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3 A Brief History of Space Flight
the motors and designs. Based on the work that they had done with the ARS, they
formed a company, Reaction Motors, Inc., in the end of 1941, which was the first
American company founded to produce liquid-propellant rockets. They had formed
the company to do business with the U.S. government, which would not contract
with individuals. For example, the company undertook the contract projects from
the U.S. Navy, which developed high thrust liquid rockets for heavy aircraft assisted
takeoff, and finally completed the development of the motor with a thrust of 2700
kgf.
By 1947, the ARS passed new by-laws that included official grades of membership, added four regional sections, and established a subcommittee for technical
specialties including reaction-motor development, fuels and combustion, instrumentations and communications, as well as aerodynamics and space problems. As a
technical research and development organization, the ARS has grown increasingly,
whose members are involved in aviation, aerospace and related scientific fields,
providing technology and talent reserves for the United States to enter the age of
space flight.
It is worth mentioning that just 2 years later after founding the AIS, another important science organization, the Institute of Aeronautical Sciences (IAS), was set up
at the Yale Club in New York, to promote the application of science in the development of aircraft. As same as both the AIS and following-up ARS, the Institute soon
became the main American scientific and engineering society in the field of aeronautics. On 1 February 1963, considering the rapidly growing importance of research
and development in the emerging rocket-related areas beyond the traditional realm
of aeronautics, the ARS was merged with the IAS to form the American Institute of
Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA). At this time, the ARS had more than 20,000
members, a spectacular transformation of an original group of a dozen spaceflight
dreamers in New York. At present, the AIAA is the world’s largest professional
society of aerospace scientists and engineers.
3.4.3.2 The Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Frank Joseph Malina (1912−1981), an American rocket specialist almost forgotten,
had ever made a significant contribution to the birth of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory
(JPL) in the 1930s and 1940s. He and his unlikely research team laid the foundation
for the U.S. space program. In 1934, after getting a bachelor’s degree in mechanical
engineering from Texas A&M University, Malina received a fellowship from the
California Institute of Technology (Caltech), where he had the good fortune to begin
working for the renowned aerodynamicist Theodore von Kármán (1881−1963) who
was leading one of the world’s foremost centers of aeronautical instruction and
research, the Guggenheim Aeronautical Laboratory, Caltech (GALCIT). At that time,
as the limit of propeller propulsion for high-speed flight became obvious, von Kármán
and others eagerly sought alternatives. Malina was conducting experiments with
model propellers in the wind tunnel for his theses and turned more and more to the
possibilities of rocket propulsion while he analyzed the characteristics of propellers.
3 A Brief History of Space Flight
the motors and designs. Based on the work that they had done with the ARS, they
formed a company, Reaction Motors, Inc., in the end of 1941, which was the first
American company founded to produce liquid-propellant rockets. They had formed
the company to do business with the U.S. government, which would not contract
with individuals. For example, the company undertook the contract projects from
the U.S. Navy, which developed high thrust liquid rockets for heavy aircraft assisted
takeoff, and finally completed the development of the motor with a thrust of 2700
kgf.
By 1947, the ARS passed new by-laws that included official grades of membership, added four regional sections, and established a subcommittee for technical
specialties including reaction-motor development, fuels and combustion, instrumentations and communications, as well as aerodynamics and space problems. As a
technical research and development organization, the ARS has grown increasingly,
whose members are involved in aviation, aerospace and related scientific fields,
providing technology and talent reserves for the United States to enter the age of
space flight.
It is worth mentioning that just 2 years later after founding the AIS, another important science organization, the Institute of Aeronautical Sciences (IAS), was set up
at the Yale Club in New York, to promote the application of science in the development of aircraft. As same as both the AIS and following-up ARS, the Institute soon
became the main American scientific and engineering society in the field of aeronautics. On 1 February 1963, considering the rapidly growing importance of research
and development in the emerging rocket-related areas beyond the traditional realm
of aeronautics, the ARS was merged with the IAS to form the American Institute of
Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA). At this time, the ARS had more than 20,000
members, a spectacular transformation of an original group of a dozen spaceflight
dreamers in New York. At present, the AIAA is the world’s largest professional
society of aerospace scientists and engineers.
3.4.3.2 The Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Frank Joseph Malina (1912−1981), an American rocket specialist almost forgotten,
had ever made a significant contribution to the birth of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory
(JPL) in the 1930s and 1940s. He and his unlikely research team laid the foundation
for the U.S. space program. In 1934, after getting a bachelor’s degree in mechanical
engineering from Texas A&M University, Malina received a fellowship from the
California Institute of Technology (Caltech), where he had the good fortune to begin
working for the renowned aerodynamicist Theodore von Kármán (1881−1963) who
was leading one of the world’s foremost centers of aeronautical instruction and
research, the Guggenheim Aeronautical Laboratory, Caltech (GALCIT). At that time,
as the limit of propeller propulsion for high-speed flight became obvious, von Kármán
and others eagerly sought alternatives. Malina was conducting experiments with
model propellers in the wind tunnel for his theses and turned more and more to the
possibilities of rocket propulsion while he analyzed the characteristics of propellers.