CBS REPORTS: BIOGRAPHY OF A MISSILE {SERIES PREMIERE} (TV)
Summary
The first in this series of irregularly scheduled public affairs/documentary programs. This program, hosted by Edward R. Murrow, traces the development and launch of the Army Jupiter intermediate-range ballistic missile, dubbed Project 16. This program includes comments from the following individuals: technical director Wernher Von Braun; firing mechanism director Kurt Debus; propulsion expert William Pickering; satellite engineer James Van Allen; guidance system engineer Fritz Mueller; and communications director Otto Hoberg. Topics discussed include: the most crucial component of the missile, the fuel system; the tests that determine the strength of the missile's outer shell; the number of engine system tests, and the cost of each one; the force that pushes the missile into space; its need to operate in an oxygen-less environment; the steering of the missile once it leaves the launching pad; limits to the size of a missile or spacecraft; the engineers' ability to track its position via the guidance system; the role of the communication system; and the importance of the cluster rockets. Other topics include: preparations as the final countdown begins; the role of the initial engine boosters; the falling away of the first stage of the craft; the many tons of liquid oxygen that the missile holds; the excitement and nervousness accompanying final preparations; the failure of the launch, which practically destroyed the entire missile; engineers' explanations for the failure and attempts to start again and pinpoint the problems; and the success of the next missile launch, dubbed Project 16A, which nonetheless included tense moments. Includes commercials.
Cataloging of this program was made possible by The Marc Haas and Helen Hotze Haas Foundation, 1998.
Preservation of the Post–World War II American Television Documentary Collection is supported in part by a Federal Save America’s Treasures grant administered by the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Details
- NETWORK: CBS
- DATE: October 27, 1959 10:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 0:53:15
- COLOR/B&W: B&W
- CATALOG ID: T79:0316
- GENRE: News; Public affairs/Documentaries
- SUBJECT HEADING: News; U S - Defenses; U S Army; Rockets
- SERIES RUN: CBS - TV series, 1959-
- COMMERCIALS:
- TV - Commercials - B.F. Goodrich HT Silvertown tires
CREDITS
- Fred W. Friendly … Executive Producer
- Edward R. Murrow … Executive Producer, Host
- Palmer Williams … Producer
- Edward M. Jones … Associate Producer
- Jack Beck … Reporter
- Kurt Debus
- Otto Hoberg
- Bob Mosher
- Fritz Mueller
- William Pickering
- Van Allen, James
- Von Braun, Wernher