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Stamp Profile
From PRIME to Space Shuttle
Marshall Islands
Issue Date: 23/12/1988
This issue is a three-fold
commemorative of Kwajalein's
historic role in the US space
program: the 30th anniversary
of NASA, the civilian National
Aeronautics and Space
Administration; the 25th
Anniversary of Project PRIME.
The US Air Force's hypersonic
flight test Precision Recovery
Including Maneuvering Entry
program, which held a key to
the design of the future Space
Shuttle; and the September
29, 1988 launching of Shuttle
Discovery, the rebirth of
America's manned space
program.
Ever since the 1950s the
highly sophisticated tracking
and communications facilities
at Kwajalein in the Marshall
Islands have been essential to
America's worldwide tracking
network. The atoll's isolated
location freed it from snooping eyes and radio interference; and being off shipping
lanes, it provided ample open water for safe reentry of space vehicles. Today it is still
an important facility in control of Space Shuttle missions.
In the 1960s NASA and the US Air Force engaged in parallel programs to find the
optimum design for a rocket-powered aerospace plane, each pursuing separate lifting-
body research, then eventually combining programs to culminate in the shuttle. True
lifting bodies are wingless vehicles that rely for their aerodynamic lift on the shape of
the underbelly, without conventional wings, which would be torn off during reentry. The
US Space Shuttle, as well as those being developed by France and USSR. are
essentially lifting bodies with vestigial wings to provide a better landing flare
maneuver.
The Air Force launched its research with START (Spacecraft Technology and
Advanced Re-entry Test) in 1961. Following the 1963 wind tunnel tests of its advanced
phase, called PRIME, the Air Force publicly announced in 1964 the initiation of the
PRIME mission with the Martin Marietta Corp.: to design, build and test materials for
hypersonic lifting-body reentry vehicles. Specifically, PRIME SV-5D was designed to
be maneuverable during reentry and to be recoverable.
Key to the program was getting a prototype vehicle into space and determining if its
shape could survive the heat of reentry, maneuver to a landing point off the ballistic
path it was launched upon, and keep its crew alive. Three PRIME SV-5Ds were
launched, all successfully from Vandenberg APB atop a Convair Atlas, to near orbital
speed, downward range to Kwajalein: #1 on Dec. 21, 1966; #2 on Mar. 5, 1967; and
#3 on Apr. 18, 1967.
From the moment of launch, control of each mission passed to Kwajalein. Technicians
at Kwaj controlled and tracked operation o29/08/06the SV-5D in space using its own
onboard rockets, and adjusted the flight path to achieve a pin-point landing off the
beaches of Kwajalein. While all three launches were successful, only vehicle #3 was
recovered. Tracking and recovery ships of the US space command and helicopters
permanently based at Kwaj effected recovery and returned the vehicle to laboratories
on Kwajalein for initial inspection. After thorough study of the vehicle and analysis of
data, the Air Force pronounced the program a complete success and placed the SV-
5D on public display at the Air Force Museum, Wright-Patterson APB, Ohio. A fourth
vehicle that had been readied was never launched. a follow-up mission was declared
redundant; manned testing was commenced.
From Project PRIME, with the attribute of maneuverability during reentry proven at
Kwajalein, and its pioneering work in ablatives and internal steam cooling, grew the
manned X-24A rocket plane and the X-24B rocket-powered, one-man prototype of the
Space Shuttle. The X-24B in particular was used as a test bed to train pilots in the
most critical part of a Shuttle mission - landing a space plane with poor aerodynamic
characteristics dead-stick. Techniques learned from these tests were used in training
Shuttle pilots.
This issue is the second in a series of Marshall Islands stamps highlighting Kwajalein's
impact on space exploration. (The 1985 issue honored participation in the
International Halley Watch.) The 4-stamp strip depicts the PRIME launch from
Vandenberg, Calif., the SV-5D glowing red hot during re-entry, recovery off the beach
at Kwajalein, and Shuttle Discovery in orbit while under communications control from
Kwajalein. The' single airmail stamp, based on an official NASA photograph, depicts
the Space Shuttle and a space-walking astronaut in orbit over Rongelap Atoll.
William R. Hanson, NASA's Lunar Artist-Apollo 16, designed this and the Halley issue.
The House of Questa, London, again did the printing.
© 1968 Marshall Islands Philatelic Bureau. Printed in U.S.A.
(C) The Astro Space Stamp Society.
All rights Reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written
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