Bumper (rocket)

Infobox rocket

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caption =Bumper 5, launched February 24, 1949
name =Bumper
function =Sounding rocket
manufacturer =Army Ballistic Missile Agency
country-origin =Germany/United States
height = 62 feet
alt-height =
diameter =5 feet, 5 inches
alt-diameter =
mass =
alt-mass =
stages = 2
payload-location =Sub-orbital
payload =
alt-payload =
status =Retired
sites =White Sands Proving Ground, Cape Canaveral
launches =8
success =
fail =
partial =
first =May 13 1948
last =July 29 1950
stage1name =V-2 rocket
stage1engines =
stage1thrust =
alt-stage1thrust =
stage1SI =
stage1time =
stage1fuel =
stage2name =Wac Corporal
stage2engines =
stage2thrust =
alt-stage2thrust =
stage2SI =
stage2time =
stage2fuel =After a July 1946 suggestion by [http://history.nasa.gov/biost-z.html Colonel Holger N. Toftoy] to combine the V-2 rocket and Wac Corporal, the US Bumper Program was inaugurated on June 20, 1947:
* to investigate launching techniques for a two-stage missile and separation of the two stages at high velocity,
* to conduct limited investigation of high-speed high-altitude phenomena, and
* to attain velocities and altitudes higher than ever reached. Over-all responsibility for the Bumper program was given to the General Electric Company and were included in the Hermes project, and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory was assigned responsibility for the theoretical investigations required, the design of the second stage and basic design of the separation system. The Douglas Aircraft Company was assigned responsibility for fabrication of the second stage and detail design and fabrication of the special V-2 rocket parts required. The program was officially concluded in July 1950 after 8 launches.cite web | title = Bumper Project | work = White Sands History - Fact Sheets and Articles | publisher = US Army | date = | url = http://www.wsmr.army.mil/pao/FactSheets/bump.htm | accessdate = 2007-12-02| archiveurl = http://web.archive.org/web/20080110163113/http://www.wsmr.army.mil/pao/FactSheets/bump.htm | archivedate =2008-01-10 ]

Six Bumper launches, as well as other V-2 test launches, were from White Sands Proving Grounds. In 1949, the Joint Long Range Proving Ground was established at Cape Canaveral on the east coast of Florida. The July 24, 1950 Bumper 8 launch became the first of hundreds of launches from "the Cape." [cite web |url=http://www-pao.ksc.nasa.gov/history/rocket-history.htm |title=A Brief History of Rocketry |accessdate=2008-10-01 |date=2000-08-24 |work=History of Manned Spaceflight |publisher=Kennedy Space Center |location=Merritt Island, Florida]

Bumper Test Launches

References