National Affairs: Nose Cone Re-Entered

The Army's basic problem in designing the celebrated Jupiter-C missile nose cone was to make it tough enough so that it would not burn up like a meteor when it re-entered the atmosphere from more than 400 miles up. But a secondary problem, in the day of interservice rivalry, was to bring it back alive to prove that the Army had overcome a good portion, at least, of the re-entry problems.* To solve the homecoming problem, the Army disclosed last week, the nose cone displayed practically every type of electronic legerdemain except playing The...

Want the full story?

Subscribe Now

Subscribe
Subscribe

Learn more about the benefits of being a TIME subscriber

If you are already a subscriber sign up — registration is free!