First Lift-Off

The U.S. moved another stride toward the day when man will blast into space, and return, gliding through the atmosphere perhaps on red-hot wings to land at a chosen spaceport. At California's Edwards Air Force Base last week, a ponderous B-52 jet bomber lumbered down the runway, its engines spouting black smoke. From the rear it did not look right; it was lopsided, with a goodish-sized object hung unsymmetrically under its right wing. As the bomber broke ground, it listed slightly from the dragging weight.

The object tucked like a streamlined fledgling under the bomber's wing was North American's X-15 rocket-plane, designed as the U.S.'s first manned space vehicle. Leaving earth for the first time, it carried no fuel: Test Pilot Scott Crossfield, 38, was in the cockpit scanning a host of instruments that judged the performance of the mated bomber and X-15, whether they flew well together at all altitudes without dangerous yaw or buffeting. The first test, as the three watching chase planes and the two closed-circuit TV cameras in the B-52 confirmed, was an unqualified success.

The burdened B-52 climbed to 38,000 ft., which is the altitude where the X-15 will be launched in free flight. In the dense lower air the off-center weight called for trim adjustments, but at the critical launch height and speed Mach 0.8, there was no trouble at all. After 70 minutes B-52 Pilot Charles Bock gently eased the coupled pair back down to a landing.

Last week's flight was like the first hesitant step of an infant who will some day grow into a record-breaking runner. Other, more confident steps will follow. Soon the X-15 will be carried aloft with a full 15,000-lb. load of liquid oxygen and liquid ammonia fuel. The emergency fuel-ejecting system and a dozen other complex gadgets will be air-checked. On another flight the X-15, probably with Crossfield at the controls, will be dropped to glide without power to earth. Then will come the first tentative powered flights, using only a fraction of the engine's 50,000-lb. thrust. Finally the X-15 will point almost vertically upward and climb like a missile until it leaves nearly all of the atmosphere behind. It may rise 150 miles traveling at Mach 4. If it returns from this jaunt with its wings unmelted and its pilot alive, the door to true space flight will be open at least a crack. Return to the earth from a satellite orbit or a trip to Mars should not be very much more difficult.

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