Chronology - Quarter 2 1949

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Previous Home Next 1949 April 4 - Start of North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) - treaty signed by 12 nations Nation: USA. 1949 April 8 - Launch Site: Wallops Island. Launch Complex: -. Launch Pad: -. Launch Vehicle: RM-10. First successful rocket-propelled RM-10 rocket. Nation: USA. First successful rocket-propelled RM-10 research missile for drag and heat transfer studies at transonic and supersonic speeds, making use of skin calorimeter techniques, at Wallops Island, Va. References: 17. 1949 April 8 - Launch Vehicle: RM-10. RM-10 Nation: USA. Heat transfer studies 1949 April 9 - Launch Vehicle: G-3, G-4. Ustinov instructs German rocket engineers to design '3000/3000' missile. Nation: USSR. Ustinov's requirement was to deliver a 3000 kg nuclear warhead over a 3000 km range (eg to reach the United Kingdom). 1949 April 11 - 22:05 GMT - Launch Site: White Sands. Launch Complex: LC33. Launch Pad: -. Launch Vehicle: V-2. LV Configuration: V-2 50. UM-3 Aeronomy / solar x-ray / biology mission Nation: USA. Agency: USA/UM. Apogee: 85 km (52 mi). Launched 15:05 local time. Reached 87.4 km. Carried Temp, composition, solar radiation (Naval Research Lab); biological experiments for Signal Corps Engineering Lab, University of Michigan. References: 2. 1949 April 14 - XS-1 Flight 109 Nation: USA. Payload: XS-1 # 1 flight 66. Class: Manned. Type: Rocketplane. Spacecraft: XS-1. Crew: Ridley. AF flight 44. Accelerated stall check at transonic speeds. Mach 1.1 at 12200 m. References: 49, 97. 1949 April 19 - XS-1 Flight 110 Nation: USA. Payload: XS-1 # 1 flight 67. Class: Manned. Type: Rocketplane. Spacecraft: XS-1. Crew: Everest. AF flight 45. Altitude attempt. Only 2 cylinders fired. References: 49, 97. 1949 April 22 - 00:17 GMT - Launch Site: White Sands. Launch Complex: LC33. Launch Pad: -. Launch Vehicle: V-2. Model: Bumper-WAC. LV Configuration: Bumper-WAC Bumper 6. FAILURE: Failed in the first stage. Solar / aeronomy mission Nation: USA. Agency: USA. Apogee: 50 km (31 mi). Failed in the first stage. Vehicle was supposed to obtain cosmic ray data at altitudes unattainable by other rockets. V-2 reached 50 km, 790 m/s; WAC destroyed. References: 2. 1949 May 1 - Gerard Kuiper's Discovery of Neptune Moon Nereid Nation: USA. 1949 May - Launch Vehicle: Navaho. Model: Navaho G-38. Intercontinental Navaho Nation: USA. Program: Navaho. North American settled on a design for the intercontinental version of the Navaho. It consisted of a tandem in-line boost stage with a single-ramjet cruise stage atop it. References: 221. 1949 May 2 - XS-1 Flight 111 Nation: USA. Payload: XS-1 # 1 flight 68. Class: Manned. Type: Rocketplane. Spacecraft: XS-1. Crew: Yeager. AF flight 46. Partial engine malfunction, faulty engine ignition plug. References: 49, 97. 1949 May 3 - 16:14 GMT - Launch Site: White Sands. Launch Complex: LC33. Launch Pad: ALA1. Launch Vehicle: Viking. LV Configuration: Viking 1. Viking 1 Aeronomy/Photography mission Nation: USA. Agency: USN. Apogee: 83 km (51 mi). Upper-air pressures and temperatures; earth photography research. Engine cut-out after 55 seconds. Launched at 0914 local time. Reached 80.5 km. References: 2. 1949 May 5 - XS-1 Flight 112 Nation: USA. Payload: XS-1 # 1 flight 69. Class: Manned. Type: Rocketplane. Spacecraft: XS-1. Crew: Everest. AF flight. Engine chamber exploded, jamming rudder. Everest landed safely. References: 49, 97. 1949 May 5 - 15:15 GMT - Launch Site: White Sands. Launch Complex: LC33. Launch Pad: -. Launch Vehicle: V-2. LV Configuration: V-2 46. FAILURE: Failure. Hermes B Solar mission Nation: USA. Agency: USA/GE. Apogee: 8.00 km (4.90 mi). Launched 08:15 local time. Reached 8.9 km. Carried Solar radiation (Naval Research Lab) experiments for General Electric. The warhead section was replaced with an instrumented full-scale replica of the cylindrical GE A-4 ramjet duct planned for the Hermes B ramjet missile. References: 2. 1949 May 6 - XS-1 Flight 113 Nation: USA. Payload: XS-1 # 2 flight 44. Class: Manned. Type: Rocketplane. Spacecraft: XS-1. Crew: Champine. NACA flight 24. Check on airplane instrumentation. Mach 0.88 at 12200 m. References: 49, 97. 1949 May 7 - 03:12 GMT - Launch Site: Kapustin Yar. Launch Complex: V-2. Launch Pad: -. Launch Vehicle: R-1. Model: R-1A. LV Configuration: R-1A 1. Nation: USSR. Agency: NII-88. Apogee: 100 km (60 mi). Test of separable warhead. Range achieved 200 km. Ballistic launch. Expected range 210 km. Launched at 0612 local time. The launches were first made public by Tass on March 27, 1958: 'In May 1949 a single-stage Russian rocket attained an altitude of 109 km with an instrument payload of 120 to 130 kg'. References: 2. 1949 May 9 - Launch Site: White Sands. Launch Complex: LC33. Launch Pad: -. Launch Vehicle: Wac. Model: WAC B. LV Configuration: WAC B 9B. Test mission Nation: USA. Agency: USA OR. Apogee: 40 km (24 mi). References: 2. 1949 May 10 - 15:57 GMT - Launch Site: Kapustin Yar. Launch Complex: V-2. Launch Pad: -. Launch Vehicle: R-1. Model: R-1A. LV Configuration: R-1A 2. Nation: USSR. Agency: NII-88. Apogee: 100 km (60 mi). Test of separable warhead. Range achieved 279.6 km. Ballistic launch. Expected range 210 km. Launched at 1857 local time. References: 2. 1949 May 11 - Launch Site: Cape Canaveral. Launch Complex: -. Launch Pad: -. Cape Canaveral selected for rocket launches. Nation: USA. Recognizing that rocket test ranges will exceed White Sands capability, Cape Canaveral selected for future long range flights. President Truman signed a bill providing a 5,000-mile guided-missile test range, which was subsequently established at Cape Canaveral, Fla. Negotiations with British government begin for installation of string of tracking stations in Bahamas Islands. References: 47. 1949 May 12 - Launch Site: Wallops Island. Launch Complex: -. Launch Pad: -. Launch Vehicle: HVAR. Model: HVAR FFAR. F25 Drag Model test flight Nation: USA. Agency: NACA. Apogee: 5.00 km (3.10 mi). References: 2. 1949 May 13 - XS-1 Flight 114 Nation: USA. Payload: XS-1 # 2 flight 45. Class: Manned. Type: Rocketplane. Spacecraft: XS-1. Crew: Champine. NACA flight 25. Spanwise pressure distribution, stability and control. Mach 0.91. References: 49, 97. 1949 May 15 - 02:48 GMT - Launch Site: Kapustin Yar. Launch Complex: V-2. Launch Pad: -. Launch Vehicle: R-1. Model: R-1A. LV Configuration: R-1A 3. Nation: USSR. Agency: NII-88. Apogee: 100 km (60 mi). Test of separable warhead. Range achieved 210 km. Ballistic launch. Expected range 210 km. Launched at 0548 local time. References: 2. 1949 May 16 - 21:55 GMT - Launch Site: Kapustin Yar. Launch Complex: V-2. Launch Pad: -. Launch Vehicle: R-1. Model: R-1A. LV Configuration: R-1A 4. Nation: USSR. Agency: NII-88. Apogee: 100 km (60 mi). Test of separable warhead. Range achieved 320 km. Ballistic launch. Expected range 210 km. Launched at 0055 local time. References: 2. 1949 May 24 - 01:40 GMT - Launch Site: Kapustin Yar. Launch Complex: V-2. Launch Pad: -. Launch Vehicle: R-1. Model: R-1A. LV Configuration: R-1A 5. FIAR-1 Test/Aeronomy mission Nation: USSR. Agency: NII-88. Apogee: 100 km (60 mi). Test of separable warhead. Range achieved 32.9 km. Vertical launch. Expected range 22 km. Launched at 0440 local time. Carried two 85 kg Physical Measurement of Atmospheric Boundary (FIAR-1) containers, but they were not recovered. References: 2. 1949 May 27 - XS-1 Flight 115 Nation: USA. Payload: XS-1 # 2 flight 46. Class: Manned. Type: Rocketplane. Spacecraft: XS-1. Crew: Champine. NACA flight 26. Spanwise pressure distribution, stability and control. Mach 0.91. Stabilizer found more effective than the elevator during pull-ups at mach 0.91. References: 49, 97. 1949 May 27 - Launch Site: White Sands. Launch Complex: LC33. Launch Pad: -. Launch Vehicle: Wac. Model: WAC B. LV Configuration: WAC B 9B. Test mission Nation: USA. Agency: USA OR. Apogee: 40 km (24 mi). References: 2. 1949 May 28 - 01:50 GMT - Launch Site: Kapustin Yar. Launch Complex: V-2. Launch Pad: -. Launch Vehicle: R-1. Model: R-1A. LV Configuration: R-1A 6. Nation: USSR. Agency: NII-88. Apogee: 100 km (60 mi). Test of separable warhead. Range achieved 31.9 km. Vertical launch. Expected range 22 km. Launched at 0450 local time. Carried two 85 kg Physical Measurement of Atmospheric Boundary (FIAR-1) containers, which were recovered but damaged; no science resulted References: 2. 1949 June 1 - Launch Vehicle: Redstone. Redstone Arsenal selected for rocket research. Nation: USA. Redstone Arsenal was reactivated from standby status as the site of the Ordnance Rocket Center. 1949 June - Launch Vehicle: R-11. Groettrup team designs R-13. Nation: USSR. Groettrup group consulted on 'R-13' (code name for R-11?). Specifications include 1000 kg warhead, 120 km range. References: 86. 1949 June - Samolyot 5 supersonic rocketplane cancelled. Nation: USSR. Spacecraft: Samolyot 5. After five unpowered flights, the program was cancelled. By that time better-funded turbojet-powered fighter prototypes were already achieving the 1200 km/hr top speed of the 5. Biesnovat and Isayev would elaborate the design in unmanned form into the supersonic R-1 air-to-surface missile. 1949 June - Launch Vehicle: R-3. R-3 draft project completed Nation: USSR. In selecting a final R-3 design, Korolev's preferred approach was a conventional single-stage design. This was down-selected within the bureau and seems to have borrowed a lot from contemporary classified US orbital rocket designs. 1949 June - Launch Vehicle: G-4. Russo-German advanced rocket engine tests. Nation: USSR. The planned IRBM's (R-3 or G-4) would use a new design high pressure cylindrical combustion chamber. This would feed a spherical mixing chamber. The German engineers worked with Glushko to build a subscale 7 tonne thrust, 60 atmosphere chamber pressure test model. Given the Russian designation ED-140, this was run 100 times between the summer of 1949 and April of 1950. 19 of these chambers would feed the chamber of the Glushko RD-110 engine slated for use in Korolev's competing R-3 rocket. 1949 June 7 - Launch Site: White Sands. Launch Complex: LC33. Launch Pad: -. Launch Vehicle: Corporal. Model: Corporal E. LV Configuration: Corporal E 4E. FAILURE: Failure. 4E test Nation: USA. Agency: USA OR. Apogee: 0 km ( mi). References: 2. 1949 June 9 - Launch Site: Wallops Island. Launch Complex: -. Launch Pad: -. Pulse rocket tests. Nation: USA. First use of small pulse rockets in flight as disturbing impulse for evaluation of dynamic stability in a model of the Rascal missile, at NACA's Wallops Island. References: 17. 1949 June 14 - 22:35 GMT - Launch Site: White Sands. Launch Complex: LC33. Launch Pad: -. Launch Vehicle: V-2. LV Configuration: V-2 47. Blossom IVB Ionosphere-solar/Biological mission Nation: USA. Agency: USA/ARDC. Apogee: 134 km (83 mi). Launched 15:35 local time. Reached 133.9 km. Carried cosmic and solar radiation, temperature, pressure, ionosphere, photo experiments for Air Research and Development Command. Second V-2 flight carrying a live AF Aero Medical Laboratory monkey, Albert II. The monkey survived but died on impact. References: 2. 1949 June 15 - 02:03 GMT - Launch Site: White Sands. Launch Complex: LC35. Launch Pad: -. Launch Vehicle: Aerobee. Model: Aerobee RTV-N-8. LV Configuration: Aerobee RTV-N-8 NRL 5. Ozone spectrograph Solar ultraviolet mission Nation: USA. Agency: NRL. Apogee: 109 km (67 mi). Solar radiation research. Launched at 1903 local time. Reached 109.5 km. References: 2. 1949 June 16 - XS-1 Flight 116 Nation: USA. Payload: XS-1 # 2 flight 47. Class: Manned. Type: Rocketplane. Spacecraft: XS-1. Crew: Champine. NACA flight 27. Spanwise pressure distribution, stability and control. Rolls and pull-ups around mach 0.91. References: 49, 97. 1949 June 23 - XS-1 Flight 117 Nation: USA. Payload: XS-1 # 2 flight 48. Class: Manned. Type: Rocketplane. Spacecraft: XS-1. Crew: Champine. NACA flight 28. Spanwise pressure distribution, stability and control. Rolls, pull-ups, check of stabilizer effectiveness. References: 49, 97. Previous Home Next Contact us with any corrections, additions, or comments. Conditions for use of drawings, pictures, or other materials from this site.. To contact astronauts or cosmonauts. © Mark Wade, 1997 - 2008 except where otherwise noted.