[CPEO-MEF] Perchlorate history

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

[Ever wonder when perchlorate was first used in large solid rocket
motors? This obituary provides a large part of the answer.]

Edward N. Hall, 91; Rocket Pioneer Seen as the Father of Minuteman ICBM

By Thomas H. Maugh II
Los Angeles Times 
January 18, 2006

Col. Edward N. Hall, the U.S. Air Force's foremost rocket expert who is
widely considered the father of the Minuteman intercontinental ballistic
missile program that is the core of this country's missile defense, died
Sunday at Torrance Memorial Medical Center.

He was 91 and had been bedridden at his home in Rolling Hills Estates
for 1 1/2 years with a broken hip and other ailments.

The solid-fuel rocket technology that he helped develop was subsequently
used in most other U.S. missiles, including the Polaris, the Titan III
and IV and the boosters on the space shuttle.

Early U.S. rockets were liquid fueled, typically operating on a mixture
of liquid oxygen and alcohol or kerosene. But these compounds were
sufficiently unstable that the rockets could not be kept fueled and
ready for launch.

...

For the entire obituary, see
http://www.latimes.com/news/science/la-me-hall18jan18,0,4976069.story?coll=la-home-science

-- 


Lenny Siegel
Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
c/o PSC, 278-A Hope St., Mountain View, CA 94041
Voice: 650/961-8918 or 650/969-1545
Fax: 650/961-8918
<lsiegel@cpeo.org>
http://www.cpeo.org
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