Talk:Viking rocket

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Under a proposal to clean up inconsistent disambiguation of rocket article titles, this article, Viking rocket, may be moved to Viking (rocket). At this stage, it is only a proposal at an early stage of discussion, but you are encouraged to contribute to the discussion, which is located here.

[edit] Stuff moved from Talk:Viking 11 (rocket)

Should probably be merged with Viking rocket, if someone who knows more about it can verify that that article deals with same subject. Gene Nygaard 16:02, 1 March 2006 (UTC)

The Viking rocket article indicates its text was "adapted from" a source at NRL: Viking Program. A careful reading of that web page, and a comparison with the text of this "Viking II" article, leads me to suspect the original author mis-read the source. The flight of the eleventh Viking rocket, "Viking 11", nearly matches the description given here for a "Viking II". This is confirmed by, The highest altitude of any Viking was reached by #11 on 24 May 1954 with 254 km (158 miles).[1]. Given this, it appears the "Viking II" never existed! (Sdsds - Talk) 04:05, 26 April 2007 (UTC)

It is perfectly possible that it was Viking 11 (One One) as opposed to Viking II (i i). I will try and go back to the source material, but it is perfectly possible that the editor made a mistake. But... it certainly didn't come off a webpage. It came out of an old book! --MacRusgail 10:33, 26 April 2007 (UTC)

I believe the best reference for the Viking program is "The Viking Rocket Story", by Milton W. Rosen, who was the NRL project manager. I have a copy at home, and I first read it in about 1956, so the publication date must have been between the 1954 date of Viking 11 (definitely not Viking 2; the first eight [if I recall] were somewhat smaller diameter, lighter, with correspondingly lower performance) and 1956. One of Rosen's daughters married a college roommate of mine, so I have even talked to him about it, years later. I'll put a proper reference to the book in the article shortly. Rosen was also the project manager for Project Vanguard, which was based on Viking, a few years later. He told me that his experienced people were all absconded by the Titan ICBM program, and he had to do Vanguard with new, less experienced staff -- which was a grueling experience, given the media spotlight.Wwheaton (talk) 02:04, 6 December 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Additions and rearrangements

Based on material on Rosen's book, and Willy Ley's 1951 "Rockets, Missiles, and Space Travel", both now referenced, I have filled in some more details. Rosen gives detailed tables of the specifications and performance for each flight, 1 through 11 (Viking 12 was really part of Project Vanguard, being flown as a test article for that project, after the Rosen's book was completed). Because he gives complete information on every flight, I propose to incorporate them all into one section on flights, including Viking 11 and 12. This, when complete, will more or less completely absorb the old Viking 11 article into this one. I have also folded the previous "Improvements" section into one called "Design features", with some of Ley's and Rosen's material. Wwheaton (talk) 08:41, 7 December 2007 (UTC)

I have more or less finished my enlargements and corrections, mostly based on Rosen's book (which ends with Viking 11), and leaving the last two airframes (13 & 14) for the Project Vanguard article. The date given in the Achievements section, of Oct 5, 1954, is orphaned; I can't find any support for it in either Rosen or Encyclopedia Astronautica, and supposed it should be suppressed if no one knows better. The old "Viking II (rocket)" article is now gone, and redirects to here. (NB also the potential confusion with the JPL Mars landers, Viking 1 and Viking 2, ca 1976.)Wwheaton (talk) 20:02, 10 December 2007 (UTC)