1948 (Cont.)
June 11
ducted. In each case, the primate survived the flight, but succumbed before his capsule was located.[1]
July 13
Convair's MX-774 test vehicle, later designated the Atlas and used as a launch vehicle in the Mercury program, was test-fired for the first time.[2]
December 29
The first Secretary of Defense, James V. Forrestal, in his initial report to President Harry Truman, included a brief item indicating that the earth satellite program, which was being carried out independently by the military services, was assigned to the Committee on Guided Missiles for coordination.[3]
1949
May 11
President Harry S. Truman signed a bill authorizing the missile test range, which is now the Atlantic Missile Range at Cape Canaveral, Florida.[4]
1951
January 16
The Goverment decided to resume MX~774 studies, and the project was then designated the Atlas. Several test vehicles had been fired in 1948 and 1949, after which the Convair MX-774 (Atlas) missile project had been shelved. The company, however, had continued to fund a research program.[5]
September 20
The first suceessful recovery of animals from rocket flight in the Western Hemisphere was made when a monkey and 11 mice survived an Aerobee launch to an altitude of 236,000 feet.[6]
- ↑ David S. Akens, Origins of Marshall Space Flight Center, pp. 8-9. Hereinafter cited as Akens, Origins of MSFC.
- ↑ Emme, Aeronautics and Astronautics: 1915-1960, p. 60.
- ↑ House Rpt. 360, 87th Cong., Ist Sess., p. 2.
- ↑ Emme, Aeronautics and Astronautics: 1915-1960, p. 62.
- ↑ House Report No. 67, A Chronology of Missile and Astronautic Events, 87th Congress, 1st Session, p. 14.
- ↑ Emme, Aeronautics and Astronautics: 1915-1960, p. 68.
