Karel Bossart
{{Short description|Rocket designer}}{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2015}}
{{Infobox person
| birth_name = Karel Jan Bossart
| image = Karel Jan Bossart.jpg
| caption =
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1904|02|09}}
| birth_place = Antwerp, Belgium
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1975|08|03|1904|2|9}}
| death_place = San Diego, California, U.S.
| resting_place =
| citizenship = Belgian–American
| nationality = Belgian
| occupation = Rocket engineer
| alma_mater = Université libre de Bruxelles
| spouse = Cornelia Chase
| children = 3
| known_for = Atlas ICBM
| awards = Exceptional Civilian Award
}}
Karel Jan Bossart{{Cite book |last1=Mitchell |first1=Don P |title=Bossart: America's Forgotten Rocket Scientist |publisher=Mental Landscape, LLC. |location=Seattle |date=2016 |isbn=978-0998330501}} (February 9, 1904 – August 3, 1975) was an innovative rocket designer and creator of the Atlas ICBM. His achievements rank alongside those of Wernher von Braun and Sergei Korolev. But as most of his work was for the United States Air Force and was therefore classified, his achievements are not widely known.
Biography
Karel Bossart was born on February 9, 1904, in Antwerp, Belgium. He graduated in Mining Engineering at the Université libre de Bruxelles in 1924. After winning a scholarship to Massachusetts Institute of Technology under the Belgian American Educational Foundation to study aeronautical engineering, he remained in the United States, working for various aircraft companies. In 1945 he was chief of structures at Convair and proposed to the United States Air Force that a missile could be developed with a range of 8000 km. The Air Force was skeptical of Bossart's proposal, partly wishing to preserve the priority of strategic bombers, but granted him a limited contract to develop a prototype. Bossart's major innovation was the use of a monocoque design in which structural support was maintained by pressure within the inelastic fuel tanks. After a series of tests in 1947 the Air Force lost interest and Bossart was instructed to abandon the research, but by 1951 the escalation of the Cold War enabled Bossart to revive the project that became known as 'Atlas'. In 1955 the Central Intelligence Agency reported that Soviet Russia had made swift progress on its own intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) programme and Atlas became a crash project of the highest national importance.{{cite report|title=The Development of Ballistic Missiles in the United States Air Force 1945-1960|author1=Jacob Neufeld|date=1990|url=https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/pdfs/ADA439957.pdf|website=dtic.mil|access-date=March 12, 2023}}{{rp|106}} Bossart used this opportunity to advance work with high energy cryogenic fuels that resulted in the Centaur upper stage.{{cite web|title=The Centaur Upper Stage|author1=Marshall H. Kaplan|date=June 19, 2013|url=https://www.spacedaily.com/reports/The_Centaur_Upper_Stage_999.html|website=spacedaily.com|access-date=March 12, 2023}}
Atlas was first launched in June 1957{{Cite web | url=http://www.nps.gov/mimi/historyculture/atlas-icbm.htm | title=Atlas ICBM|website=www.nps.gov|url-status=dead|archive-date=September 22, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160922185054/https://www.nps.gov/mimi/learn/historyculture/atlas-icbm.htm}} but was never fully effective as an ICBM. However, used as a launch vehicle, the Atlas design has excelled and has formed the basis of the most successful and reliable expendable rockets in service. As a result, Bossart's achievements include
- Launch of first communications satellite;
- Launch of first United States orbital crewed missions;
- Launch of Mariner probes to Mars and Venus; and
- Launch of Pioneer 10 and Pioneer 11 to Jupiter and Saturn.
In 1955 Bossart became chief engineer of the Atlas project and in 1957 was promoted to Technical Director of Aeronautics at General Dynamics. On December 17, 1957, eleven years of Bossart's work climaxed in the first successful flight of the Atlas. A few days later, on December 22, 1957, he appeared on What's My Line? as a guest credited as "Rocket Designer U.S.A.F. Atlas Missile".{{Cite web |publisher=TV.com |title=What's My Line?: Episode #394 |url=http://www.tv.com/whats-my-line/episode-392/episode/95780/summary.html?tag=episode_tabs;next |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120630192737/http://www.tv.com/whats-my-line/episode-392/episode/95780/summary.html?tag=episode_tabs;next |url-status=dead |archive-date=June 30, 2012 }} The next year, the Air Force awarded him the Exceptional Civilian Award for his work in developing America's first ICBM.{{cite web|title=Karel J. Bossart, Inducted In: 1990|url=https://www.nmspacemuseum.org/inductee/karel-j-bossart/|website=New Mexico Museum of Space History
|access-date=March 12, 2023}}
His co-workers called Bossart one of the finest technical men in the country. They credit him with having spearheaded a major phase in the art of rocketry.
In 1965, Bossart was inducted into the International Aerospace Hall of Fame for his pioneering contributions to the Atlas rocket system. He is featured in the Hall of Fame's exhibit within the San Diego Air and Space Museum.Sprekelmeyer, Linda, editor. These We Honor: The International Aerospace Hall of Fame. Donning Co. Publishers, 2006. {{ISBN|978-1-57864-397-4}} Bossart was later inducted into the International Space Hall of Fame in 1990.{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/29964813/el_paso_times/|title=Slayton to Join Space Hall of Fame|newspaper=El Paso Times|location=El Paso, Texas|date=September 27, 1990|page=9|via=Newspapers.com|last1=Sheppard|first1=David}}
Bossart died on August 3, 1975, in San Diego, California.
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- {{Cite web |publisher=Florida International University |title=Karel Jan Bossart |url=http://www.allstar.fiu.edu/AERO/bossart.htm |access-date=May 7, 2006 |archive-date=February 16, 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060216112908/http://www.allstar.fiu.edu/aero/bossart.htm |url-status=dead }}
- {{Cite magazine| author=Powell, Stewart M. |url=http://www.airforcemag.com/MagazineArchive/Documents/2009/October%202009/1009atlas.pdf |title=The Day of the Atlas |magazine=Air Force Magazine |publisher=airforcemag.com |pages=60–63 |date=October 2009}}
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Category:20th-century Belgian engineers
Category:Early spaceflight scientists
Category:Engineers from Antwerp
Category:20th-century American scientists
Category:20th-century American engineers
Category:Intercontinental ballistic missiles of the United States