From the Editors
The launch vehicle community is in the midst of a historic transition. The diverse launch systems that served the country's defensive and scientific needs for decades have reached the end of their active service life. One by one, these heritage systems are being phased out and supplanted by a new generation of Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicles. With the recent inaugural launches of these EELVs, the U.S. launch community has embarked upon a course of assured, responsive, and economical access to space.
EELV systems represent the immediate future of U.S. space launch activities, but they trace their roots to programs that began more than 40 years ago—to the ballistic missile and space-race efforts of the early Cold War. Then, as now, Aerospace was essential in helping system designers meet performance objectives and national defense priorities. Aerospace made significant contributions to the Gemini program, solving a vexing problem of rocket oscillation, as well as the strategic ICBM program, helping to derive the multiple independently targeted reentry vehicle concept. Later, Aerospace helped convert early missiles to launch military payloads into space. Construction of the Air Force launch ranges also benefited from Aerospace contributions.
The full range of Aerospace activities in launch vehicle development and certification would be too much to cover in a single Crosslink. Thus, we have elected to focus on historical programs for this issue. A comprehensive discussion of design and analysis tools, engineering expertise, advanced concepts, and technical approaches will follow in a future edition. In the meantime, we hope this Crosslink will provide useful background and shed light on the company's considerable involvement with the major U.S. space-launch initiatives.
