Ground Support for Man in Space

Since man first conceived the idea of rockets, he has been concerned with facilities to launch them, and engineers have had to design and build them. Initially, they were relatively simple. However., the rapid intensification of manned space flight efforts in recent years has led to even larger and more sophisticated launch vehicles, and corresponding developments in launch concepts. The result has been a vast ground support effort for man in space -- itself a major challenge of the national space effort. As those of us engaged in aerospace activities know better than most, this Nation has made giant strides in the aerospace field since the end of World War II, when the Army started testing variations of captured German rockets at the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico. During the years that followed, the simple rocket has been developed into a complex family of ballistic missiles. The most advanced are the great ICBM\u27s- which can carry nuclear warheads to targets a continent away. The Army Engineers have built hundreds of launchers for these, of several different types, as the weapons and their ground support evolved