Talk:Private (rocket)

Sloppy research coupled with foolish assumption produces erroneous results

The assertion made in this article that the Recruit rocket motor was a product of JPL is silly. Assuming is not researching. The Recruit was a Thiokol motor produced various versions from the mid-1950s to the mid 1970s. Two of the most common were Recruit (Thiokol XM-19) and the Recruit T55. A primary reference on early sounding rockets would be Newell, Homer, Sounding Rockets, McGraw Hill, NY, 1959. My personal copy was once in the library of Thiokol Chemical Corporation, Elkton Division. Thiokol not JPL made the Recruit. It is true that Sargent and Recruit motors were used in combination for example the Sergeant 5-Stage (1 x Sergeant + 1 x Lance + 1 x Lance + 1 x Recruit + 1 x T-55). A number of sounding rockets which used the Recruit including Nike Nike Recruit, Nike Yard bird, Recruit T55, HJ Nike Nike Recruit, Nike Nike T40 T55 (aka Nike T40 T55 Nike), Terrapin, Jason (Honest John plus Nike plus Nike plus Recruit plus T-55), Trailblazer 1 (Honest John rocket as the first stage, topped by 1 x Nike and 1 x Lance, the upside-down upper-stage package consisted of 1 x T-40 + 1 x T-55 + 1 x Cygnus 5 motors). It was common place to use retired motors (for example Honest John and Nike boosters) plus what ever other rockets were necessary to achieve mission goals of payload weight to altitude and/or speed required. If you have the feeling that the history of American sounding rockets is both elaborate and confusing you are right. For a glimmer of understanding of sounding rocket history easily available read NASA SP-4401 NASA Sounding Rockets, 1958-68. I say glimmer because NASA was not the only user of sounding rockets by a long shot. Shoddy research of that which might be acceptable in a Junior high paper should NOT be acceptable in a Wikipedia article. Mark Lincoln (talk) 17:01, 16 September 2020 (UTC)