1961-01-21 — Page 3

Twiss's eyes ranged over his and planes still on the drawing instruments, altimeter fuel board. gauge

machmeter... back

:

Twiss's record has fallen to to the fuel gauge.

the Americans. On May 16, He lit the afterburner for 1958, Capt Walter Wayne the retur run and felt the Irwin created a new record of acceleration again. Then he 1,404 miles an hourifying a was over Ford again. His eyes Lockheed F104A Starfighter, flicked to the fuel gauge again.

Had he enough fuel to make it? Below a certain level the after- burner automatically cut out. That would finish the record bid.

Only a year before Twiss had been awarded the Queen's Commendation · for Valuable Service in the Air when, by brilliant piloting, he had glided and force-landed the valuable plane after

fuel a

system failure.

More worries

But then he was over Chi- chester and he heard the words "Cancel, cancel" cold, official and uninformative, except that he was to return to base. He switched off the afterburner end started for Boscombe 40- odd miles away.

He touched down just 23 minutes after take-off but it seemed, he said later, like two

tower light. The Delta whistled down and a half times the speed of green Over Thorney Island at one the numway: the ground men round, over Chichester and over waved good luck. And then

the first timing camera. Thirty she was in the sky and there was no more time for Twiss to seconds later and he had, he

knew, covered nine and a years. quarter miles at a new record Now he had worries again. speed. He cut the afterburner Had the timing gear worked and felt the Delta decelerate as all right? Had the timekeepers though brakes bad been been able to focus their fels applied.

worry.

The course

scopic cameras on him?

Soon he heard "yes" to all

The course for the attempt was from Chichester to Ford Naval Air station. He made a Outside it was freezing at his question. It must be a sweep to the west as he 38,000ft., but in the Delta's record. It was 24 hours before climbed. To his port side hung cockpit Twiss vas sweating the time was given officially. white vapour trails left by from excitement and the men- RAF. Meteors from. Tangmere tal effort of the attempt. that had flown over the course

So that the observers and time- He swept out over the sea keepers could focus their tele- and saw the French coast on

First run

On his first run Twiss had

THE

LITTLE

HILL

H, here the air is sweet

And soft's the grass to

lla on;

O and still,

And far away's the little

hill

They took for Christ. to

die bn.

And there's

a hill across the brook,

And down the brook's

another;

But, oh, the little hill they

took,

I think I am its mother!

The

moon thet SAW, Gethsemane,

I watch it rise and set;

It has so many things to

see,

They help it to forget.

scopes and telescopic-lensed one side and Beachy Head on dane 1,117 miles an hour. On But little hills that sit of

cameras.

The radio began to give him course directions. "You are 25 miles to Able." Able was his first 'reference polat ground which lined up for the measured run.

on

the other.

The radio brayed a his second, 1,147. Average: warning "Thirty-eight thousand 1,132.. He had beaten the ...thirty-eight thousand." The American's record by 308 miles watchers on the ground were an hour, equal to 37 per cent reminding him, alone up here, the highest margin by which a the that he must keep level.

record had ever been beaten. The droop-snoot flashed back He had averaged nearly 19 seven miles above the bunga- miles a minute, Delta 2 was already past the lows of. Peacehaven. No one The Delta 2 had done its speed of sound, though Twiss down there knew that above job. It was never designed to was keeping the speed down to their heads a young man they go into service, only to provide save fuel. He was carrying had never heard of was per- a vehicle for research into the only just enough to make the forming a dzed that would problems of supersonic flight.

learned are two runs. He was accelerating make him famous and Britain The lessons gradually.

proud.

incorporated in new aircraft

now

home

So many, many years, Remember Greece, remem-

ber Rome, Remember Mary's tears.

And far away in Palestine, Sadder than any other, Grieves still the hill that

call mine-

I think Bom its mother! -Credit card to Robert Bau

Asteroids could be deadly

deadly to rockets

SPACE

ships will have to watch out for reefs, that could destroy them, just as do vessels on earth's oceans.

Most of these are meteor swarms and most of the reefs in the solar system have been chart- ed. Probably the most dangerous reef is the belt of 31,000 known asteroids between Mars and Jupiter.

Meteor bumpers, however would mean added weight that would make a space ship's blasto MOTE difficult: Sp re ships would therefore omit the bumpers and just avoid the meteor swarms.

One way & space ship can svold meteor swarms is by not -taking off at a time when it would -- have to pass through ene. If a space ship is already orbiting a planet when the meteor swarm nears, it can just move to the lee (or far) side of the planet. This would put the planet between the space ship and the meteor swiZDD--S

natural very good

"meteor bumper."

Fortunately, meteor showers are rather rare. Most of these To go over the asteroid

meteor showers are made up of belt, a space ship would

pieces broken off comets that have to change direction

have passed too close to the then turn back to get into

Space ships will also have to tween October 19 and October sun or a planet. Sometimes

whole comet seems to have the orbit of the planet for ship could time its trip so as to

of 21. reach the belt at one of these, avoid meteor swarms. 8lx

broken up into pieces forming which it is headed like The ship could then go through these cross earth's orbit.

Space stations would have to meteors. passing the car ahead of the belt at a slow speed so that

go right through these meteor Whether they are Evoiding you and getting back

could use radar in

Meteor swarms are named swarms in order to stay with asteroids or meteors the crews the lane

This hitting any asteroids. At usual for the of traffic.

constellation, or star their planets and do the jobs of space craft will find that Interplanetary speeds, radar pattern, out of which they for which they were built outer space is by no means would take extra fuel. warning does not come in time appear to come. The Orionids, These space stations, therefore, great empty place.

Fortunately, there are thin for the crew to act on it in for example, seem to come out will have to be protected with spots in this belt and the space time,

of the constellation Orion be mefcor bumpers.

-Walter B. Hendrickson Jr.

it

Space is not empty. Astronauts of the future must guide their craft carefully around reefs of asteroids that could destroy their ship.

to avoid

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