FIRST STEPS TOWARD SPACE - Smithsonian Institution Libraries

NUMBER 10 189
on the smoked tape. After the test was completed,
the tape with the marks on it was treated with
a shellac and alcohol solution to fix the recordings
so they could later be read.
The R-03 and R-06 Rockets
In August 1935, I began working as deputy
director at the recently organized Design Bureau
No. 7 (KB-7) dealing with liquid-propellant rockets;
L.K. Korneyev had been appointed its director.
E.P. Sheptitskiy who had headed up a design subdivision,
P.L Ivanov (director of the aerodynamic
group), the highly skilled mechanics M.G. Vorob'yev
and A.S. Rayetskiy, plus a number of other specialists,
transferred to the KB-7.
The first task of KB-7 (apart from organization
of the design and production sections) was to set
up a station for testing rocket units and rockets,
taking into consideration the latest achievements
in measuring techniques in allied fields.
The test station (Figure 8) was comprised of the
following: a reinforced concrete tower for static
firing tests, compartments for tanks with propellants,
air pressure cylinders, a compressor and other
equipment, a control room, a rocket assembly
room, electrotechnical and ceramics laboratories
(to be set up later), and some utility rooms. It was
designed by the Kuibyshev Military Engineering
Academy and its construction was completed in six
months.
In addition to visual measurement of rocket
parameters by means of instruments, photographs
were taken and data were recorded by means of
an oscillograph. A number of instruments were
designed by KB-7 in collaboration with scientific
research institutes. Four examples are given below:
1. A dynamometer with a capacitance pickup for
thrust measurement was designed at KB-7 jointly
with the Moscow N.E. Bauman Higher Technical
School.
2. KB-7 developed and constructed capacitance
pressure pickups (Figure 9) and dynamometers
(Figure 10) to measure a change in the weight of
the oxygen tanks during the test procedure.
3. Assisted by the Ail-Union Power Engineering
Institute, KB-7 developed and constructed a "rotameter"
(Figure 11) for remote measurement of fuel
consumption. As a float moved it moved a plunger
of Armco iron fixed to the float. The plunger was
located in a tube closed from the bottom, the tube
being an extension of the rotameter casing. The
tube was placed in three successively mounted
tripe-phase coils. As the float moved, the plunger
caused a phase shift that was indicated by the
instrument mounted on the control panel and
recorded by means of an oscillograph.
4. For direct observation of the engine's operation
a special PER-1 periscope was designed, manufactured,
and assembled on the test stand of the
KB-7 by the Leningrad Optical Institute in 1938.
Three people could simultaneously make observations
from the control room. Magnification was up
to ±2.5. The periscope was provided with a scale
for determining the size of the flame, and with
a device for the measurement of angles. The plan
of the test stand is shown in Figure 12 and the
control and instrumentation panel in Figure 13.
The test station was furnished with equipment
and instruments at such a rapid pace that we could
start carrying out tests on the stand in the second
half of 1936. Before KB-7 was set up, L.K. Korneyev
was engaged in development of the R-03 rocket and
I worked on a rocket which later came to be known
as the R-06 rocket.
The attempt in spring 1936 to launch the R-06
rocket, which had passed tests in Osoaviakhim,
showed normal operation of the power plant and
satisfactory interaction of all rocket parts. At the
same time the mechanism used for separation of
the rocket from the hand device employed to open
fuel values was unreliable when the speed of the
rocket movement in the launch device was great.
The first task of KB-7 was to perform adjustment
operations on R-03 and R-06 rockets for flight test.
Direct-action (Figure 14) and breakdown (Figure
15) explosive valves served to ensure reliable conditions
for the launching of rockets. Using breakdown
explosive valves precluded the possibility of
high-temperature gases penetrating the pipeline
filled with a highly explosive mixture. A current
of 0.08 ampere was sufficient to ignite the squib.
Before the rocket was launched the squib had to
be checked by way of remote control.
The engine was started in two stages: first the
engine operated with low propellant consumption
and then, after a certain period of time, it changed
over to the main power rating. For pressurization
of the fuel system, diaphragms calibrated for a
preset bursting pressure were used.