Wac Corporal
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The Wac Corporal was the first sounding rocket developed in the United States.[1] Begun as a spinoff of the Corporal program, the Wac was a "little sister" to the larger Corporal. "Wac" may have been added to the name as a pun on the acronym of the Women's Army Corps.
The WAC was a liquid-fuel rocket, with fuming nitric acid and aniline used as oxidizers and furfuryl alcohol as fuel. For the first few seconds of launch, the Wac used a cluster of solid fuel Tiny Tim engines. Lacking a guidance system, the Wac relied on three fins for stability. (This gives rise to the other possibility for the origin of the name: "Without Attitude Control.")
The first Wac dummy round was launched on September 16, 1945 from White Sands Missile Range near Las Cruces, New Mexico. The last Wac, an improved model known as the Wac B was fired on June 12, 1947. Wac Corporals were later used in 1949 and 1950 as the upper stage of V-2s in the Bumper project. The last two Bumper flights were the first rockets launched from Cape Canaveral.
A few Wac Corporals survive in museums, including one at the National Air and Space Museum and another in the visitors' center of White Sands Missile Range.
[edit] Specifications
[edit] Overall dimensions
- Diameter: 1 ft (0.30 m)
- Total length: 24 ft (7.34 m)
[edit] Tiny Tim booster
- Loaded weight: 759.2 lb (344.3 kg)
- Propellant weight: 148.7 lb (67.4 kg)
- Thrust: 50,000 lbf (220,000 N])
- Duration: 0.6 s
- Impulse: 30,000 lbf·s (130,000 N·s)
[edit] Wac Corporal sustainer
- Empty weight: 296.7 lb (134.6 kg)
- Loaded weight: 690.7 lb (313.3 kg)
- Thrust: 1,500 lbf (6,700 N)
- Duration: 47 s
- Impulse: 67,000 lbf·s (300,000 N·s)
[edit] References
- Alway, Peter, Rockets of the World, Third Edition. Saturn Press: Ann Arbor, 1999.
