Space: Solid Triumph

In the rolling hills of Santa Clara County, 60 miles southeast of San Francisco, a man-made volcano erupted. A brilliant flame spewed 200 ft. in the air, and a screaming roar rolled across the country, knocking birds to the ground and shaking a helicopter that hovered a mile away. The eruption was over in less than two minutes, but its reverberations would shake more than helicopters. This was the first test of United Aircraft Corp.'s big, new solid-fuel rocket engine, and it was completely successful. Partisans of solid fuel will cite it...

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