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Memorial Tributes Volume 8 (1996) / Chapter Skim
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Allen F. Donovan
Pages 72-77

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From page 73...
... Working for the Manhattan Project, his structural design group ran structural and altitude tests on the Nagasaki atomic bomb design and developed bomb releases used in the drops on Japan. After WorIcl War IT, Curtiss-Wright donated its research laboratory to Cornell University, which renamed it the Cornell Aeronautical Laboratory and operated it as a nonprofit corporation with Donovan as head of the Aeromechanics Department.
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From page 74...
... in October 195S, resulted in Pioneer I, the first of a long series of scientific space missions designated "Pioneer." The systems did not achieve their ambitious objective of returning a picture of the back of the moon; but Pioneer I, the second launch, did send back the first measurements of the earth's radiation field out to SO,OOO miles. In 196O, after the Air Force determined that its system engineering for the future space and missile systems should be
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From page 75...
... In the spacecraft field, his responsibilities included the Vela nuclear detection satellites, the infrared launch surveillance satellite systems, several generations of military communication satellite systems, the defense meteorological satellite program, and a number of highly classified satellite programs in the category referred to in arms control treaties as "national technical means of verification" managed and operated by the National Reconnaissance Office for the President. Al Donovan served on the Air Force Scientific Advisory Board from 1948 ~ 1968 and was chairman of its Propulsion Panel from 1959 to 1968.
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From page 76...
... on him an honorary doctor of science degree in aeronautical and astronautical engineering. He was elected to membership in the National Academy of Engineering in 1969 en cl served on a number of committees, including the National Research Council's Assembly of Engineering Ad Hoc Committee for Review of the Space Shuttle Main Engine Development Program (1978~.
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Key Terms

  • structural design
  • space shuttle
  • launch vehicles
  • liquid rocket
  • rocket engines

  • launch vehicle
  • flight testing
  • cornell aeronautical
  • corsair fighter
  • bomb releases

  • empirical solution
  • composite helicopter
  • force space
  • vehicles supplied
  • spacecraft field

  • wire bracing
  • instrumented structural
  • reconnaissance office
  • rendezvous vehicles
  • main engine

  • ballistic missile
  • national reconnaissance
  • shuttle main
  • helicopter blades
  • responsibilities included

  • thor missile
  • combustion instability
  • personally initiated
  • nagasaki atomic
  • altitude tests


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