Marshall
Highlights for 1961
(Source Note: The following information
is presented here as published in a news release issued in
late 1961 by the Marshall Center Public Affairs Office.)
HUNTSVILLE, Ala - - It was a big year in Space for Alabama
and the region - an unprecedented year with an unprecedented
goal.
Many significant milestones were passed, and a bold new program
calculated to place man on the moon in this decade was off
to a fast start as the year ended.
Much of the 1961 activity in this national venture was centered
at the Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, the National
Aeronautics and Space Administration unit responsible for
building and launching the space agency' s large rockets.
For Marshall, it was a year of new satellites, the first
manned rocket launchings, new super rocket programs, expanded
production and testing facilities, and the first flight of
the Center's Saturn heavy space vehicle.
Following is a short summary of Marshall's major events of
the year:
-
On April 27 the Explorer XI satellite, containing a unique
gamma ray telescope, was launched by a Juno II rocket.
This was the last successful firing of the Juno II, which
was "retired" following a 2 1/2 year period
of service.
-
The first American rode into space aboard a Mercury-Redstone
rocket designed and launched by MSFC. Alan Shepard's 300-mile
flight in 15 minutes followed an earlier similar flight
in which a chimp named Ham paved the way. On July 21,
a second American astronaut, Virgil Grissom, made an almost
identical flight.
-
The nation's biggest rocket engine, the F-1, being developed
for MSFC by Rocketdyne Division of North American Aviation,
Inc., underwent its first complete system test on May
26. The F-1, with 1.5 million pounds of thrust, will be
clustered to power the advanced Saturn booster.
-
In Nov., another new rocket engine, the first to burn
the high-energy fuel hydrogen, passed its preliminary
flight evaluation testing with ease at the Pratt and Whitney
Division of United Aircraft. The RL-10, as it's known,
performs more than 30 percent better than engines using
kerosene fuel. It will be used for upper stages of the
Atlas-Centaur and Saturn vehicles.
-
NASA's first Atlas-Agena B rocket was fired August 23,
placing in orbit the Ranger I spacecraft. This program
is directed by Marshall, with Lockheed Missiles and Space
Co. as the prime contractor.
-
On Oct. 27, following a three-year development period,
the first Saturn vehicle flew a flawless 215-mile ballistic
trajectory from Cape Canaveral. The giant rocket weighed
925,000 pounds - - probably the heaviest object ever hurled
from earth.
-
It takes vast and expensive facilities to make ready
for man's lunar voyages. This part of the effort got underway
Aug. 24 when it was announced that 80,000 acres north
of the present Cape Canaveral would be the site of the
nation's new launch facilities for heavy rockets, to be
operated by MSFC's Launch Operations Directorate.
-
As a production plant for moonbound rockets, NASA on
Sept. 7 picked the $50 million Michoud Plant in New Orleans,
which is being activated by Marshall. Saturn boosters,
as well as the RIFT (Reactor-in-Flight-Test) upper stage,
will be produced there.
-
Selection of a new 13,500-acre site for proving rockets
was announced Oct. 25. To be known as the Mississippi
Test Facility, it will have about six large stands for
testing rocket stages, including the Saturn boosters manufactured
at Michoud, 35 miles to the west.
-
In the last half of the year, contractors were selected
to develop and/ or manufacture four stages for the present
or future Saturn rockets which are to be used in the moon
program.
Under a contract to cost an estimated $140 million, North
American Aviation was selected to design and build the second
stage for the advanced Saturn:
Chrysler Corp. was chosen for negotiation of a contract to
build twenty boosters of the present (C-1) type, estimated
to cost $200 million over a five year period;
The advanced Saturn booster is to be developed and built
under a contract expected to be awarded to the Boeing Co.
at a cost of some $300 million,
Douglas Aircraft Co. was picked to develop and build a third
stage for the advanced Saturn, at a cost in excess of $50
million.
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