Word: rocketeers
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1950-1959
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...Hueneme, Calif, shortly after dusk one day last August, a dockhand bellowed to Captain Arthur Gralla, the skipper: "What time tomorrow ya coming back, captain?" Yelled Gralla in reply: "I'll let you know." To all appearances, Norton Sound was off on another of her one-day, routine, rocket-testing trips to the Navy's offshore test range. But Gralla knew, even before opening the sealed orders in his cabin, that Norton Sound would not be docking at Port Hueneme (pronounced Wye-nee-mee) the next day, or for weeks afterwards. Her destination: a secret rendezvous with...
...briskly at work, took six hours. Minutes before firing, rocketmen removed the heated blanket draped around the bird to keep electrical relays from freezing up. Then they took cover, while the firing officer waited until the ship was at the right degree of pitch and roll to enable the rocket to get off in straight-up flight. At firing time, Gralla. standing on the unsheltered wing of his bridge to spot possible trouble, was the only man out in the open. Says he: "That's what skippers...
...seals. Not in space suit, but holding an oxygen mask, he let himself into the chamber and waited for the air pumps to lower the pressure, take him "up" past the blackout stage, on beyond the sure-death line to 73,000 ft. His body, as if taken by rocket to the edge of space, expanded in the vacuumlike atmosphere...
...object tucked like a streamlined fledgling under the bomber's wing was North American's X-15 rocket-plane, designed as the U.S.'s first manned space vehicle. Leaving earth for the first time, it carried no fuel: Test Pilot Scott Crossfield, 38, was in the cockpit scanning a host of instruments that judged the performance of the mated bomber and X-15, whether they flew well together at all altitudes without dangerous yaw or buffeting. The first test, as the three watching chase planes and the two closed-circuit TV cameras in the B-52 confirmed...
John Letcher of Lexington, Va. had no trouble deciding where to spend his scholarship money. He is headed for Caltech (three of the other four top winners also want to study there), hopes to work after graduation in nuclear physics or rocket research. He knows an impressive amount already about both subjects. At the Baylor School in Chattanooga, Tenn., where he built the accelerator, he and a research team of schoolboy scientists hope this summer to fire off a stratospheric rocket with a 20-lb. instrument payload. The first-prize winner also plays chess, wrestles on the varsity team...