Photographs Related to the Blue Scout Air Force Rocket Program, 1960s

37 black and white contact sheets (most 8” x 10”), each with 10-20 individual thumbnail images (approximately 600 images), most with stamp on versos that reads “U.S. Air Force Photo Air Force Eastern Test Range Photographic Laboratory,” “Unclassified,” and dated January 1965. The photos on the contact sheets detail the operations, stage tests, procedures for mating, rocket transfers, and pre-launch activities for the launch of the SLV-1B, 2213 at the test range on the East Coast of Florida. These Blue Scouts, as they were called, were solid-fueled rockets; according to the April 1961 edition of Air Force/Space Digest, “The United States Air Force Blue Scout Program provides the Nation with a new and versatile low-cost family of test vehicles to support our military weapons and space systems development programs. It can be used in a variety of deep space probes, orbit missions, boost glide trajectories, and as a rocket and satellite command and control communications system” (163). Overall VG+.Together with 31 photographs (with a number of duplicates, not included in the count), all 8” x 10”, 9 in color, 22 in black and white, most with stamp on versos that reads “U.S. Air Force Photo Air Force Eastern Test Range Photographic Laboratory” and “Unclassified.” A number of the photos are dated in March 1965 and show the erection, pre-launch tests, and launch of the Blue Scout 2214, along with images of the SLV Personnel in front of the rocket. Eight of the other photos are stamped from October 1969, numbered 1-8, and show the off-loading operations from railcar at Titan complex railcar dock, along with other images of Air Force personnel and an aerial view of the Eastern Test Range in Florida where these launches took place (its history dates back to 1940). A few images with light scuffing and edgewear, otherwise VG+.A nice collection of rocket photographs from an early initiative of the United States space program.