October 1936 to January 1937:
Theodore von Kármán | |
1939:GALCIT Project No. 1 begins August 1941: Aerojet Engineering Corporation forms
December 1941: US enters World War II
April 1942: Liquid fuel JATO helps a
Douglas A-20A off the ground at Muroc Field, CA. | June 1943: John W. Parsons decides to use asphalt as a solid fuel
binder.
|
November 1943: Name "Jet Propulsion Laboratory"
is used for the first time.July 1944: ORDCIT Project, the first US Army Ordnance integrated missile project, begins.December 1944: Private A is launched at Leach Springs, CA.
| December 1944:
von Kármán leaves for Washington;
Malina becomes Acting Lab Director.April 1945: Private F is fired at Hueco Range, Texas
August 1945: Charles Bartley conceives of using
polysulfide as a solid fuel binder.October 1945:
The WAC Corporal
is tested at new
White Sands Proving Ground, NM.
|
1947:
Louis Dunn becomes Lab Director.
May 1947: Corporal E is fired at White Sands, NM.
November 1947: Thunderbird is fired at
Inyokern using polysulfide solid fuel.
September 1949: Corporal changes from a research
vehicle to a weapons system.
|
 |
| 1949:
Bumper WAC
enters "outer space,"
Banana River Test Station, FL.1949: Soviet Union detonates
their first atomic bomb
June 1951: Loki project begins.
December 1951: Corporal turns over
to Gilfillian/Firestone for production. |
|
Spring 1954: Sergeant project begins.September 1954:
Dr. William H. Pickering
succeeds Dunn as JPL Director. October 1955: JPL joins Army Ballistic Missile Agency (ABMA)
on Re-entry Test Vehicle (RTV) project.
March 1956: Transistor transmitter is first tested. October 1957: First Sputnik launches.
October 1957: Project Red Socks is proposed.
 |
December 1957: Vanguard fails |
|
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