FIRST STEPS TOWARD SPACE - Smithsonian Institution Libraries

186 SMITHSONIAN ANNALS OF FLIGHT
agent. Small chips of smokeless powder were mixed
with aluminum powder. Grains of that mixture,
15 mm in diameter and about the same length,
were compressed. A special bomb fitted with a
diaphragm pressure transmitter and photorecorder
registering the pressure data on a rotating cylinder
was employed to determine the linear rate of burning
of these grains. The burning rate of the grains
in the bomb (at the pressure of 50 atm) was constant.
The linear rate of burning could be changed
from 2 to 600 mm/sec, depending on the percentage
of aluminum powder (0.5-8.0%), temperature of
the mixture while compressing it (from 0° to 44°C)
and pressure used (not more than 100 atm). Reproducibility
of the results proved satisfactory.
At the close of 1931 I received an invitation to
take part in the organization meeting of the Group
for Study of Jet Propulsion (GIRD). I met F.A.
Tsander at that meeting and after we had a talk
he proposed that I work with him. I consented.
At the beginning we worked at the IAM. Under
the guidance of F.A. Tsander I made thermodynamic
calculations for a rocket engine, did some
development work, and carried out experiments
with a OR-1 engine, which was the prototype of a
liquid-propellant rocket engine.
After a short period in the IAM, the group,
which was given the name of a team, moved to
the premises of GIRD. S.P. Korolyev was appointed
chief of the GIRD. One of the projects of the
team headed by F.A. Tsander was to develop the
OR-2 liquid-propellant rocket engine for the RP-1
rocket glider. In addition to development of a
liquid-propellant rocket engine, their task was to
accumulate experience in relation to control of a
liquid-propellant rocket engine under flight conditions
and to investigate future possibility of developing
a composite space aircraft, with the last
stage entering outer space (that was the idea of
F.A. Tsander). Another aspect of their work concerned
creation of the liquid-oxygen rocket which
later came to be known as the GIRD-Kh rocket.
The design of the OR-2 engine and the GIRD-Kh
rocket was published in the collection of works
by Tsander edited by L.K. Korneyev in 1961.
I had to make calculations, perform developmental
work, and conduct experiments on the
OR-2 engine and the GIRD-Kh rocket. The engine
was first started on 18 March 1933. It operated for
several seconds and then was shut down because
the nozzle burned out.
To add to the service life of the OR-2 engine
we used refractory coatings for the nozzle and the
chamber (corundum, magnesite, natural and artificial
graphite, etc.). At the same time we tried to
improve the external cooling system (see Figure 2).
For the chamber, the corundum coating proved
quite suitable, but the nozzle coated with this
material soon disintegrated.
By the middle of August the tests showed that
best results were achieved when natural graphite
was used without any traces of other minerals. The
engine thus lined with graphite operated for 30-40
seconds with only slight erosion of the nozzle throat.
Soon after F.A. Tsander died, on 28 March 1933,
L.K. Korneyev was appointed chief of the team.
The GIRD-Kh rocket was launched on 25 November
1933 (see Figure 3).
By the end of August 1934 L.K. Korneyev, A.Y.