Junior Missile Men In Action (1968)

[bell] [music] Photography sees with the eye of the camera. It makes records of people, places, and events. Photography shows shows how things happen. It lets you see the world about you right here in your classroom. It is your window on the world. Now, Kodak through photography brings you this edition of [music] the Screen News Digest. T minus 10 9 8 7 6 >> 5 4 3 2 1 ignition. >> Man, that was a mean one. [music] >> Across the desert and out of the past comes Dr. Robert Hutchings Goddard, father of the space age, the man who launched the world's first liquid propellant rocket on March 16th, 1926 at Auburn, [music] Massachusetts. In these exclusive motion pictures, you will follow a Goddard countdown step by step at history's first launching pan. On this 1930 rocket range in New Mexico, Dr. [music] Goddard is pioneering procedures and systems that will be studied and copied by all who follow in his giant steps. For he and he alone is commanding general of this launching site. He is in charge of range safety, data reduction, telemetry, everything. [music] With all systems go, the launch crew runs to Dr. to Godard's [music] wooden block house to wait out the final fateful seconds of the countdown. The 11 ft rocket snakes to a height of 2,000 ft, reaches a speed of 500 mph, and then starts back to Earth, signaling the end of its historic flight with the first of many mushroom clouds to rise over the New Mexico desert. Robert Hutchkins Goddard is a brilliant, dedicated scientist, a pioneering genius who is convinced [music] that man one day will land a rocket on the moon. In the 1930s and early 1940s, Dr. Guarded records a remarkable series of space age firsts, including the first parachute recovery of a rocket, the first launching of an instrument carrying rocket, and the first flight of a supersonic rocket. But America in general ignores his work. [music] Nazi Germany and other power hungry countries do not. German scientists keep close track on his progress and the Japanese and Italian embassies in Washington make repeated requests for information on his work. Dr. Goddard declines all such requests, but the basic patents on his rocket research are available to one and all for just 10 cents. [music] And when in 1944, the first German V2 rocket rumbles skyward, it is laid out from nose to tail in exactly the same way as Dr. Goddard's New Mexico rockets. After VE Day, American ordinance men question German scientists about their awesome rockets, and they receive a surprising reply. Why do you ask us these questions? They say, "Why don't you ask your own Dr. Goddard? We learned these things from him." Dr. Goddard cannot answer. He is dead. But Robert Hutchings Goddard's contribution to rocketry does not end with his death. Even today, more than 20 years after his death, it is impossible to design, build, and launch a rocket without infringing on a Gddard patent. >> Two, one, ignition. Robert Hutchings Goddard's love of science lives on too in the growing number of model rocket societies that are springing up all across the United States. >> One ignition. >> There it is. >> Watch where it goes. >> That's amazing. The West Coina Model Rocket Society organized by the Recreation and Park Department of West Coina, California is typical of this increasing interest among teenage missile men. >> One ignition. >> Conducted under strict adult supervision, the society emphasizes safety, education, and recreation through model rocketry. Go there. You better >> on the road. Off the road. Go. >> Live passengers, including a wide variety of bugs and insects, ride the miniature missiles. Each rocket is required to have a recovery device. >> It's gone. >> Up there. And every passenger, no matter how high, how fast, and how far his flight, can look forward to a safe and gentle landing. >> It's kind of hard going through those weeds there. >> Yeah, I know. >> After recovery, the Astro Bug is a-ok. Okay, >> the launch facilities also include a tracking system for measuring accurately the altitude of rocket flights. From pre-launch to recovery, the accent is on safety. >> Doctor, it's going to be engulfing. [music] >> Organized in 1967, the West Coina Model Rocket Society has grown from 7 to more than 200 members. The model rockets are constructed of balsa [music] wood, thin cardboard tubing, unbreakable plastic, white glue, and bright paint. They range in size from 4 to [music] 48 in and in weight from 1 to 16 o. [music] All are relatively inexpensive to buy and reasonably simple to build. [music] Aerospace workshops [music] under adult supervision are held once a week. Here, both boys and girls receive assistance [music] in planning and constructing their model rockets. The West Cavino Society is one of the most active in existence. Among the many facilities at the clubhouse is a handpowered wind tunnel that is used to test the aerodynamics of the model rockets firsthand in ways that they can see and understand. The members come to know many of the scientific principles involved in rocket flights. Static tests are also conducted from time to time to measure the thrust of the powerful little engines that are used to launch the model rockets. A graph records the seconds before, during, and after the firing of the 2 oz propellant. The sudden variation indicates [music] the moment of ignition. At a local park, three times a month, models and theories are put to the test. In the first year, 1,500 launchings are made without a single mishap. Ground zero is a small mesa that sits in a valley protected on all sides by hills, the tops of which are used for tracking and clearance stations. All launchings are under the strict supervision of advisers [music] from the West Coina Recreation and Park Department. [music] [bell] Club membership includes boys and girls ranging in age from 9 to 17. Before the launchings begin, the adviser divides them into two groups. While one group launches its [music] rockets, the other group mans the tracking, recovery, and data reduction stations. Later they change places. Safety comes first, last, and always on the rocket range. [music] Restricted area signs mark the launch site. All models are propelled by a commercially manufactured rocket engine consisting of [music] a solid propellant, a time delay powder to allow for coasting, and an ejection charge to deploy the parachute recovery system. [music] In their flights, the club members shoot for a number of records, including altitude, duration, and spot landing for single and multiple stage rockets. All models are launched electrically from a distance of 15 to 20 ft and have the capability, depending on the size and weight of the vehicle, of reaching a speed of 600 mph and an altitude of 2,000 ft. [music] Two tracking stations 500 ft from ground zero monitor the launches. The flight time and angle of ascent are recorded and used to plot [music] the peak altitude of each launch. >> We're armed and counting. Five 4 3 2 1 ignition. >> We have a shoot. >> It was 62 on that last. What was the altitude? 62 >> 62 degrees >> 925 >> 925 ft. >> Mice are among the many live passengers that have been launched and recovered safely by the members of the model rocket society. and get it open. >> Good. Good. Mean it. Knead it. Knead it. And catch it. Hey, catch it. Catch it. Beautiful. >> Yay. [cheering] >> The safe landing brings to the young rocketeers the same sense of achievement and satisfaction that comes to adult scientists in their explorations of the cosmic unknown. Mouse recovered. Mission accomplished. Models and launchings copy many of America's defense missiles. Here, a rocket is placed into a silo to simulate the underground firing of a Minuteman missile. >> And >> this launching is photographed in slow motion and the action is onetenth its normal speed. Two, one, IGNITION. >> Get down, Carrie. Come on, Carrie. >> The ejection charge deploys the recovery parachute and the rocket drifts gently back to Earth. >> Next, from underwater, the model launching of a model Polaris. Once again, the action is slowed down. >> Ignition. >> Perfect. >> Hey, look at it. These miniature missiles that streak into the sky and the boys and girls who build, test, and fire them are the heirs of and the links with Robert Hutchings Goddard, the father of the space age, who in his youth found the same love of science that they now know. A man who found a dream and would not give it up. A man who could truly see beyond the ears. For Robert Hutchings [music] Gunnard was the man who first awakened the powerful giant that slumbered in the liquid [music] propellant rocket. [music] Each new journey into space is its own memorial to Robert Hutchings Goddard. Each new conquest in space is a reminder to the youth of today of the words that he spoke long ago. It is difficult to say what is impossible. For the dream of yesterday is the hope of today and the reality of tomorrow. [bell] The Screen News Digest, living history in the classroom, has been brought to you by [music] the Eastman Kodak Company.