ITEM OF THE WEEK

AN AMAZING QUARTER-CENTURY AT THE CAPE

July 24, 1950 to July 24, 1975, covers an interesting and impressive arc of American history. Those 25 years cover the Korean War, the Cold War, and the rapid development of ever-more capable aircraft and spacecraft. The very first launch of any kind from Cape Canaveral was made on the first date cited, and the last NASA capsule splashdown, by the command module of the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project, was on the second. A lot of exploration of the Moon and Solar System happened in the interim, both robotic and crewed. We’ve recently returned to that recovery tactic almost four years ago, on Sunday, August 2, 2020, when a SpaceX Dragon capsule returned Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken to Earth safely from the ISS.

BUMPER 8

American forces captured a number of the rocket scientists and engineers during the last days of WWII. So did the Soviets. “Our” group came to the U.S. semi-secretly in Operation Paperclip, led by Wernher von Braun. The U.S. also captured a number of V-2 rockets and other jet/rocket technology and returned them to the U.S. The Army and the Navy both had flight/rocketry programs during the period leading up to the International Geophysical Year.

Rockets used for tactical military operations were developed during WWII, and with both sides having the atomic bomb (the Russians tested its first on 8/29, 1949), great emphasis was placed on rocket engineers to build more and better rockets for both tactical and strategic operations.

Robert Goddard was already there before then, testing rockets of his design, at White Sands in New Mexico. With the end of the War and the availability of German rockets, White Sands Missile Range was established in July, 1945, under the auspices of the U.S. Army Ordnance Corps. On May 29, 1947, one of the captured V-2s went awry just after liftoff and by happenstance headed in the worst possible direction, south. To Mexico.

The V-2 landed on a hill near the Juarez town dump (one source said it hit a cemetery). Damage was minimal, but, the Mexican government unsurprisingly protested rather strongly. Clearly, a more suitable place for testing rockets was needed, especially for testing longer-range, two-stage rockets. But time was of the essence, and launches had to continue while a new launch site could be found and built. Two locations were in the running: El Centro, in southern California, and Cape Canaveral, Florida. You know which won, because there was mostly ocean to its east where an errant rocket could do no harm, and it was farther south. Satellites have to attain ~17,500 MPH to make orbit; which comes from a combination of the speed given by its rocket(s) and the speed it started with, the Earth’s rotation speed at the launch site. The Earth’s rotation speed is highest at the Equator, so a southerly site was a help for rockets putting things in orbit.

The Army was very interested in building a two-stage rocket. They’d use the captured V-2s as the first stage, and put a sounding rocket atop it as a second stage. The sounding rocket was the WAC Corporal; with “WAC” pessimistically meaning “Without Any Control!” The Corporal was based on the design of the “Tiny Tim” air-to-ground rocket. Both V-2s and Corporals had been extensively tested at White Sands by early/mid 1946.

The test program, called “Bumper,” consisted of eight of V-2/WAC Corporal launches, to begin ASAP at White Sands. The goals of the program were to investigate launching techniques for a two-stage missile and separation of the stages at high velocity, conduct limited investigation of high-speed high-altitude phenomena, set records for rocket speed and altitude.

Bumpers 1-8

The first six Bumper launches were conducted at White Sands’ Pad 33 while Joint Long Range Proving Ground at Cape Canaveral was being built up. [Pad 33 is now the “White Sands V-2 Launching National Historic Site.”]

Bumper 1 was launched on May 13, 1948. It was the first test flight of the V-2/WAC Corporal two-stage rocket; the WAC was only partially fueled (as was the case for Bumpers 1-4).

Bumper 2 was launched on August 19, 1948. Its V-2 first stage failed due to propellant flow interruption.

Bumper 3 was launched on September 30, 1948. Its V-2 worked fine, but the WAC stage failed.

Bumper 4 was launched on November 1, 1948. Its V-2 engine blew up soon after launch.

Bumper 5 was the first with a fully-fueled Corporal, launched on February 24, 1949. Both stages, and stage separation, worked as planned. Bumper 5 attained an altitude of 250 miles.

Bumper 6, the last at White Sands, was launched on April 21, 1949. Its V-2 engine cut-out prematurely and the WAC Corporal failed to fire.

Bumper 7 was scheduled to launch on July 19, 1950. However, its V-2 misfired, and needed minor repairs. It would be launched on July 29, 1950, after the launch of Bumper 8.

Bumper 8 was the first rocket to be launched from Cape Canaveral, on July 24, 1950, seventy-four years ago this week. Its V-2 worked well, but the WAC Corporal appeared to suffer a structural failure shortly after separation.

NOTE: A number of the Operation Paperclip guys not only worked on Bumper, the worked on the Hermes Program, also run by the United States Army Ordnance Corps. Hermes ran from 11/15/1944 to 12/31,1954, and was to develop long-range guided missiles. There were a lot of similarities in the supply line/construction of the two programs.

Bumper’s goal was to develop and test a two-stage missile system, especially in how to mount the second stage to ensure smooth aerodynamic flow and how to start the second stage while the first is still firing enough to provide a stable launch platform. Bumpers were never intended to be an end product, but rather a series of research vehicles.

Bumper’s Legacy

The V-2 was the predecessor to the Redstone missile (which launched the first two Mercury missions), the Jupiter-C, and ultimately the Saturn rockets. The Corporal used liquid two hypergolic fluids as fuel; they burn immediately when they come in contact with one another (and are therefore extremely dangerous to handle).

But NASA needed the technology for capsule thrusters and spacecraft propulsion, and the lessons learned with Corporal found application in many places later; the Titan II missile used hydrazine and nitrogen tetroxide (both toxic to humans). NASA would use hydrazine in its spacecraft thrusters for years.

Bumpers 8 and 7 were launched from Launch Complex 3 (1, 2, and 4 had not been built yet). By the time the short-lived Bumper Program ended, Cape Canaveral boasted a total of 24 launch complexes. The Joint Long Range Proving Ground at Cape Canaveral needed a lot of launching facilities because of the intense flight test program then underway on longer-range ballistic missiles, including the Redstone, Jupiter, Jupiter-C, Juno I, Juno II, Atlas A, Atlas B, Atlas C, Atlas D (Atlas family), Titan I, Thor, Thor-Able I, Thor-Able II, Vanguard, and X-17. The JLRPG was also deeply involved in the development of shorter-ranged guided missiles, including the Snark, Matador, Lark, Bomarc, Polaris, Navaho and here, Alpha Draco, and Bull Goose.

The launch facilities crunch extended into the 1960s. The testing program for all sorts of rockets continued apace, and the Cape also became home to the American Manned Space Program, starting with Project Mercury in 1961 and ending with the ASTP splashdown in 1975.

A number of the launch complexes became obsolete as rocket technology developed and the first-built hit their design lifetimes, and by the close-out of Project Apollo, a number of complexes had been decommissioned by the start of the 1970s. Crewed launches did not resume until 1981, with the launch of the Space Shuttle Columbia, STS-1. [I watched Columbia’s landing from the NASA Ames cafeteria in an SRO crowd – unforgettable!]

Planetary missions continued to be launched from the Cape. Vikings 1 and 2 were launched to Mars almost immediately after the ASTP (August 20 and September 9, respectively. Then the two amazing Voyagers launched in 1977. And many more followed, some launching directly from the Cape and others were carried aloft on a Shuttle and launched from there, like the HST, Magellan, Galileo, and others. For an international roster of missions, see: https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/chronology.html, and, of course, Asif A. Siddiqi’s fabulous book, Beyond Earth: A Chronicle of Deep Space Exploration. You can find it at: https://www.nasa.gov/connect/ebooks/beyond_earth_detail.html.

THE FINAL NASA SPLASH-DOWN

I covered the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project in a previous Item of the Week, so I won’t go into detail here on any part of the ASTP other than the splash-down of the Americans involved. It would prove to be the final time that NASA would bring astronauts home via parachuting their capsule into the ocean. As mentioned previously, NASA is now contracting with private companies to provide service to/from orbit, rather than operating the launch/recovery itself.

The ASTP mission had been a rousing success, a testimony to the potential of international cooperation in Space. The Soyuz launched first, followed by our Apollo spacecraft. We used the same tactic used to extract the Lunar Module from the Saturn’s upper stage; the Command Service Module separated from the Saturn, turned around and then docked, not with an LM, but with a special docking adapter – one side fit the Apollo and the other fit the Soyuz. The CSM then backed away and went off to rendezvous with the Soyuz.

The famous Handshake in Space was televised world-wide, and the astro/cosmonauts performed joint experiments, joint press conferences, and hung out together for two days. Then the guys got into their own rides home, practiced the docking maneuver again, and finally separated from one another at 11:27 AM EDT on July 19, 1975. Soyuz landed soon thereafter, but the Apollo capsule stayed in orbit three additional days, with the astronauts conducting additional tests and experiments. They were set to return home on the afternoon of July 24.

I’d like to report that the final NASA splashdown was the perfect cap to a successful mission.

But I can’t.

Splashdown occurred at 5:18 PM EDT on July 24, 1975.

“An astronaut error resulted in a failure to turn on the spacecraft’s Earth Landing System at the correct time. As a result, fumes from fuel being dumped overboard after splashdown entered the capsule. The fumes caused astronaut Brand to lose consciousness. However, the crew had the presence of mind to don their oxygen masks, which in all probability prevented what could have been the first U.S. fatalities during an active mission.” [Source]

Another source says that the switch error allowed the Apollo capsule’s “attitude control thrusters to fire after the cabin fresh air intake was opened, allowing NTO fumes to enter the cabin.” (NTO = dinitrogen tetroxide).

NASA sources did not name the astronaut responsible for the error, but it was Vance Brand. Mission commander Stafford correctly pointed out that “all three crewmen must share responsibility for the mishap.” [Source] Another source, with a more detailed account of the post-splashdown period, blames Stafford.

The Apollo capsule had two possible modes of flotation: right-side-up and upside-down. Of course, in this case, it would be the latter. Normally, when the capsule is under canopy, air intake vents open to bring fresh air into the capsule. But with the switch that would “safe” the thrusters was left in the wrong position, the thrusters fired (or vented) when the drogue parachute deployed with its customary jolt, and the fumes from the dinitrogen tetroxide entered the cabin from there (24,000’) to splashdown. All three astronauts began coughing, with eyes and skin burning from the fumes. Stafford knew they needed to get on their oxygen masks. The upside-down attitude of the capsule made the masks difficult to reach, but Stafford finally got ahold of them and passed them to Brand and Slayton while donning his. Deke kept on coughing, but Stafford didn’t hear from Brand, whose mask had slipped, so Stafford adjusted it properly, and then held on tightly to Brand to keep him from knocking it off as he thrashed around while regaining consciousness.

The doctors aboard the recovery ship, USS New Orleans, found that all three had burned their noses, throats, and lungs. Had the exposure been a little longer, they would have been in really serious trouble. The normal celebratory post-flight festivities were cancelled. There was no way the doctors would let the astronauts fly, so they were cared for aboard ship and received cortisone therapy. The New Orleans headed to Hawaii at flank speed.

X-rays the next day showed all three had lungs filled with edema and all three had chemically-induced pneumonia. They were extremely fatigued as a consequence; Slayton even passed out briefly during the exam. Once they got to Oahu, they were taken to Tripler Army Hospital where they received more cortisone therapy. Six days after the splashdown, their X-rays cleared up, and they were discharged to convalesce at Marine Corps Air Station, Kenoe Bay. [Some sources say they remained hospitalized longer.]

A fatal level of exposure to dinitrogen tetroxide is 400 ppm; doctors estimated that the three Astronauts had been exposed to 300 ppm.

AFTERMATH

Thomas Stafford’s illustrious career, and the Air and Space museum he built in his hometown of Weatherford, Oklahoma, was covered in a previous Item of the Week (here). He was a “Second Nine” astronaut, was on the back-up crew for Gemini 3, and flew Gemini 6. He had been on the back up crew for Gemini 9, but moved to prime on the deaths of prime crew See and Bassett. He flew on Apollo 10, then ran the Astronaut Office, then commanded the ASTP. After NASA, he was the commander of the Edwards AFB flight test facility, after which he served as Deputy AF Chief of Staff. He retired from the Air Force on November 1, 1979, went back to Oklahoma, served on a few boards, and built out a nice museum, which recently acquired a F-117 stealth aircraft, a model Stafford worked in his final billet.

Vance Brand recovered fully, and he went on to command three Space Shuttle missions (STS-5, STS-41B (the first test of the MMU with Bruce McCandless – see the “Three Bruces” picture in the Archive: Other Stuff section), and STS-35. Two of his six children were born after the ASTP mission. He served as Chief of Plans at the National Aerospace Plane Joint Program Office at Wright-Patterson, and wound up his careers as the Deputy Director for Aerospace Projects at Dryden (now Armstrong Flight Research Center). He won many honors and awards, including induction into the International Space Hall of Fame, and presently resides in Tehachapi, California.

Deke Slayton has also been covered by a previous A+StW Item of the Week (here). He was one of the original seven Mercury astronauts, but did not fly a Mercury mission due to atrial fibrillation, although he still remained on flight status for aircraft. His consolation “prize” was to be put in charge of the Astronaut Office, with authority of crew selection. The only time he got overruled was when his pick for Apollo 17 Lunar Module Pilot, Joe Engle, was replaced over his objection by Harrison Schmidt, the only geologist to walk on the Moon. Deke’s spaceflight status was restored on March 13, 1971, and he finally got his turn in Space on the ASTP as Docking Module Pilot. His lung damage after the mission was enough to preclude his ever flying in Space again.