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Show Atlantic Research ^News Missile Systems VOL. 1 NO. 11 DECEMBER 1964 LATE NIGHT LIFTOFF - White smoke engulfs fin and tail assembly of Air Force ATHENA rocket launched December 4 from the Army's Green River Test Complex in Utah. Seconds after this photo was taken ATHENA disappeared into the darkness and was well on the way to completing the second successful four stage flight. (See story on page 4). ATHENA AGAIN SUCCESSFULLY SLAMS BACK TO EARTH AND HITS TARGET Christmas came early for members of the Air Force ATHENA team. On December 4 at approximately 9:30 p.m. Rocky Mountain Time, the second successful four stage ATHENA was fired into a lampblack Utah sky. The first four stage version of the Air Force's re-entry test vehicle was fired successfully on November 6. ATHENA, one of the mainstays in the country's R & D program for future weapons, thus accomplished its third completely successful full range flight from Green River, Utah, to White Sands, New Mexico, a total of 470 miles. The historic first flight occured in July of this year when a two stage version of a subscale ICBM negotiated the ballistic trajectory over southeastern Utah and into White Sands; Once again ATHENA nosed its way out of the earth's atmosphere to an altitude of .over 500,000 ft. and then slammed back to earth at speeds in excess of 14,000' miles per hour. Thus ATHENA repeated an earlier feat • when it became the first vehicle anywhere in the Free World to travel entirely over land at ICBM velocities. The longest flight by a re-entry vehicle over the continental limits of the United States was another first that was duplicated. Because of the Christmas holiday season, the next ATHENA flight is tentatively scheduled January 8. |
