Evening star., 1946-05-11
Henry
Continued From First Page

shooting star cannot be predicted
at all.
1t is probable that they can be
made to order and their behavior
studied with split-second accuracy
as, burning from friction, they fall
to earth. But some fragments thus
set free probably will never return
to earth at all.
They will get beyond the earth's S
gravitational pull and become satel-
lites like the moon although ex-
tremely small ones and probably
forever invisible.
These undertakings would be with
the giant German-guided projec-
tiles, or with American improve
ments along the same line. The
slender little WAC Corporal" does
not lend itself to such ambitious
schemes but will carry in its war
head about Is pounds of scientific
equipment far into the stratos-
Iphere. 1t may be extremely valuable
Tor meteorological studies. Since it
can be equipped with self record
ling and self transmitting -ap-
tparatus. q
+ Description of Flight: -
r One Of these little rocketssaNas
fired late yesterday. Seen from the
dlstance-it is unsafe to get within
less than five miles of a launch
ing site since there is no control
over the Corporal once she is fired
there was a mounting ball of fire
for about 10000 feet. Then came
ta jagged white crack in thes blue
tsky like crack in a DOME of
Iglass, which extended up to 8KOO0
feet. The Corpora" continued to
ascend for two-and-half minutes,
reaching an altitude of about 230.-
900 feet. The entire fight lasted
five minutes and the greatest alti-
tude attained was only about IS
miles, compared to a record alti-
tude of rs miles for the W..
For the first time, such a rocket
was chased by an airplane. Mai.
Phillip Hatton of the White Sands
command, was Is miles away from
the launching site in Gas plane
when he saw the rocket directly
overhead and turning over. He fol-
lowed it and was directly over
head when it disappeared in a cloud
of dust.
Like cosmic fish propelled by its
enormous red tail of flame the rocket
rose majestically and in less than a
minute had disappeared completely
into the rarif1ed atmosphere. It left
behind an irregular tracing of white
vapor against the blue of the very
high heavens, like a Titan's smoke
writing. The flaming tail had dwin-
died to a tiny red dot, but seconds
before the great projectile itself had
dissolved into the cloudless sky over
the desert to observers on sage-brush
covered sand mounds it seemed to
rise in an absolutely vertical line
and to hover for an instant directly
over their heads.
Only Experimental Step.
The rocket is Is feet long, a foot
in diameter and weighs TOO pounds.
Compared to the 46-foot length. Five
foot diameter and 14-ton weight of
the W..
But, it was explained, the Corp
oral' is only an experimental step in
the American rocket program. The
California Institute of Technology
has a contract with the Army to
study rocket missiles and this was
one of those made to test some ten
tative conclusions. There had been
series Of such experimental devices
carrying code names from private up
through the enlisted ranks. This one
was somewhere between the "Pri-
vate" and the Sergeant" model so
1t was named WAC Corporal as a
compromise and not, as has been
charged, because it is likely to be
so cratic.