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Show Thursday. October 1, 1964 pAgf) TTMffR Air Force Missile , Aborted In Flight White Sands Missile Range, .N.M. (AP)-The Athena missile,! which has a batting average bad enough to ride the bench in mosti leagues, misfired during its first night overland flight due to an converter malfunction, the Air Force said. The four-stage, solid-fuel missile, which now has made just one successful trip from Green River, Utah, to White Sands in fout firings and numerous postponements, was aborted in flight Monday night dropping into a so-1 called safety area near Datil in Western New Mejxco. Military officials at White J Sands and Norton Air Force Base' declined to say where .the missile impacted on the 1,300-square mile area, surrounding the tiny mountain community of some 300 persons. A White Sands spokesman said a converter is a device within the missile which converts alternating current to direct current and vice versa. Air Force officials, who labeled the firing a partial success, said they were pleased with the performance of built-in safety factors which caused all missile parts 'to impact in pre-determined safety areas. The military also said the flight; was to have been the first of . all four stages. The only successful flight, on July 8, was said at! the time to have been accom-' plished with all four stages. The first and second stages ig-l nited and separated on schedule, the spokesman said, but the monitoring computer sensed trouble and aborted the flight before the third stage of the 33-foot tallj rocket ignited. The Athena program has been] beset with troubles since the first! scheduled overland flight from Green River, 41(2 nautical miles; from White Sands, on Feb. 10. The first missile fell apart . shortly after launch, scattering: missile parts from the launch: site all the way to Ignacio, Colo.,j some. 75 miles off course, y r.] A second shot, May 28, ended! with the missile being destroyed in flight after it wavered in its trajectory. Most of the missile parts fell on the Navajo Reserva-ron with big chunks coming to earth at Shiprock, N.M. The missile, to solve the many mysteries of re-entry into the atmosphere, has been dubbed thej "flying trashpile" by cynics be-; cause it was built entirely from Thursday, April 23, 1964 ~ Athena Firing Stated Now For May 11 Seft. Wallace F. Bennett saf& this week that the next. fifing of an Athena missile from Green River to the White Sands missile range, New Mexico, is scheduled for the week of May 11. "The Air Force and missile experts have worked out their schedules and have determined the causes of the previous misfire sufficiently to go ahead with the next firing," he said. The last shot on Feb. 10 misfired and went off course, landing outside of Durango, Colo. A thorough investigation to find the cause and prevent potential damage to civilian buildings or to the public was undertaken at that time. The 55-foot Athena will be fired by the Air Force and the Atlantic Research Corp., builders of the missile. The Air Force also said that it still plans to launch some 75 or 80 of the solid fuel research and development test vehicles. Each four-stage missile weighs about 16 thousand pounds. The testing schedule calls for a two year operation, Sen. Bennett said, but it is possible that other programs may be placed at Green River after completion of the Athena tests. parts scavenged from missile systems. existing The Air Force has scheduled 78 overland shots from Green River in order to find out what causes an ionized sheath to form around a re-entry capsule and fcow to combat it. The sheath blocks out communications during re-entry. The night tests were scheduled so that optical equipment could aetect more easily the tell-tale glow which accompanies re-entry of an intercontinental ballistic missile. Cdunty Road Funds Budgeted For This Year Grand county Commissioners budgeted Class B Road Funds for the coming year at regular meeting Monday in the county courthouse. Total funds allotted by the state amounted to $67,729.50. Breakdown of planned projects is as follows: $1,500, paving project on the old City Park Road; $4,000 for paving golf course road; $4,000 for paving old highway; $1,000 for Spanish Valley Cross Road; $2,000 for cemetery hill; $5,500 for road for road from Elgin to Mls,-sile Base; $18,500 allotted for Dead Horse Point road if the State Road Commission decides to cooperate on the project. Otherwise, commissioners indicated only maintenance iwork will be scheduled for the road. $13,000 was alloted for purchase of two trucks, and the remaining $5,729.50 set up for maintenance work. Insurance representatives met with the commissioners with the suggestion that four applying agencies survey all assets of the county and submit a bid for insurance. Competing agencies will be Central Utah Insurance, Byrd's Agency, Meador Insurance Agency and- David W. Alien Insurance Agency. |
