The WAC Corporal was the first sounding rocket developed in the United States and the first vehicle to achieve hypersonic speeds. [1]

This is the WAC-Corporal liquid-fuel sounding rocket, the U.S.'s first successful sounding rocket. Developed from 1944 at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, it could lift 25 pounds of instruments to 20 miles.

May 12, 2023 · Crews launched 25 more WAC Corporals through June 1947, achieving many successes including one that reached an altitude of 50 miles, the first American rocket to reach space. The final eight WAC Corporals flew as upper stages atop V-2 rockets as part of the Bumper program.

One minute after blast-off, at an altitude of 20 mi (32 km) and a speed of just under 1 mi (1.6 km) per second, the WAC Corporal detached from the V-2 first stage and fired its own engine.

The WAC A, also called the WAC-Corporal, was developed as the 'little sister' of the Corporal military rocket by the California Institute of Technology GALCIT group. The propellants were hypergolic and the rocket was fin stabilized during ascent after exiting a …

Aug 9, 2023 · The WAC Corporal was a high-altitude test rocket used by the U.S. Army from 1945 to 1950. It represents the state of U.S. rocketry around the time that the V-2 was operational.

The WAC or WAC Corporal was the first sounding rocket developed in the United States. [1] Begun as a spinoff of the Corporal program, the WAC was a "little sister" to the larger Corporal. It was designed and built jointly by the Douglas Aircraft Company and …

Dec 12, 2015 · Known as the embryo of the Army missile programs the CORPORAL was a surface-to-surface guided missile which could deliver either a nuclear or high-explosive warhead up to a range of 75 nautical...

Mar 4, 2021 · 22 March marks the 75th anniversary of the first American rocket to escape Earth’s atmosphere, the JPL-Ordnance WAC! WAC (Without Attitude Control) Corporal, also known as WAC A, reached a 50 mile height after its launch from White Sands Proving Ground (WSPG).

The WAC Corporal was a small liquid-propellant sounding rocket developed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory for the United States Army. It was the first true sounding rocket because it was built …