On July 9, 1945 White Sands Missile Range was established. White Sands Missile Range is the largest open-air land test range in the country supporting missile development and test programs. Prior to 1958 it was referred to as White Sands Proving Ground.
WAC Corporal rockets and German V-2s were amongst the first rockets tested. Built for sending instruments to high elevations to collect data the WAC Corporal was America’s first “sounding rocket.” The rocket of an approximate 660 pounds in weight was to carry 25-pound payloads 20 miles straight up to the sky. Exceeding all expectations in October of 1945 the first launches reached an altitude of 43 miles.
Although very successful the WAC Corporals quickly faded into the past when the launching of German V-2 rockets became a focus of White Sands personnel in April 1946. The German rocket technology was exploited following the end of WWII when the rockets were shipped through Las Cruces to White Sands. Research was allowed by the Army with the use of non-military payloads or experiments on the V-2s rather than the 2,000 – pound warhead.
The V-2s standing at 46 feet weighing 27,000 at liftoff were of much greater size when compared to the WAC Corporal. At altitudes of 100 miles V-2s carried hundreds of pounds of instruments then offering upper atmosphere exploration methods sampling space.
The first V-2 flight was terminated reaching only a 5-mile altitude in April 1946. On May 10, 1946 the first successful flight took place. Since then rocket propulsion has been supported at White Sands Test Facility with hundreds of rockets being launched for educational institutions, government agencies, and other research entities.
A small primate was carried into space in June of 1949 recording normal respiration and heart rates furthering the advancement towards human spaceflight. Of course, not all flights went as planned; a modified V-2 rocket crashed outside of Juarez, Mexico when going south rather than north. Fortunately, no one was injured. Of the most public uses of sounding rockets was in the spring of 1997 when NASA-sponsored Black Brant rockets were launched in a two-week period carrying data collecting instruments at altitudes of between 175 and 240 miles.
White Sands Missile Range has been noted throughout America’s manned missions into space. Early flights were tracked by White Sands radars with trajectory and location information sent to NASA. The Apollo launch escape system was tested at White Sands in the mid-1960s. Little Joe II rockets stimulated a real launch with a mockup Apollo capsule mounted on each Little Joe II then rocketed away parachuting to Tularosa Basin desert floor following the simulated emergency.
The Orion Launch Abort System was tested at White Sands on May 6, 2020. Like the Apollo project the Orion system pulled the space capsule from the launch pad or a malfunctioning booster with small rocket motors. Orion was to be the nation’s next space-launch vehicle for human use but was cancelled quickly when the privatizing of space launches took place.
One company campaigning to succeed in the private launch business is Boeing. On November 2, 2019 the company successfully tested its Starliner pad abort system at White Sands which was essentially the same idea as the Orion and the Apollo systems.
A different Apollo test completed in February 1971 involved White Sands personnel putting a into the missile range’s dust chamber wearing an articulated moon suit. Built in 1958 the dust chamber was intended to test missile components in dusty conditions. The latest moon wear was worn by David Burris during a series of 30-minute tests simulating movements that would later take be exercised by the Apollo 15 astronauts.
The Space Shuttle Program made up the most extensive participation in manned flights. Scale models of the vehicles were dropped over White Sands for aerodynamic tests in 1970.
Landing strips were eventually carved out of Lake Otero as a backup-landing site for shuttle flights. After the third shuttle flight Gordon Fullerton and Jack Lousma landed Columbia on the north-south runway on March 30, 1982. 130 orbits and 3.3 million miles were logged during their mission.
Space Shuttle Columbia Landing at White Sands Space Harbor on March 30, 1982. Photo Courtesy of White Sands Missile Range.
The public was allowed onto the missile range to watch the landing. Soon after, the landing site was renamed “The White Sands Space Harbor.” The Space Harbor was the potential landing site throughout the shuttle’s existence. Although never used again it was activated during many missions. When Discovery was only hours away from conducting a deorbit burn on December 22, 2006 with an uncertainty from mission controllers as to where to land White Sands came within 90 minutes of getting a second landing.
Likely of most importance in contribution to refer to when looking at WSMR and the shuttle program is the pilot training. An approximate 85% of all pilot training was conducted using the Space Harbor.
To date Boeing’s Starliner and the Space Shuttle Columbia are the only space vehicles having orbited the Earth and land at White Sands. The unmanned Starliner landed safely in the Space Harbor vicinity with the use of parachutes on the 22nd of December 2019.
Release Courtesy of White Sands Missile Range
