Satellite Progress

Project Vanguard, which will put the U.S. satellite in an orbit around the earth, is moving forward at a pace that gratifies its sponsors. There have been recurrent rumors of serious trouble, but according to Deputy Director Paul Walsh, nearly everything is on schedule. Ground tests of component parts have been successful, and soon the satellite-launching vehicle will start its flight tests. Each of the three stages will be flown separately before the whole vehicle is fitted together and shot into the sky.

The testing will be done at the Air Force range at Cape Canaveral, Fla., where rockets bigger than the satellite get routine tests. A special launching pad has been built, and a special concrete blockhouse will shelter observers and testing crew. A greenish-colored gantry has been brought from White Sands Proving Ground to support the pencil-thin vehicle before it roars off toward space. Scientists gathering for the tests claim to be more worried about the sky-high cost of Florida living than about the performance of their hardware. In spite of many objections, the tests will be as secret as if the peaceful satellite were a military missile armed with an H-bomb.

Secrecy always breeds rumors, and a widespread rumor in the missile business is that the Army hopes to toss a satellite into the sky ahead of Project Vanguard, which is administered by the Navy. Leader of this dark plot, according to rumor, is famed Wernher von Braun, chief creator of the German V2, now chief of guided missile development at the Army's Redstone Arsenal, Huntsville, Ala. Von Braun is said to believe that the satellitelaunching vehicle should have a more powerful first-stage rocket. The Army has such rockets, notably the mighty Redstone (range: 200 miles plus), and unless stopped by higher authority, Army missile men may try to beat the Navy to space.

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