GE Re-entry SystemsPhiladelphia, Pennsylvania

American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics

Historic Aerospace Site

The GE Re-entry Systems Building, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics

Historic Aerospace Site

GE Re-entry Systems

Philadelphia,

Pennsylvania

The need for a successful reentrytechnology stemmed from WorldWar II and the subsequent Cold

War. The development of World War IIballistic and nuclear weapons was a legacygiven to the United States and the SovietUnion, but before these weapons could betruly successful it was necessary to develop a way to get these weapons up outside theatmosphere and back in again withoutvaporizing them on reentry. Both countriesrealized that there would be a distinctmilitary advantage in developing a success-ful reentry system, and this goal became oneof the military’s top priorities in the 1950s.As described by Theodore Von Karman,“Reentry is … perhaps the most difficultproblem one can imagine.”

The result of this need was theestablishment in 1956 of the General Electric(GE) Company’s Re-entry Systems’ facility at3198 Chestnut Street in Philadelphia, whichbecame home to the thousands of engineersand technicians who solved the problem ofvehicles successfully reentering the Earth’satmosphere. The history of their accomplish-ments from 1956 to 1993 indicates the inte-gral part they played in the development ofU.S. weapon and space systems.

First Operational Heat Sink ReentryVehicle (Atlas Mk 2)—In 1955, theGeneral Electric Company was invited tobid on a contract to develop the reentryvehicle (RV) for the Atlas Intercon-tinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) and theThor Intermediate Range Ballistic Missile(IRBM). The reentry vehicle was desig-nated the Mk 2. The subsequent award toGE was based on GE’s very importantwork on Project HERMES, dating to1944, and on the impressive capabilitiesof GE’s vast group of highly skilled engineers and scientists.

Drawing on the work of H. Julian Allenof NACA, and the joint Government-Industry team, GE selected a blunt cone,heat-sink solution for this first RV, primarilybecause more was known about heat-sinkmaterials than about other potential solu-tions. A heat sink is an environment orobject that absorbs and dissipates heat fromanother object using thermal contact. Theconfiguration was designed to maintain laminar flow as late as possible in the flight,and the heat shield was produced from highpurity copper alloy. Another reason to usewell-understood approaches was that theschedule had become urgent when PresidentEisenhower declared the Atlas Program to bethe country’s highest R&D priority.

The first Mk 2 flight was on June 1958,followed by 35 additional successful flights,at ranges to 6500 nautical miles. The systembecame operational two years later on theAtlas ICBM and on the Thor IRBM. TheUnited States had its first operational ICBMto counter the Soviet Union missile threat.

First Space Payload Recovery (Mk 2Data Capsule)—As a backup for the prob-lem of telemetry blackout during reentry, GERe-entry Systems developed the Mk 2 datacapsule, an 18'' sphere, that was carriedinside the Mk 2 reentry vehicle. The datacapsule was the first to use 3-axis (individ-ual) stabilization, an important contributionfor future orbiting spacecraft. The first suc-cessful recovery occurred on June 13, 1958on a Thor IRBM launch, followed by 13more successful recoveries. This led to a con-tract for the Mk 2 Space Lab program torecover scientific experiments during Atlasmissile test flights. To commemorate thisvery significant accomplishment, a data cap-sule recovered by the Mk 2 was presented tothe Smithsonian Institution on May 15, 1959by General Bernard Schriever, Commander,

First Operational Heat Sink ReentryVehicle—Mk 2 on Atlas ICBM

First Operational AblativeICBM Reentry Vehicle—Mk 3on Atlas ICBM

Air Force C-119 snares theCORONA/Discoverer XIV Capsule in Mid-Air

4 AIAA Historic Aerospace Site

GE RE-ENTRY SYSTEMS

AIAA Historic Aerospace Site 5

U.S. Air Force Research & DevelopmentCenter, and Hilliard W. Paige, GeneralManager, GE Re-entry Systems.

First Operational Ablation RV andLongest ICBM Flight (Atlas Mk 3)—TheGE Re-entry System’s Mk 3 RV was the firstoperational reentry vehicle to use ablativematerials. Ablative material is designed toslowly burn away in a controlled manner, sothat heat can be carried away from thespacecraft by the generated gases, while theremaining solid material insulates the craftfrom superheated gases. Mk 3 was a sphere-cone-cylinder-flare design, and in May 1960made the longest reentry flight on record,9000 miles.

First Return and Recovery of a Man-made Object from Earth Orbit(CORONA/Discoverer XIII)—Beginningin the late 1950’s, the United Statesattempted to take pictures from space andreturn those pictures to earth for analysis.The initial CORONA launches were obscuredas part of a unique “cover story,” a spacescience technology program calledDiscoverer. The first test launches were inearly 1959, and the first launch with a cam-era was in June 1959. Called Discoverer IV, itwas a 750 kg satellite launched by a Thor-Agena rocket. But instead of space science,the satellites returned film canisters to Earthin capsules, called “buckets,” which were tobe recovered in mid-air by a speciallyequipped aircraft during their parachutedescent. The buckets or capsules weredesigned to float in water for a short periodof time, and then sink, if the mid-air recovery failed.

GE Re-entry Systems was responsiblefor the “bucket” design and the recoverysystem. On August 12, 1960, the first suc-cessful return and recovery of a man-made

The Building

Originally constructed as the Pennsylvania Railroad Freight Building in 1929,in a restrained Art Deco style, the first floor is sheathed in limestone, with

the upper stories clad in buff colored brick with limestone details. Rising six storiesabove track level, with over 650,000 sq. ft., the building was originally designed as acombination freight station, warehouse, and showroom, and is characterized byimmense concrete massing, typical of industrial architecture. Later, the Railroadleased the facility to A&P Markets, Raymond-Rosen & Company, and the U.S. PostOffice, among others. In 1956, GE leased the building to serve as headquarters forthe newly formed Missile and Space Vehicle Department, which was started bymoving approximately 250 people from Schenectady, NY, to Philadelphia. The mainfloors were converted to offices and engineering laboratories, while the track wasconverted into a machining and production center for reentry vehicles andsubsystems. In 1961, the Space part of the business moved to Valley Forge, PA, whilethe Re-entry Systems business remained at 3198 Chestnut Street. The site was theheadquarters for GE Re-entry Systems’ business from 1956 until 1993, when thedepartment moved to Valley Forge. Between 1998 and 2001, Dranoff Propertiesrenovated and converted the structure into luxury apartments, with a massive opencourtyard carved from the interior. The main entrance was relocated from ChestnutStreet to Walnut Street and several businesses and restaurants were opened to servethe local community. Today, the track level houses the University of Pennsylvania’sMaintenance and Real Estate offices. In 1999, the facility was added to the National Registry of Historic Places.

object from Earth orbit, Discoverer XIII, wasachieved. A few days later, Discoverer XIVwas successfully recovered in mid-air by aC-119 aircraft, and the imagery data wasrecovered and analyzed. The film retrievedby CORONA/Discoverer XIV provided morecoverage than all the previous U-2 flightsover the Soviet Union combined and wascritical to U.S. national security. The age ofthe photographic spy satellite was born.

First Vehicle Recovered after Flight inthe Van Allen Belt (NERV)—The NuclearEmulsion Recovery Vehicle (NERV) was aNASA-sponsored program. The programobjective was to measure the characteristicsof the inner Van Allen belt, determine theeffect of the radiation upon mold spores,and return the data to earth. GE Re-entry Systems was responsible for thereentry vehicle and the recovery capsuledesign and manufacture. The unique NERVablative heat shield design allowed a probeto be extended through the nose cone anddata to be collected. Then the probe wasretracted and the heat shield resealed forreentry and recovery. NERV was launchedfrom Point Arguello, part of the PacificMissile Range, on September 19, 1960 withthe capsule being recovered some threehours later, nearly 1200 miles away.

First Full Scale RV to TransmitTelemetry Throughout Reentry(TVX)— In April 1961, the U.S. Armyawarded the TVX contract to GE Re-entrySystems. The contract was for target vehiclesfor the Nike-Zeus anti-ICBM program. Afirst successful flight was conducted inNovember 1961. One of the primary objec-tives of the program was to develop amethod to transmit telemetry data duringthe reentry blackout period, particularly themiss distance between the TVX target

6 AIAA Historic Aerospace Site

First Operational Multiple Independently TargetRV (MIRV) Reentry System—Minuteman III

Artist Conception of PioneerVenus Entry at Planet Venus

Project Galileo

GE RE-ENTRY SYSTEMS

vehicle and the Nike-Zeus interceptor mis-sile. This was accomplished using a sharp-nosed biconic configuration for the TVXdesign. In addition, the flight tests showedthat graphite- and Teflon-based materialsheld promise for future operational sharp-nosed reentry vehicles.

Largest Operational Reentry Vehicle(Titan II Mk 6)— Based on the success ofthe GE Century Series ablative materials, asdemonstrated on the RVX-2A program, GERe-entry Systems was awarded a contract forthe MK 6 RV for the Titan II ICBM. Thissphere-cone design was the largest RV in theU.S. arsenal, with a length of 14' and aweight of 8000 lbs. The Titan II with its Mk6 RV was initially deployed in 1962, andremained on active duty until the mid-1980s.

First RV test with Complete FlightControl During Hypersonic Reentry(MBRV)—In the 1960s, the U.S. Air Forcebegan to investigate the use of aerodynamiccontrol surfaces and on-board guidance andcontrol subsystems to control the ReentryVehicle during reentry. The objectives wereto enhance target penetration by evadingpotential defense missiles and to reduce the reentry contribution to overall systemimpact errors. An early experiment was conducted on a modified Mk 3 RV. Subse-quently, a contract was awarded to GE Re-entry Systems in 1963 for theManeuvering Ballistic Reentry Vehicle(MBRV) program. MBRV had a sophisticat-ed guidance system to control the vehicle’spreset trajectory and impact point. Threevehicles were successfully flight tested overthe Pacific in the mid-1960s. The flightseries demonstrated the aerodynamic con-trols, and pointed to modifications neededfor future designs.

First Multiple Independently TargetedReentry Vehicles (MIRV) System(Minuteman III)—Minuteman III was thefirst U.S. ICBM to utilize Multiple Indepen-dently Targeted Reentry Vehicles (MIRV).The Minuteman III had three RVs, a smallpost-boost liquid-fuel restartable engine,and a new guidance system. This post-boostrocket was used for course changes betweenthe releases of the individual Mk 12 RVs fortruly independent targeting. A new guidanceunit was developed to control these maneu-vers. GE also designed, built, and tested thefirst passive decoy for high-ballistic-coeffi-cient RVs, designed and built chaff to maskthe RV at high altitude, and designed andbuilt the mechanisms to deploy these pene-tration aids as part of the Minuteman III system. Development of the Minuteman IIIstarted in July 1965, and the first launchoccurred in August 1968. Deployment beganin April 1970, and eventually 550 Minute-man III missiles were placed in silos, andbecame the backbone of the U.S. land-basedICBMs throughout the Cold War.

First Recovery from Earth Orbit of aFully Instrumented Primate (Bio-satellite)—In the late 1960s, NASA/Amesawarded a program to GE Re-entry Systems,to study the prolonged effects of weightless-ness and radioactivity on living organisms.Called Biosatellite, NASA conducted threeflights: the first two with plants and organ-isms, and the third with a primate. Bio-satellite consisted of a blunt conical reentryvehicle, which contained the recovery capsule, and a cylindrical adaptor section.

The capsule, containing 13 plant- andanimal-specimen experiments that would be subjected to doses of radiation, waslaunched on September 7, 1967, and wasscheduled to orbit for three days. The mission was cut short after 45 hours due to

AIAA Historic Aerospace Site 7

“Reentry is … perhaps the most

difficult problem one can

imagine.”

The result of this need was the

establishment in 1956 of the

General Electric (GE) Company’s

Re-entry Systems’ facility at

3198 Chestnut Street in

Philadelphia, which became

home to thousands of

engineers and technicians

who solved the problem of

vehicles successfully reentering

the Earth’s atmosphere.

communication problems and the threat ofsevere weather in the recovery area. But thecapsule was successfully recovered afterdeorbit and reentry.

The third Biosatellite capsule, Bios 3,with a pig-tailed monkey on board, waslaunched on June 28, 1969. The monkey wasattached to 24 sensors to study the effects ofweightlessness on various bodily functions.He had been trained to feed himself by push-ing various buttons, but once in orbit hebecame sluggish and refused to eat. NASAaborted the scheduled 30-day mission afternine days. The capsule containing the pri-mate was successfully recovered.

First U.S. Planetary Probe to UtilizeAerothermal Protection to SurviveVenus Entry (Pioneer Venus)—Undersubcontract to Hughes Aircraft Company,GE Re-entry Systems designed and built theaerothermal protection subsystem for thefour probes which successfully entered theatmosphere of the planet Venus. LaunchedAugust 8, 1978, the Pioneer Venus bus carried one large and three small atmospheric probes.

All four probes entered the Venusatmosphere on December 9, 1978. As theprobe slowed down, a parachute designed byGE was deployed to further slow its entryinto the atmosphere. The three identicalsmall probes were targeted at different partsof the planet, and named accordingly. TheNorth probe entered the atmosphere atabout 60 degrees north latitude on the dayside. The Night probe entered on the nightside. The Day probe entered well into theday side, and although not designed to withstand impact with the planet’s surface,continued to send radio signals back for 67minutes after impact.

1955 1960 1965 1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995

Mk 2(Atlas)

Mk 3(Atlas)

Mk 6(Titan II)

Mk 12(Minuteman III)

MIRV Reentry System(Minuteman III)

Mk 12A (Minuteman III)

Mk 5 (Trident D5)

Mk 21 ADAPT(SICBM RG)

MMIII SRV

Mk 6A & F(Titan II)

Mk 12A & F(Minuteman III)

Mk 12/12AMod 5T Mk 12A

A & F

Mk 21 A&F(Peacekeeper) MOD 5T

Mk 21

A&F(MM III SLX)

MK 12Decoy

MM III PenaidSystem

AAEDecoy

Active DecoyDSJ

SPUDS

BallisticReentrySystems

Mk 3 CTP MBRVMaRVSTUDIES

MK500EP MaRV

MTV

HP MaRV

EPWRV

MSTART

HAVE STING KKV

GREMLIN

ENDO LEAP

D3 BOOST PHASE TMD

SCSM

D2

ABLE RVX TVX GTV

LAR PDV

Reentry-F NTV MSV

HEART

STREP

SDIO TARGET

DISCOVERER NERV CORONA BIOSATELLITE PIONEERVENUS

AOTV RRS SERV

GALILEO

Arming and Fuzingand Instrumentation

PenetrationAids

ManeuveringReentryVehicles

GuidedProjectiles

Reentry TestAndTarget Vehicles

SpaceReentrySystems

RVTO

8 AIAA Historic Aerospace Site

Major Programs at 3198 Chestnut Street—1956 to 1993Red = Aerospace “Firsts”

GE RE-ENTRY SYSTEMS

First Planetary Probe to SuccessfullyEnter Jupiter’s Atmosphere (Galileo)—The Galileo mission consisted of two space-craft: an orbiter and an atmospheric probe.NASA’s Ames Research Center and JetPropulsion Laboratory managed the project.Hughes Aircraft Company designed andbuilt the probe, and its subcontractor, GE Re-entry Systems, designed and built theprobe’s heat shield and aerothermal subsys-tem for this historic mission. GE alsodesigned the thermal control subsystem. The launch occurred on October 18, 1989 onthe Shuttle Inertial Upper Stage. The probewas released from the Galileo spacecraftorbiter on July 13, 1995 and entered theJovian atmosphere on December 7, 1995.The descent probe slammed into the top ofthe Jovian atmosphere at a speed of 170,000kilometers per hour (106,000 miles perhour). In the process, the probe withstoodtemperatures twice as hot as the Sun’s sur-face. The probe slowed by aerodynamicbraking for about two minutes, thendeployed its parachute and dropped its heat

shield. The probe kept transmitting data fornearly an hour as it parachuted downthrough Jupiter’s atmosphere.

Awards

The site and its employees have beenrecognized for their achievements, includingthe award of the Charles Stark Draper prizeby the National Academy of Engineering forGE’s role as a key member of the CORONA/Discoverer project team; selection of severalGE engineers and managers as CORONApioneers; recognition from England’s RoyalAir Force for GE Re-entry Systems’ role inProject Emily, which established anoperational Thor IRBM base in Englandwith each Thor carrying a GE Mk 2 ReentryVehicle; and acclaim by NASA/Ames andHughes Aircraft for GE Re-entry Systems’critical role as part of the Project Galileoteam’s remarkable achievement ofsuccessfully entering Jupiter’s atmosphere.

AIAA Historic Aerospace Site 9

The first Mk 2 flight was on

June 1958, followed by

35 additional successful flights,

at ranges to 6500 nautical

miles. The system became

operational two years later on

the Atlas ICBM and on the Thor

IRBM. The United States had its

first operational ICBM to counter

the Soviet Union missile threat.

10 AIAA Historic Aerospace Site

THE AIAA HISTORIC AEROSPACE SITES PROGRAMFor over 75 years, the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) has served as theprincipal society of the aerospace engineer and scientist. Formed in 1963 through a merger of twoearlier societies, the American Rocket Society (ARS) and the Institute of Aerospace Sciences (IAS), the purpose was, and still is, “to advance the arts, sciences, and technology of aeronautics andastronautics, and to promote the professionalism of those engaged in these pursuits.” Today, AIAAhas more than 30,000 professional and 7000 student members.

In addition, AIAA sponsors many technical conferences, seminars, and short courses per year, andpublishes Aerospace America, the AIAA Student Journal, and seven archival technical journals(including one online journal). The Institute also publishes conference papers and proceedings,technology assessments, position papers, audiovisual information packages, many books, and avariety of career-related educational materials. The Institute conducts a rigorous public policyprogram and works closely with other societies and governments in broad areas of mutual concern.

AIAA established the Historic Aerospace Sites Program in January 2000 to promote the preserva-tion of, and the dissemination of information about, significant accomplishments made in the aero-space profession. In addition to the GE Re-entry Systems, other sites recognized by the committeeinclude the Cincinnati Observatory, Cincinnati, Ohio; the Boeing Red Barn, Seattle, Washington;Kitty Hawk, North Carolina; the site of the first balloon launch, in Annonay, France; and TranquilityBase, on the moon.

For Further InformationAviation Week and Space Technology, August 18, 1975 and September 27, 1976.“Blunt versus Ablative.” Time, August 18, 1958.Brennan, J.F. and S. Gingrich. “GE Missile & Space Division 10th Anniversary Edition.” Challenge

Magazine, Spring, 1965.Buchonnet, D. Mirv: A Brief History of Minuteman and Multiple Reentry Vehicles. Lawrence Livermore

Laboratory, February 1976; obtained by the National Security Archive,(http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/nsa/NC/mirv/mirv.html).

FAA Office of Commercial Space Transportation website (http://ast.faa.gov/).Hartunian, R. “Ballistic Missiles and Reentry Systems: The Critical Years.” The Aerospace Corporation

Crosslink, Vol. 4, No. 1, Winter 2003.(http://www.aero.org/publications/crosslink/winter2003/02.html).

Johnson, M.A. Progress in Defense and Space: A History of the Aerospace Group of the General ElectricCompany. 1993.

Lin, T.C. “Development of US Air Force Intercontinental Ballistic Missile Weapon Systems.” Journal ofSpacecraft and Rockets, Vol. 40, No. 4, July–August 2003.

NASA National Space Science Data Center website (http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/).National Reconnaissance Office website (http://www.nro.gov/corona/facts.html).Strategic Air Command website (http://www.strategic-air-command.com/home.htm).

AIAA HISTORIC SITES COMMITTEE 2007

Anthony M. Springer Chair

Ranney G. Adams

John D. Anderson

Charles M. Ehresman

Mark S. Maurice

J. Michael Murphy

AIAA BOARD OF DIRECTORS 2007–2008

Paul D. NielsenPresident

John C. Blanton

Vincent C. Boles

Lawrence O. Brase

David S. Dolling

Catherine M. Downen

Thomas E. Duerr

Amr ElSawy

Wilson N. Felder

Ashwani K. Gupta

Kenneth Harwell

Phillip D. Hattis

Dean Hawkinson

Takashi Iida

David Jensen

Caroline M. Lamb

Christian Mari

Laura J. McGill

Thomas D. Milnes

George K. Muellner

James C. Neidhoefer

Steven R. Noneman

Jurgen Quest

David R. Riley

Charles R. Saff

Merri J. Sanchez

David R. Shaw

Roger L. Simpson

A. Tom Smith

Mary L. Snitch

Eric H. Thoemmes

James D. Walker

John Whitesides

Bruce W. Wilson

Robert C. Winn

Susan X. Ying

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