Slamming into the upper atmosphere at 20 times the speed of sound, the warhead would encounter tremendous friction, creating temperatures of 12,000 degrees Fahrenheit.Ī protective nose cone would have to be created the question was, what kind? To minimize friction, conventional wisdom called for using the same kinds of low-drag shapes-thin, knife-edge wings and sleek, needle-nose bodies-being developed for experimental supersonic aircraft like the Douglas Skyrocket.
NASA WORLD WIND ADD CONE HOW TO
But another problem was just as daunting: how to make sure the warhead survived its high-speed reentry from the edge of space. Creating a rocket with enough power and accuracy to lob a multi-ton nuclear warhead at targets in the Soviet Union, some 6,000 miles away, was challenging enough. In the spring of 1952, even as millions of Collier’s readers marveled at the magazine’s visions of the future, engineers were grappling in secret with the almost insurmountable difficulties of designing the first intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs). What happened during those nine years to change the shape of spaceflight? It had less to do with dreams of conquering Mars than with the infant science of hypersonics, a classified missile program, and a couple of visionary engineers.
They came back to Earth not gliding on wings but dangling from parachutes. One was shaped like a bowling ball the other resembled a Styrofoam coffee cup. When the Soviet Union and the United States flew the first real spaceships just nine years later-far sooner than most experts had predicted in 1952-they were anything but sleek. Designed by German rocket pioneer Wernher von Braun, whose name was still unknown to most Americans, the Collier’s spaceship was a sleek, needle-nosed beauty its winged third stage would be piloted to a runway landing. “Man Will Conquer Space Soon,” blared the headline, above a painting of a multi-stage rocket with engines blazing, bound for orbit.
The cover of the Maissue of Collier’s magazine made an audacious promise.
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