Wednesday, June 27, 2007

Farside Launch


Here is another Universal newsreel video. This one is of a rocket launched as part of Project Farside conducted by the US Air Force in the late 50s. The first stage consisted of four Thiokol Recruit rockets, the second stage used a single Recruit, the third stage used four Grand Central Arrow II motors, and the fourth stage was a single Arrow II. The rocket was carried aloft by a large balloon and fired from an altitude of 19 miles. The system had a potential altitude was 4000 miles (6400 km). I didn't find much info about the rocket online, and what I did (including the photo above) came from here. The video features the balloon launch from the ground and shows the rocket firing through the balloon. The audio quality is a little poor and the the background music seems like a very odd choice.




No comments: