Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!uflorida!haven!rutgers!ucsd!ucbvax!FNAL.BITNET!HIGGINS From: HIGGINS@FNAL.BITNET (Bill Higgins-- Beam Jockey) Newsgroups: sci.space Subject: *Aerospace Historian*, Semyorka, and Dyna-Soar Message-ID: Date: 27 Jan 89 23:02:00 GMT Sender: daemon@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU Organization: The Internet Lines: 72 The Winter/December 1988 *Aerospace Historian* recently came in the mail, and there are a couple of articles that might interest you. Most *AH* articles deal with aviation history, leaning heavily on the USAF and the wars, but they occasionally publish some space-related stuff. Page 268: "The First ICBM: Early Soviet Strategic Ballistic Missile Development," by Steven J. Zaloga, details Soviet work on large rockets during and after WWII, culminating in the deployment of Mezhkontinentalnaya Ballisticheskaya Raketa R-7, alias "Semyorka," alias "SS-6 Sapwood," alias "the Sputnik booster." And yes, the title is correct: its first full-range test took place on 21 August 1957, a month before the Atlas's first flight. This vehicle is the Model T of space flight, more than a thousand examples having been built and flown over thirty years. The article is a good rundown. Under Stalin the Soviets had a peculiar method of managing their R&D. They kept their engineers and scientists in prison camps equipped with drawing boards. There were aircraft-design prison camps, telecommunications prison camps, and so forth. Once in a while they'd release one of their designers and make him a major or something; this happened to Sergei Korolev. I don't really understand this system (though I know I should read *The Gulag Archipelago* if I really get curious about it; I've read *The First Circle*), but it actually seemed to produce working weapons and other innovations at some level. page 274: "The Diplomatic Demise of Dyna-Soar: The Impact of International and Domestic Political Affairs on the Dyna-Soar X-20 Project, 1957-1963," by Capt. Roy F. Houchin II of the Air Force Academy. "Even though Kennedy officials gave excuses for Dyna-Soar's demise (it lacked attainable objectives, it became too costly, and it duplicated NASA efforts), in reality, international space restrictions, Dyna-Soar's offensive nature, and the Air Force's determined support of military objectives detrimentally influenced the program and eventually curtailed it." Other articles in this issue deal with torpedo development, recovering a wrecked bomber from a New Guinea jungle, Korean Air Force history, and various war memoirs. The previous issue of *AH* (Fall/September 1988) had a weird and wonderful article in it, but I see this message is getting long, so I'll save it for a separate posting. Membership in the Air Force Historical Foundation is $25 for two years (for new members only), which includes a subscription to the quarterly *Aerospace Historian* magazine. It's a bargain if you have a serious interest in the subjects it covers. It can be a little dry if you have a casual interest. :-) *Aerospace Historian* has just changed its title to: *Air Power Historian* Maj. Gen. Ramsay D. Potts Publisher Air Force Historical Foundation Building 1413, Room 120 Stop 44 Andrews AFB, MD 20331 ______meson Bill Higgins _-~ ____________-~______neutrino Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory - - ~-_ / \ ~----- proton Bitnet: HIGGINS@FNALB.BITNET | | \ / NEW! IMPROVED! SPAN/Hepnet/Physnet: 43011::HIGGINS - - Now comes with ~ Free Nobel Prizewinner Inside!