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Show ling of an Athena test Imissile are complex land use up to 200 I personnel. Mr. J. R. Taylor, Acting Director of the site, escorted us through the stages up to blast off time. This is to be the last Athena Mission. The 141st launching since its beginning in February, 1963. The Air Force is in charge of the mission although there are only two Air Force Officers on the base. It is indeed a strange bed fellows setup. The Army owns the land which the site rests on. It contracts the services of Dyn-alectron and they service the tenant (of the site, as of jnow the Air Force. |The Air Force con-Itracts Celesco to put the missile to-geather and launch it. In a nutshell, the Air Force and Army are at the same base hiring civilian engineers, technicians and other trained personnel to work for them. It is good for the economy of the town surrounding the site as it puts money into circulation that otherwise would not be there. The Green River Site people and the town, have lived in harmony with each other. One example, The base furnishes its ambulence to the city in the case iof emergency. Green River has many em-Iployees living as far away as East Carbon and Moab, thus pumping money into circulation in these areas. Since security is tightened during the preperation and launching of the missile, it took three Air Force Officers in Los Angeles signatures to clear us for the tour. Mrs. Judy Bedier, Secretary in Headquarters, greeted us along with Mr. Taylor and John Harring-ton. We were escorted to the Clearance area to receive our passes from Kathy Engleman, Secretary there. Our passes had marked on them, our name, age, weight, hair color, eye color and birth-date, along with ESCORT across the front. Mr. Taylor touched on our sched-dule before leaving headquarters for our tour. In an airconditioned car, we started on our way to the Block House. As we rode, Mr. Taylor pointed out subjects of interest. We passed Celesco buildings where the missile is assembles and is always under tight security measures. After this last firing we were told, Celesco will assemble at least seven more Athena missiles to ship to Wake Island for testing. There are eleven explosive Magazine Storage units on the base. Each one has proper precations taken so there would be no accidental explosions. As we stopped for the first Security Guard to check our credentials, we could see the Radar Stations to our left and to our left, the Met (Metrological) Site. We decided then, where they had got the name complex. Not only does the base have an Athena Site but also a Pershing Missile site and sends aloft Loki missiles and weather ballons testing the atmosphere. At the Block House, we were met by Capt. Charles Winters, AF. He explained that we would be locked in the Block House for ten minutes during the testing of the Pay Load aboard the Missile. With that we entered a cement building housing the equipment necessary__ to launch aloftthe Missle. More or less the Command Post. There is a VIP room maintained with outside communication and intercoms so whoever is in the room may hear everything that is going on and ask"questions. Capt. Winters introduced us to Roy Snow, Celsco Control Director, who then explained the Consol Group in front of in the process I of final checking of equipment for the J firing. As each I system is checked I out okay, a little I light on the Con- I trol Panel goes from I red to green. When I all lights are on I green, the missile I is ready for launch. I The Consol consists I of Telemetry and I Weather Control, Re- I mote Control, Range I Control, Range Co- I lordinator and Missile I Direction Safety. I Each panel is hooked I up to the section I refered to. At all I times, they are con- I nected with White I Sands and it is White I Sands last say whetherl the missile flys or I not. The mission I can be aborted for I any good reason I from any of the con- I necting stations. I Mr. Snow intro- I duced us to Dennis I Womack of AFCO. He I is in charge of the I wind and weather I section or Met Sec- | tion. He explained how the center was connected to White Sands through computer giving them i the reading of all weather conditions in the area that could affect the launching. This center is in charge i of the Loki weather missile. The Loki must be launched 150 minutes before the missile is fired to give the Radar tracking stations a fix. Another Loki is fired 30 minutes after |
