Awakening public interest in the United States and in Europe was manifested by publication in September 1949 of The Conquest of Space by Willy Ley. Ley featured detailed descriptions of orbital space stations and manned flights to the Moon and back as part of man's quest to conquer the frontier of space. The First Symposium on Space Flight was held 12 October 1951 at the Hayden Planetarium in New York City. Papers read at the Symposium were published in March 1952 by Collier's magazine under the title 'Man Will Conquer Space Soon.' Contributors were Wernher von Braun, Joseph Kaplan, Heinz Haber, Willy Ley, Oscar Schachter, and Fred L. Whipple. Topics ranged from manned orbiting space station) and orbiting astronomical observatories to problems of human survival in space, lunar space ventures, and questions of international law and sovereignty in space. Finally, Arthur C. Clarke's The Exploration of Space, first published in England in 1951 and a Book of the Month Club selection in America the following year, persuasively argued the case for orbital space stations and manned lunar and planetary space expeditions, popularizing the notion of space flight in general.

The Technicolor film "Destination Moon" went into production. The direct ascent mode was used in a four-man lunar landing mission. The movie premiered in New York City in 1950.

To store and install the nuclear warheads special units of the Ministry of Defence were formed.

Tsien Hsue-shen proposed a 22,000 kg single stage winged rocket that would carry ten passengers from New York to Los Angeles in 45 minutes.

AF flight 39. Rocket takeoff from the ground. References: 49 , 97 .

First launching of a rocket model employing known but nonaerodynamic torque from canted rocket nozzles, for determining damping in roll of wings, at NACA's Wallops Island, Va. References: 17 .

The 5-2 second aircraft, with rocket engine installed, made its first glide flight.

Cosmic radiation, solar radiation, pressure, temperature, ionosphere research. Launched at 2317 local time. Reached 96.6 km.

Launched 10:20 local time. Reached 60 km. Carried cosmic and solar radiation, pressure, temperature, photo experiments for Naval Research Lab.

Solar radiation research. Launched at 1138 local time. Failure.

Launched 10:00 local time. Reached 100.8 km. Carried cosmic and solar radiation, photo (Naval Research Lab); composition (Signal Corps Engineering Lab, University of Michigan); biological experiments for Applied Physics Lab, John Hopkins University.

Fully fueled round used and attained highest altitude to that date. In addition to testing equipment the flight was used to measure upper air temperatures. V-2 reached 102 km, 1170 m/s; WAC 400 km, 2300 m/s. Provided information on ion densities in the F-region of the ionosphere.

Dummy firing, no upper-air research experiment. Launched at 1715 local time.

Groettrup completes design work on G-2, 1,000 kg warhead, 2500 km range. References: 86 .

Concept of launching of small high-performance rockets suspended from a balloon above most of the atmosphere (later called "Rockoons"), developed by Cmdr. Lee Lewis, Cmdr. G. Halvorson, S. F. Singer, and J. A. Van Allen during Aerobee firing cruise of U.S.S. Norton Sound. References: 17 .

AF flight 40. Familiarization flight. Mach 1.23 at 10675 m. Small engine fire due to loose igniter. References: 49 , 97 .

AF flight 41. Familiarization flight. Inflight engine fire and shutdown. References: 49 , 97 .

Cosmic radiation, magnetic field research. Reached 104.6 km.

Launched 23:43 local time. Reached 133.9 km. Carried Ionosphere, sky brightness, solar radiation, composition, photo experiments for Air Research and Development Command.

AF flight 42. Familiarization flight. Mach 1.22 at 12200 m. References: 49 , 97 .

Cosmic radiation, magnetic field research. Launched at 1730 GMT. Reached 104.6 km.

Cosmic radiation, magnetic field research. Launched at 1514 GMT. Reached 6 km.

AF flight 43. Check of pressure suit for altitude operation. Mach 1.24 at 14640 m. Rocket fire and automatic engine shutdown. References: 49 , 97 .