Nexus - 0905 - New Times Magazine-pages

Page Content (OCR)

up with Dr Rudolph on May 25, 1984. Due to war crimes, he was DAVID: I always knew this place as Groom Lake. It was the deported out of LAX to Munich, Germany, where he died [in jail]. only name I had ever heard for that place, growing up. So we Anyway, General LeMay had sent me from Mount Vernon, were getting ready to board the plane to go and recover the rocket Ohio, to Wright-Patterson in Dayton, Ohio, where the SAC head- and I said, "Hey, do you see these rubber tyres on this plane? quarters was located. From there, me and my rocket and some Would you please tell me how you are going to land this thing on other colonels all got on board a C-141 transport and flew to adry lake bed? This thing is going to plough into the ground and White Sands. Soon after we arrived at White Sands, a black DC-9 never leave." Someone yelled at me to shut up and get into the plane showed up. LeMay had told me that if this plane showed _ plane. up, it would represent a real problem for me. Anyway, out After a while, we arrived in Nevada. And as we flew over the stepped these guys wearing suits and mirrored sunglasses. And landing site, I looked down at these twin 10,000-foot runways and among them was this one little guy wearing khaki uniform. I I said, "My God! There's a huge base down there!" knew that was Dr Rudolph because Dr von Braun had showed me So we landed at this place that doesn't exist on any map, and his picture. that's when I started getting really concerned. I was trying to ROBERT: Whom was Dr Rudolph working for? locate any Air Force emblems, Navy emblems, any kind of logos DAVID: I'm not sure...one of those alphabet-soup intelligence or emblems that would identify the commanding authority, but agencies. But he was primarily working for there was nothing anywhere on any of the NASA. And as soon as he got off the plane, buildings. Normally, standard universal he asked to see my rocket. When I asked painting of water towers at an airstrip is an him who he was, he told me, "Oh, I'm just a orange-and-white chequerboard pattern. But guy that inspects rockets for the govern- here, everything was painted either solid ment." Then I asked him if he was from white or solid black. So they were not con- NASA, and he said he had never worked forming to any code. there. After we got out of the plane, we got on So we walked over to my rocket andI_ | "Than the whole floor— _| this go-cart-looking thing. It looked kind of opened up a side panel. And when he leaned . like the electric carts that you see at airports. over to look at the engine, he began mum- about the size of a Then we drove from the landing strip to a ping to himself and ne seemed feally football field—slowly series oF hangars and headed into re centre upset—probably because I had built some- one. It was really cool, the way this place thing he thought was impossible to do. So I dropped down. was built. There were all these really big took that opportunity to lean over and whis- lights at the top that had louvres on them so per in his ear, "Do you know that in Th ti h the light will shine down. And when I e entire hangar proportional size, this engine has got close to the buildings, they looked 10,000 times the thrust of the F-1, was an unenclosed old and ratty, but underneath it was elevator." Saturn V engines, Dr Rudolph?" And alloy, unlike any alloy I had ever seen. he stood up and was furious. He want- It was an incredible-looking stainless ed to know who I was and how I knew steel type of metal that I thought was so much. And I told him, "I'm just a really unusual to use for buildings of kid that launches rockets in the cow that size. fields of Ohio." [Laughter] Anyway, I When we got inside the hangar, we had friends around me who were Air went down to the basement area. Force colonels that LeMay had Actually, we drove into the hanger and assigned to take care of me. there were little yellow lights flashing And I got upset when Dr Rudolph and big hangar doors, and out of the told me that he wanted to change the ground came all these little pipes with landing coordinates on my rocket. He chains attached that blocked off all the was really nasty about it. The navigation system I was using was doorways. Then the whole floor—about the size of a football off-the-shelf stuff. Back in those days, it was all analogue. But I field—slowly dropped down. The entire hangar was an had my system programmed to where the rocket would come back unenclosed elevator. down within a two-mile radius of the launch site. Dr Rudolph had ROBERT: So, it was more like a hydraulic lift in a garage? me reprogram the coordinates so that my rocket would land 456 DAVID: Yeah, but it was built to carry some really heavy miles northwest of White Sands in an area called Groom Lake, in stuff. The floor was made of concrete. God knows how much Nevada. weight that was. The whole thing went up and down on giant Well, I immediately pulled out my national survey maps and I worm-screws. looked at Groom Lake and thought, "My God! Why are we ROBERT: Isee. That's a lot more stable than using a launching up to a dry lake bed in Nevada? It's so far away." hydraulic system. That's when Dr Rudolph told me, "Just do it!" He was really hos- DAVID: Nothing can take the load like a worm screw. These tile. And I had been warned many times by von Braun and things were the size of sequoia trees, and there were at least 12 of LeMay that if I ran into Dr Rudolph, not to push his buttons. them lifting the floor! We went down at least 200 feet until we So I reset the coordinates on the guidance system and we rested flush with the floor of an underground hangar that was launched my rocket and it took off perfectly. And sure enough, it huge. It had a huge arched ceiling, but it went so far that you landed right on target. And you know, it wasn't until they made couldn't see the end of it. It just went forever. And I thought, the movie Jndependence Day that I ever heard the term "Area 51". "My God! You could park a hundred 747s in here and they ROBERT: How could that be? wouldn't even be in the way!" The entire hangar was an unenclosed elevator." NEXUS +57 | about the size of a football field—slowly dropped down. AUGUST - SEPTEMBER 2002 www.nexusmagazine.com