The U.S. Army Ballistic Missile Agency, Redstone Arsenal, Ala., began studies of a large clustered-engine booster to generate 1.5 million pounds of thrust, as one of a related group of space vehicles. During 1957-1958, approximately 50,000 man-hours were expended in this effort. References: 16 .

Upper Atmosphere Rocket Research Panel was renamed the Rocket and Satellite Research Panel. Its chairman was James A. Van Allen of the State university of Iowa. References: 17 .

Micrometeorites research. Launched at 0819 local time. Reached 61 km.

U.S.-IGY scientific satellite equipment, including a radio transmitter and instruments for measuring temperature, pressure, cosmic rays, and meteoric dust encounters, was tested above earth for the first time, as a rocket containing this equipment was fired by the Navy to a 126-mile altitude. References: 17 .

Douglas Thor IRBM (XSM-75) was launched at Cape Canaveral, Fla., destroyed by range safety officer. The missile was actually on course throughout its flight. The console wiring error led the range safety officer to believe it was headed inland rather than out to sea, so he hit the destruct button.

Vandenberg AFB established by Air Research and Development Command (ARDC) on the north 64,047 acres (approximately 100 square miles) of what was then Camp Cooke. References: 88 .

Details of X-15 rocket research airplane were publicly revealed for the first time. References: 17 .

Lockheed X-17 research rocket reached 9,000 mph at Patrick AFB, Fla. References: 17 .

NACA flight 14. Mach 1.71 at 20435 m. Aileron and rudder pulses. References: 49 , 97 .

Fired from AMR at 1512 hours EST to test the design version of the airframe and rocket engine. The flight terminated at 93 seconds because of propellant slosh. The missile achieved an altitude of 60,000 feet. The flight was partially successful. References: 439 .

Vanguard Test Vehicle (TV-1), a modified Martin Viking first-stage and Vanguard solid-propellant third-stage Grand Central Rocket as second-stage, launched with instrumented nose cone to an altitude of 121 miles and met all test objectives. References: 17 .

Test of Vanguard third-stage separation and firing at altitude.Launched at 0129 local time. Reached km.

Sunfollower spectrograph. Launched at 0704 local time. Reached 204 km.

Start of new construction and major rehabilitation at Camp Cooke. References: 88 .

USSR Supreme Soviet Decree 'On Future Improvements in the Organisational Control of Industry and Construction-- abolishing the branch ministry system' was issued. References: 474 .

The second three-stage re-entry missile, was launched at 0255 hours EST from AMR to test the thermal behaviour of a scaled-down version of the Jupiter nose cone during re-entry. The separated nose cone, which weighed 314 pounds, should have reached a nominal range of 1,212 nm. The missile began. to pitch up at 134 seconds, and impact was 420 nm short of the intended impact point. The composite missile consisted of three stages. The first stage was an elongated Redstone using alcohol and liquid oxygen as propellant. The second and third stages were made up of clusters of 11 and 3 scaled-down Sergeant solid propellant rockets, respectively. The nose cone was not recovered; however, instrument contact with the nose cone through re-entry indicated that the ablative-type heat protection for warheads was successful. Nose Cone Recovery Test References: 439 .

NACA flight 15. Mach 2.0 at 22,265 m. Aileron pulses and rolls, sideslips, and wind-up turns. Plane severely damaged upon landing. References: 49 , 97 .

First launch of R-2A, carried dogs Ryjaya and Damka. References: 283 , 344 .

NACA flight 7. Control pulses at mach 1.45 at 18300 m. Flight for instrumentation check. References: 49 , 97 .

Carried dogs. References: 283 , 344 .

Army Jupiter IRBM was fired 1,500 miles, limit of its designed range, and to an altitude of 250-300 miles, the first successful launching of an IRBM. Fired from AMR at 1308 hours EST to test the range capability and performance of rocket engine and control system. Although the missile was 253 nm short of its estimated 1,400 nm impact point, this was the first successful flight of the Jupiter. All phases of the test were successful during this first firing of the IRBM in the western world References: 439 .

Research on tungsten nuclear rocket propulsion systems initiated by NACA Lewis Laboratory, and other feasible systems for practical nuclear rocket systems, such as 1958 concept of coaxial jet gaseous reactor, followed. References: 17 .

Manhigh I balloon reached 97,000 feet (29,600 m) with Captain Joseph Kittinger aboard.

NACA flight 8. Supersonic maneuvers to mach 1.5 at 18300 m to determine the dynamic and static stability and control characteristics. References: 49 , 97 .

First test flight of prototype WS-107A Atlas was detonated by command signal at 10,000 feet following a failure in the booster fuel system. References: 17 , 278 .

After third attempt in three days to launch R-7 8K71 M1-6, the rocket is pulled from the pad. It is found that a nitrogen scavenging valve was installed backwards.

Ionosphere research. Launched at 0700 local time. Reached 171 km.

One group concerned themselves with performance of aircraft at high speeds and altitudes and with rocket research; the other group, with problems associated with hypersonic flight and reentry. References: 483 .

NACA flight 9. Supersonic maneuvers to mach 1.5 at 18300 m to determine the dynamic and static stability and control characteristics. References: 49 , 97 .

Ionosphere research. Launched at 0707 local time. Reached 202 km.

Launched at 0609 hours EST from AMR to test performance of the inertial guidance system, angle-of-attack meters, separation of explosive screws, and impact and radar fusing systems. Range instrumentation difficulties and deteriorating weather delayed the firing from the initially scheduled time of 0230 hours EST. The flight was successful. Actual range was 135.425 nm; 0.42 nm over; and 389 meters left of the intended impact point. Missed aimpoint by 785 m. References: 439 .

Myasishchev OKB-23 sketches first serious manned winged spacecraft design. References: 83 .

Alfred J. Eggers, Jr., of the NACA Ames Aeronautical Laboratory, worked out a semiballistic design for a manned reentry spacecraft. References: 483 .