Why did Tom Swift build his Rocket Ship?
As I just said, Tom built his rocket ship so that he could enter the International Rocket Society’s world-wide “race into space.” The Rocket Society had posted a $100,000 prize for the first person to pilot a rocket into space and circle the Earth in a two-hour orbital flight. The $100,000 prize was a mere pittance compared to the enormous cost of developing and building a rocket, but the prize was still important: the first nation that orbited the Earth would gain enormous prestige — and the military ‘high ground’ should another war break out. What about the rocket launching pads? Tom built a launching pad on Fearing Island to launch his rocket from. The pads had a concrete base and metal scaffolding. An elevator (large enough to carry three people at once) carried passengers 130 feet to the nosecone of the rocket. How did Tom solve the problem of lift-off G forces? When a rocket was launched in the old days (or even today in some parts of the world) it subjects its astronauts to tit
