A historical review of meteorological systems from 1955 to 1973.
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Before weather satellites, meteorological data used in forecasting were collected by means of weather balloons sent aloft by the hundreds every day. Weather balloons, however, can only reach 100,000 feet or so. Taking "soundings" (a seafarer's term for depth measurements) above this altitude was impossible in an on-going, economical manner until Lincoln Pittinger had the idea of using military surplus Loki anti-aircraft rockets as an inexpensive means of sending instrument payloads to altitudes above 100,000 feet to as high as 250,000 feet. This began an 18-year period of using small diameter rockets to measure and sample the atmosphere. In addition to weather forecasting, these rockets were used to return samples of atmospheric particles ranging from meteoric dust to nuclear bomb clouds. Some sample return systems, such as Marquardt's ASP IV, could reach 300,000 to 550,000 feet (over 100 miles!).
Dr. Richard Morrow has performed an invaluable service to the rocketry hobby and the larger aerospace community in documenting this nearly forgotten phase of rocket history. As he says in the introduction, "In order for a sounding rocket to meet the criteria for this book, it must have had a motor diameter of less than eight inches. Betty Flowers at NASA's Wallops Island Facility has characterized a small sounding rocket as an 'armpit rocket,' or one that can be carried under one's arm." This book provides the High Power hobby rocket enthusiast with dozens of prototypes that can be modeled full scale.
Unlike Rockets of the World or Spaceship Handbook, which use simplified "envelope drawings" to describe their vehicles, Dr. Morrow has gone to the extraordinary lengths of obtaining and reproducing the actual fabrication blueprints of these rockets and their payloads. Nearly half the book is drawings and diagrams. Although the book is black & white, color data has been documented for every vehicle to the greatest extent known.
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37 rocket systems from 10 companies and instituions
