DOCUMENT RESUME ED 059 057 SE 013 181 AUTHOR Anderton, David A. TITLE Aeronautics. Anterioa in Space: The First Decade. INSTITUTION National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Washington, D.C. REPORT NO EP-61 PUB DATE 70 NOTE 30p. AVAILABLE FROMSuperintendent of Documents, Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C. 20402 ($0.45) EDRS PRICE MF-$0.65 HC-$3.29 DESCRIPTORS *Aerospace Education; *Aerospace Technology; *Aviation Technology; Instructional Materials; Reading Materials; Research; Resource Materials; Science History; Technological Advancement IDENTIFIERS NASA ABSTRACT The major research and developments in aeronautics during the late 1950's and 1960's are reviewed descriptivelywith a minimum of technical content. Ttlpics covered include aeronautical research, aeronautics in NASA, The National Advisory Committeefor Aeronautics, the X-15 Research Airplane, variable-sweep wing design, the Supersonic Transport (SST) , hypersonic flight, today'saircraft, helicopters and V/STOL aircraft, research for spacecraft, air-breathing power plants, and reduction of engine noise. Many photographs and illustrations are utilized. (PR) U S DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH, EDUCATION & WELFARE OFFICE OF EDUCATION THIS DOCUMENT HAS BEEH REPRO DUCED EXACTLY AS RECEIVED FROM THE PERSON OR ORGANIZATION ORIG INATING IT POINTS OF VIEW OR OPIN IONS STATED DO NOT NECESSARILY REFRESENT OFFICIAL OFFICE OF EDU CATION POSITION OR POLICY National Aeronautics and SpaceAdministration America In Space: k. ^: The First Decade 6 by David A. Anderton National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Washington, D.C. 20546 Introduction In 1958 the National Aeronautics and Space Thc frontiers of light have not all bcen explored Administration was brought into being to explore and the applications of NASA's advanced research certain broad areas of research and development which in aeronautics will continue to keep the United States included not only the exploration of space but also in first place in commercial and military aviation in the continued responsibility in aeronautics which had the years ahead until someday we will ix, able totravel been the primary function of its predecessor agency, as casually from New York toAustralia at 6000 mph the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics. as millions do now from New York toPahis at nearly It is seldom recognized by the generai public that 600 mph. NASA has a vital and necessary role in the advance- ment of military and commercial aviationin the Nep, A. Armstrong United States, and that the level of effort while Deputy Associate Administrator/Aeronautics a small fraction of theagency's total program Office of Advanced Research and Technology is very substantial. Roughly 2500 NASA employees supported by funding of about $160,000,000 per year are directly engaged in conductingthe research describea in "Aeronautics." Table Of Contents Aeronautical Research1 Aeronautics in NASA 2 The National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics3 The X-15 Research Airplane5 Variable-sweep Wings8 The Supersonic Transport (SST)10 Hypersonic Flight14 Today's Aircraft15 Helicopters and V/STOL Aircraft16 Research for Spacecraft19 Air-breathing Power Plants20 Reduction of Engine Noise21 Problem Solving22 t, ti? '1;* , MIL t !, Aeronautics Aeronautical Research Up at the rim of the atmosphere, the rocket-powered are other models, ranging from a conceptual design X-15 research airplane accelerated to hypersonic for a hypersonic transport to a light twin-engined speed in one of NASA's aeronautical programs to airplane flown at hundreds of airports throughout the probe the performance envelopeF of tomorrow's air world by thousands of private pilots. transportation. These aircraft and models span the performance At another cenier, poised a few yards above the capabilities of modern airplanes from the ground to concrete apron in dont of its lr-mgar, the hovering X 14 the edge of space, and from zero speeds to velocities measures the stability of vertical takeoff and landing of several thousand mile5; per hour. aircraft in a different NAS k aeronautical program. They are some of the tangible signs of the many Across the continent, wind-tunnel fans blast air past an programs in aeronautics underway at any one time intricate model of one of the ,Lzwest military aircraft to within NASA. But they .ire more than just evidence check its predicted perk/mance against actral flight- of work now being done. They point the way to test data. improved and safer airplanes for tomorrow's private pilot, and to more economical and speedier transports In other wind tunnels and test facilities of the for the air traveler of the 1970s. National Aeronautics and Space Administration there 1 Interior of a wind tunnel at the Langley Research Center. 1 These aircraft, operating at the extremes of today's Hundreds of NASA personnel and about one-quarter flight performance, emphasize the wide range of of a billion dollars worth of test facilities are grouped aeronautics and the depth of the research programs with in the four centers where aeronautical programs which they are associated. currently are in progress: Langley Research Center, Hampton, Va.; Ames Research Center, Moffett And they build on NASA's continuing expertise in Field, Calif.; Flight Research Center, Edwards, Calif.; aeronautics, that NASA and its predecessor and the Lewis Research Center, Cleveland, Ohio. organization, tl.e National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, have pioneered consistently for more In addition to its own research projects for these people than fifty years. and facilities, the total NASA aeronautical program includes a large number of contracts placed with industry, research institutions and universities all Aeronautics over this country and in some foreign lands. in NASA An intangible, but important, factor in the aeronautical Aeronauticsthe scientific and engineering disciplines research program is a continuity of effort that has that deal with the design, construction and operation marked every step of the way from the early days of aircraftaccounts for a fascinating portion of the of the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics current work of the National Aeronautics and Space and its first methodical approach to the solutions of the Administration. problems of strut- and wire-braced biplanes. The basic aeronautical research program, carried out Time and time again, the history of a specific research on a broad front at NASA research centers, serves project shows that influence. An older engineer two vital functions. remembers previous work done that can be adapted or extrapolated. An obsolescing wind tunnel is First; it provides the needed technical support for given a new lease on life by a modification to make aircraft programs in the national interest through the it serve an entirely new task. A simulator that once NASA staff of experienced aeronautical scientists and produced insight into the behavior of a research aircraft engineers, and the unequaled test and experimental now singles out the problems facing astronauts in facilities available to them and to industry. future lunar landings. Second, it encourages the exploration of new concepts And beyond these specifics, there is the overall and new probiem areas, and the development of new approach to problem-solving that has characterized facilities to aid that exploration. NASA's aeronautical research. A problem is a problem, whether it was raised in 1918 or 1968. The latter function has provided, through the years, The approach to the solution of that problem does not the strong foundation of aeronautical technology on change with time. First, understand the problem by which the aerospace industry and the military services examining it, defining it, trying to measure it with have built their requirements. meaningful parameters. Then go after the solution. That was NACA's earliest approach, and it works today. The progress of the last ten years in aeronautics has been marked by a series of major developments that serve as milestones along the road of aeronautics. Those milestones have been placed on the solid footings of the aeronautical technology conceived, researched and developed by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. 2 To look back at 1958, the calendar year that saw across continents at more than two andone-half times the birth of the National Aeronautics and Space the speed of sound. He talks with his fellow passengers Administration, is to look back at a year when the about the next generation of giant jets that will carry airlines of the world were plying their routes with more than 300 passengers or about the hugeairbuses aircraft whose lineage traced back to the Second World that will fly the short runs between such cities as New War. The largest airliners carried about 70 passengers. York and Washington, or Los Angeles and San Their straight wings mounted a quartet of piston Francisco. engines, driving three- and four-bladed propellers. Compared to today's swift jet transports, they trundled He may have heard some of the ideas for an even faster their way along at a speed under 300 mph. airliner, the hypersonic transport, that will slice through the thin upper reaches of the atmosphere at In October 1958, the month of NASA's birth, the speeds seven times that of sound. first scheduled transatlantic air service flown by jet transports was started, first by British Overseas Airways But in one respect, there is little change between the Corp., and later by Pan American World Airways, Inc. air traveler of 1958 and the passenger of 1970: He Six years before, BOAC had pioneered jet services still has the short-haul transportation problem to face on other routes with the first de Havilland Comets, at one or both ends of his journey. The helicopter has but structural fatigue problems with the airframe not yet been developed to the fine point where it can forced the withdrawal of that service about two be operated economically as an inter- or intra-city years later. transport, and the promise of the V/STOL generation remains just a promise.