U.S. MISSILE PLANS

Press, Volume XCVII, Issue 28492, 23 January 1958, Page 11

U.S. MISSILE PLANS

“Plane Like A Satellite” (Rec. 9 p.m.) NEW YORK, Jan. 22. The United States Air Force's ballistic missiles chief said last night the United States was building an experimental plane which was expected to perform at times much like a manned satellite. Major-General Bernard Schriever, commander of the Air Force Ballistic Missile Division, said in a speech at the Economic Club of New York, that the Air Force had conducted invaluable experiments in space medicine, paving the way for man ta enter space. “And it has under development the X-15, a plane which will perform very much like a manned satellite, for limited periods," he said.

The X-15 is being built by the North American Aviation Corporation, and is expected to be flown next year at about 4000 miles an hour at an altitude of 100 miles. General Schriever said the present booster engines for intermediate range and intercontinental range ballistic missiles had the power needed for important military and scientific space missions over the next TO years. “Let us remember that the Thor, Atlas and Titan missiles are primarily space vehicles," he Said. “They travel most of their distance outside the earth's atmosphere in space. “They provide springboards for such follow-on projects as lunar rockets, and manned space flight. ... As we look even further into the future, we see the possibilities for advanced chemical propulsion and thermonuclear propulsion and payloads of hupdreds of tons.”

He said he had every confidence that by December of this year a completely operational Thor intermediate range ballistic missile squadron would be ready to be sent overseas—just 36 months after the Thor project began.