Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1959-02-28
Sun Satellite
Attempt Near
AT CanaveraI
bib. Sphere Made
Ready for Firing
Past Moon Orbit

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla,
Feb. % CAP. The United
States. fiexing its missile mus
cles in q spectacular series Of
firings, is ready to try again
to ram a satellite past the moon
and into orbit around the sun.
The Army moon-shoot APP
pears likely this week end, al
though the exact time still is
q secret.
Preliminaries in the big week.
end space show were:
Launching of a powerful 30
foot Thor-Able rocket early
today on a 5,000-mile ICBM
nose cone recovery test.
Successful firing Of a 28-foot
Jupiter missile yesterday over
o 1,700-mile range to test its
tactical ballistic shell, nose
cone, engine, warhead and fus-
ing system.
Launching Of the Nays Po-
laris nuclear submarine rocket
yesterday. The Navy later said
the Polaris may have broken
up soon after it disappeared
into the clouds, although con-
siderable test data was re-
corded. Three of four earlier
Polaris firings were unsuccesS-
full.
Moon Rocket Is Juno III
The Army moon rocket wait
ing to take the limelight was
a four stage Juno Ia Jupiter
surmounted with three sue
cessive stages Of Sergeant
rockets.
Its star role win be to hurl |
a 13-pound satellite loaded |
with radiation equipment past |
the moon to become an artifi-
cial planet whirling around the
sun.
The first and second stages
of tn eJuno II rocket will be
in a spinning bucket to give
stability in flight. There will |
be IL Of the solid fuel Sergeant
rockets in the second stage,
three in the third. The fourth
stage will be one Sergeant
rocket to which the little sat
elite will be attached.
The planes of the earth and
moon are now in the best re-
lation-with the moon about
100000 miles from the earth. /
The first Army moon-shoot
last December 6 climbed $4,000
miles. The Pioneer II rocket
fired by the Air Force last No
vember 8 reached 71,000 miles.
The Soviets have claimed
they sent a space probe past
the moon early this year.
Brilliant Flash Today
The Thor-Able fired at 2:58
am. today shot through the
clouds with a brilliant flash at
the start of the nose cone re-
covery test-the fifth of a
series. The first four failed.
The rocket was equipped
with a guidance system of the
new Titan ICBM to direct a
knob-shaped nose cone to a
patch of water far out at sea.
A fleet of recovery ships awaited
the nose cones fiery return in
the vicinity of Ascension Is
land. the terminal point of the
Atlantic missile range. 1t was
not definite when results might
be announced.
Small white mice were
carried aloft on three of the
four previous Thor ABLE
efforts, but space officials said
there was nothing alive on
today's missile.
Ominous clouds hung over
the test center when the
Polaris shot Skyward yester-
day, aiming for an ocean target
more than 500 miles away. i
The Navy said the Polaris' :
launching phase appeared |
normal" A few hours later, I
however, the Navy said "a {
preliminary look at flight data !
from the Polaris firing today
indicates that all test objec- [
tiveS were not achieved" S
The Navy hopes to have the
PolariS ready for sea duty in /
a year. After the series of
ground launching tests, it will
be fired from the missile ship
Observation Island. Ii