ON TARGET: THE ATLAS ICBM

[Music] foreign [Music] [Music] this is the united states air force atlas the most advanced intercontinental ballistic missile in the free world transformed from blueprints to flight with an urgency unmatched since the manhattan project identical in size and power to the atlas that was hurled into orbit around the earth this missile is destined for a flight test on the atlantic missile range the mission begins at san diego california and it will end at a selected point in the atlantic ocean off cape canaveral florida other missiles are rolling off the assembly lines production missiles built with production tooling scheduled for hot firings in the test stands at edwards and sycamore canyon and for shipment to vandenberg air force base on the pacific missile range warren air force base near cheyenne wyoming for this atlas the mission is flight another in the series of tests needed before the atlas is accepted by the air force as an operational weapon directed by the ballistic missile division of the air research and development command each test makes full use of accumulated information from all previous tests and in turn adds one more program step toward the target an icbm as reliable as man can make it thus more advanced missiles are coming off the production lines even as this atlas arrives at cape canaveral to begin its pre-flight checkout from this building near cape canaveral air force officers of the missile test center and ballistic missile division directly coordinated efforts of military scientific and industrial missile launch teams and this is the nerve center from this vantage point the air force directs all the vast complex of facilities known as the atlantic missile range a two-way flow of information is maintained over thousands of miles of telephone cable and radio links connecting central control with the downrange facilities out in the atlantic as well as the installations surrounding the launching sites on cape canaveral itself one of these the azusa system uses high frequency signals received by these four antennas to track and record the missile's flight path signals from the guidance center will make corrections in the predetermined flight path if they are needed telemetry antennas at cape canaveral will pick up more than a quarter million items of information on the performance of the mechanical and electronic systems radioed from the missile at the launch complex the missile is erected in the service tower for final checkout control from the black house upper left 700 feet from the firing pad it is flight day -1 24 hours to go in the windward islands 420 nautical miles southeast of cape canaveral beyond grand bahama and eulethera is the island of san salvador 12 miles long six miles wide san salvador where columbus first landed is station five in the chain of ten islands on the atlantic missile range central control at station five is tied in with all the downrange missile tracking stations by telephone cable or radio codenamed the kingston net kingston one is central control at cape canaveral kingston this is kingston uh here's a rundown on number one scotland 5.1 on the day before launch station 5 checks out the tracking equipment needed for the test according to an operational plan carefully worked out in advance by the ballistic missile divisions management scientific and industrial teams these antennas on the receiver building will pick up flight information from the atlas readings on heat vibration pressure engine performance broadcast from the missile's transmitters continuously during flight at the guidance site signals from beacons on board the atlas will be transferred to magnetic tape just as a human voice can be transcribed by a tape recorder the voice of each atlas missile transmitting a quarter million items of information to ground stations is recorded for future analysis with tape each missile can be flown again and again in the laboratories each microsecond of flight stretched out to yield every possible bit of information improving the performance of each future atlas here during every second of the missile's flight its exact position and space will be plotted and recorded this computer will receive data from the atlas such as decreasing weight and surface drag increasing speed and altitude solve the equations involved and instantly predict an impact point while the missile is traveling many times faster than a rifle bullet if impact prediction indicates the atlas is off course a signal from this command-destruct console will trigger explosives aboard the missile and destroy it flight day minus one for atlas instrumentation checkout at station five continues eight hundred and thirty miles down the line beyond mayaguanya grand turk and puerto rico is station 9a antigua in the leeward islands tracking installations at station 9a include this kennedy high gain antenna a duplicate of the antenna at cape canaveral the kennedy high gain will track the atlas as it rises from behind the curvature of the earth and passes overhead toward the selected target area downrange radar in phase with similar installations on the ebitda range stations will automatically track the nose cone after it separates from the missile re-enters the earth's atmosphere and impacts on targets [Music] in the receiver building at station 9a the timing instrumentation gets a checkout on flight day -1 here the measurement of time is precise the equipment must be adjusted to compensate for the fraction of a second it takes each timing signal to travel through the telephone cable from cape canaveral timing an exact means of common reference on all the charts and tapes recording thousands of items of related information during a flight timing is the key to the detailed study of flight test records preparations for flight tests continue information on local weather is relayed to cape canaveral from all the downrange stations this constant flow of data enables the meteorologists to predict weather conditions along the entire six thousand mile range beyond antigua 1250 nautical miles from cape canaveral there are only two island stations fernando de noronha and ascension the gap is filled by specially equipped samavi ships acting as mobile tracking stations working out of trinidad these ships take up their assigned positions before each atlas flight they carry telemetering equipment and radar to track the missile and to locate the nosecone data capsule in the ocean at the end of the flight the search for the atlas data capsule ejected from the nosecone will start immediately after impact search aircraft will be dispatched from station 9a on antigua to make a visual and radio search of the target area guided by signals from a transmitter in the capsule when the data capsule is located it will be returned to station 9a aboard this ship all these operations at antigua are coordinated from this building near the receiver site flight day minus one for i got some atlas alpha custom mariners i wish to verify with you or to confirm for you that the telemetry length frequencies are the five link frequencies spelled out in part two of the od and not the six blank frequencies spelled out in the table of frequency unionization do you uh understand custom nine this is a custom nine alpha reference your last uh uh roger understand uh the five frequencies we were using i believe we had this once before [Music] i got some minor alpha this is the cost of minor [Music] station 9a is the assembly point for flight information recorded on the samavi ships here telemetry tapes from another missile flight are delivered for immediate airlift to cape canaveral [Music] these same aircraft are also used to assist surface ships in locating nose cone data capsules from missiles they carry two flight crews and four observers and are specially equipped for long over-water flights to downrange impact areas they operate out of patrick air force base near cape canaveral at installations on all the islands of the atlantic missile range final preparations continue for the atlas flight test flight day minus one at cape canaveral the missile is in the service tower on pad 13 one of the four atlas launch complexes all missile systems have been checked out and the engines have been test-fired the payload is placed in position when this nose cone is automatically separated from the missile and a predetermined point in space the natural laws of speed and gravity will direct it in an arc to its target the contents for this trip are recorders and research equipment and a data capsule the exact point of impact is measured by two different electronic systems to ensure accuracy the missile's flight path before nose cone separation will be visually recorded on these maps and charts at central control in the conveyor telemetering trailer final adjustments are made on the electronic equipment used to receive and record flight information [Applause] at all the stations on the atlantic missile range preparations are complete for the atlas flight test [Music] flight day filmed and recorded just as it happened attention please all personnel [Applause] [Music] test conductors test stand uh go ahead uh the boot has been sewed up completely around the booster the service towers in the process of being moved to the transfer table [Music] [Music] [Music] okay secure the maintenance area the crew are leaving my way of truck all right ln2 spray manifold design test stand looks pretty good shape tom [Music] uh guidance this is the convert test conductor test connect from ge uh fred we would like to confirm our regulators before proceeding past this point uh tom we'll be ready for loop test at minus eighty okay press conductor this is our assistant go ahead we have satisfactorily completed the rain safety i'll make a check [Music] i just got a report in the weather people they don't anticipate too much too or excessive lightning in the area so it looks pretty good right test connect four coordinator uh go ahead frank uh this rain storm is dissipating uh the electrical activity is moving south they expect this to be over with in about 20 to 30 minutes uh i will give you another report in about 20 minutes [Music] yes i'm sorry to tell you that system two is no go at this time only estimate i could give would be about 30 minutes to try to determine what our problem is all right not your telemetry uh go ahead telemetry uh telemetering's all go thank you go ahead frank you have 100 optics okay frank thanks test conducted as a test stand go ahead jim tom all checks out okay over here we're uh evacuating the test stand area [Music] okay okay [Music] t-minus 30 i'm counting c minus food and counting right now roger 5. uh this is nine alpha understand uh you are counting on time uh instrument status from this station is all a-okay aircraft status all-a-okay over here roger thank you very much uh test conductor pad safety go ahead pat safety okay we now have a clear launch area thank you minus 15 minutes mark i know this is one thanks for watching radio interference reported earlier by this station has now cleared we have loaded our characters with all ships and stations over all right there thank you minus four minutes mark water panel periscope roger uh throttle valve please coming up go go go and 30 seconds in county turning water systems on missile internal ac water flow satisfactory jumping into minus two minutes mark two minutes switching rain safety bacon and commands to internal minus 150. telemating system you're ready 145 sl palm switch to arm arm light on engine twitch body layout removing arming safety pin arm switch to arm t-minus 60 seconds and counting mark this will helium to internal steady range ready switch arm starting boom removal [Applause] missile prep complete line engine test status check it's not coming out pressurization satisfactory water systems satisfactory hinge operations all clear nose cone bomb clear missile all the pre-start panel lights are green the missile prep complete light is green all recorders too fast 20 seconds [Music] six five four three two [Music] one [Music] looks good [Music] still on track here programming over azusa still go [Music] plus 90 seconds [Music] [Applause] 100 [Applause] sro are you still tracking yes sir things are looking real fine okay we got a real runner there good plus two minutes [Applause] [Applause] station three has tracked plus 230 radar station five has tracked kingston wonders as kickstarter telemetry on the recording at 17-17-45 [Music] all the way boy mark five the nose cone is separated from the missile and is traveling toward the target at more than twelve thousand miles an after hour and 55 seconds kingston nine alpha advises telemetry on signal recorders 1733 radar transmitter shots okay welcome kingston five over 25. this is kingston five and our telemetry a selected point on the surface of the atlantic ocean the big target is the development of an icbm as reliable as man can make it capable of instant retaliation against any objective on the surface of the world each atlas from the flight records it leaves behind gives this country information we need to reach this goal it is flight day minus one for the next test on the atlantic missile range right now you