3.4 Early Astronautical Societies and Historical Merits
135
and commercialize their rockets for the U.S. Army and Navy. The founders pooled
an initial investment of $250 each and the company was incorporated by Andrew G.
Haley, a prominent rocket scientist and lawyer.
In 1943, according to the British intelligence reports that the Germans were
constructing an extraordinarily large rocket at Peenemünde on the Baltic Sea coast,
the U.S. Army required von Kármán to develop a kind of long-range guide missile
similar to the Germans and soon provided the project research funding with $3 million
for the first year of operation. It was “The Research and Development Program for
Long-range Jet Propulsion Missile Weapons” issued by the U.S. Army Ordnance. The
research contents of the program include rocket propellants and materials, missile
remote control units and missile aerodynamics, etc. and its technical specification
requirements are: the weight of high explosive and propellant is 454 kg; the range of
missile is 120−160 km; the impacting point deviation is not more than 2%; the flight
speed exceeds the detection capability of enemy fighter. As the war effort ramped
up, the production requirements for rockets quickly outgrew the context of Caltech.
Consequently, the rocket research team at the GALCIT was officially named the Jet
Propulsion Laboratory in November 1944. At the beginning of the JPL, von Kármán
was named the JPL’s director, and Malina was its chief engineer, and two months
later, as spending much of his time in Washington, von Kármán resigned the JPL’s
post, and Malina, who had been overseeing daily operations anyway, was soon named
acting director.
For the research program from the U.S. Army, the JPL was going to firstly build a
smaller, lighter version of the V-2 called for a small solid-fueled rocket, and then to
develop a larger liquid-fueled guided missile. The former, dubbed the Private, stood
2-m tall, which used asphalt as a fuel with potassium perchlorate as an oxidizer. The
latter, called the Corporal, was 11-m high, which burned hydrazine with red fuming
nitric acid as the oxidizer, a combination the JPL team had developed and patented.
Since the innovative fuel remained liquid at room temperature, it did not need a
cooling system, and it was hypergolic, meaning it ignited spontaneously when its
constituents were brought into contact, so no ignition system was required.
Considering the differences in the shape and structure of the engine and missile, the
program initially includes four types, Private A, Private F, Corporal E and Corporal F.
The first two types of missiles use the solid rocket motors, and each type was bundled
four motors to reach total thrust of 756 kgf; the missiles fly without remote control
system and their designed rang are required up to 18 km. The last two types use the
liquid rocket motors, and each has a total weight of 5000 kg; the thrust of the liquid
engine is required up to 9100 kgf and its working time is 60 s; the missile’s range is
required up to 120 km. Obviously, the last two types had a large technical span, which
needed to take a long time to complete the mission. For this reason, before building
the guided version of the Corporal, Malina suggested that the development of an
unguided rocket should be carried out as a transition, and the rocket was dubbed the
WAC, standing for either “Woman’s Army Corporal” or “Without Attitude Control”,
whose length is 4.9 m, diameter 20.5 cm, total weight 302 kg and empty weight
136 kg. In September 1945, when is 2 weeks after the official end of the Second
World War, the WAC was firstly launched at the White Sands Missile Range in New
135
and commercialize their rockets for the U.S. Army and Navy. The founders pooled
an initial investment of $250 each and the company was incorporated by Andrew G.
Haley, a prominent rocket scientist and lawyer.
In 1943, according to the British intelligence reports that the Germans were
constructing an extraordinarily large rocket at Peenemünde on the Baltic Sea coast,
the U.S. Army required von Kármán to develop a kind of long-range guide missile
similar to the Germans and soon provided the project research funding with $3 million
for the first year of operation. It was “The Research and Development Program for
Long-range Jet Propulsion Missile Weapons” issued by the U.S. Army Ordnance. The
research contents of the program include rocket propellants and materials, missile
remote control units and missile aerodynamics, etc. and its technical specification
requirements are: the weight of high explosive and propellant is 454 kg; the range of
missile is 120−160 km; the impacting point deviation is not more than 2%; the flight
speed exceeds the detection capability of enemy fighter. As the war effort ramped
up, the production requirements for rockets quickly outgrew the context of Caltech.
Consequently, the rocket research team at the GALCIT was officially named the Jet
Propulsion Laboratory in November 1944. At the beginning of the JPL, von Kármán
was named the JPL’s director, and Malina was its chief engineer, and two months
later, as spending much of his time in Washington, von Kármán resigned the JPL’s
post, and Malina, who had been overseeing daily operations anyway, was soon named
acting director.
For the research program from the U.S. Army, the JPL was going to firstly build a
smaller, lighter version of the V-2 called for a small solid-fueled rocket, and then to
develop a larger liquid-fueled guided missile. The former, dubbed the Private, stood
2-m tall, which used asphalt as a fuel with potassium perchlorate as an oxidizer. The
latter, called the Corporal, was 11-m high, which burned hydrazine with red fuming
nitric acid as the oxidizer, a combination the JPL team had developed and patented.
Since the innovative fuel remained liquid at room temperature, it did not need a
cooling system, and it was hypergolic, meaning it ignited spontaneously when its
constituents were brought into contact, so no ignition system was required.
Considering the differences in the shape and structure of the engine and missile, the
program initially includes four types, Private A, Private F, Corporal E and Corporal F.
The first two types of missiles use the solid rocket motors, and each type was bundled
four motors to reach total thrust of 756 kgf; the missiles fly without remote control
system and their designed rang are required up to 18 km. The last two types use the
liquid rocket motors, and each has a total weight of 5000 kg; the thrust of the liquid
engine is required up to 9100 kgf and its working time is 60 s; the missile’s range is
required up to 120 km. Obviously, the last two types had a large technical span, which
needed to take a long time to complete the mission. For this reason, before building
the guided version of the Corporal, Malina suggested that the development of an
unguided rocket should be carried out as a transition, and the rocket was dubbed the
WAC, standing for either “Woman’s Army Corporal” or “Without Attitude Control”,
whose length is 4.9 m, diameter 20.5 cm, total weight 302 kg and empty weight
136 kg. In September 1945, when is 2 weeks after the official end of the Second
World War, the WAC was firstly launched at the White Sands Missile Range in New