Sirius: 20 Years of Spaceflight
Penguin, New York, 1976
The first flight of HD-2 Sirius was on April 8, 1957, with a dummy upper stage
and payload. This was followed in May by the launch of a full three-stage
rocket with a reentry test vehicle for the Skylark spacecraft. The test vehicle
successfully made it to orbit, and reentered over the Pacific to land in the
water off the California coast. This nearly resulted in legal action from the
FAA, but the case was quietly dropped under circumstances still not clear
today. Since 1960, the Skylark TV-1, the first spacecraft ever recovered, can
be seen hanging from the ceiling of the Science Museum in London.
Two more test vehicles were flow that year, of increasing complexity, though
both splashed down near Kiritimati. The Mickey-1 and Mickey-2 geostationary
television satellites were also launched, marking the real start of the
now-ubiquitous DSN. Finally, on September 2, the first full-up vehicle,
Skylark-0, was launched. After three orbits, the vehicle's inertial guidance
brought it close enough to Kiritimati that radio control took over and remotely
piloted the vehicle to a landing on the fresh tarmac of the island's airstrip.
The Skylark-0 was remarkably good shape, and could have be reflown with a fresh
aeroshell. It was, instead, quickly disassembled and every last component
checked for problems that could imped the first manned flight.
MEN IN SPACE!
LA Times, November 14, 1957
Kiritimati, Pacific Ter., Canada - The Hugues-Disney Spaceflight Company (HDSC)
and the Anglo-Canadian Spaceplanes Ltd. announced today that they have launched
a "Skylark" space vehicle carrying three "astronauts" into orbit around the
Earth. The pilot was RCAF Cap. John Kinsey, a Canadian; the co-pilot was
American Howard Hugues, co-owner of HDSC; and the flight engineer was RAF Cap.
Ian DeLaney of the United Kingdom. After three circumnavigations of the globe,
the tri-national crew guided their craft to land here at Kiritimati, just 300
feet from the launch pad where they departed. An official from the FAI was on
hand to certify the Skylark-1 as the fastest and highest-flying aircraft ever.