MISS 22Spacecraft:(no serial number) Launch Vehicle: Atlas Scheduled Launch: 1 Dec 1960 Last Scheduled: 11 Sep 1958 |
Prime Crew |
Description: 3rd MISS Atlas manned orbital |
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not assigned 
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Backup Crew |
not assigned
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The beginning of the Air Force's Man In Space Soonest (MISS) program has been traced back to a staff meeting of General Thomas S. Power, Commander of the Air Research and Development Command (ARDC) in Baltimore on 15 February 1956. Power wanted studies to begin on manned space vehicles that would follow the X-15 rocketplane. These were to include winged and ballistic approaches - the ballistic rocket was seen as being a militarily useful intercontinental troop and cargo vehicle. The Soviet Union launched Sputnik 1 on 4 October, creating a political furor and giving new priority and urgency to the military's space efforts. On 15 October the NACA held a technical conference to resolve the final configuration for the Manned Glide Rocket Research System. The agreed delta-winged flat-bottom configuration would evolve into the X-20 Dyna-Soar. Nevertheless, interest continued in the ballistic reentry vehicle as a more immediate approach to human spaceflight, and this was the track that MISS pursued. After first considering the Thor/Nomad launch vehicle, another look at Atlas performance figures suggested that it would be able to place the MISS spacecraft in orbit without the need for a second stage, saving both cost and development time, and the Air Force switched to the Atlas as the orbital launch vehicle for MISS. Having invested nearly half a year defining the technical and cost requiredments to put a man in orbit as quickly as possible, the Air Force felt that it was in a strong position to move ahead with the program. On 16 July 1958 Congress passed the National Aeronautics and Space Act of 1958, and NASA was created out of the NACA and some Army and Navy rocket laboratories. But there was still a chance the White House would support MISS if costs could be kept to under $50 million in FY 1959. They could present the project as so far along, and with so low a cost to complete, that it would be a big setback to start all over with NASA, despite President Eisenhower's view that the was no military necessity for a man in space. However, the Air Force needed $106.6 million in FY 1959, and anything less would delay the project. Instead, on 25 July 1958 the civilian leadership in the Pentagon terminated the Air Force program to give the soon to be created NASA a clear field to put the first American in orbit. At the time that MISS was terminated, it was projecting to launch the first manned mission in October 1960, 16 months earlier than what NASA's Mercury program eventually achieved, thus it can be suggested that had it been given the opportunity the Air Force could have launched the first man in space ahead of the Soviet Union. However, there were a great many technical unknowns to be overcome during the early years of spaceflight, and not all of the delays suffered in the Mercury program can be blamed on the organizational problems of a new agency finding its stride. It should be noted that the MISS project plan of 10 Thor/Able and 9 Atlas unmanned flights leading up the the first manned attempt would have required these to be launched about a month apart, certainly a success-oriented schedule. Although MISS was terminated before the Air Force assigned astronauts to specific flights, it did select a group of test pilots for MISS:
Neil Armstrong, Scott Crossfield, John McKay, Robert Rushworth, Joseph Walker, and Robert White all participated in the X-15 program, and all but Armstrong piloted the vehicle to altitudes exceeding 50 statute miles; the US govermnent recognizes these flights as spacflights. In April 1960, the USAF selected Neil Armstrong as an astronaut for the Dyna-Soar program. NASA selected him in Group 2 on 17 September 1962. In 1961, Alvin White was selected as chief test pilot for the flight test program of the XB-70 Valkyrie. References:
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N A Armstrong 
W B Bridgeman 
A S Crossfield 
I C Kincheloe 
J B McKay 
R A Rushworth 
J A Walker 
A S White 
R M White |