Shavetail was an experimental American
rocket developed during the 1950s. Used to evaluate the rapidly developing technology of rocketry, eleven Shavetail rockets were fired during 1959.
Design and development
Intended to assist in the development of rocket and
missile technologies, Shavetail was a small, inexpensive,
unguided solid-fueled rocket
A solid-propellant rocket or solid rocket is a rocket with a rocket engine that uses solid propellants ( fuel/oxidizer). The earliest rockets were solid-fuel rockets powered by gunpowder; they were used in warfare by the Arabs, Chinese, Persian ...
that was capable of being modified to be tested in various configurations.
Among the systems tested was one to ensure precise
payload
Payload is the object or the entity which is being carried by an aircraft or launch vehicle. Sometimes payload also refers to the carrying capacity of an aircraft or launch vehicle, usually measured in terms of weight. Depending on the nature of ...
separation at motor burnout.
[Baker 1978, p.142.]
Operational history
A series of eleven launches of the Shavetail rocket were conducted in late 1959, starting in August and ending in October.
[Parsch 2007] The maximum range of Shavetail was .
References
Notes
Bibliography
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{{Rank rockets
Experimental rockets of the United States
Cold War rockets of the United States