Both the Soviet and the American space industries had much the same origins and impetus. The development of intermediate-range and intercontinental missiles provided not only the critical electronic technologies but also the rockets necessary to boost small payloads into orbit. Thus, the launch of Sputnik in 1957 signaled not only Soviet technical leadership in a new field but also the capability and extent of Soviet large-missile development and production. This leadership persisted into the era of crewed spaceflight, and, exploiting a minimalistic but sophisticated approach to technology, it continued in the pioneering era of space vehicles and space stations.
In the military use of space, the United States and the Soviet Union quickly turned to photographic reconnaissance from satellites, from which the film was recovered by means of reentry vehicles parachuted to the Earth. Their highly successful programs, including the U.S. Air Force’s Corona program, which flew more than 200 camera-carrying satellites, were the forerunner of higher-resolution imaging systems as well as infrared systems for the sensing of missile launches and other phenomena, with the gathered data relayed electronically to the ground. The techniques developed for the programs were later translated into new government and commercial remote sensing applications, primarily for atmospheric, weather, and Earth-resource investigations. In 1958, in a program called Project SCORE, the U.S. Air Force launched the first low-orbiting communications satellite, premiering the transmission of the human voice from space. Others followed, initiating a rapidly growing national and international telecommunications satellite industry (see satellite communication).
In 1958 in the United States, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics was succeeded by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), and the Mercury crewed spaceflight program was initiated. In 1959, to reflect the changing nature of the industry, the U.S. Aircraft Industries Association (formed in 1919 as the Aeronautical Chamber of Commerce of America to promote American civil aviation) changed its name to the Aerospace Industries Association (AIA). The Soviet Union, nevertheless, held crewed space leadership, and on April 12, 1961, cosmonaut Yury A. Gagarin, aboard Vostok 1, completed one full orbit of the Earth to become the first human being in space. Within two months, U.S. President John F. Kennedy announced the goal of the United States to land people on the Moon and to return them safely to the Earth before the end of the 1960s. In preparation for the lunar landing, NASA undertook the two-person Gemini spacecraft and recovery project with McDonnell Aircraft, which had been the prime contractor for Mercury, thus extending its role in the space program.
NASA conducted many in-house research-and-development projects at its numerous space centres. The final development and production of flight hardware for the subsequent Apollo program, however, was carried out by a few prime contractors and elaborate networks of subcontractors and suppliers in virtually every part of the United States. For example, Grumman Aircraft produced the Lunar Modules, the actual vehicles to land on the Moon, and North American Aviation built the Command and Service modules, which remained in lunar orbit during the landings. Boeing, North American, and McDonnell Douglas each served as a contractor for one of the three stages of the Saturn V launcher, while the main engines for all stages were supplied by Rocketdyne, then a division of North American Rockwell. The number of personnel involved in the U.S. space program reflected intense activity in the industry, increasing from 36,000 in 1960 to 377,000 by 1965.
In the early 1970s, following on the success of Apollo, NASA strove to sustain its crewed space program with the development of a reusable space transportation system, or space shuttle. In initiating the project, it again distributed industrial participation throughout the United States, under the control of its own centres. Because the shuttle would have the characteristics of both an airplane and a spacecraft, NASA gave its Langley Research Center (with a long history as an aeronautical laboratory) the responsibility for the vehicle’s aerodynamic design, in support of the agency’s lead facility, the Johnson Space Center. The latter chose North American Rockwell (later Rockwell International) as prime contractor for the shuttle orbiter, while the craft’s orbital maneuvering engine system and heat-resistant ceramic tiles were furnished by McDonnell Douglas and Lockheed, respectively. Hamilton Standard was responsible for the life-support systems, and the Marshall Space Flight Center and the Stennis Space Center had cognizance over the strap-on solid rocket boosters and external propellant tank, the former furnished by Thiokol and Hercules and the latter by Martin Marietta. Rockwell’s Rocketdyne division developed the shuttle’s cryogenic liquid-fuel main engines. Many other companies also played roles in development and manufacture, including suppliers of controls, components, and experiments.
Growth of the aircraft industry
American aircraft manufacturers dominated the early post-World War II years. In 1951, 80 percent of the world’s piston-engine commercial aircraft were made in the United States, and 56 percent of that American production was from Douglas. The United States, however, lagged behind Great Britain in understanding the potential of the jet airliner. In 1943 Britain had established the Brabazon Committee to assess the country’s postwar needs in civil aviation. The committee suggested nine types of aircraft, of which two were produced: the turboprop Vickers-Armstrongs Viscount, which made its first airline flight in 1950, and the De Havilland DH-106 Comet, which in 1952, with the inauguration of passenger service, became the world’s first jet airliner. The Comet was able to carry 36 passengers over a range of 3,200 km (2,000 miles) at a speed of 790 km (490 miles) per hour. A combination of technical flaws, however, caused explosions in flight and resulted in its withdrawal from service and the redesigning of subsequent versions of the Comet.
American companies learned from the design errors of the Comet. Drawing on its experience with the B-47 and B-52 jet bombers, Boeing in 1954 brought out the Boeing 367-80, the prototype of a new class of jet aircraft. Featuring an impressive combination of speed and range, the aircraft evolved into the KC-135 aerial military tanker and later into the company’s first jet airliner, the 707. Pan American Airways’s order for 20 Boeing 707s—and 25 similar Douglas DC-8s—initiated a worldwide jet-buying frenzy. In the 1960s jets also began to replace short-haul piston-engine aircraft. This time Europe—in particular British Aircraft Corporation, Hawker Siddeley, and France’s Sud Aviation—competed successfully against American manufacturers with the BAC One-Eleven, HS 121 Trident, and SE 210 Caravelle models, respectively. The French Caravelle, the prototype of which first flew in 1955, pioneered the “clean wing” design by mounting two engines, one on each side, on the rear section of the fuselage.
The general aviation sector experienced an almost steady growth after 1955. The product lines of Beech, Cessna, and Piper expanded to include a wide variety of new aircraft types. In terms of production volume, Cessna emerged as the leader. By the mid 1960s general aviation aircraft also began to make use of turboprop engines, jet engines, and pressurized cabins. While American companies continued to dominate this market, increasing global demand stimulated non-American manufacturers. Japan, for example, successfully offered the medium-range Mitsubishi MU-2 turboprop, and Britain and France marketed competitive capability from Short Brothers and Sud Aviation, respectively. In the United States, William P. Lear paved the way for volume sales of business jets. His Learjet 23, the first aircraft of this type, began deliveries in 1964.
The first major cooperative venture of European countries to design and build an aircraft began on November 29, 1962, when Britain and France signed a treaty to share costs and risks in producing a supersonic transport (SST), the Concorde. The two countries were not alone in the race for a supersonic airliner. The Soviet Union built the delta-wing Tupolev Tu-144, which made its maiden flight in December 1968 and which in June 1969 was the first passenger jet to fly faster than Mach 1 (the speed of sound). The Tu-144 was in service only briefly in the late 1970s before being withdrawn for reasons that proved ultimately to be fundamental design problems. The delta-wing Concorde made its first flight in March 1969 and entered revenue service in January 1976 (see supersonic flight). British Aircraft Corporation and Aerospatiale were responsible for the airframe, while Britain’s Rolls-Royce and France’s SNECMA (Société Nationale d’Étude et de Construction de Moteurs d’Aviation) developed the engines. The Concorde’s cruise speed of about Mach 2 (twice the speed of sound) reduced the flight time between London and New York to about three hours. Although financially not profitable, the Concorde, which was taken out of service in 2003, proved that European governments and manufacturers could cooperate in complex ventures and that they remained at the technical forefront of aircraft development. In the United States the federal government was willing to pay 75 percent of the research-and-development cost of an SST. But after four years and more than $1 billion expended, with little progress and growing environmental concerns, the Boeing 2707 SST project was canceled in 1971 following withdrawal of government funding.
In the 1960s Boeing and Lockheed submitted proposals to build a large transporter for the U.S. Air Force. Lockheed and engine manufacturer General Electric won the contract and developed the world’s largest aircraft at that time, the C-5 Galaxy. Boeing and its engine partner Pratt & Whitney, however, embarked on an ambitious undertaking to develop an aircraft capable of carrying as many as 500 passengers. The end product was the first wide-body passenger jet, the four-engine Boeing 747 Jumbo Jet, which entered service in 1970. Douglas and Lockheed followed suit with somewhat smaller triple-engine wide-body aircraft, the DC-10 (1971) and L-1011 TriStar (1972), with worldwide acceptance, though not profits, for all three.
As another outgrowth of wartime aircraft development, helicopters entered civilian service, first with the medical-emergency and police units of civil governments for rescue and transport operations and then with commercial companies for short-range passenger transportation in environments such as cities and forested areas requiring vertical ascent and descent. As helicopters achieved increased lift capabilities, they were used in construction for the economical transport of girders and other large structures. In the 1950s helicopter-manufacturing licenses were granted by Sikorsky (see United Technologies Corporation) to Westland in Great Britain and later by Bell Helicopter (see Textron Inc.) to Agusta in Italy and Mitsubishi in Japan. The introduction of turbines as power plants for the rotor was led by Sud-Est Aviation and later Sud Aviation (predecessors of Aerospatiale) in France. The Sud-Est Alouette II, which first flew in 1955, was the world’s first turbine-powered helicopter to go into production.
The debut of turbine-powered helicopters and their application as military attack aircraft by NATO and Soviet bloc countries and their clients marked the development of a new generation of rotary-wing aircraft. In the United States during the Vietnam War, the Bell Helicopter division of Textron developed the Bell 209 (AH-1G HueyCobra), the first helicopter designed specifically for attack. At the end of the 1960s the Soviet Union’s Mil Mi-12 became the world’s largest helicopter, with a maximum takeoff weight of 105 tons, and in 1978 the smaller Mil Mi-24 set a helicopter speed record of 368.4 km (228.9 miles) per hour.