1959

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Lewis Research Center developed general method for automatic computation of theoretical rocket performance for propellant combinations involving up to 10 chemical elements ; method permitting rapid performance calculation for virtually any conceivable fuel-oxidant combination.

Pratt & Whitney conducted thrust chamber tests of high-energy upper stage rocket engine using liquid hydrogen (RL-10).

Previous experience led NASA Lewis Research Center to design and construct experimental high-temperature jet engine which demonstrated feasibility of gas turbine operation at inlet gas temperatures up to 2,500° F, almost 1,000° above conventional gas-turbine engine. This test engine had a cooled turbine.

Aeromedical Laboratory completed development and testing of the full-pressure pilot suit for use by pilots of the X-15.

The National Science Foundation sited a national observatory on Kitt Peak, Ariz., 40 miles southwest of Tucson, for construction of a 36-inch reflector and an 80-inch telescope, and a 60-inch solar telescope. The solar telescope is scheduled for completion in 1961 and will be several times larger than the largest instrument of its kind in existence.

NASA Lewis Research Center first operated hydrogen fluorine thrust chambers at simulated high-altitude conditions obtaining unusually high performance.

Aeromedical Field Laboratory at Holloman AFB began training of chimpanzees for flights in ballistic and orbital flights for Project Mercury.

School of Aviation Medicine undertook to evolve a system for maintaining animals in sealed, self-contained ecological systems under a variety of physical conditions, such as weightlessness, acceleration, vibration, and spinning.

Transatlantic air passengers totalled 1,367,000 persons on scheduled flights and 173,000 on charter and special flights for the year, as compared to 884,000 sea passengers.

During summer: Under joint sponsorship of National Science Foundation and the Office of Naval Research, Princeton University scientists successfully photographed sunspots with unprecedented clarity by means of 12-inch solar telescope, STRATOSCOPE I, mounted on a balloon platform at an altitude of near 80,909 feet. (See July 11 and 13.)

Mid-December: NASA team completed study design of upper stages of Saturn launch vehicle.