SEA LAUNCH OF ROCKET VEHICLES

This paper concerns a current Aerojet-General Corporation program to demonstrate the feasibility of servicing and launching liquid-propellant rockets floating in the sea, without the use of a special launching platform. The vehicle is launched from a vertical floating position; the thrust chamber being started and fired some distance under the surface during the initial phase of flight. The feasibility of this concept has been demonstrated by successful rocket ignitions under water in a flooded test bay.