The First Rocket Launch from Cape Canaveral
影像提供: GRIN, NASA
Explanation:
A new chapter in space flight began on 1950 July with the launch of the first rocket from Cape Canaveral, Florida: the Bumper 2. Shown above, the Bumper 2 was an ambitious two-stage rocket program that topped a V-2 missile base with a WAC Corporal rocket. The upper stage was able to reach then-record altitudes of almost 400 kilometers, higher than even modern Space Shuttles fly today. Launched under the direction of the General Electric Company, the Bumper 2 was used primarily for testing rocket systems and for research on the upper atmosphere. Bumper 2 rockets carried small payloads that allowed them to measure attributes including air temperature and cosmic ray impacts. Seven years later, the Soviet Union launched Sputnik I and Sputnik II, the first satellites into Earth orbit. In response, in 1958, the US created NASA.
說明:
1950年7月，隨著美國佛羅里達州．卡納維爾角 (Cape Canaveral)進行首次火箭 (Bumper 2)的發射 ，太空飛行展開新的一頁。上面影像中的Bumper 2火箭，是一個有高企圖心的雙節火箭計畫，它的架構是在 V-2火箭上再疊加上一部WAC Corporal火箭。第二節火箭創造了當時400公里的高度記錄，比現代太空梭的飛行高度還要高。在通用電氣公司主導下進行的Bumper 2火箭發射，主要的目的是要測試火箭系統及探測高層大氣。Bumper 2火箭所攜帶小型的酬載，讓科學家能量測大氣的一些特性，諸如溫度及大氣受宇宙射線轟擊的程度。七年後，蘇聯發射了史波尼克一號及二號 (Sputnik I and Sputnik II)，成為首批繞行地球的人造衛星，也促使美國成立美國太空總署。
資料來源: Scientific American
Department of Physics, NCKU
