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Show BLUE BOOK SOLDIER SLANTS: July 196U If somebody starts probing into the shushed-up, f ouled-up case of the Flying Junk Pile, some very big Pentagon heads could roll. The Junk Pile, sometimes known as the Athena test rocket, went 50 miles off course and missed hitting the town of Durango, Colo., by only 20 miles. As bad, and more expensive, was the Atlas I missile which blew up while being raised Ifrom its silo, destroying $11,500,000 worth* ; of gear , ,.^f THE DENVER POST 24 P«b 64 Four Corners EIGHT or so post-war years in Denver guarantee my interest in almost anything concerning Colorado. So when I read of the Athena missile that never made it to New Mexico and parts of which fell southeast of Durango, I was moved to verse as follows: A Missile from Utah was hurled Fell short through a sky dew-pearl'd If a warhead had been in its cone * Durango would henceforth be known As the deepest square mile in the world. , Chatham, N. J. WILLIAM O'TOOLE. f^S&l'--.-" gaesday, June 30, 1964 'TitiK KL PASO .'iiM&,': - • . Undecided jsecond - and most recent -' The missile was degradingly Ifiring, May 28, ended with an in- called "the flying trashpile" be-Iflight destruction of the missile cause the components were scav-with parts dropping at Shiprock, enged from existing missile sys-N.M. . _.- item. _ .. . - ; f V PROGRESS-LEADER, CasHe Dale, Utah I Thursday, July 2, 1964 G. R. will host new missile test In telegrams received week from the offices of ator Frank E. Moss ATHENA SOCKET FINALLY MAKES FIRST FLIGHT N. M., July 8 iff) - The much-maligned and oft-troubled Ath-i ena missile finally made its first successful overland flight today after two previous failures. The four-stage, solid-f u e 1 rocket, scavenged from existing missile systems, was launched from Green River, Utah, for the estimated 15-min-ute, 475-mile trip to White Sands. Neither the air force nor White Sands would say how I long, the trip took. The missile carried an experimental reentry vehicle. i The first and second stages (drove the 33-foot missile to j about 250,000 feet. The third land fourth stages drove the j nose cone back into the^fltmos-| phere at a speed approaching i that of an intercontinental bal-jlistic missile reentering the atmosphere. The vehicle was t' •!•• b? Atlantic Research cor- this and Senator Wallace F. Ben-Sen- nett (R-Utah), it was learned that the department of the army had a warded a contract in the] amount of $2V2 million to the Radio Corporation of America The contract covers techniaa and engineering services for development and testing of orbi tal and suborbital rockets a White Sands missile range a Las Cruces, N. M. and at Greer River test complex at Greet River. The announcement 'that thi new testing program is planne at Green River has tended t icTifirm speculation that th missile launch site will take o , a permanent nature, as i Brocket testing needs are devel-|oped. The Athena testing series! is presently being carried out at the site. Development and testing will begin at Green River and if i launches are successful will land at White Sands where there will be further testing. missiles and rockets, June 8, 1964 Missile Test stages were used in the suc^ cessful flight which took an es- o _ • f _ timated 15 minutes and reached OatlSlaCtOrV an altitude of about 250,000 feet. _____ ^ The Air Force said the missile . WHITE SANDS MISSILE carried a subscale experiment-; jRANGE, N.M. (AP)-The thirdjal re-entry vehicle as part of a! time was a charm for the!test program for space vehicles Athena missile, as it streaked which eventually will re-enter 450 miles from Green River, the earth's atmosphere ;-. ,, , x „„ ., ' The missile fell apart on the I Utah, to White bands Missile first try mis ycar and the sec-Range in southern New Mexico ond was destroyed when it yesterday. veered from its prescribed Only the first two of four course. Shots of the Week Despite premature shutoff of one of its eight I88,000-Ib.-thrust H-l en-gine.s, NASA's Saturn SA-(t shot put into orbit the first boilerplate Apollo B|)aceoral't on May 28, The launch was made from ('ape Kennedy (see story above). • The Air Force destroyed an Athena missile some 70 seconds after launch from Green River, Utah, on May 28 when "it appeared to be progressing out of the flight corridor." However, the possibility emerged after the shot that tracking data that prompted the abort was incomplete and could have led to a wrong decision. |
