The NACA Langley Aeronautical Laboratory Pilotless Aircraft Research Division started the development of multistage, hypersonic-speed, solid-fuel, rocket vehicles. These vehicles were used primarily in aerodynamic heating tests at first and were then directed toward a reentry physics research program.

Personnel of NACA Langley and Ames Aeronautical Laboratories were engaged in research on aerodynamic characteristics of reentry configurations. Knowledge acquired from these efforts along with those of industry and the military services was used in Project Mercury, proved the ablation theory for the Army's Jupiter missile development program, and was used in the Air Force intercontinental ballistic missile nose cone reentry program.

Robert J. Woods of the Bell Aircraft Company recommended to the Committee on Aerodynamics of the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) that a small study group be formed to investigate the problems of space flight. On June 24, the NACA Committee adopted a resolution (1) that NACA research effort on problems of manned and unmanned flight in the upper stratosphere at altitudes between 12 and 50 miles and at Mach numbers between 4 and 10 be increased, and (2) that NACA devote a modest effort to problems associated with manned and unmanned flight at altitudes from 50 miles to infinity and at speeds from Mach 10 to the velocity of escape from earth's gravity. Additional Details: here....

An NACA report was issued covering several projects and proposals for the flight of manned and unmanned vehicles to altitudes above the earth where atmospheric density was very low. The substance of these reports was presented at the June 24, 1952, meeting of the Committee on Aerodynamics. After the presentation, committee member Robert J. Woods recommended that basic research be initiated on the problems of space flight and stated that the NACA was the logical organization to carry on this work. To accomplish this task, a small working group was established to analyze the available information on the subject of space flight. The objective of this group was to arrive at a concept of a suitable manned test vehicle that could be constructed within 2 years.

The Office, Chief of Ordnance (OCO) disapproved Redstone Arsenal's proposed development plan for what would become the Redstone missile. The arsenal had intended to implement the manufacturing program for these missiles by creating an assembly line in its own development shops. The OCO, however, required that the development effort be done by a prime contractor. Nonetheless, delays in the acquisition of production facilities for the prime contractor caused Redstone Arsenal to fabricate and assemble the first 12 Redstone missiles along with missiles 18 through 29.

The 540 kN combustion chamber was the most powerful ever tested, but still used the double-walled combustion chamber design of the LR43 rather than the brazed tubular wall construction planned for the production LR71. Build of the first engine to this design would be completed in October.

H. Julian Allen of NACA Ames Laboratory conceived the "blunt nose principle" which submitted that a blunt shape would absorb only one-half of 1 perecent of the heat generated by the reentry of a body into the earth's atmosphere. This principle was later significant to ICBM nose cone and the Mercury capsule development.

The NACA Committee on Aerodynamics recommended that NACA increase its research efforts on the problem of manned and unmanned flight at altitudes between 12 and 50 miles and at speeds of mach 4 through 10. As a result of this recommendation, the Langley Aeronautical Laboratory began preliminary studies on this project and immediately identified several problem areas. Two of these areas were aerodynamic heating and the achievement of stability and control at very high altitudes and speeds. Of the two, Langley considered aerodynamic heating to be the more serious, and, until this problem was resolved, the design of practical spacecraft impractical.

First Rockoon (balloon-launched rocket) launched from icebreaker Eastwind off Greenland by ONR group under James A. Van Allen. Rockoon low-cost technique was later used by ONR and University of Iowa research groups in 1953-55 and 1957, from ships in sea between Boston and Thule, Greenland.

Launched 00:33 local time. Reached 78.2 km. Carried composition, pressure, magnetic field, solar radiation; cosmic radiation (National Institute of Health); sky brightness (Air Research and Development Command) experiments for Naval Research Lab. V-2 number TF-2 was flown as contractor vehicle 59.

Russian test pilot cosmonaut 1989-2008. Russian Air Force test pilot, flying 44 types of aircraft and helicopters. Selected as Buran test pilot in 1987. From 1994, commander cosmonaut group for aerospace systems. 2 spaceflights, 199.6 days in space. Flew to orbit on STS-96 (1999), Soyuz TMA-7.

Weeks of delays due to problems with getting liquid oxygen to the remote test site have delayed Barre's entry in the fly-off against the Veronique. The first Eole broke up after 7 seconds of flight, a failure attributed to tracer flares fitted to the fins.

The USAF released the full-scale development contract for the Navaho G-26, consisting of 10 cruise missiles, 13 boosters, and five N-6 stellar-inertial navigation systems (early flights would be radio-controlled). First delivery was scheduled for 1953 and first launch February 1956.