On February 24, 1955, Boeing launches its first rocket, the Bomarc long-range anti-aircraft missile. Under secret development since 1949, the supersonic weapon marks Boeing's entry into the design and production of rocket-powered vehicles and computer guidance systems, blazing a trail to later projects such as the Minuteman intercontinental ballistic missile and the Saturn V booster that sent the first humans to the moon.
The stubby-winged Bomarc combined solid-fuel rocket boosters with a supersonic ramjet to deliver a nuclear warhead to intercept hostile aircraft at a range of 400 miles and an altitude of 80,000 feet. Boeing built 700 Bomarcs between 1957 and 1964, and the last installations were not retired until the 1970s.
