THE BIG REACH

[Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] fast. It staggers the imagination. The moon is our stepping stone into this space frontier. [Music] This man-made giant is a symbol of our new age of exploration. It was created to extend itself in order to acquire the knowledge man needs before he can attempt to roam among the stars. This massive four- stage missile could become our big reach into outer space. Man has provided it with electronic sight to probe the secrets of the moon. In four gigantic strides, it will penetrate the mysterious curtain of space, rise above the magnetic call of mother earth, and explore our new frontier. It is August 17th, 1958. We are nearing the historic hour when man first flexed his scientific muscles in an attempt to grasp an object 239,000 m away. 3 42. [Applause] [Laughter] [Applause] But there was trouble. Some minor yet essential component of the electronic and mechanical makeup of the complex vehicle had failed. Admittedly, it was a bold venture, and failure was not unexpected. Yet, it was not a failure in the truest sense of the word. We had extended our fingers upward, feebly at first perhaps, but it is an attribute of man that once his objective is set and he knows he must achieve, he will find a way to reach his goal. Man's first real venture into space had just begun. This second missile in the space probe series began its final journey to the launching site shortly after President Eisenhower organized the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. The historic flight of this missile named Pioneer 1 thus became the first dramatic step taken by the nation's new space agency and the first pioneering achievement in what was to become a national effort to explore the secrets of the universe. Man's ambition to reach the moon had been kindled long before the first recorded history. Undoubtedly, primitive man was aed by the Earth's satellite. Not understanding the distances of space, he could very well have climbed the highest mountain peak in an attempt to touch this mysterious and luminous object which emitted such an eerie yet most welcome light to permeate the darkness of his night. One wonders what that primitive man would think if he could see these elaborate preparations. if he could understand the vast expenditures of money, human energy, and skill that modern man has so abundantly spent to realize that desire born on that mountaintop so many moons ago. Now man knows something of distance, of the measurement of space in miles. He is sure that he can project his television eyes to scan new space horizons to satisfy his demanding urge to learn. But to get back to Earth and human industry, many groups of men had cooperated to turn an age-old dream into reality. The first stage of the lunar probe, the powerful Thor, was developed for the Air Force as the first operational intermediate range ballistic missile by the Douglas Aircraft Company and a team of associate contractors. The four with a power plant developed by the Rocket Dine Corporation will send the lunar probe away from Earth at a speed of 15,620 ft per second. The guidance system for the Thor was developed by AC spark plug. The only modification to the Thor for this lunar probe effort was the elimination of the re-entry vehicle, the nose cone. developed by General Electric and so successfully used in the many THOR test firings from the same Cape. The second stage, a Vanguard missile developed by the Aererojet General Corporation, was modified by the Space Technology Laboratories, a member of the Air Force Ballistic Missile Division team. Space Technologies task was to bring all the complex systems into an operational unit. The second stage will boost the missiles upward flight to a speed of nearly 28,000 ft per second. The third stage was developed by the Alageney Ballistic Laboratory, a solid propellant rocket. It will increase the flight to a speed of more than 35,000 ft per second. The fourth and final stage with an engine developed by theol corporation was designed, developed and produced by the space technology laboratories. This stage must travel for 2 and 610 days before it is fired and placed into orbit around the moon. Resting within its sleek shell are delicate instruments, miniatureized telemetry and television to communicate vital data back to Earth, giving man his first close-up view of the moon. And perhaps even more significant, a look at the moon's other face, that dark far side that we have never seen. Our dedicated drive to reach the moon lured to the launch site some of the most experienced observers of our time. Among them was Cleat Roberts. And I'm going to go in because I have the proper equipment and take you with me. His special mission to let you meet a few of the missilemen among the many who have made this unprecedented experiment possible and to let you experience some of the thoughts and feelings of these men who shoulder the major burden of responsibility. We're within 600 plus minutes of launch time right now. Oh, it'll go tomorrow morning if everything is right. Um, how do you personally feel about it? Are you are you nervous? You worried about it? Uh, you know what I mean? Personally, excited. Yes, excited. And, uh, not really worried, apprehensive. You get this feeling. You've done everything you can, but in the back of your mind, there's that feeling. What have you forgotten that may be important? And you know you haven't because everything is done methodically by checklist, but you still have this feeling that you may have overlooked something. Fad control test conductor ready for locks trucks. Roger. We'll send them out to you. Attention. Attention. Locks trucks. Attention. Locks trucks. Move up to pad 17B. Locks trucks. Move up to pad 17B. Uh, pad control. You're cleared to hook up the locks trucks as soon as they arrive. Roger. Fueling these big birds is ticklish business. The highly explosive fuel is handled as delicately as human knowledge permits. Stringent safety rules have been established and due to strict adherence to those rules, there have been no mishaps at this busy test base. Well, now do you find that you're developing a sort of a professional attitude each one uh each succeeding one that you manage to launch? Uh do you uh did you become a little blas about it? Well, Cleat, when we first started here, when I first started here, uh, uh, I was very nervous, frankly. Difficult sleeping the night before an operation and so on. And then it did become rather routine. At least I could sleep the night before. Uh, but with this one, the the nervousness comes back again. It's a big job. This one, you're beginning to feel that, right? That's right. This is a big undertaking. All right. You say, how do you how does it affect you? What do you feel? Butterflies in the stomach, trouble sleeping. There's always the butterflies in the stomach, particularly when you hear the block house doors close in the last 35 minutes. That's uh that's when you know you're getting down to the wire and uh things have to work right. As the countdown continues, still hours before launch time, the ocean around the test site has searched well for shrimp and fishing boats, for any floating thing that could contain a human being within the prescribed danger zone. And the men who will record this flight on film are standing by. All of the recording instruments in the space age laboratory are ready for the historic experiment, not only at Cape Canaveral, but at key stations around the world. This line of sight radar antenna at Milstone Hill, Massachusetts, will keep in contact with the Pioneer as it speeds away from Earth. Then the world's largest radio telescope located at Manchester, England will follow this big reach into space. The massive dish alone at the Manchester site measures 250 ft in diameter. And when the curvature of the Earth intervenes and Manchester can no longer track the Pioneer, antennas at Singapore and South Point Hawaii will follow the flight. The countdown doesn't stop for darkness. The missilemen grab bites to eat whenever their carefully timed tasks permit. Search flight operators stand by to turn on search flights. Major General Ben Funk, the commander of the ballistic missile center, the air material command for the past uh 20 or 30 minutes has been climbing all over the gantry crane out here. That's the service platform around the lunar probe missile making a close personal inspection. General Funk, uh, what's your impression of the lunar probe in this attempt? In this attempt, we feel that, uh, we have every confidence that everything should go off well. The missile has been checking out exceptionally well. I, uh, I know that when you walk among men who are doing a job of work such as they're doing on the lunar probe right now, you you sense an attitude, a feeling. Uh, could you notice that as you walked among them out there? I certainly could. Everyone is highly motivated. Everybody has a great deal of confidence that we will be successful. General, I know we have to clear the area. So, I want to thank you and we'll continue with our report. Thank you. Turn out search flight. Turn out search flight. [Music] This is the most exciting moment in any firing. The missile in this case the lunar probe has uh so far checked out quite satisfactorily and there's the great gantry crane that service platform a multitude of platforms that is moving back under its own power and revealing the brilliantly illuminated lunar probe missile station for the terminal time for the terminal [Music] I want you to meet uh Dolph Tail who is the program uh director, missile director for uh Thor, the whole Thor program. As I said before, Thor is the the basic section of this lunar probe. Uh Dolph, your uh background in the missile field goes back to the old V2 projects in Germany, right? That's right. Yes, Cliff. I started in 39 on the V2. Mhm. And I would say right now, well, I've been dreaming of something like this for 18 years. Do you see a similarity to the uh condition that exists right now at this moment is to these conditions through which you lived when you were on the B2 project? Well, the only similarity is that 18 years ago we dreamed about it and today we are doing it. You did dream about it though. You were going to put one up there near the moon, huh? Oh, yeah. Are you excited? I'm pretty much excited. Oh, yes. What about our chances for success? Well, this is awfully hard to say. I I personally think it's 100%. Of course you do. I always do. Well, I think we ought to just stop right there while we're ahead. All right. All right, Dolph. Thank you very much. We're going to have to clear the area. Thank you very much. As Dolph Teal, the program missile director on the Thor project. [Music] This is what I meant when I used that phrase, a filmy blanket. There's a certain kind of otherworld quality to this scene. Those are search lights in the background that are dimly seen through the haze that is caused by the liquid oxygen. It's lying close to the ground because of temperature and weather conditions that obtain at this particular moment during the night. now. We invite you to come with us as we walk to the [Music] path. The safety officer is the last man to come within close distance of the lunar probe. He is the last man to see it intact. You're just as close as it's possible to get to the lunar probe. This is Chuck Harbs. Chuck, I know you're busy, but I would like to interrupt you. Excuse us just a moment, will you? Um, you're a safety officer here, right? Safety engineer. Safety engineer. And what's your job? What do you do exactly? Well, it covers a multitude of things. We have industrial safety, missile safety, and all of the um problems that are involved, both of them. Let's boil it right down to this minute. Now, the gantry has moved back. We're not too far from launch right now. What are you going to do in the next hour, hour and a half? Next hour and a half, we'll probably uh regroup and get everybody cleared from the area and uh make sure that all of the uh areas are secure. Then the pad safety representatives will clear for the range and clear the whole complex and various complexes surrounding the area. I see. Now, you'll make this long, lonely walk out here again to see that there's no one here, right? That's right. You do that each time. That's right. Last man out. Want to look again at the missile? She's a good shot. You feel pretty confident about it. I think she's going to go all the way. [Music] Minus 35 minutes and counting. May your attention in the block house, please. Attention in the block house. This is T-minus 35 minutes in a hot run. We're at T-minus 35 minutes in a hot run. Close the block house doors. Close the doors. We're counting. It's tminus 35. Man your stations. No talking, please. [Music] T minus 30 mark open systemus 20 seconds. - 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 zero 3 4 [Applause] [Music] How does it look? Glad you're programming. Don't drive far off. Right down the middle. Right on the line. Azimuth. Right down the middle. Program. Give us a sign. What's azimuth look like? How's some time? Plus 180. The speeding missile is now beyond human vision. Even our most modern cameras can no longer record its progress on film. Other products of man's ingenuity must see for him by [Music] proxy. As the first stage Thor accomplishes its task, its rocket engine cuts off. Now the second stage takes over. The complex receiving instruments continue to record the flight as the third stage is fired. At the station in Hawaii, if all went well, the fourth stage would be fired 2 and 1/2 days later to begin its orbit around the moon, sending to Earth the important information man needed so [Music] much. Heat up [Music] here. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] [Music] of the future. The pioneer equipped to give us man's first high alitude measurement of the Earth's radiation belt sped from Earth at the greatest velocity and reached the greatest altitude ever attained by any man-made object. In addition, our pioneer had recorded the first measurement of the Earth's magnetic field. The space frontier is limited today, but only by the measurement of man's imagination, his courage, and his skill. The new boundary of our world is now the limitless expanse between the earth and moon and far beyond. The rate of scientific progress will inevitably increase. What will happen next is largely up to us. Americans must continue their big reach into this new frontier. We have always been pioneers by tradition. We have not lost that pioneering spirit. And so having only recently broken part of the barrier of distance between Earth and space, we were still eager to more effectively explore our new frontier. Even as the scientific data from the Pioneer was being studied and evaluated, another big reach was being readied at Cape Canaveral. 0 1 2 3 4 The knowledge we are accumulating today assures us that tomorrow man will visit Mars and Venus and the other planets of our solar system and from them will proceed to countless new frontiers among the stars. [Applause] Heat. Heat. This is man's big reach and it began in our time. [Applause]