FILE

168.foo7 -472.

I 140V 1961 

RETURN TO:

HQ AFHRA

600 CHENNAULT CIR

MAXWELL AFB, AL 36112

Ca, .• • r 41 1 r"? • ..**111

Ha EliALLISTIC M SSILES AND THE REACH INTO SPACE

MAXWELL Al B 36112

01138330
UNITED STATES AIR FORCE

"There is a rank due to the United States among nations which

will be withheld, if not absolutely lost, by the reputation of weakness. If we

desire to avoid. insult, um must be able to repel it; if we desire to secure

peace, it must be known that we are at all times ready for war."

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(Unwed Menem' A. SrAdwror . . . pioneering fere. behind the derelehheat ghats& missile and space 'Amu tanmander of the fanner

Ballistic Missile Division . . . a auninand piles of sass experience . an

aik planner end a leak thinker. .. graduate of .11w. naive:rain . . . distinguished Air Face • Leader . . . Cananander of at Air Fara Srstems (kmmaid (fanner(' ARDC) aka April /959.
Edwards MS

TEST ORP.

63934

I

TEST Nita

6E1SM

AEROSPACE

Lt. Gen. Newell M. Wes ... West Pant &sera. ..e . experienced pilet ... Mid

the, ormative years, mannmeler • et B-47 Division .f Me Strategic Air Command .

veteran If 25 Korean affect minima . . . as mmapite warns director as Me Wright Air

Dseelopmerit Center (1954.57), instrumental is Aging Me mem strategic nen:pace

Muds" f the USAF ... femme Amisant Defray l qStig.ler Operations nt !fendfeseters USAF... awned Dept* Cemonmesitr (AFSC)Jiw Aerospace *Mans si April 1961.

SPACE SYSTEMS

DIVISION

IIALUSTIC SYSTEMS

DIVISION

S

636Mh

Vowdereem VAS AR

AEROSPACE

WINO OPERATIONS

SPACE TEST

TEST

DEPUTY VCR 6SIIMA

AEROSPACE

TEST WING

Sonyvele
IMAGINATION IN MANAGEMENT

Management has been called the pacing factor in our national effort to compress time and accelerate technology. Efficient, effective, streamlined, productive management has been a paramount objective of the Air Force since

1954, when the Atlas ICBM weapon system development program was

undertaken in earnest.

A bold departure from the traditional, step-by-step sequence of development - testing - production - facilities construction was adopted, based on

confidence in the operational effectiveness of the engineers' designs and in

their ability to extend scientific state of the art on schedule. Applied on such

a total scope to all aspects of acquiring a complex new weapon system, the

concept of concurrenty was revolutionary, incurred grave calculated risks, and

required unprecedented integration of fast-reacting management authority.

The pay-off has been the invaluable shortening of the development time

cycle in the introduction of critical weapon systems, and high compression

of normal lead-time. First applied strictly to the Atlas project, the practices

of coneurrenry and management by exception extended to the Thor, to Titan, to

Minuteman and, in spurring these systems to operational status, ushered in

the age of space.

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VERSATILITY IN OPERATIONS

Testing — exhaustive and comprehensive — is critical to successful

aerospace research and development. It is a pyramiding process,

beginning with tests of the smallest component, and progressing to

subsystems, systems, and complete assemblies — to static tests and,

finally, to flight tests. To take the measure of missiles and space systems, the Aerospace Systems Headquarters includes several uniquely

functional wings, their elements extending half-way around the

world — from Hawaii to Ascension Island, from the Equator to

Kodiak, Alaska.

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CANAVERAL

Home of the Air Force Missile Test Center ... familiar

dote-line on thousands of stories reporting America's

progress with ballistic missiles and space vehicles.

Conoverol . missile-spawning Florida sand bar.

At the Cope, of nearby Patrick AF Base, and on the

instrumented islands of the Atlantic Missile Range, the

concentration of U.S. blue-suit and white-collar missileage talent is high. Prominent among them groups of

4610 pace seers ore the industry representatives and the

members of the 6555th Aerospace Test Wing, the

human links between program management and program product.

Ballistic missile Right test launchings now number in the

hundreds. The U.S. sorties Into space are climbing toward the century mark. The majority of them - America's stepping stones to space - depend heavily on the

guidance and the skills of those who work at Canaveral.

SUNNYVALE

. First facility completely equipped to monitor the

launch, conduct the tracking, acquire the data, and

command and control the progress of satellites on

orbit. The 6394th Aerospace Test Wing operates from

a modern, windowless, equipment-packed building.

Information from tracking stations at Vandenberg,

Point Mugu, on ocean vessels, In Alaska, New Homoshim and Hawaii is funneled into the Satellite Test

Annex by instantaneous voice lines and by teletype.

Processed through computers and evaluated by scientists, data is displayed via dosed-circuit television

directly onto consoles in the control room.

The long reach of the Wald, Test Annex extends not

only into space, but around the Eeril y as well. Elements

of the 63941h Test Wing include the 6594th Recovery

Control Group, the 6593rd Test Squadron, and the

6593rd Instrumentation Squadron, all in Hawaii; the

6393rd Launch Squadron and the 6596th Instrumentation Squadron at Craig*, AF Bose, New Hampshire.

VANDENBERG

lumping-off place for the Pacific Missile Range ...

West Coast proving center for t he new breed of weapons and for the men who will watch, maintain, and-if

necessary-bunch them.

Prototype launch facilities ... for Atlas, for Titan, and

for Minuteman . . . full-scale working duplicates of

operallonal ICBM structures complete with ground-support equipment ... built and checked out for SAC'

use under the direction of the people who know missiles best ... the hard-hat members of the 6394th

Aerospace Test Wing and the sharpshooting, hawkeyed bird-watchers from the nation's missile-space

industries.

It is from Vandenberg AF Base, too, that the USAF

satellites In the successful Discoverer series are assembled, inspected, chocked out, and Thor-boosted into

orbit ... and theVandenberg-Point Arguello location

is the designated launching site for the Air Force's

Atlas-boosted satellites.

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the vast

4, when

serve the

TTj al hundred more

rally thousands of suppliers

evelopment, production and tot/ f

contract firms work closely with the'.

Canaveral and at Vandenberg, at

tions stretching across both the Asian •c

COOPERATION IN PR'Q.GRESS

To produce the space-age systems of today h n

and versatile resources and capabilities of Atnerican

the Atlas ICBM was still a blueprint, there wercobily

firms engaged in the long-range missile dmiiiiSnient

response to national needs and the challenkgs imp

aerospace age, industrial sup

ments has mushroomed.

teamed in the unique "

Air Force's need for a

are engaged as subcon

and vendors actively i

Technical retiresentats

Force countearts a

sites, and at Of •

ranges.-

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At drawing boards, in laboratories, and in

research maims, the scientific and Mchnical

fraternity of industry and university experts

join with military and civilian managers in

fashioning the aerospace system of the Mum.

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THOR intermediate range ballistic missile ...

produced, proven and operational hi four

years' time ... four 15-misslie sqvadrqns

now on alert In the hands of the RAF in the

United Kingdom . . . widely used, reliable

space booster.

12

THE PRODUCTS

Out of the most intensive development programs in military history have

come the Air Force's ballistic missiles, growing up to operational stature as

America's new order in weaponry. Not the "ultimate weapon," but a ca

dinal element of positive deterrent power, blending with other forces into.

a comprehensive national military structure. In our defense inventory the

ICBM's become a convincing argument against aggression, or a decisive

counterforce if war should be thrust upon us. Thor . . . Atlas . . . Titan .. .

Minuteman: -strong names borrowed from the past out of respect for future

needs ... delivery systems without wings . . . electronic warriors on guard

. . . capable of spanning oceans at lightning speeds . . . capable of carrying

in one nuclear punch more destructive power than all the bombs dropped

by all combatants in World War II. A new symbol of aerospace power . . .

dedicated to the preservation of peace ... fashioned from the talents and

skills of a vast government-science-industry team.

ATLAS pioneer intercontinental ballistic mis•

ails ... the initial version now operational

with the Strategic Air Command ... being

deployed in squadron strength at hoses

throughout the United States ... serving

double duty as a booster for various space

Payloads.

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BEFORE WE CAN LAUNCH

We must prepare the massive, complex facilities, most of them underground. Those facilities ultimately represent the bulk of the end product of our ICBM operations, for in a modern ballistic

missile /weapon system only 20% of the system leaves the ground when the weapon fires. To protect

the missiles against attack,and tocomplicatean enemy's targeting problem, the majority of our

launching sites are dispersed and hardened, buried beneath the earth in steel-and-concrete silos.

Out at the sites the first phase involves facility construction by contractors working under the

supervision of the Army Corps of Engineers Ballistic Missile Construction Office - which functions

at the operational control of the Ballistic Systems Division. The construction phase includes excavation, the building of strongly reinforced concrete structures, heavy structural steel frames, electrical power installations, and intricate propellant loading systems. Next comes the installation

and checkout, which is performed by airframe contractors under Air Force contracts. Accomplished

during this phase is the installation of the missile and its closely related equipment and the ultimate validation and testing of the entire installation. Here is the pay-off; the final step in the

readiness of an operational ICBM. Thirteen squadrons (123 operational launchers) of Atlas missiles . . . 12 squadrons (108 operational launchers) of Titan ICBM's . . . larger numbers of the

construct seven Pentagon buildings; 80,000,000 feet of power and electrical lines will have been

installed; and 6,000,000 square yards of black-top paving will have been laid, enough to pave 400

build 26 Empire State buildings; 2,700,000 tons of concrete will have been poured, sufficient to

compact Minuteman. When the programs are completed more than 24,000,000 cubic yards of

earth will have been excavated; 1,600,000 tons of structural steel will have been used, enough to

miles of two-lane highway. On-the-spot management of the ballistic missile base construction job 

is provided by Ballistic Systems Division Site Activation Task Forces ... on duty wherever ICBM

bases are being built.

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THE SPACE SYSTEMS

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DISCOVERER With the Discoverer series, the Air Force has demonstrated that an educated satellite can be successfully launched, injected into a precise orbit, stabilized on that orbit, tracked from the

Earth, controlled on command, and directed to eject an instrumented

data capsule back through the atmosphere and into the hands of an

airborne USAF recovery team.

In the Discoverer, the Air Force has in-being a prototype functional

space system complete with launch, tracking, command, control,

data acquisition, and recovery facilities.

The business end of the Discoverer package, the 2400-pound Agena

space voyager is a versatile vehicle adaptable for use in other passive

military space missions.
MIDAS To lessen a hostile ICBM's imposing capability for decisive surprise

attack, the Air Force has conceived a satellite system designed to provide

maximum early warning against massive aggression. The system is Midasmissile defense alarm system. Outgrowth of the prototype vehicles being

developed and flight tested by the Space Systems Division will be a series of

polar orbiting satellites, positioned to cover the globe and flash the warning

of a ballistic missile attack. The heart of the Midas system is the infra-red

sensing equipment which can detect the heat generated by a ballistic missile

during its period of powered flight. By reducing any aggressor's opportunity

for surprise attack, Midas will contribute significantly to the effectiveness of

the U.S. policy of deterrence.
OF SPACE MISSIONS

In the years of the near and long-range future, the number of

satellites in the celestial traffic pattern will surely multiply, for

the missions in space are almost as infinite as the medium itself.

From the defense point of view, two programs with intriguing

potentials are being conducted against the background of space.

One is the satellite inspection program established to develop

and demonstrate the feasibility of a co-orbital satellite inspector

system capable of rendezvous with, and inspection of, foreign

satellites which might be hostile. The rendezvous capability,

essential to many future functional operations in space, will play

a major part in the development of manned systems.

A project with definite defense overtones is the ARPA-sponsored

Bambi orbital interceptor study, aimed at identifying a practical

system to detect, intercept, and destroy aggressor ICBM's during

the early phase of their powered flight.

Another advanced program now underway is Vela Hotel, a

research and development project for surveillance equipment to

be installed on space vehicles for detecting nuclear detonations

above the sensible atmosphere.

AN INFINITE VARIETY
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USING SPACE

FOR PEACE

AND

PROGRESS

"The National Aeronautics and Space Administration

and the Air Force have the principal assignments in the

nation's space program. Our efforts are complementary,

not competitive. Together, we are building the technological foundation of the rapidly advancing space age."

—Eugene .uckert, Secretary of the Air Force

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ADVANCED SYSTEMS

MAN AND THE MOON

"Man can think abstrusely but to perform useful work he must have a goal before him.

President Kennedy has stated a space objective in the form of a lunar expedition. . . an

objective which, if vigorously pursued, will provide all of the fundamental capabilities

essential to the development of both civil and military space applications for the nearterm future."

—Lt. Gen. Howell M. Estes

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MIL EPOSTS T 0 .SPACE:

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THE MEASURE

OF SUCCESS

In 1954 a group of forward-looking scientists, headed by the

late physicist Dr. John von Neumann, set up the Strategic Missiles Evaluation Committee and spelled out, in top secret

session, the specifications for an all-American ICBM.

Since then, the stringent requirements they optimistically laid

down have been not only met, but exceeded. The Atlas intercontinental ballistic missile they envisioned has become an

operational weapon system. The abbreviated development time

period, postulated as a pre-requisite to national security in the

1960's, was compressed beyond their expectations. Range, payload, accuracy, and reliability parameters they thought possible

have been bettered. The organization originally designated

to direct the Atlas development has grown in scope and in stature, apace with the rapidly increased demands for its specialized capabilities. The measure of its success rests not with the

Atlas alone, but with Thor and Titan and Minuteman as well,

and with a score of specific space development accomplishments nurtured and advanced through Aerospace Systems

management.

In the reach into space there is no room for complacency or

for satisfaction with past achievements. The dynamic face of

space is ever-changing. Challenges met lead to further challenges to be overcome.

The people responsible for national applications within the

new environment are dedicated Air Force scientists and managers in research and development, production, procurement,

construction, and a host of other specialities, teamed with their

counterparts in industry whose resources of knowledge and

experience are exceeded only by their thirst for fresh and provocative challenges. These arc the people who find in failure

and in disappointment the incentive to try again, and who arc

spurred by the stimulus of success to even greater achievements.
SPACE IS PEOPLE

America's unmanned aerospace systems require

systematic manning. Ballistic missiles, space probes,

satellites, ground support facilities: all are born,

reared, and hrought to operational maturity

through the resourceful mind and talented imagination of man.

It takes people from all walks of life to make satellites and to make them work. Physicists, metallurgists and mathematicians; engineers, astronomers

and machinists; thinkers and theorists; technicians

of countless types: managers, researchers, comptrollers, and teachers; secretaries, statisticians, and

administrators . . . all have their parts to pla y in

the unfolding of space. Thousands of people belonging to the vast government-science-industry team

captained by the Air Force Systems Command arid

its Aerospace Systems Headquarters have blended

talents and skills to demonstrate that in terms of

technical achievement, the sky is not the limit ...

not anymore.

25
PEACE IS OUR PROFESSION

STATISTICALLY

The Atlas development program alone exceeded in scope

and in magnitude the famed Manhattan Project which produced the atomic bomb during World War II. Through

fiscal year 1960 the Air Force Ballistic Systems and Space

Systems Divisions were responsible for the management of

nearly eight billion dollars invested in the nation's aerospace

defense. During fiscal year 1962 the budget amounts to 3.9

billion, or approximately 50% of the Air Force Systems

Command budget, 21% of the Air Force budget, 8.2% of the

total Defense Department budget, and 4.1 % of the Federal

budget.

During a single year more than 150,000 visitors are received

at the Aerospace Systems Headquarters in Los Angeles.

The combined strength of the Aerospace Systems Headquarters, its operational wings and groups, the personnel of

the Aerospace Corporation, and the employees of Space

Technology Laboratories working on ballistic missile contracts, adds up to some 10,000 people.

These people work in 35 buildings in the Los Angeles

metropolitan area, as well as in facilities at Norton 1\F Base,

at Vandenberg AF Base, at Edwards AF Base, and at

Sunnyvale in California; in Florida, in Hawaii, in Alaska,

and in states throughout the Union.

More than eighty per cent of the Air Force officers assigned

to the Aerospace Systems Headquarters hold academic

degrees. Thirty-seven per cent of the 180,000 people employed by industry at the associate contractor level alone

are engaged in scientific or technical capacities.

Since the first Atlas flight test was attempted June 11, 1957,

the Air Force has launched - through 10 October 1961 - a

total of 273 ballistic missiles. Of these, 197 (or better than

72%) have performed successfully, 41 are rated as partially

successful, and only 35 have been failures.
The earth ... from 700 miles up . .

actual photos taken from the nose

cone of an Altos ICBM.