida
Carl Albert, Oklahoma
Roy A. Taylor, North Carolina
George E. Brown, Jr., California
Walter H. Moeller, Ohio
William R. Anderson, Tennessee
Brock Adams, Washington
Lester L. Wolff, New York
Weston E. Vivian, Michigan
Gale Schisler, Illinois


MINORITY: (10 Republicans)
Joseph W. Martin, Jr., Massachusetts
James G. Fulton, Pennsylvania
Charles A. Mosher, Ohio
Richard L. Roudebush, Indiana
Alphonzo Bell, California
Thomas M. Pelly, Washington
Donald Rumsfeld, Illinois
Edward J. Gurney, Florida
John W. Wydler, New York
Barber B. Conable, Jr., New York


Charles F. Ducander, Executive Director and Chief Counsel













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Major General Vincent G. Huston
Commander, 1964-to present


















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Dr. Kurt H. Debus, Director,
Kennedy Space Center, NASA

















































Dr. Robert H. Goddard... the father of American rocketry


It has been said that a great man's accomplish-
ments are seldom recognized until after his death.
Thus was the case with Dr. Robert Hutchings
Goddard, considered one of the fathers of modern
rocketry.
Born in 1882 at Worcester, Massachusetts, Dr.
Goddard was years ahead of his time from the
moment he first advanced rocket propulsion theo-
ries during his college days until his actual launch-
ings-the latter being a pioneering era spanning
two decades.
Dr. Goddard suffered from tuberculosis, which
confined him to his home and which no doubt
allowed him to focus his attention on diversionary


activities such as the works of Jules Verne and
H. G. Wells, popular science fictions writers widely
read during the past two centuries.
But Dr. Goddard was not content with merely
dreaming about fantasies developed by these two
writers, fantasies which, in many cases, have since
become fact. At 17, while a physics student at
Clark University in Worcester, Mass., the young
genius theorized that the best rocket fuel would
be a combination of liquid oxygen and liquid
hydrogen, neither of which was available com-
mercially at the turn of the Twentieth Century.
His book entitled "A Method Of Reaching Ex-
treme Altitudes," written in 1919, was the first









published report on his findings and later became
the basis of his later studies as well as a "bible" for
his disciples.
During the next 16 years, Dr. Goddard's rocket
research was confined to the drawing boards with
the exception of a brief touch of reality during
World War I when he was requested by the U.S.
Army to develop the first recoilless rifle. This was
an instrument which consisted of a tiny solid fuel
rocket and "launching tube"-the predecessor to
the famous antitank bazooka used during World
War II. Most of his theories were developed during
these years as a physics professor at his alma
mater.
But the real breakthrough occurred on March
16, 1926, on an Auburn, Mass., farm when Dr.
Goddard launched the world's first liquid fuel
rocket (gasoline-liquid oxygen combination) on a
maiden flight in which the bird, propelled by a
velocity of 60 miles per hour, rose to an altitude of
41 feet in 21/, seconds and covered a distance of 184
feet. Goddard ignited his rocket with a blowtorch
and then rushed behind a shed, his makeshift block-
house-creating techniques employed in launching
a rocket. Though by no means spectacular, the test
validated many of Goddard's theories that have
since paved the way for more sophisticated rocket
research and space exploration.
As was the case with many of the world's noted
geniuses, public opinion-more specifically his
immediate neighbors in Worcester, Mass.-com-
plained that the college professor's "contraptions"
were not only noisy but a hazard to the community.
Goddard, his wife, brother-in-law, and a few loyal
followers were forced to retreat to the New Mexico
desert, where they conducted and perfected many
of his earlier theories. Dr. Goddard's work at his
desert open-air "laboratory" centered to a great
extent around sounding rockets-probes sent into
the upper atmosphere to gather scientific data
including wind velocities, temperatures, and pho-
tographs of the earth below.
Since the government did not consider his work
worthy of financial assistance, Dr. Goddard had
to rely on "angels" or private contributors. A large
percentage of his money came from philanthropist
Daniel Guggenheim, a good friend of aviation hero
Charles Lindbergh, who was interested in the
rocket pioneer's work.
While the government did not endorse Dr.
Goddard's work, other Americans formed a rocket
society which sponsored its own launching.
Though significant, the American Rocket Society
hardly compared to its more-advanced German
counterpart which was the training ground for
some of that nation's V-1 and V-2 rocket engineers
of World War II.


At the close of the 1930's Goddard had success-
fully tested gyroscopic guidance systems capable
of "steering" his rockets that attained super-
sonic speeds and travelled thousands of feet into
the air. He also experimented with parachute re-
covery systems used to protect delicate rocket nose
cones-an important technique that was the fore-
runner to contemporary aerospace research both
in this nation and in the Soviet Union.
Dr. Goddard's program came to an abrupt halt
in 1940 when the government commissioned him
to build a jet propulsion device that would enable
conventional fighter aircraft to take off more rap-
idly in shorter runway areas, research that con-
sumed his working time right up to his death in
1945 at the age of 63.
Ironically, while Dr. Goddard was developing
these jet assistance devices for airplanes, his
German contemporaries were building ballistic
missiles at Peenemunde that were being sent to
inflict life and property damage on English and
French cities. Though an important psychological
factor in World War II, the Germans sacrificed the
construction of more conventional and effective jet
aircraft, which was a contributing factor to losing
the war.
Once the war had been won the United States
went ahead with its own rocket research and
applied many of Dr. Goddard's theories and find-
ings on the basis of his more than 200 patents, for
which the government paid his estate one million
dollars. Half of this amount was given the Guggen-
heim Foundation, Dr. Goddard's main benefactor
during those early research days.
In addition to the financial award, the govern-
ment also named a major aerospace research center
in the late rocket pioneer's honor-the Goddard
Space Flight Center, located at Greenbelt, Mary-
land, established in 1959.
Upon his death, his fellow directors of the Ameri-
can Rocket Society issued the following statement:
"Even more impressive was ... his courage
in carrying on his investigations in the teeth
of public skepticism and indifference with lim-
ited financial resources and in spite of heart-
breaking technical difficulties-a combination
of obstacles which might have baffled and dis-
heartened a less stouthearted pioneer. Almost
singlehanded, Dr. Goddard developed rocketry
from a vague dream to one of the most signifi-
cant branches of modern engineering."
Though he did not live to see his research evolve
into today's significant aerospace accomplish-
ments, Dr. Goddard was perceptive enough to have
made the following statement: "It is difficult to
say what is impossible, for the dream of yesterday
is the hope of today and the reality of tomorrow."









In the Beginning ...

IN THE BEGINNING there were barren
beaches, palmetto scrubs, snakes, mosquitoes, and
still more mosquitoes at what has become one of
the world's busiest news datelines-Cape Kennedy,
formerly Cape Canaveral.
This 25-square mile area, located midway on
the eastern shore of the Florida peninsula, was
supposedly first sighted by explorer Ponce de Leon
in the Sixteenth Century. It was later dubbed
"Canaveral," which, in Spanish mean "canes."
(This spit of land had an abundance of these hol-
low sugar reeds.)
Cape Canaveral remained clothed in relative
anonymity from the time of de Leon's discovery
up to 1950, when the first missile left a makeshift
launch pad amidst a barren setting.
Prior to 1950, the closest military post was the
Banana River Naval Air Station, used during
World War II and located 15 miles south of the
deserted Cape area.
On May 11, 1949, President Harry S. Trumann
signed Public Law 60, the enabling legislation for
the establishment of the Joint Long Range Prov-
ing Ground, of which Cape Canaveral became the
first and main installation of a new missile test
range.
During its formative years, the Cape was used
primarily as a test range for the nation's military
ballistic missile program. With the formation of
NASA it has also evolved into a major launch area
for projects connected with the peaceful explora-
tion of space, including the orbiting of satellites
and manned vehicles.
These new roles coincided with the creation of
the National Aeronautics and Space Administra-
tion in 1958, whose field office at the Cape was
known as the NASA Launch Operations Center
prior to November 28, 1963. Its name was changed
to Kennedy Space Center, NASA as a result of an
Executive Order by President Lyndon B. Johnson
designating the Cape and Merritt Island launch
facilities as the John F. Kennedy Space Center.
While the Air Force is in charge of the launch
facilities and the range, NASA is responsible for
preparing and launching unmanned and manned
space vehicles for non-military missions.
The Kennedy Space Center operates the space-
port on Merritt Island, the same one from which
three Apollo astronauts will be blasted aloft by
the mighty Saturn V rocket on the first leg of their
quarter of a million mile journey to the moon.


This is how Cape Kennedy appeared before it be-
came the nation's principal missile test center and
spaceport.


Cape Kennedy has come a long way since Ponce
de Leon's day-it has been the base for accomplish-
ments which had been considered impossible only
a few short years ago. In fact, it is probably as
well known as another of de Leon's discoveries-
Florida.
(Jules Verne, in his science fiction book "From
Earth to the Moon," written in 1865, had selected
"Tampa Town" as the launch site for his manned
lunar flight. In choosing this Florida city, which,
incidentally, is located directly across the Sunshine
State from Cape Kennedy, Verne said it was an
ideal area since it was deserted except for a few
forts used to stave off roving Indians.)








Prior to 1950, only the
Coast G u a r d light-
house dotted the now-
famous spit of land.












Looking North over
ICBM Row. These
launch stands were
originally constructed
for Atlas and Titan in-
tercontinental missile
tests. Pads are now
used for both manned
and unmanned space
projects.


.. j-i* ---- AM











U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

". in a very real sense, the road to the Moon is paved
with bricks, steel, and concrete here on earth."-James E. Webb,
Administrator, National Aeronautics and Space Administration


Building a spaceport is a monumental under- handled ir
taking to say the least. And the men and women the total
attached to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Force Bas
Canaveral District, are proud of their challenging Center ex(
role, probably one of the greatest since the Pyra-
mids were constructed in ancient Egypt. Although
trict is con
The Canaveral District was created on May 1, at peak st
1963, to supervise the design and construction of
facilities in this area for the Department of T hea re
Defense and for the National Aeronautics and Me assemb
Space Administration. Before the local office was er fr
operational, this task was handled by the Corps' Rver ro
Jacksonville, Fla., District. manned m
from the
The Corps does not do the actual building; in- locally as
stead, it delegates all of the construction and most the John I
of the design work to private industry under con-
tracts it awards, supervises, and administers.n e
new space
In its first two years of operation, the Canaveral backbone
District completed $261 million of construction- This comp
and broke all Corps records for aerospace work quarter-m


a similar length of time. In mid-1965,
value of new facilities at Patrick Air
e, Cape Kennedy, and the Kennedy Space
needed $500 million.
h a military organization, the local dis-
nprised mainly of civilian personnel who,
;rength, numbered 600.
atest project facing the Canaveral Corps
ling the launch area of tomorrow on
and-which is located across the Banana
m Cape Kennedy. The nation's first
.oon rockets will be assembled and fired
lerritt Island Launch Area-referred to
MILA (MY-la), though officially tagged
?. Kennedy Space Center, NASA.
largest single construction job at this
port is NASA's Launch Complex 39, the
of the manned lunar landing program.
lex extends from the two launch pads, a
ile from the edge of the Atlantic Ocean


Home of the Canaveral District, U. S. Army Corps of Engi-
neers, located on Merritt Island, near Cape Kennedy


1110 Mrvl 1111

IOII~IIUI I




































Col. W. L. Starnes
Canaveral District Engineer


north of the Cape, to the huge Vehicle Assembly
Building, 31/ miles inland. The complex also in-
cludes a number of support facilities, a barge har-
bor, and a super-strong Crawlerway over which
the assembled rockets and spacecraft will be trans-
ported to the launch site.
The Saturn V moon rocket and its three-man
Apollo spacecraft will be assembled and checked out
in the controlled environment of the 52-story tall
VAB, the world's largest building in terms of
volume. The VAB has 129 million cubic feet of
space and is nearly twice as large as the huge Pen-
tagon in Washington, D.C. It is also considerably
larger than the Great Pyramid of Cheops, which
was man's most enormous building for 45 centu-
ries. (Pentagon has 77,000,000 cubic feet; Cheops,
96,000,000 cubic feet.)
The VAB is as long as two football fields (716
feet), is 525 feet high, 518 feet wide, and covers
71/ acres. Its four doors on the High Bay are the
largest ever placed on a building-they are 456
feet high; 152 feet wide at the bottom, and 76 feet
wide at the top.
The spaceport's main building has a 10,000-ton
capacity air conditioning unit-sufficient to cool


nine large Miami Beach hotels or sufficient to take
care of more than 3,000 average size homes. If left
unchecked, the world's largest building will create
its own weather-it might be raining inside while
the Florida sun is blazing outside.
Built on fill dredged from the Banana River, the
VAB is supported by 4,225 steel legs-16-inch di-
ameter pipe pilings driven 150 to 170 feet to bed-
rock. If placed end to end, these pilings would
stretch from Washington, D.C., to Philadelphia,
Pa., a distance of 130 miles.
Some 57,000 tons of structural steel, which form
the skeleton of the building, are on top of this mas-
sive foundation. And over this framework are more
than a million square feet of metal siding.
The VAB's blueprints, if laid end to end, would
extend from Little Rock to Hot Springs, Arkansas,
and back again, a span of more than 100 miles.
The tallest building south of the Washington
Monument, the VAB cost more than $100 million.
Its prime contractors were Morrison-Knudsen
Company, Boise, Idaho, and Perini Corporation,
and Paul Hardeman, Inc.
Adjacent to the VAB and attached to it by an
enclosed bridge is the four-story Launch Control
Center. Engineers will supervise the Saturn's
countdown and launch from this building, located
more than three miles from the pad. Four firing
rooms occupy the Center's third floor, providing
personnel with both visual and television views of
the moon rocket's lift-off.
A 44-story high Mobile Launcher (formerly
known as LUT-Launcher-Umbilical Tower), will
be used to support the Apollo/Saturn V on its three
mile trip to the pad. Both the nine million pound
tower and the half-million pound unfueled rocket
will be lifted aboard a huge tractor-like machine
dubbed the Crawler-Transporter, whose tabletop
surface is as large as a baseball diamond infield.
The Crawler is 131 feet long, 114 feet wide, and
weighs six million pounds. When fully loaded, it
travels at 1 mile per hour over a super-reinforced
Crawlerway which is 61/-feet thick. Its two lanes
are spaced on 90-foot centers to match the tractor
units of the Crawler-Transporter. Each lane is 40
feet wide.
Prime contractor for each of the two $5 million
crawlers is Marion Power Shovel Company of
Marion, Ohio. American Machine and Foundry,
York, Pa., is responsible for its hydraulic leveling
and steering systems; General Electric provides
the machine's electrical generators.
The first launch area built for Complex 39, Pad
A, covers nearly a quarter-square mile and is 48
feet above sea level at its center. It is a cellular-type





























































'- Jll1

j ^ ---j 2, -|

*C-c. =-.l
x.->...- '" -


Pilings for the
/ Vehicle Assembly Building's foundation
being driven 160 feet into bedrock.



structure and contains 120,000 cubic yards of con-
Screte, enough to provide the foundations for several
modern skyscrapers.
Also included in the Pad A area are a two-story
concrete building-housing environmental control
systems and pad terminal equipment-and a single
story high pressure gas storage building.
A series of tunnels connect underground termi-
nals with the pad surface. A 24-foot wide perimeter
road encircles the area.
After two years of construction, Pad A is nearly
completed-Pad B was 50 per cent finished as of
Fall 1965.
S- Construction of the greater part of Complex 39
S is scheduled to be completed in 1966.
Five miles south of this huge complex is the
Merritt Island Industrial Area, whose more than
50 buildings and laboratories house its support and
administrative facilities.
The Merritt Island Industrial Area resembles a
small city-it has a post office, cafeteria, fire sta-
tion, power station, sewage plant, auditorium, and
railroad yard.
Two of the largest buildings in this complex are
I the Kennedy Space Center Headquarters Building
Sand the Manned Spacecraft Operations Building.
The KSC Headquarters Building is the adminis-
trative center for all Merrit Island launch area
activities. It is three stories high, contains 320,000
square feet, and houses the KSC director (Dr.
Kurt H. Debus), his staff, and other management
personnel.
The Manned Spacecraft Operations Building is
S the field center for NASA's Manned Space-
craft Center, Houston, Tex. The two-man Gemini



total of 57,000 tons and 45,000 separate
pieces of steelwork form the framework for
:, the Vehicle Assembly Building.


*-- '
I S The world's largest building-the VAB-
." ..... -- begins to take shape. One of the three Mobile
.-,; .. iS.. "Launchers is seen at rear of building.


i'

-53


E I a '' ''
5~






























A steel beam
autographed by
hundreds of persons
who worked on
the VAB is used to
"top out" the build-
ing, April 1965.




The 52-story-tall
VAB towers over
Launch Control
Center,
right foreground.


*~ .41


I
II


-;-Li-h




















One of the
Crawler-Transporters that
will be used to carry the
huge Saturn V rocket and its
Apollo spacecraft from the
Vehicle Assembly Building
to the launch pad,
Ia distance of three miles.








Crawler-Transporter with Mobile
Launcher moving down
Crawlerway. The 44-story high
launcher will support
Apollo-Saturn V spacecraft
en route to the pad.






































vehicles are assembled and inspected within this
building-the up-coming three-man Apollo craft
also will be serviced here prior to its mission. Pre-
launch living quarters for the astronauts and a
number of offices and laboratories are also
housed in the Manned Spacecraft Operations
Building.
Another series of buildings in the industrial area
compose the Fluid Test Complex, used for checking
out propellants for the Gemini and Apollo space-
craft. Included are a Hypergolic Test Building (for
working on fuels which ignite spontaneously upon
contact with each other) and a Cyrogenic Test
Building (for propellants which must be maintained
at super-cool temperatures).
Running north and south through Merritt Island
are a highway and a railroad which are links to
major roadways and rail trunk lines. The 13-mile-
long NASA Causeway, built under the supervision
of the Canaveral District, spans both the Indian
and Banana Rivers and connects Merritt Island
with the Florida mainland to the west and Cape
Kennedy to the east.
The 16-mile-long Merritt Island railroad system
connects the industrial area with the main line of
the Florida East Coast Railway system.
More than 5,000 persons work in the Merritt
Island Industrial Area, which is capable of accom-
modating a work force of 10,000.


Pad A of Lunar Complex 39 nearing completion in
April 1965 after two years of construction.


Concrete and steel reinforcing bars give form to
Pad B of Complex 39 as construction passes half-
way point in July 1965.










































































PE KENNEDY MERRITT ISLAND,


Overview of
Cape Kennedy,
John F.
Kennedy Space
Center, and
surrounding
Central Florida
communities.










































The Corps' Canaveral District also supervised
construction of the Air Force Titan III launch sys-
tem at Cape Kennedy, known as the Integrate-
Transfer-Launch concept (ITL).
The ITL is constructed in the Banana River, on
nearly 5 million cubic yards of earth dredged from
the river as its fill.
The ITL's major components are the Vertical
Integration Building (VIB), Solid Motor Assembly
Building (SMAB) and launch complexes 40 and 41.
The Titan III core vehicle is assembled on a steel
transporter in the VIB and is then moved on rail
cars to the SMAB where the core is mated with two
solid boosters. The Titan III-C, the new configura-
tion, is pushed on its transporter by two diesel loco-
motives to launch complex 40 or 41, from where the
Air Force's most powerful booster is fired.
Also at Cape Kennedy, the Corps has worked on
nearly all of the launch and support structures,
including the preparation of Complex 19 for the
manned Gemini flights, the initial design and con-
struction of Saturn Launch Complexes 34 and 37,
and the more recent modification of these com-
plexes for the Saturn 1B program.


Air Force Titan III project area being constructed
on man-made land in the Banana River, adjacent
to Cape Kennedy.

Vertical Integration Building, left, and Solid Motor
Assembly Building, right rear, two major compo-
nents of Titan III facility.
















,"UI'


Interior view during construction of 23-story-tall
Vertical Integration Building, where the Titan III
core vehicle is assembled.


9.






Railroad tracks used to Transport Titan III rocket
stages, link VIB, front, with SMAB, rear, and other
parts of complex.

Port Canaveral Locks, a waterway link between
the Atlantic Ocean, extreme rear, and the Banana
River barge channel on which rocket stages are
brought to the Kennedy Space Center.


I


s


--
















I r-



11Uj -


Manned Spacecraft Operations Building, largest
structure in the Merritt Island Industrial Area,
being enlarged.


Aerial view
VAB.


of Launch Control Center adjacent to


Newest of the Canaveral District's many projects
is in the field of communications, with closed circuit
television and intercom systems for the Kennedy
Space Center.


The Corps also played a major role in construct-
ing the Port Canaveral barge locks and bridge. The
locks, dedicated on June 21, 1965, allow barges
carrying Saturn stages to navigate in deep water
channels.


Army Corps personnel install closed
circuit television and intercom sys-
tems for the Kennedy Space Center.


Complex 37 at Cape Kennedy, com-
pleted in 1963, used to launch Saturn
1 rockets, the forerunner to the
larger lunar vehicles.













The Air Force Eastern Test Range


It was apparent from the German V-1 and V-2
rockets-and their high explosive payloads hurled
against British and French cities during World
War II- that a new form of warfare had been
initiated. Indications were that missiles were
destined to be a permanent part of man's weapons
arsenal.
Even though the United States had ignored its
own rocket pioneers during the two decades pre-
ceding World War II, it completely revamped its
previous disinterested role even before the war was
over in Europe. The American Government in-
vited more than 100 German engineers and tech-
nicians who had been the backbone of the V-2 sites
on the Baltic island of Peenemunde to come to the
U.S.
The Russians, who no doubt had the same idea
-to reap the enemy's brains and rocket hard-
ware-reached Peenemunde after the American


offer was accepted by nearly all of the German
rocket experts who chose the Stars and Stripes
over the hammer and sickle. These engineers,
along with 300 freight cars loaded with rocket
parts and secret documents, came to the U. S. A.
under "Operation Paperclip."
America's postwar missile testing centered at
the White Sands Proving Ground in New Mexico,
an area which was ideal for short-range flights.
But this testing site rapidly became too small to
accommodate more sophisticated research and de-
velopment missions, ones which needed consider-
ably more "elbowroom" away from populated
cities.
For this reason, in October 1946, a joint com-
mittee of military officers from the various ser-
vices undertook to locate a site for a long range
proving ground. A year later, the group suggested
that this launch area be located at Cape Canaveral,


Entrance sign to Patrick Air Force Base on public Highway AlA.


*1 ;





































Impressive headquarters building of the Air Force Eastern Test Range located at the Patrick base.


Florida, which would be the first station in a
vast range extending hundreds, and eventually
thousands, of miles over the Atlantic and Indian
Oceans.
The Cape was ideal for this purpose not only
because of its natural access to open oceans but
also since it was located only 15 miles north of the
World War II Banana River Naval Air Station,
which could be rebuilt to house support facilities
and personnel for the proposed missile test center.
Its air and water shipping lanes, coupled with the
constant mild Florida temperatures, also added
support for its selection.
A few months after the military committee sub-
mitted its endorsement of the Cape, the Depart-
ment of the Air Force formed a new office-the
National Guided Missile Range Group-composed
of the original members, or their designated re-
placements, of the earlier military organization.
(Then Brigadier General William L. Richardson,
who headed this Air Force group, later served as
the first commander of the missile test range from
1950-1954.)
Altogether, it took two years of political ma-
neuvering from the time the Cape was first sug-
gested as the nation's principal missile test area
until it was formally named the Joint Long Range
Proving Ground-in accordance with congres-
sional and presidential approval in May 1949.


(The "joint" was dropped from the original name
a year later.)
The next month the new Florida test center
assumed jurisdiction of the Banana River Naval
Air Station, which was renamed Patrick Air Force
Base on August 1, 1950, in honor of Maj. Gen.
Mason M. Patrick, former chief of the Air Service.
Once the land area at Cape Canaveral was pur-
chased from its private owners, construction began
at this piece of real estate that has since become
one of the most valuable and famous in the world.
The Air Force was placed in charge of develop-
ing the launch sites, the downrange island tracking
stations, and also supervising security clearances
of civilian personnel working at this important
project.
The newest branch of the Armed Forces per-
formed its task well and the first missile was
launched at the Cape less than a year after the Air
Force assumed jurisdiction.
Another major name change occurred in June
1951 when the Long Range Proving Ground Divi-
sion was redesignated the Air Force Missile Test
Center (AFMTC). The Florida Missile Test Range
was redesignated the Atlantic Missile Range
(AMR) in May 1958.
The most significant change occurredd in No-
vember 1963 when Cape Canaveral was changed to
Cape Kennedy-a few months later the AFMTC



























































Technical Laboratory Building at
Patrick Air Force Base with missile display.
Flight data are analyzed here;
exhibit is a popular tourist attraction.


; i-i
''1'~



d b rP'







and AMR became the Air Force Eastern Test
Range (AFETR), its present name, with Cape
Kennedy Air Force Station as its launch area. In
1964, the National Range Division (NRD) was
created to include the nation's two major missile
test sites-the Eastern Test Range and the Western
Test Range, at Vandenburg Air Force Base, Cali-
fornia, in a global range concept.
(Commander of the National Range Division
is Lieutenant General Leighton I. Davis.)
Prior to 1953, the Air Force maintained sup-
port facilities not only at the Cape and Patrick,
but also at the downrange tracking island stations.
In 1953, it contracted the majority of these duties
to a civilian organization-the Guided Missiles
Range Division of Pan American World Airways-
which is still the principal housekeeping agency
for the now 10,000-mile-long "shooting gallery."
Pan Am is also responsible for the instrumentation
systems on the fleet of ocean range ships that link
downrange islands with one another and the Cape.
Pan Am, in turn, has subcontracted certain
duties to the Radio Corporation of America. These
include missile flight data processing, tracking in-
strumentation, and communications links between
the islands and the mainland launch site.
The Air Force's range safety officers have been
protecting lives and property along the flight paths
of missiles during the past 15 years. And to their
credit there has been no loss of life or damage to
private property as a result of a "runaway" missile.
The Air Force also provides launch and track-
ing support to the civilian National Aeronautics
and Space Administration, charged with pursuing
the peaceful exploration of space. (The DOD also
plays a major role in NASA's manned launches
since space capsules are recovered at sea.)
The Eastern Test Range is a division of the
Air Force Systems Command, which has responsi-
bility for researching, developing and testing
rocket boosters, satellites, space hardware, and
space probes for the Department of Defense. (Gen-
eral B. A. Schriever heads the Air Force Systems
Command.)
The United States' missile and peaceful space
programs have come a long way since the Air Force
spearheaded construction and early testing at Cape
Canaveral more than 15 years ago. In fact, the
Air Force has supported the countdowns and range
instrumentation for more than 1,600 major launch-
ings-missiles as well as vehicles carrying satellites
and men.
From the early winged and air-breathing mis-
siles to the mighty Titan III and Saturn launch
vehicles, the nation has relied heavily on the Air
Force's technological and practical skills demon-
strated at Cape Kennedy and throughout its track-
ing network.
The Air Force is truly a major link in the U. S.
aerospace team.


Mason M. Patrick, 1863-1942


On August 1, 1950, the World War II Banana River
Naval Air Station was renamed Patrick Air Force
Base in honor of the late Maj. Gen. Mason M.
Patrick, former chief of the Air Service from
1921-1927.




























Major General William Lloyd Richardson Major General Donald N. Yates
Commander, 1950-1954 Commander, 1954-1960


The Commanding Generals of the Eastern Test Range

Lieutenant General Leighton Ira Davis Brigadier General Harry J. Sands, Jr.
Commander, 1960-1964 Vice Commander, 1961-1964, Commander, 1964


Ir~"t-~kAL~~ -~gS~,
















































"The Air Force Eastern Test Range will provide
appropriate range support services in the areas of
launch, network, public information, communica-
tions, safety, salvage, security, and such other sup-
port services as may be available and needed."
-Maj. Gen. Huston


Vincent G. Huston was born on 23 May 1914 in
Norristown, Pennsylania. He attended Drexel In-
stitute of Technology, Philadelphia, Pennsylania,
majoring in Electrical Engineering.
General Huston enlisted in the National Guard
in January 1938, received his second lieutenant
commission in February 1938, and entered pilot
training in March 1938 at Air Force Flying School,
Kelly Field, Texas. He also attended Maintenance
Engineering School, Chanute Field, Illinois, in
1939.
Until 1943, he was given radar and electronics
assignments at Wright Field, Ohio.
From 1943 to 1945, he served in the Asiatic
Pacific and was active in the following campaigns:
Northern Solomons; Bismarck-Archipelago; and
Eastern Mandates.
General Huston's assignments after returning
to the States included a tour at Wright Field, Ohio,
in Directorate of Procurement and Production,
Headquarters, Air Materiel Command. In July
1947, he was named Assistant Chief, Inspection
Section, Wright Field, Ohio. He was transferred
to Aeronautical Equipment Section as Chief in
January 1948.
General Huston took the Joint Operations
Fourth Class at Armed Forces Staff College, Nor-
folk, Virginia, from August 1948 to December 1948
and was then assigned as Chief of Maintenance,
Directorate of Materiel, Headquarters SAC, Offutt
AFB, Nebraska.
In September 1952, he was assigned as Air
Force Member, Military Application Division,
Atomic Energy Commission, Washington, D. C.
and became Deputy Director, Military Application
Division in September 1953. In September 1955,
he became Deputy Director, Directorate of Nuclear
Systems, Headquarters, ARDC.
General Huston was assigned as Commander,
3079th Aviation Depot Wing, Wright-Patterson
AFB, with additional duty as Assistant for Special
Weapons, Headquarters, AMC on 16 May 1957. In
February 1958, he attended the Advanced Manage-
ment Program, Harvard University, Massachu-
setts, for three months and then returned to his
previous assignment.
In July 1960, General Huston was assigned as
Commander of Air Materiel Forces, Pacific Area,
at Tachikawa, Japan.
In June 1962, General Huston was assigned to
Headquarters, Pacific Air Forces, Hickam AFB,
Hawaii, as Assistant Chief of Staff, Materiel.
In July 1964, General Huston was assigned as
Commander of the Air Force Eastern Test Range.
On 19 July 1964, he was promoted to the rank of
Major General.
General and Mrs. Huston have a daughter,
Patricia Frances.
He is rated a command pilot.













The John F. Kennedy Space Center, NASA


In addition to the military services, the Na-
tional Aeronautics and Space Administration is
using Cape Kennedy launch pads and the Eastern
Test Range extensively to support its peaceful
space program. These projects include manned
space flights, development of scientific satellites
and unmanned interplanetary spacecraft, and in-
ternational cooperation programs.
NASA was established on July 29, 1958, and
activated on October 1, 1958, under a provision
of the space act which centers on four main objec-
tives: (1) To conduct the scientific exploration of
space for the United States; (2) To begin the ex-
ploration of space and the solar system by man
himself; (3) To apply space science and technology
to the development of earth satellites for peaceful
purposes to promote human welfare; and (4) To
apply space science and technology to military
purposes for national defense and security. NASA
is concerned with promoting all but the last provi-
sion; this one has been delegated to the Defense
Department.
NASA came into being a year after the Soviet
Union orbited Sputnik I, the world's first man-
made earth satellite. Five months later, the new
government agency scored its first major mark
in aerospace development when its engineers suc-
cessfully orbited the Vanguard II satellite on Feb-
ruary 17, 1959. A few weeks after this historic
launching, NASA's Pioneer IV spacecraft became
the first U. S. vehicle to orbit the sun. (America's
first satellite orbited, Explorer 1, had been sent
aloft on January 31, 1958, by the Army Ballistic
Missile Agency and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory
-before the latter organization became part of
NASA.)
The new space agency descended from the Na-
tional Advisory Committee for Aeronautics
(NACA), which had helped the U. S. maintain its
lead in aviation research and development during
the 43 years prior to NASA's establishment.
Following passage of the space act, the existing
aeronautics department's 8,000 personnel and ex-
perimental facilities were placed under the juris-
diction of the newly-created space agency. Trans-
ferred were the Langley Research Center, Vir-
ginia, Ames Research Center, California, Lewis
Research Center, Ohio, and the Flight Research
Center, Edwards Air Force Base, California. The
NACA rocket launching facility at Wallops Island,
Virginia, also was absorbed.
NASA's first administrator was Dr. T. Keith


Glennan. He was succeeded by James E. Webb in
1961, who has held this post since that time. The
late Dr. Hugh L. Dryden, a former chairman of
NACA, served as NASA's deputy administrator
since its founding until his death.
In 1958, President Dwight D. Eisenhower, by
executive order, transferred several space projects
from the military to NASA. These included the
Explorer space probes, the proposed Army TIROS
weather satellites, and the development of the
Saturn and Centaur launch vehicles-formerly
under the direction of the Army and Air Force,
respectively.
NASA's Launch Operations Center was estab-
lished on July 1, 1962, at then Cape Canaveral to
provide administrative and technological support
for all launches under its supervision. (NASA had
been using the range since 1958.)
The Launch Operations Center also was placed
in charge of developing non-military construction
projects at the Cape and at NASA's newly-acquired
88,000-acre tract of land on Merritt Island, ad-
jacent to the Cape. In only three years NASA has
transformed these former citrus groves on Merritt
Island into the nation's spaceport, the same one
from which three Apollo astronauts will depart
for the moon in 1970. The enormous Vehicle As-
sembly Building and the two Saturn V launch pads
are only part of the story.
This scientific city of the space age also houses
(Continued on page 36)


James E. Webb, Administrator, Na-
tional Aeronautics and Space Admin-
istration









Dr. Kurt H. Debus, Director,
Kennedy Space Center, NASA




Dr. Kurt H. Debus is the Director of the John F.
Kennedy Space Center, National Aeronautics and
Space Administration. The Center launches
manned and unmanned space vehicles in the na-
tional space program.
Born in Frankfurt, Germany, November 29,
1908, Dr. Debus is the son of the late Heinrich P.
Debus and Melly Debus, who lives in Frankfurt,
West Germany. He attended high school at the
Liebig-Oberrealschule, then entered Darmstadt
University where he received his initial and ad-
vanced degrees in mechanical and electrical engi-
neering. While studying for his Masters degree,
Dr. Debus served as a graduate assistant on the
faculty for electrical engineering and high-voltage
engineering. He received his Masters degree in
1935. In 1939 he obtained his Doctor of Engineer-
ing with a thesis on surge voltages and was ap-
pointed assistant professor at the University. In
1943, he became actively engaged in the rocket
research program at Peenemunde.
In November, 1945, Dr. Debus came to the
United States with a group of scientists and engi-
neers headed by Dr. Wernher von Braun. They
undertook ballistic missile development projects
at Fort Bliss, Texas, for the United States Army.
In 1950 the group was moved to Redstone Arsenal,
Huntsville, Alabama which became the focal point
of the Army's rocket and space programs. Dr.
Debus and the other members of the group became
American citizens.
As the chief of the missile firing element, Dr.
Debus was given his initial assignment at Cape
Canaveral, Florida in 1952. He supervised the
launching of the first ballistic missile fired from
the Cape, an Army Redstone, on August 20, 1953.
Since then his team has successfully launched sev-
eral hundred missiles and space vehicles including
the first U. S. earth satellite, Explorer I, January
31, 1958; the first U. S. space probe to orbit the
sun, Pioneer IV; and all the nation's manned Mer-
cury and Gemini missions.
The Center is presently completing facilities on
Merritt Island, adjacent to Cape Kennedy, from
which to launch a new and larger class of space
vehicles, such as the Saturn V which is scheduled
to launch Astronauts to the moon and return them
before the end of this decade. The Kennedy Space
Center will conduct all Saturn launch operations
including assembly of the vehicles and the Apollo
spacecraft.
Dr. Debus joined the National Aeronautics and
Space Administration July 1, 1960, when the Presi-
dent of the United States transferred the organiza-


tion headed by Dr. von Braun to NASA. He con-
tinued to supervise missile and space vehicle
launching as Director of the Launch Operations
Center, which was renamed the Kennedy Space
Center in December, 1963 in honor of the late Pres-
ident John F. Kennedy.
Several honors have been conferred upon Dr.
Debus in recognition of his unique technical ac-
complishments. The U. S. Army gave him its high-
est civilian decoration, the Exceptional Civilian
Service Medal, in April, 1959. He was elected a
Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics
and Astronautics and an honorary member of the
German Rocket Society. In recognition of his pio-
neering work in U. S. rocketry, he received the
Scott Medal, awarded by the American Ordnance
Association's Missiles and Astronautics division.
He is also a member of the Board of Governors of
the National Space Club, the Advisory Board of
Brevard Engineering College, and the Manage-
ment Council, Office of Manned Space Flight,
NASA.
Dr. Debus and his wife, Gay, reside at Cocoa
Beach, Florida. They have two daughters, Sigrid,
a student at Florida State University, and Ute, a
graduate of Vanderbilt University, who is the wife
of Dr. Adam Matheny of Baltimore, Maryland.


'.0















I-L-~i~ l


Artist's drawing of Vehicle Assembly Building
and Mobile Launch Tower/Saturn V moon rocket
being transported by Crawler to launch pad,
hopefully by 1970.
Barge turning basin is in the foreground.


SPACE CENTER (Continued from page 34)
more than 50 buildings concentrated in an indus-
trial area. It maintains a branch office for the
Manned Spacecraft Center, Houston, Texas, and
checks out Gemini spacecraft prior to launch.
Here, astronauts have duplicate training facilities
similar to those found at Houston. A Mission Con-
trol Center, also identical to the one at Houston, is
housed at the Kennedy Space Center, allowing a
Gemini flight to be directed from either installa-
tion.
The vast NASA installation became part of the
John F. Kennedy Space Center which was desig-
nated by Executive Order on November 28, 1963.


Its primary objectives remained the same as its
predecessor-the Launch Operations Center.
On October 1, 1965, NASA consolidated its un-
manned launch activities at both the Eastern and
Western Test Ranges under the Kennedy Space
Center. This means that the Florida-based Ken-
nedy Space Center is now supervising the checkout
and launch of all NASA launch vehicles except the
solid propellant Scout rockets which are developed
and launched at Wallops Island, Virginia, and the
Western Test Range in California.
Commenting on the consolidation, Dr. Kurt H.
Debus, Kennedy Space Center director said: "Un-
der the skillful management of Robert Gray, the
Goddard team and its associated industrial con-


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Kennedy Space Center Headquarters Building


tractors have compiled an outstanding record in
support of NASA's unmanned investigations of
space. The addition of their exceptional compe-
tence in both launch vehicle and spacecraft prepa-
ration broadens the Kennedy Space Center's re-
sponsibilities to include all of NASA's launch
vehicles."
(The Goddard team-a division of the Goddard
Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland-has
launched more than half of all NASA satellites.
Rangers, Mariners, Echos, Relays, and Syncoms
are among the payloads launched by this group.)
This move was another step to consolidate re-
lated NASA groups under a single field center.


Earlier in 1965, the manned spacecraft organiza-
tion, previously established by the Manned Space-
craft Center at Houston, became part of the Ken-
nedy Space Center. Its chief, G. Merritt Preston,
became KSC's Deputy Director for Launch Opera-
tions.
More than 14,000 civilians, earning a total
yearly income of nearly $300 million, provide the
necessary manpower at the Kennedy Space Center.
(About half of these persons are contracted by
private industry; the remainder are civil ser-
vants.) These persons, as well as their respective
offices and divisions, do not operate in a vacuum.
That is, they interact with 24 federal agencies and












































Dr. Kurt H. Debus, Director, Kennedy Space Center,
cuts cake commemorating the addition
of Goddard Launch Operations to KSC in late 1965.
Robert Gray, then newly-appointed director
for Unmanned Launch Operations, looks on.


thousands of civilian companies engaged in the
aerospace research and development field.
The Kennedy Space Center is truly a city in
itself and requires centralized planning and organ-
ization. NASA has contracted this important ser-
vice to Trans World Airlines, whose role at KSC
may be compared to that of an administrative city
manager. TWA is responsible for security, fire,
and medical services as well as supply and mainte-
nance operations.
NASA is probably best known to the man on
the street for its role in manned flights, but, as
noted here and throughout the book, it has a great
many additional duties centered around the peace-


ful exploration of space. It is through this detailed
research and development that systems are made
safe for astronauts.
The NASA family at Cape Kennedy and the
Kennedy Space Center, like its military counter-
part, has become an integral part of Brevard
County community life. Its members also function
as a team away from the job to make Brevard one
of the most progressive counties in the nation.
The NASA branch at this Florida installation
has grown right along with its parent organization,
which probably will become one of the most im-
portant in the U. S. Government during the next
few years.












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Artist Don Mackey's concept of Kennedy Space
nities.


Inside America's Spaceport


This section is designed to take the reader be-
hind the scenes at both Cape Kennedy and the John
F. Kennedy Space Center, NASA. The first few
pages present an overview of many of the sights
shown tourists on weekend drive-throughs.
Also considered are the many preparations and
techniques needed to launch a rocket as well as
sustain it during flight. Range safety and down-
range tracking facilities are discussed here.
The reader will relive President John F. Ken-
nedy's last visit to the Cape a few days before he
was assassinated. One of President Lyndon B.
Johnson's tours is also highlighted in this section.
"Inside America's Spaceport" contains a sum-


Center, Cape Kennedy, and neighboring Florida commu-


mary of the major types of rockets fired from Cape
Kennedy and its earlier namesake- Cape Canav-
eral-from the first launch on July 24, 1950, to
today's sophisticated flights.
A 16-page Color Portfolio depicting the high-
lights of both manned and unmanned space flight
is located at the center of the book.
The remainder of this section examines manned
space flight, satellites, and the members of the
press who keep millions throughout the world in-
formed on the events taking place at this busy news
dateline.
America's spaceport-the gateway to the uni-
verse and beyond.







- 7


One of the nation's most travelled
highways-Cocoa Beach's and
Cape Canaveral City's AlA-
used by workers to and from
the Cape. Highway to the left
leads to Merritt Island and
the Cocoa mainland.















Fourteen-thousand vehicles
enter and leave the Cape and
Kennedy Space Center daily-
most of them via the South Gate.

















Upon entering the South Gate,
Port Canaveral is clearly visible.
It is the home base for the
range's tracking ships as well
as a port for Polaris-firing
nuclear submarines.


*cL41;










































Each year, thousands of persons from all over
the nation and the world receive a close-up view of
America's spaceport-Cape Kennedy and the Ken-
nedy Space Center- when they take weekend
drive-through tours of these facilities.
The Air Force sponsors the Cape tour, which
allows visitors to see the launch complexes used
for both manned flight and military ballistic mis-
sile testing. Also included is an exterior glimpse of
the key buildings which contain support instru-
mentation.
NASA is in charge of the Merritt Island space-
port tour-which includes a close-up look at the
huge Vehicle Assembly Building, the Crawler-
Transporter, and the industrial area.
The entrance point for the Cape tour is at the
South Gate, the one closest to Port Canaveral. The
Merritt Island spaceport tour route begins off of
U. S. Highway 1 between Titusville and Cocoa, Fla.
Both tours last about an hour and visitors are
permitted to take pictures.
There is no charge and persons receive detailed
brochures outlining the nation's military and
peaceful goals of aerospace research and develop-
ment programs.


On weekend drive-throughs at the Cape, tourists
are greeted at the gate by Air Force personnel.


At NASA's spaceport entrance on Merritt Island,
Gordon L. Harris, chief of KSC's Public Affairs
Office, welcomes the first carload of tourists in
January 1965. Spaceport entrance is located off
of U. S. Highway 1 between Titusville and Cocoa,
Florida.













Cape tour route provides persons with interesting
look behind the scenes.


Tourists drive their own
vehicles in caravan style
through Cape and
Kennedy Space Center.


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NASA's Launch Complex 36
One of the many close-up views of a launch complex from touring vehicle.


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The nerve center for the Cape and
10,000-mile range-Central Control.
Range safety personnel monitor rocket
flights from this building.


In the event a rocket has to be
destroyed in flight by the
range safety officer, the signal
is sent from the Command
Destruct Building. (Radio
signal detonates an on-board
explosives package.)


Thousands of government
personnel and those employed
by private industry work
in Cape Kennedy's industrial
area.














NASA's Hanger S was the
pre flight home of the Mercury
astronauts and contained a
pressure chamber to test
spacecraft.













The picturesque lighthouse on
the tip of Cape Kennedy is a
marked contrast with modern
rocket gantries. From a
distance, the lighthouse
resembles a rocket-and is
usually mistaken for one by
tourists witnessing a launch
for the first time.















NASA's Launch Service
Stand towers over
Complex 34 Blockhouse.
This complex was used for
testing several of the early
Saturn rockets and has been
altered to service the newer
version-the Saturn IB.


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Rocket display at the Air Force's Space Museum Records and moments of the Mercury program,
at Pad 26. the nation's first man-in-space venture, are placed
in a time capsule which will be opened in 500 years.



F.







The Project Mercury
monument attracts a great
deal of attention at the
present time among
visitors.


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Aerial Views

of

Launch Complexes

Complex 14, site of NASA's
Mercury flights and now Agena
rendezvous vehicle in Gemini.


Complex 19, the disembarkation point
for NASA's manned Gemini
space flights.













Atlas-Agena Complex 13













Titan III assembly and launch area
on three ,man-made islands on the
Banana River adjacent to
Cope Kennedy.


,-a- ,































The skid strip used to
airlift rocket stages and
other equipment to Cape
Kennedy.








NASA's advanced Saturn I
rockets were launched
from Complex 37. A
booster stage may be
seen at the base of the
gantry.






















Several quaint cemeteries are nestled
amidst the rocket hardware and support
facilities of the space age at Cape
Kennedy. The descendants requested
that the government allow these plots
to remain at the time of sale. Several
Indian burial mounds may also be found
on the Cape. A marked contrast
between today and the past century.


Tourists are permitted to drive past the world's largest building-the Vehicle Assembly Building-on
week-end visits to the John F. Kennedy Space Center. The Saturn V moon rocket will be assembled within
the structure.


























i-

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Another eye-catcher at the Spaceport are the two Crawler-Transporters, one of which is depicted here.
The large tractor-like vehicle will carry the Saturn V rocket and its 44-story-tall Mobile Launcher from the
Vehicle Assembly Building to the launch pad, a distance of more than three miles.



















t--A












Three 44-story tall Mobile Launchers, next to the Vehicle Assembly Building, are the second tallest struc-
tures at the Spaceport.


50













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KSC's Central
Instrumentation Facility
Building















Base Operations Facility
being constructed at
Kennedy Space Center.


















Aerial view of the Manned
Spacecraft Center's
Operations Building.




























Early model of Saturn rocket dwarfs personnel and former prime launch vehicles at NASA's George C.
Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Alabama. Mercury-Redstone, front foreground; Juno II,
left rear.


The Path of a Rocket from the factory to the launch pad

Saturn rocket booster being loaded on a barge near Wheeler Dam on the Tennessee River for 10-day,
2200-mile trip to Cape Kennedy.






























Saturn barge plows through the Banana River
at Cocoa, Florida, near Cape Kennedy.


Huge first stage prior to being lifted into vertical
launching position. Each of the eight engines is
capable of generating 165,000 pounds thrust or a
total of 11/2-million pounds.


A 60-ton derrick with a 90-foot boom is used to
erect Saturn's first stage in its service structure.


The rocket depicted in this section is NASA's
Saturn 1, the forerunner to a considerably more
powerful version that will orbit a manned Apollo
spacecraft for a lunar voyage by 1970.












First stage is being secured in firing
position.


Saturn S-IV second stage being unloaded from one-half of
"Pregnant Guppy" aircraft at Cape's skid strip.


S-IV second stage being mated to main
booster. The Saturn I's first four
flights used "dummy"second stages,
ones which did not contain propulsion
systems.


;?B











Boilerplate Apollo spacecraft command
module, the same type that will house
three astronauts en route to the moon,
is checked out prior to mating with
service module.


Apollo command module-which has been mated
to its service module-is hoisted to the top of the
Saturn launch vehicle.


Mating of Apollo command and service
modules with second stage of Saturn
rocket.













A highly-trained
launch crew
carefully checks the
Saturn's on-board
systems prior to
launch from
protective
blockhouse.


Two key figures of the Saturn program seated at
control console in blockhouse prior to launch-
Dr. Kurt Debus, center, KSC director, and Dr.
Wernher von Braun, director, Marshall Space
Flight Center, Huntsville.


Advanced Saturn I lifts off pad with live second
stage and boilerplate Apollo spacecraft.


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Air Force personnel report to blockhouse
to participate in missile launch.




Range Safety ... Tracking
5-

The Air Force leaves nothing to chance when a -
missile travels near populated areas. Its path is 0
followed closely by radar and optical instruments
from the second it lifts off its Cape Kennedy launch
pad until the completion of its mission-whether
it be a ballistic flight downrange or one in which -
a spacecraft or satellite is orbited. (The range
also supports tracking of manned flights with the
Manned Spaceflight Tracking Network.)
Radar systems at the Cape and throughout the ,-
downrange stations send a continuous signal from
a central transmitter to the missile as it passes
overhead. Equipment aboard the missile re-trans-
mits signals which enable the ground stations to
pinpoint its exact location.
Most of the flight data are gathered by teleme-
try, a method by which transmitters on board the
missile send information via electronic signals to
ground sites. Data may include the monitoring of
the missile's temperature, fuel supply, and other
vital systems.
Mistram (Missile Trajectory Measurement) is
the nation's newest and most accurate tracking
system. It monitors a missile's speed, position, and
acceleration rate in real time and registers these
data on ground consoles. Since this system re-
quires a great deal of space in which to operate,
there are only two of these sites along the Eastern
Test Range-at Valkaria, Fla., near Cape Kennedy
and on the downrange island of Eleuthera.
The Azusa and Glotrac (Global Tracking) sys- .*

Air Force missilemen run
through final checklist before
launching a missile on a test
flight.


The range safety officer is fol-
lowing the path of the missile
from his vantage point at Cen-
tral Control. In the event it
strays from its predetermined
course, he would push the "de-
struct" button, activating an
on-board explosives charge
which destroys the missile.






























U


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A

Azusa Mark II radar tracking site at Cape Ken-
nedy is a vital link of the range safety network.


teams require considerably less space and the latter P
can be contained within portable vans. These are
the major systems found at most of the stations.
Information received by these tracking sys-
tems is sent back to a computer at Cape Kennedy
so that the range safety officer can keep an ac-
curate check on a missile's flight path.
In the event a missile or rocket strays from its
course beyond predetermined range safety criteria,
it will have to be destroyed. The Air Force officer -.
pushes the destruct switch which sends a radio sig-
nal to detonate explosives on board the rocket. This
almost always takes place when the missile is over
water in order to protect lives and property. It is
a rarity now that destruct action need be taken. t
Optical tracking may use fixed cameras located
in the launch area or highly-sensitive tracking
telescopes which can record a rocket's staging as
far away as 100 miles.
A joint civilian-military team plans flight One of two large TLM-18 telemetry receiving
paths-the sensitive electronics instrumentation antennas at Cape Kennedy which monitor data
assures that the missile travels in accordance with about a missile's on-board systems during flight.
them. These data include the missile's altitude, fuel sup-
ply, and internal temperatures.

















Technicians operating computer which
accurately calculates missile's position
during flight ten times a second.


Several types of telescopic cameras
record powered stages of rocket flights.
This camera is located at Melbourne
Beach, Florida, which is about 25 miles
south of the Cape along the
Atlantic Coastline.


The first of two MISTRAM tracking sites is
located at Valkaria on the Florida mainland,
about 30 miles south of Cape Kennedy. The
other highly-accurate tracking unit is housed
at Eleuthera, a downrange island in the Ba-
hamas about 100 miles east of Miami.



Interior view of Valkaria MISTRAM
tracking site



















The "BU Scope" is a
television telescope built
by Boston University
and is used in high
altitude tracking.
It is housed at Patrick
Air Force Base, 15 miles
south of the Cape.


A Juno II rocket, an early launch vehicle, is shown prior to exploding over the Cape in 1959. Though a
familiar sight during the pioneering days of missile research and development, explosions and deliberate
destruction are rare nowadays.



















When a missile's flight
path is considered
correct, it is said to be
"on time and on the line"
-as noted by this happy
civilian-Air Force
group who compute
trajectories.


A Minuteman missile streaks past a telemetry receiving antenna on Cape Kennedy at the start of its 5,000-
mile night flight down the Eastern Test Range.














Downrange


The Air Force Eastern Test Range extends
10,000 miles from Cape Kennedy into the Indian
Ocean with island stations at Grand Bahama,
Eleuthera, San Salvador, Grand Turk, Antigua,
and Ascension. The last station in this chain is at
Pretoria, Republic of South Africa.
Air Force officers command these stations and
are supported by personnel of Pan American World
Airways and Radio Corporation of America who
maintain the housekeeping and tracking duties,
respectively.
The primary functions of these stations are to
radar track vehicles in flight and also receive telem-
etry data on flight performance. These data from
the upper range are relayed instantaneously via
underwater cable to Cape Kennedy. The radar
data is fed to a master computer for real-time pre-
sentation to Range Safety. In addition, the radar
data as well as telemetry information is recorded
for future evaluation of vehicle performance.
The Eastern Test Range stations also work
closely with the global tracking network used dur-
ing U. S. manned and unmanned flights.


The downrange islands maintain weather sta-
tions to keep the launch area up to date on the
latest conditions. A missile will not be sent aloft
if there is a chance weather might interfere with
its flight.
Personnel are sometimes permitted to have
their families with them, but most of these down-
range stations are located in remote areas not
suited for community living.
The islands are supplied regularly by air and
sea shipping lanes. Personnel may spend a year
or more at a time before they return home on leave.
A fleet of instrumentation ships and aircraft
complement radar tracking and data collecting op-
erations of the stations.
The Eastern Test Range's downrange stations
seldom come into the public limelight but they are
a vital link in every launch at Cape Kennedy. For
example, if a primary tracking site reports it is
unable to participate due to an equipment malfunc-
tion, the mission, no matter how important, will be
held or cancelled until repairs have been made.


























On rare occasions, a rocket blows up
on its launch pad and the elaborate
tracking stations along the range
do not play major roles in the
mission. Depicted is the fifth
launch vehicle of the Atlas-Centaur
series enveloped in flames
on its pad, March 2, 1965.







Atlas-Centaur 5 on pad prior to
explosion. This configuration is
scheduled to send an unmanned
Surveyor spacecraft on a scientific
study of the lunar surface in 1966.






A member of the Air Force explosive ordnance disposal team
detecting rocket fragments resulting from mishap. Person-
nel wear heat-resistant suits when they work in the primary
danger area around the pad.
Accurate weather forecasting is vital to manned space flight
operations. KSC Weather Bureau Chief Ernest Amman
examines data.


AL~4t~


*I


Personnel at the Patrick Air Force Base weather bureau keep a close watch on hurricanes
threaten the Cape area.


that might


*-= i


111 L: I


f ii


~plB


Mal









I.
if.






IL
;iF-
: btL


L -- '


-nounI
.;;; -A
S.m m -m


The Technical Laboratory at Patrick Air Force Base
is a vital support facility even though it is located
15 miles south of the Cape launch area. Flight data
are analyzed here; the missile display in front of
the building is a popular tourist attraction.


--~ ~II





































IJ!' -


Minuteman missile streaks past display at Technical
Building during the first leg of its 5,000 mile
night flight down the Eastern Test Range.



























Major General Vincent G. Huston, Commander of the Air Force Eastern Test Range, welcomes President
Lyndon B. Johnson arriving on his first trip to Cape Kennedy in two years on September 15, 1964. Astro-
naut Gordon Cooper descends from presidential plane at Cape's skid strip.


President Lyndon B. Johnson's Visit

to Cape and Kennedy Space Center-

September 15, 1964









James E. Webb, NASA administrator,
explains an aspect of nation's space
program to the Chief Executive. Associate
NASA Administrator Dr. Robert C.
Seamans, is at the President's left.







President Johnson catches periscope view of
Saturn launch vehicle from blockhouse.



Personal thanks extended via telephone to Kennedy Space Center
and Air Force personnel by the Chief Executive at the completion
of his extensive guided tour of the nation's spaceport.


President Johnson exchanges
friendly greetings with Astronaut
Walter Schirra, facing Mr. John-
son.


46P ~b


ni:





























President John F. Kennedy arrives at skid strip on his third and last trip to Cape on November 16, 1963,
six days before he was assassinated. He was greeted on arrival by Lt. Gen. Leighton I. Davis and Dr.
Kurt Debus.

President John F. Kennedy's Last Visit

to America's Spaceport... November 16, 1963


Cape employees line road
to view presidential mo-
torcade-JFK and other
dignitaries are riding in
lead car.














4~,.1


Associate Administrator
for NASA's Manned
Space Flight program,
Dr. George E. Mueller,
outlines the nation's lu-
nar exploration project to
President Kennedy and
other officials in Com-
plex 37 blockhouse.


Close-up view of President Kennedy during blockhouse
briefing. From left to right, Dr. Debus, President Ken-
nedy, Gen. Davis, then commander of the Atlantic Mis-
sile Range, Secretary of Defense McNamara, and
presidential aid, Mr. Thornycroft.


Florida Senator George Smathers, center, accompanies
President on Cape tour with NASA Administrator
James E. Webb.


...,
'i c~P "''~












A familiar face at
Cape Kennedy is
Congressman Olin
Teague of Texas,
chairman of the House
of Representatives
Space Committee.
Congressman Teague,
standing, chooses a
box seat for the
Gemini-four launch of
astronauts McDivitt
and White.






In a relaxed pose at Cape Kennedy in April 1964,
former Secretary of the Air Force Zuckert, extreme left,
talks with Generals Sands, center, and Davis.



Other Dignitaries

Visiting America's Spaceport


A great deal of groundwork for the
nation's spaceport was laid during
President Dwight Eisenhower's
two administrations. In February
1960, the President was greeted at
the Cape by Gen. Donald Yates,
next to President, then commander
of the Atlantic Missile Range.














Dr. Kurt Debus
welcomes Levi Eshkol,
prime minister of
Israel at Cape's skid
strip. Mrs. Debus is
at right, Mrs. Eshkol
is descending airplane
steps. Col. Henry Dittman,
Patrick AFB Commander,
is on far right.


Noted television personality Hugh Downs
interviews a range safety officer at Cape Kennedy
during his NBC "Today Show."


King Hussein of Jordon is wel-
comed to Cape in April 1964 by Dr.
Kurt Debus and key NASA and Air
Force personnel.


i`


A6, k















Film star James Stewart, extreme left, who is
also a brigadier general in the Air Force Reserve,
is greeted at Cape by Gen. Sands.


Vice President Humphrey and General Huston review the honor guard at the Cape skid strip. As Vice
President, Mr. Humphrey is Chairman of the National Aeronautics and Space Council.
















































Members of the Japanese Trade Council tour a blockhouse.







*- i

SNoted personality Walt Disney visits
Saturn complex. "Disney World" is
to be constructed near Orlando, Florida,
about 50 miles west of Cape Kennedy.









Dear Sir:
Why don't
overgrown ski
get your missile

Dear Sir:
I am the only


Dear Sir:
T i_' .. about space. I
you build an ks till 1:30 in
ramp to help hen there is no
es off? t day. I know
Billy W. buttons in a
Evanston, Ill. 1 run a mile in
-"..Lues and I'm in good
girl in our you let me go in-


space club and I have been
appointed to price and buy
food rations. Can you help
me?"n
Sandra TL


1> -1 -


Dear Sir:
I am sending you a picture
of a rocket design for your PEA1
use now or in the future. I am KAP
only 10 years old,but I am the k(ilmyD
best rocket drawer in the
whole school.
Bill A.
Pana, Ill.
PS-You may use any kind of ear Sir:
--k --- i4 igIn y od:1_


~o~rtM Ielyourn~rl I~e. I am nine years old and I
Lansdale, Pa. g vould like to go to the moon.
LandaePa Pea ease pu m on
eee b e put me on your list of


Dear Sir: tear space front be r near the bottom,
"Perhaps this may serve you "To help get your miss') Mar
ing er Alice F. because I don't want to go
in some capacity in space. A whdit M OasVice Flab
o ear ar wi y e oofof, why don't you build Brooksvll a.r just yet.
long vertical bar with very overgrown ski ramp witb Ann B.
short horizontal ends pointing overgrown s he right Ann B.
im opposite directions. In these half mi ea Sir d in tar Sir. Red Lion, Pa.
fast changing times I like to end? De interested
think every little idea will Harr- "1 am e would lik e Would you please send me
find a niche in space." Presc rocketry at .out it. p e John F. Kennedy Space
Peter R Dear Sir: kno more ,, Center ?
New York Cii "We would like to send it to me. Charles C.
something very special. It is William S. Chichigl Washington, D. C.
Dear Sir: Important, but it is top secret, ,,nminee,
We're planning a trifso we are sworn to secrecy.
outer space and we neeWe would like to have some
find our way. Will you p]folders about space and we
help us? would like to have the secret "Dere Kape Kennedy
help us? Julie H. fuel that makes the rockets "Dere Kape Kennedy"
Findlay, O go up. What is it made of?
We know it is important, but The nation's spaceport receives thou-
uear Sir: we need it badly."
"Please send me one of your All of us, sands of letters from private citizens re-
used space capsules. I want Syracuse, N. Y. u+;tn nform i n abua h m-
used pace apsuls. I ant t,:o L11i 1L'J fl-h,-, f-lo+ fl ChflJ ,- U-h fr. ,- -,


it to play with." Dear Sir:


Philip G.
Belle Glade,


Why are you spending so
F much money on space and
things that aren't needed,
when people are starving.
Peter M.
Cleveland, Ohio
PS-I am only 10, and do not
know what I am talking
About.

Please send me some infor-
pmation about your Jim and I
program


Dear Sir:
My boy friend and I have Ernest T.
a space club and we would Baton Rouge, La.
like the supplies for the Mars
rocket. We think you should
send kids to Mars, because Dear Sir:* years old, a
e is something danger I ame a b 1 Co.
there You wouldn't have fhva or inea
waste spacemen. Besides v train "9 -What yO
always wanted to be great. Space travel rocket fuel
Billy P. works twice
Queen Creek, Ariz.


IC
1


1 should use I
is Bufferin. 1
as fastI"
Tommy VW.
Evanston, Il.


Dear Sir, or Captain.


Dear Sir, or Captain:
r May I visit your base, and
t will you please send me some
plane tickets? e some
William T.
Bellflower, Calif.


gram. Most of these come from children
who have asked for everything from auto-
graphed photographs of the astronauts to
actual rockets and spacecraft.

Spaceport News, the house organ for
Kennedy Space Center employees, pub-
lishes summaries of many of these letters.
Below are a few of the classic letters sent
by children. While most of them are hu-
morous, some present food for thought.








Dear Sirs: Dear Sir:
"I would like to go into I think the blastoff of your
space. I am 11 years old and Gemini rocket was very good.
could eas be the youngest But I think you should send a
could easily be the youngestwoman to the moon, because
astronaut in the world." woman to the moon, because
Geoff S. my dad says that a woman
Delevan N.Y. ir: driver can hit anything!
D :Delevan, N. Y. AN, N.
Dear Sir: vv nen I grow up I am go- inside, Calif.
"Why don't you put giant ing to try to be a missile en-
fans to one side of the launch- gineer. But everyone says I
ing pad? Then, when you am not because I npcd brains.
shoot your missiles off, the ain
smoke would be blown away A Dear Sir tronauts
so you could see what's go Can girls be as In going
ing on. don't. t call tl I
.0 teacher '


r: to be a senar .
Sara u .
hton, Colo.
u have to have a per hton, C
end up- a rocket?
Dan Dear Sir:
Sunr. De have started project Pluto.
It is a rocket and will carry
a mouse, a plant and a bug-
: r^^


Luther W. Dear Si
Dear Sir: Charleston, S. C. Do yo
I am 10 years old mit to s
making a small rocket So far
I have not encountered any
problems except my rocket
Couill not get off the ground. Dear S
Could you Dlpi Dear Si


some fuel? ena
David I.
Melbourne, Australi


Dear Sir:
would like to volunteer
your next space trip. I cal
anytime but Wednesday a
noons. I have my hair
on Wednesday afternoon
Shirley V.tock
Iw~TnnstoCk,


)APE





Dear Mr. Scientist:
I like the way your rockets
went the other day. Will you
please send me two little
rockets for my belt, so I don't
have to walk to school any
more. Please find two Wheat-
ies box tops enclosed.
Jeff M.
Norwalk, Conn.
Dear Sir:
I would like to congratulate
you on the progress you are
mnaolnr- wih vnnr missiles.


me manaue. Kevin C. As I see it, you only have two
I a nine years old and I Carroll, owa problems remaining to con-
uld like to volunteer an a quer space-how to get there
a ronaut sister. You see ar Sir: and how to get back.
maybe f sheer boy friend, and I would like some photos y T.
d maye if e were up there a n d information on y o u r intown, W. Va.
I'd stand a chance, rocket programs. If you think
I am a spy you are wrong. I
Dear Sir: May H. am only nine ear Sir
"My Hessmer, La. H ear tell me if you
that science teach M Could ou women to the
s pace Id ve Dear Cape Kennedy: are end in e space
Wik e t Ie o u ld t h eto
end me th, I would like to volunteer to wo rks ?y mo
for walk in space like Majorto go.
n go I White. I'm used to being flip- Kenneth T.
nter- D ped because I took tumbling Dear Sir: Modesto, Calif.
done in school.


uear ir:
Please send me a model of
a rocketship. I enclose nine
cents for handling. The model
is six inches tall, two inches
wide and is blue and white.
If it's not good enough, please
send me back my 10 cents.
Gary S.
Webb City, Mo.


Ill.
111.


Dear Sir:
"Our class was talking
about problems in space, and
we came to this problem:
what happens to an astronaut
when he has to go to the bath-
room ?" Dear Sir:


1lenn L.
Utlanta, Ga.


"What do you do with the
space capsules after the as-
tronauts use them? Could you
please send me a Gemini cap-
sule. I will pay the mailing
charge." (They weigh 7,000
pounds!)


Jim S.
]an in -
eat fron


City, Mich.


How and where will we get
Dear Sir: the money to u
rockets t o build enough
Although I don't know my riost of the
blood type, do you think I 0 the oon,
would be able to become an e oth u
astronaut? I've been weight- t us
less many times for a few
seconds, ati, Ohio
Linda Ann P.
Phenix City, Ala.


Dear Sir: G
Why can't you use vinegar
for fuel, because when it runs
down the pipes and into bak-
ingpowder, it causes a carbon
gas that rushes through the
tail and would lift the rocket
off the ground.
Roger B.
Bay St. Louis, Miss.


Dear tell me f
Could you please tell me i
it is possible for pieces of the
earth to chip off as meteors?
If so, wouldn't this be a rea-
sonable explanation for the
mysterious disappearing of
villages, colonies, ships, etc?
Lou P.
Bismarck, N.D.


C-- 0












"From Bumper

to Bumper"


Bumper, first missile launched
at Cape Canaveral,
July 24, 1950.

Thousands of cars carry tourists to the Cape and Kennedy Space Center.









The elaborate rocket hardware and support
facilities are only part of the American spaceport
story. The more than 25,000 men and women who
work at the Cape and Kennedy Space Center are
the real backbone behind every launch-major or
routine.
Most of these civilian and military personnel
live in Brevard County, Florida, currently one of
the nation's fastest growing counties.
Brevard's population has increased nearly 400
percent since the first missile was launched at the
Cape in 1950. Prior to this time, there were only
27,000 residents as compared with 150,000 in 1965.
The latter figure is expected to double by 1970,
when the first of the manned Apollo moon mis-
sions takes place.
Countless new businesses and services have
sprung up in recent years to accommodate the na-
tion's space pioneers. Churches, schools, and state-
federal agencies have come to life in Brevard
County. Brevard Junior College was established
in 1961 in Cocoa; a new university will be opened
soon.
Entire communities-Cocoa Beach, Satellite
Beach, Cape Canaveral, and Merritt Island have
replaced deserted wastelands. And the towns that
existed before 1950, Cocoa, Titusville, Eau Gallie,
and Melbourne have grown with the Space Age in
much the same way as their newer counterparts.
Cape Canaveral and Cocoa Beach border the
missile center on the south-Titusville, in North
Brevard, connects the mainland via causeway to
the moonport on Merritt Island. Cocoa is located
about 10 miles from its beach namesake, across the
picturesque Banana and Indian Rivers.
It's been said that all roads lead to "Missileland,
U. S. A." Modern air, sea, and highway transpor-
tation link it with the rest of the nation and the
world. A modern commercial air terminal is lo-
cated in Melbourne, 25 miles south of the Cape, two
others are in Orlando, 50 miles to the west. In
addition to several private fields, Patrick Air


Force Base and the Cape's skid strip provide addi-
tional air lanes.
The recently-completed Port Canaveral locks
permit a waterway connection between the Ken-
nedy Space Center and the Atlantic Ocean and In-
tercoastal Waterway. (The latter is the passage
taken by barges loaded with Saturn rocket stages
from the Marshall Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala-
bama, to the Florida launch pads.)
Thousands of tourists who once bypassed the
Cape Kennedy area en route to or from more popu-
lar Florida resorts are now making it a point to
see as much of it as officials will permit. Weekend
drive through in car caravan fashion are very
popular and, according to a survey made by the
National Park Service, 2 million persons by 1967
and 3 million by 1970 will visit the nation's missile
center each year.
A new Visitor Information Center soon to be
constructed at the Kennedy Space Center is ex-
pected to help draw additional tourists. And "Dis-
nyland East," which will be built near Orlando,
Fla., located 50 miles from Cape Kennedy, will add
countless persons.
The remainder of this book examines both
early and current launches and manned spaceflight
programs at the Cape from a behind-the-scenes
approach. The reader will be exposed to the hu-
man aspects associated with a rocket launch. He
will be taken into sophisticated blockhouses, the
nerve centers for both manned and unmanned
flights. He will be introduced to the working press
who are charged with providing readers and listen-
ers across the world with accurate, timely news
accounts from one of the most active datelines.
Throughout the book the reader will note that a
joint civilian-military team is the "brains" behind
all activities at the Cape and Kennedy Space Cen-
ter. This work force is pooling its resources and
talents daily to support the fact that there is no
substitute for "American ingenuity."


79


Major Missile Programs at Cape Kennedy

Note: Missile launches depicted in this section are not necessarily the first in each series. Mil-
itary missiles are mentioned in passing here and discussed more thoroughly in the following
section, "Ballistic Missiles."











































V-2 missile prior to mating with WAC-Corporal
second stage at Cape Canaveral


On July 24, 1950, the United States recorded a
double victory in rocket research and experimen-
tation when the first missile to leave the then new
Cape Canaveral launch complex also became the
first (recorded) one to undergo second stage sepa-
ration and ignition during horizontal flight.
Dubbed Bumper 8, it consisted of two stages-
a primary booster which was a sleek V-2 rocket
captured from the Germans at the close of World
War II-topped with a U. S. Army WAC-Corporal,
a configuration which had undergone extensive
vertical stage separation testing at the White Sands
Proving Ground in New Mexico.
Upon lifting off, the V-2 first stage belched
huge billowing clouds of exhaust-raced skyward
with a 56,000 pound thrust pushing it to an alti-
tude of ten miles-programmed or leveled off hori-
zontally while travelling at a speed of 3,000 miles
per hour-and finally separated from its second
stage WAC-Corporal, whose propulsion unit came
to life and carried the missile an additional 15
miles.


The V-2 stage travelled 80 miles southward
from the Cape before it was destroyed deliberately
by on-board explosives three miles above the
Atlantic; the second stage exceeded 4,000 miles per
hour and plunged into the ocean nearly 200 miles
downrange.
Tall as a five-story building, the two-stage
liquid fuel Bumper accomplished its complicated
maneuver after being rocketed aloft from a crude
and makeshift launch pad; its service gantry re-
sembled a housepainter's scaffold more than it did
a support facility for the missile age.
The gantry was not the only piece of equip-
ment that left something to be desired. There were
no fortified concrete blockhouses from which to
supervise and coordinate the launch instead,
technicians huddled behind sandbags heaped in
front of wooden shacks located close to the pad
and hoped they would not be blown skyward with
the bird. More daring photographers stood on a
dirt mound in front of the 1950 version of a missile
control facility.


- -2


Bumper


Lc~i~slr~ir
-- ;zr.--~--"

C,-
,"
-~L----E^-
---








































V-2 and WAC-Corporal combine to form Bumper
configuration prior to launch.


July 24, 1950-Bumper 8 is first missile to leave
a Cape Canaveral launch pad.


The possibility that Bumper 8 would blow up
and send a deluge of deadly scrap metal in all direc-
tions was not the only thought bothering personnel
stationed at the Cape on that muggy July day.
Swarms of mosquitoes, reinforced by deadly
snakes, constantly kept everyone on his toes. Com-
ing of age in the new world of rocketry surely had
its occupational hazards.
Bumper 8 was launched five days before
Bumper 7 when the latter developed a malfunction
-the bird's motors ignited but a faulty valve, con-
taminated by the Cape's salty air, prevented the
Bumper's rising from its launch pad. But like its
predecessor, Bumper 7 finally performed as
planned, concluding this program.
Bumper testing-both at White Sands and at
Cape Canaveral-initiated a new page in aerospace
research which had to be mastered before subse-
quent unmanned and manned flights could take
place.









Three months after the two successful Bumper
launches at the Cape, a new missile-the Lark-
was sent into the Florida skies on October 25, 1950.
Lark During its maiden flight the Lark reached an alti-
tude of 8,200 feet, covered one mile's distance, and
remained aloft slightly less than two minutes.
First used by the Navy during World War II
as an interceptor missile against Japanese aircraft,
the Lark, during its three-year testing period from
1950-53, was used primarily as a training vehicle
for the Bomarc program. It also examined new
principles in missile guidance systems.
In addition, the Lark is noteworthy since it par-
ticipated in the first multiple launch on a single
day at the Cape-two Larks were fired on June 7,
1951.




Air Force Lark surface-to-air missile first launched October 25, 1950. Tank in foreground served as blockhouse.


82










































The Matador, the Air Force's first operational missile, had its maiden flight on June 20, 1951.


Matador


A major breakthrough in tactical missile test-
ing occurred on June 20, 1951, when the first air-
breathing Matador was launched from Cape
Canaveral. This initial flight also served as a
training ground for the downrange station on
Grand Bahama Island, which, for the first time,
successfully tracked and recorded launch data.
The Air Force's first operational missile, the
Matador, was capable of carrying a nuclear war-
head a distance of 600 nautical miles at high sub-
sonic speeds.
The surface-to-surface bomber was pro-
grammed to dive vertically to its target, a ma-
neuver which exposed it to both ground fire and
attacking aircraft. This vulnerability was cor-
rected with the development of the Snark's ballis-
tic warhead-discussed later.


On December 7, 1951, the Air Force's 6555th
Aerospace Test Wing at the Cape performed the
first all-military launch conducted under the Mata-
dor program.
A multiple launching of five Matadors in Sum-
mer 1954 is noteworthy because it marked the first
time that reporters were permitted on the Cape to
witness a launch since Bumpers 7 and 8 four years
earlier. Present were two hundred members of the
Aviation Writer's Association who were flown in
by the Air Force to the Cape's skid strip.
The Martin-built Matador is no longer opera-
tional with U. S. forces, but is deployed with West
German and Nationalist Chinese allies who do not
-at the time of this writing-control the use of
nuclear warheads for these missiles.








































The Snark surface-to-surface missile was first
launched on August 29, 1952.


Snark


The next missile to leave a Cape Canaveral
launch pad was the Snark, a surface-to-surface
weapon system first launched on August 29, 1952.
Resembling a sleek jet fighter, the Snark scored
a number of firsts implemented in later missile
programs.
For example, on October 26, 1955, the Air Force
fired the first "C" type Snark, an intercontinental-
range cruise missile equipped with a ballistic nose
configuration which separated from the mother
ship and fell in a supersonic trajectory to its tar-
get, unobstructed by conventional fighter aircraft
and ground fire. This method of ultra-supersonic
payload delivery was a marked improvement over
the Matador's slow descent to its target. (Modern
ICBMs follow this approach when they release
their nuclear warheads at predetermined alti-
tudes.)
A month later, on November 26, 1955, the Snark
was the first missile to use a stellar guidance sys-
tem, one which picks out certain celestial bodies


for navigational aids. (Recently, the Mariner IV
spacecraft used stellar guidance when it locked
onto the star Canopus during its historic picture-
taking mission of the planet Mars.)
The reliable Snark made the first 5,000 mile
guided missile flight down the Eastern Test Range
on October 31, 1957, initiating tracking operations
at the Antigua and Ascension stations and also the
use of instrumentation ships.
Two high thrust booster rockets assisted the
bird's takeoff until the main turbojet engine ig-
nited and propelled the missile to high subsonic
speeds.
The Air Force recovered many Snarks intact by
landing them on the Cape's skid strip. But, as
noted in a Patrick Air Force Base publication, the
Atlantic waters near the Cape were often referred
to as "Snark infested waters" since many of these
missiles fell short of their planned landing area.
The Snark is now obsolete.







Bomarc


The Bomarc, a long-range missile that cruises
at 2,200 miles per hour, is designed to intercept
and destroy enemy aircraft before they reach the
borders of the United States.
First launched on September 10, 1952, the Bo-
marc, built by Boeing, is under the direction of
the Air Defense Command, the Air Force section
charged with protecting the U. S. against air at-
tack.
The Bomarc does not have to be fired in a
straight line to its target since its on-board radar
homes in or locks onto illusive targets.
This missile can be fired by a control center
located thousands of miles from its launch site.
SAGE (Semi-Automatic Ground Environment) is


the system which activates these defensive mis-
siles. Basically, SAGE centralizes many air de-
fense functions and determines the best approach
to protect the U. S.
Radio signals are sent thousands of miles from
SAGE centers to Bomarc launch sites, immediately
sending the deadly weapons into action.
On October 21, 1958, two Bomarc missiles were
launched within 12 seconds of each other at Cape
Canaveral after being activated by a SAGE center
located at Kingston, New York, more than 1,000
miles away.
The 47-foot-long missile destroys itself upon
contact with its target.


Bomarc first launched September 10, 1952.








1L


I

















Army's Redstone was first ballistic
missile launched from Cape Canaveral.
Fired on August 20, 1953, the Redstone
was the forerunner to the Jupiter-C
missile.


Modified Redstone missiles were used to
send astronauts Alan Shepard and Virgil
"Gus" Grissom on separate sub-orbital space
flights on May 5, 1961, and July 21, 1961,
respectively. Shown here is launch of "Ham"
the chimpanzee on January 31, 1961, several
months prior to the Shepard flight.
Primates were used to test safety of
Mercury capsule/Redstone launch vehicle
configuration prior to manned flights.


Redstone


r -I-
L
ri
,


i
~, -,~



















FI -.


X-10
The X-10, predecessor to the Navaho missile,
was a pilotless, swept-winged aircraft capable of
reaching Mach 2 or twice the speed of sound. It
was first launched on August 19, 1955, from Cape
Canaveral.
The X-10 also was the first missile successfully
recovered by landing on the Cape's skid strip on
February 3, 1956.




X-17
Between 1955-57, the X-17, a Lockheed-built
rocket, gathered important data about reentry into
the Earth's atmosphere, information vital in de-
signing nuclear nose cones and manned spacecraft.
Objects plunging through the atmosphere are
subjected to 3,000 degree temperatures (F.), more
than sufficient to melt them unless properly in-
sulated.
Special equipment in the X-17's nose measured
conditions encountered during reentry and trans-
mitted these findings to ground stations following
the rocket's nine-mile, up-and-down flight.
The X-17 was the prelude to more sophisticated
reentry testing by the Fire and Asset vehicles.



Pre-launch of X-1 7 rocket used to gather
reentry data. First launch took place in 1955.


Pilotless X-10 research aircraft was first launched
on August 9, 1955, and was the first missile to land
intact on the Cape's skid strip.


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Jupiter-C


Army's Jupiter-C, first launched on September 19,
1956, shown prior to orbiting America's first satellite
-Explorer I on January 31, 1958.








Navaho

The Air Force initiated the second phase of its
Navaho program when it launched the first XSM-
64 missile on November 6, 1956, at the Cape.
The XSM-64 evolved into the more polished
Navaho, a ramjet powered bird that flew at 21/2
times the speed of sound (2200 MPH), generating
270,000 pounds thrust.
In addition to testing new high-powered thrust
concepts, the Navaho successfully tested an iner-
tial guidance system that was later adapted for the
world's first nuclear-powered submarine, the Nau-
tilus, which used it to maneuver with extreme pre-
cision under the polar icecaps.
The experimental guidance system also proved
useful in designing the more advanced components
used in modern intercontinental ballistic missiles.
Intended as a long-range strategic missile, the
Navaho was cancelled as a weapons system in 1957
because it could not match the high performance
of the new ICBMs.


Navaho missile first launched on
November 6, 1956.


Thor

Thor, America's first operational
intermediate-range ballistic missile, was first
launched on January 25, 1957.


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Bull Goose decoy missile first
launched on March 13, 1957.




Bull Goose

In the event of a nuclear war, the delta-winged
Bull Goose Missile was designed to confuse enemy
ground and air defenses, aiding infiltration by the
Strategic Air Command's missile and aircraft
squadrons.
This decoy missile, fired for the first time on
March 13, 1957, was air-breathing and operated
at subsonic speeds.
The program was cancelled a year after its
inaugural flight even though it was considered suc-
cessful.


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Jupiter






Jupiter, U. S. intermediate-range
ballistic missile, was first successfully launched
on May 31, 1957.


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Pre-launch in America's oldest satellite program-Vanguard-
by vehicle of same name. First successful flight took place on
March 17, 1958, following a series of blowups on the pad.


The three-stage pencil-shaped Vanguard
launch vehicle was one of America's earliest. It
was designed to orbit the nation's first satellite-
also known as Vanguard-but, due to a series of
failures, was preempted by the Jupiter-C and its
Explorer 1 payload.
Failure characterized the early phases of the
Vanguard program. On December 6, 1957, a test
vehicle exploded on its Cape pad-two months
later, on February 5, 1958, its successor blew up
a minute after lifting off.
Finally, on March 17, 1958, this Navy booster
successfully orbited Vanguard I, a 3-pound scien-
tific satellite which studied temperatures and
composition of the upper atmosphere while reveal-
ing that the earth was slightly "pear-shaped."


(Additional information about Vanguard satellites
is contained in the section on satellites.)
A modified Viking rocket, the vehicle's three
stages generated a total thrust of 36,800 pounds,
sufficient to loft satellites more than 2,000 miles
into space.
The 72-foot long rocket was only 45 inches in
diameter at its widest point. (By contrast, the Ti-
tan II has a 10-foot diameter.)
The first two stages burned liquid fuel; the
third stage operated on solid propellants.
Between December 1957 and September 1959,
14 Vanguard rockets were launched orbiting
three separate satellites.
Despite the early failures, the Vanguard pro-
gram provided useful data that have helped rocket
launching become routine.


Vanguard


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The Atlas, the nation's first intercontinental
ballistic missile, was first launched
June 11, 1957. After being phased out
as an ICBM, Atlas is now serving a variety
of missions as a booster rocket
for Air Force and NASA space programs.









Atlas























Mercury Atlas





Modified Atlas ICBMs were used to send
four Mercury astronauts into orbit between
February 20, 1962 and May 15, 1963.
Included were John Glenn (February 20,
1962), Scott Carpenter (May 24, 1962),
Wally Schirra (October 3, 1962), and Gordon
Cooper (May 15, 1963). Glenn and Carpenter
each went three orbits-Schirra took six
circuits of the globe; Cooper, 22 orbits.








The Polaris fleet ballistic missile was first
fired from a Cape Canaveral launch pad
on April 13, 1957.


Polaris









The Polaris missile was first launched from a
submerged submarine, the USS George
Washington, on July 20, 1960. Launch shown
here was from USS Andrew Jackson on
October 26, 1963, which tested the latest model.









Juno II

The Juno II vehicle took over from the veteran
Jupiter and Jupiter-C boosters and sent several
Explorer and Pioneer satellites into earth orbit
between 1958-1961.
The first stage of the four-stage rocket was a
modified Jupiter; its upper stages contained
scaled-down solid propellant Sergeant engines used
in the Jupiter-C.
First launched on December 6, 1958, Juno II
carried the Pioneer 3 satellite aloft to an altitude
of more than 63,000 miles where it discovered the
outer Van Allen radiation belt before being pulled
back to earth by gravity. This probe was originally
designed to fly past the moon and go into solar
orbit. This programmed mission, was accom-
plished, however, during Juno's second launch on
March 3, 1959, and its Pioneer 4 payload flew
within 37,300 miles of the moon.


Juno II vehicle first launched on December 6, 1958,
was used to orbit several Pioneer and Explorer
satellites.


Titan I


Air Force Titan I intercontinental ballistic mis-
sile, first launched on February 6, 1959, was the
forerunner to the Titan II, now on operational duty
with the Strategic Air Command.


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Air Force personnel make final tests before launching the Mace.
M ace (Note work crew members' names painted on the missile's nose.)


An improved version of the Matador, the Mace
is an air-breathing, surface-to-surface missile that
travels just below the speed of sound and can de-
liver a nuclear warhead a distance of more than
1,200 miles.
Built by Martin, the pilotless aircraft is 44 feet
long, weighs 18,000 pounds, and can be fired from
both a mobile launcher and a hardened "coffin"-
type pad.
The Mace can operate at relatively low alti-


tudes, from less than 11,000 feet, to above 40,000
feet. A rocket booster propels the missile to cruis-
ing speed the same way the Matador takes off.
The Mace's maiden flight took place on October
29, 1959; it was used to train missile crews at the
Cape through July 1963.
This inertially-guided weapon system is de-
ployed with the Tactical Air Command in Europe
and Pacific regions.


Mace surface-to-sur-
face missile first
launched on October
29, 1959.














































Pershing was first launched on February 25, 1960.

Pershing

96









Delta


Delta is one of NASA's most reliable launch
vehicles and has placed more than half of its satel-
lites into orbit since May 13, 1960, when success-
fully it lofted Echo 1, the world's first passive
communications satellite. (These are satellites that
only reflect signals; they do not transmit.)
In addition to the Echo series, Delta also has
orbited Tiros, OSO, IMP, Telstar, Relay, and Syn-
com satellites. (See section on satellites for detailed
discussion of these satellites.)
Delta can be used as either a two or three-stage
rocket-two are liquid-fueled; the third, solid-
fueled. The first stage, a modified Thor, is 59 feet
long and develops 170,000 pounds of thrust from
its single Rocketdyne engine.
The second stage is a modified version of the
early liquid propellant Vanguard. It is 23 feet in


length and develops 7,500 pounds of thrust from a
single Aerojet-General engine.
The third stage is a single solid propellant motor
-developed by the Allegany Ballistics Laboratory
-produces 6,000 pounds thrust.
This versatile launch vehicle can place an 800-
pound spacecraft into a 600-mile circular orbit, or
it can boost a 125-pound spacecraft to escape the
earth's gravitational pull.
The latest configuration, the Thrust-
Augmented Delta, has three strap-on Thiokol-built
solid motors, each of which generates a thrust of
more than 53,000 pounds. The three solid strap-
ons and the first stage Thor's original lift-off push,
combine to yield a total thrust of approximately
330,000 pounds.


Delta launch vehicle, first launched on May 13, Thrust-Augmented Delta uses three strap-on solid
1960, is one of NASAs' most reliable, motors to gain additional lift-off thrust.









Scout


Blue Scout launch vehicles are used by both
NASA and the Air Force for a variety of space
probes conducted at minimum costs.
Designated Standard Launch Vehicle One, it is
made up of four stages or building blocks, which
are solid rocket motors combined with others to
form a multi-stage rocket. Many of the Scout's
components are standard equipment, which adds to
its rapid assembly.
Combined, its four stages generate a total
thrust of 185,000 pounds and measure 72 feet long.
There are three main types of Scout's the
SLV-1A, which can place a 150-pound payload into
a 400 mile polar orbit; the SLV-1B, used only for
up and down trajectory flights; and the LV-1B, a
three-stage vehicle used for specific missions.
The SLV-1B has been used to carry aloft simu-
lated human tissue, part of the continuing effort to
learn more about the effects of the space environ-
ment on man's body.
The first Scout was launched on September 21,
-- 1960.











Blue Scout launch vehicle first fired by Air Force
on September 21, 1960.







Minuteman


A Minuteman I intercontinental ballistic missile
streaks into the Florida sky. First model launched
on February 1, 1961,-its successor
Minuteman II on September 24, 1964.














Titan II


The mighty Titan II intercontinental ballistic
missile was first launched on March 16, 1962, and
is deployed at sites throughout the U. S.


A



i


Modified Titan II ICBM is currently used to orbit
Gemini capsules and their two-man crews.
This configuration had its first unmanned test
on April 8, 1964, as depicted here.




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