ARMY MATERIEL TEST & EVALUATION DIRECTORATE U.S. ARMY WHITE SANDS MISSILE RANGE WHITE SANDS MISSILE RANGE, NEW MEXICO 88002

STEWS-TE

Mr. and Mrs. Ira Wallakanney RFD 1 Truth of Consequences New Mexico

Dear Mr. and Mrs. Wallakanney,

Thank you for your letter about safety in rocket tests at White Sands Missile Range (WSMR). We share your concern with safety and take every possible safety precaution when we fire rockets. Let me share some of these with you:

1. First of all, we shoot very few radioactive rockets, but when we do, we use materials which become nonradioactive with time, so don't worry about that, its a matter of days. 1

2. Second, when we shoot the really big rockets, they go up into space and don't ever come back - well, sometimes in Utah but never around here.

3. When we shoot the small ones up, we use what is called an extendable, retractable tether (ERT). When they run out of gas, we roll in the tether and pull them back to earth on the missile range. We always fill up the holes.

4. Sorry, we already found the treasure and we're pretty sure we got it all so you'd be wasting your time digging in our desert and you may get hit by a rocket or bomb.

Sincerely,

Hermie O. Mastenfeldt Colonel, AD Director, ARMTE

1. About 10000000000000000 days

RETURN