The last Delta IV Heavy from pre-launch preparation
On Friday, March 29, 2024, with the launch of D389 (that is, the 389th space launch of the Delta rocket family), the extraordinarily long, successful and interesting career of the carrier, which is part of the series that began in the 1950s, will close. Today’s offspring is to be used in the NROL-70 mission for the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), which, among other things, takes care of the operation and launch of pion satellites.
The piece of information indicates that the second one is designed for collecting information from electronic sources (simplified, we could say that it is for electronic interception, but that is not the full story). the fourth start could have spoiled the time, but in the end it was an unspecified technical problem that stopped the departure three minutes before take-off. He tried to drink me in the mouth at least twice.
May 27, 2024 at 6:52 p.m. pspvek archived: May 28, 2024 at 1:17 p.m.
The first of the family
The Thor rocket burned the light of the world at a truly rocket-like pace. On November 30, 1955, the U.S. Air Force approached Douglas, Lockheed, and North American Aviation and gave them one week to submit an offer. Yes, Aunt Dobe: one week.
It should be noted that the USAF had been talking about a similar weapon since 1954. Among other things, the requirements included developing a missile with a range of 1,850 and 3,700 km and a maximum height of 20 m, to be mounted on Douglas C-124 Globemaster transport aircraft. In December 1955, the Air Force evaluated the submitted bids and announced on the 27th that Douglas had the best bid. The contract was signed that day.
The Thor rocket was a virtue out of necessity, because it belonged to the intermediate range category (IRBM, Intermediate Range Ballistic Missile). The development of American intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) nuclear weapons took off and there was a fear that the Soviet Union would soon have them. The balance between the superpowers would thus be sharply tilted.
From Britain to Moscow
Thor (full name PGM-17A Thor, originally SM-75) named after the Norse god bou was the first operated ballistic missile by the US Air Force and the first in the IRBM category in the world. As can be seen from the stated range (in the end it was 2,800 km), it could not hit the target during the fall and hit the center of the Soviet Union. However, this was not necessary, because it was deployed with the traditional ally of the United States, in Great Britain, as part of a project with the name Project Emily.
The agreement on its implementation was signed in May 1957 by American President Dwight D. Eisenhower and British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan. A total of twenty squadrons were armed with the Thor, each of which was determined by these guns. All in all, eight rockets were prepared to dry up the city. They were formally operated by the British Air Force, but permission to take off had to be authorized by late American officers.
Unloading a Thor missile from a Douglas C-124 Globemaster in Great Britain
Thors were stored in a horizontal position under cover. When the command to launch was given, the cover was moved along the rails, then down to the rocket support and refueled. 15 minutes passed from the order to the launch. The disadvantages of Thor were easy vulnerability (the light cover protected it from the vagaries of the weather, but not from animal activity), problematic fuel (kerosene was easy to store, but liquid acid constantly evaporated and it was difficult to refill it) and low reliability. The technical weakness was that the oil of the engine turbocharger was dry when working at all temperatures (i.e. under near-vacuum pressure). Many rockets were damaged in flight due to faulty turbocharger bearings, but the problem could not be identified and solved.
The Thor Rocket travels along Harrington Road in Rothwell (North Northamptonshire)
