RETROSPECT Project Orion: Saturn by 1970
What if the 1950s had just kept on going?
Fifty years ago tail fins, not seat belts, were standard equipment on American cars. Russia was ahead in space, but America was ahead on the road. Sputnik I, weighing 184 pounds, was launched on Oct. 4, 1957, and circled the Earth every 90 minutes for the next three months. Sputnik II, weighing 1,120 pounds, followed on Nov. 3 and included Laika, the pioneer of spacefaring dogs. Earth’s third artificial satellite was launched by a 32-ton Jupiter-C rocket built by the Chrysler Corporation, on Jan. 31, 1958. Explorer I weighed 31 pounds.
The race for ...
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