In the late 1950's NACA and the Department of Defense had a problem. They could not figure out how to make a heat shield for manned spacecraft or ICBMs. The Air Force used heat-sink metals, especially copper and the Navy, on Polaris, used a beryllium heat sink shield. The Space Task Group, in March, 1958, were leaning toward the heat sink method. The Huntsville, Alabama museum for the tested nose cones all show pointed, refractory types. Then Dr. Nininger, a renowned meteoriticist, revealed to NASA's Julian Allen that meteors that land successfully are blunt and pitted. Allen claimed this...