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The X-20 Dyna-Soar was a USAF program to develop an orbital spaceplane that could be used for a variety of military missions including reconnaissance, bombing, space rescue, satellite maintenance, and sabotage of enemy satellites. The program was initiated in 1957 and cancelled in 1963 with spacecraft construction only just beginning.
The development of the X-20 can be traced back to Eugen Sänger's Silbervogel bomber project of World War II. Following the war, many German scientists were taken to the United States by a CIA operation code-named " Paperclip". Among them was Dr Walter Dornberger who had headed Germany's wartime rocket program and who had detailed knowledge of Silbervogel. Working for Bell, he attempted to interest the USAF in a similar project, resulting in a number of design studies for such vehicles during the early 1950s (" Bomi ", " Brass Bell " and " Robo"). During 1957, these three projects were drawn together as the USAF believed that a single vehicle could be designed to carry out all the bombing and reconnaissance tasks intended for these separate studies. In October, following a ARDC recommendation, NACA agreed to combine this with their own project for a spaceplane (" Hywards ") that was intended as a follow-on to the X-15.
The program was to be conducted in three stages, a research vehicle (Dyna-Soar I), a reconnaissance vehicle (Dyna-Soar II), and a vehicle that would add strategic bombing capability (Dyna-Soar III). First glide tests for Dyna-Soar I were expected to be carried out in 1963, followed by powered flights the following year. A fully-operational weapons system was expected to be deployed by 1974.
In March 1958Events January January 1 Treaty of Rome founding the EU is implemented January 4 Sputnik 1 falls to Earth from its orbit (launched on October 4 1957) January 8 14 year old Bobby Fischer wins the United States Chess Championship January 18 Armed Lumbee Nat, nine U.S. aerospace companies tendered for the Dyna-Soar contract. Of these, the field was narrowed to proposals from Bell and BoeingThe Boeing Company ( NYSE:BA) is a leading American aircraft and aerospace manufacturer, headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, with its largest production facilities near Seattle, Washington. It is also a defense contractor. It is listed on the New York Sto. Even though Bell had the advantage of six years' worth of design studies, the contract for the spaceplane was awarded to Boeing in June 1959Events January-February January 1 Cultivars of plants named after this date must be named in a modern language, not in Latin. January 1 Cuba: Fulgencio Batista flees Havana when forces of Fidel Castro advance January 2 CBS Radio cuts four soap operas: Bac (by which time their original design had changed markedly and now closely resembled what Bell had submitted). Meanwhile, the USAF was still vacillating over what system to use to boost the X-20 into orbit. Boeing had suggested an AtlasThe Atlas is a line of space launch vehicles built by Lockheed Martin. Their lineage goes back almost 60 years when they were first designed as ICBM's. The current Atlas rockets are used to launch commercial and military satellites and space vehicles.- CentaurModel of Centaur with Surveyor as payload. The Centaur is an upper stage rocket designed for use on satellite launch vehicles, boosting the satellite into its final orbit or, in the case of interplanetary probes, to escape velocity. Centaur, named after t combination, while the Air Force preferred the TitanTitan family Titan II launching a Gemini spacecraft. Titan I Stages 2 1 Engines 1 × LR87-AJ-3 Thrust 300,000 lb (1,334 kN) Burn time 140 s Fuels RP-1/LOX 2 Engines 1 × LR91-AJ-3 Thrust 80,000 lb (356 kN) Burn time 155 s Fuels RP-1/LOX Payload to LEO 4,000-based approach suggested by failed competitor MartinThe Glenn L. Martin Company was an aircraft company founded by aviation pioneer Glenn L. Martin on August 16, 1912. Martin started out building military trainers in Santa Ana, California, and then in 1916, accepted a merger offer from the Wright Company,. In late 1961, the Titan III was eventually finalised as the launch vehicle. The Dyna-Soar was to be launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida.
In April, 1960, seven astronauts were secretly chosen for the Dyna-Soar program. Neil Armstrong and Bill Dana left the program in the summer of 1962. On September 19, 1962, Albert Crews had been added to the Dyna-Soar program and the names of the six Dyna-Soar astronauts were announced to the public.
In 1963, the spaceplane was in an advanced stage of development. The design had been finalized, and construction of components for the prototype had begun. By then, however, the program had run into serious difficulties. Lacking a specific focus or mission, and with all U.S. human spaceflight activities having been assigned to NASA, Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara cancelled the program on
December 10, 1963.
The X-20 was to have been replaced by the Manned Orbiting Laboratory, a spin-off of the Gemini program, but this too was eventually cancelled. In time, data collected during the X-20 program would prove useful in designing the Space Shuttle.