Astronautical and Aeronautical Events of 1962 - NASA's History Office

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[COMMITTEE PRINT]
ASTRONAUTICAL AND AERONAUTICAL
EVENTS OF 1962
R E P O R T
OF THE
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NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE
ADMINISTRATION
TO THE
COMMITTEE ON SCIENCE AND ASTRONAUTICS
U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
EIGHTY-EIGHTH CONGRESS
FIRST SESSION
JUNE 12, 1963
I
Printed for the use of the Committee on Science and Astronautics
I
[COMMmEE PRINT]
ASTRONAUTICAL AND AERONAUTICAL
EVENTS OF 1962
REPORT
OF THE
NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE
ADMINISTRATION
TO THE
COMMITTEE ON SCIENCE AND ASTRONAUTICS
U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
EIGHTY-EIGHTH CONGRESS
FIRST SESSION
JUNE 12, 1963
Printed for the use of the Committee on Science and Astronautics
U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE
97317 WASHINGTON : 1963
For sale by the SuperintWenadshenintg otfo Dn o2c5u, mD.eCn.t s-, PU.rSic.e G$1o.v00e rnment Printing OfEw
COMMITTEE ON SCIENCE AND ASTRONAUTICS
GEORGE P. MILLER, California, Chairman
OLIN E. TEAGUE, Texas JOSEPH W. MARTIN, JR., Massachusetts
JOSEPH E. RARTH, Minnesota JAMES G. FULTON, Pennsylvania
KEN HECHLER, West Virginia J. EDGAR CHENOWETH, Colorado
EMILIO Q. DADDARIO, Connecticut WILLIAM I(. VAN PELT, Wisconsin
J. EDWARD ROUSH, Indiana R. WALTER RIEHLMAN, New York
THOMAS 0. MORRIS, New Mexico CHARLES A. MOSHER, Ohio
BOB CASEY, Texas RICHARD L. ROUDEBUSH, Indiana
WILLIAM J. RANDALL, Missouri ALPHONZO BELL, California
JOHN W. DAVIS, Georgia THOMAS M. PELLY, Washington
WILLIAM F. RYAN, New York DONALD RUMSFELD, Jllinois
THOMAS N. DOWNING, Virginia JAMES D. WEAVER, Pennsylvania
JOE D. WAGGONNER, JR., Louisiana EDWARD J. GURNEY, Florida
EDWARD J. PATTEN, New Jersey JOHN W, WYDLER, New York
RICHARD H. FULTON, Tennessee
DON FUQUA, Florida
NEIL STAEBLER, Michigan
CARL ALBERT, Oklahoma
CHARLEFS. DUCANDEERz,e cutive Diretor and Chief Counsel
JOHNA . CARSTARPHEJNr.,, chief Clerk
P a pB . YEAQERC, ounsel
FRANKR. HAMMILLJr,. , Counsel
W. H. BOONE,T echnical Consultant
WILLIAME . DITCH, Technical Consultant
HAROLDA . Goum, Technical Consultant
RICHARDP . HINES, Staff Consultant
JOSEPHM . FELTONA, ssistant Staff Consultanl
DENIS C. QUIQLEY, Publicatiom Clerk
I1
FOREWORD
Days, weeks, months, and years of the space a e clock on. Note-
worthy events in space science and technology ifa sh by at an ever-
accelerating rate. Many events appearing of current importance be-
come less so with the passage of time, whde others emerge slowly as
the signxcant milestones align themselves into the dynamic patterns
of progress. Our comprehension of the meaning of astronautics to
the future of mankind is likewise a growing thing. The great breadth
of the social, political, economic, and strategic impact of man’s
nascent steps to explore his universe must not be ignored. Yet all
of us tend to become preoccupied with our problems and reaponsibili-
ties near at hand.
One of the useful tools to help gain perspective and greater appre-
ciation is a chronology of documented events. As current meaning
stems from the decisions and progress of the past, so also is the future
conditioned by the comprehension and the actions of the present.
Prepared from open sources, this chronology has reference value of
contemporary utility and will also serve the cause of future historians
and analysts.
The year 1962 was only the Hth year since the Soviet BPUTNIK
opened many American eyes to the early practical significance of
space science and technology. Yet it was another spectacular ear
in space affairs. The highlights of 1962 were many: the orzital
flights of Mercury Astronauts Glenn, Carpenter, and Schirra ; the
successful launching of more than 61 American vehicles; the spectacu-
lar data-recording flight past the planet Venus by MARINER 11, not to
slight RANGER v hitting the moon and the first international satellites,
ARIEL I and ALOUETTE. There was the continued contribution of Tiros
weather satellites as well as the dramatic first live global telecom-
munications achieved by TELSTAR. The rocket-powered x-15 research
airplane continued its record-making contribution to the science and
technology of manned space flight. Decisions bH management and
progress throughout NASA[S program also are re- ected in this chro-
nology, not to ignore the mdispensable contributions of other govern-
mental agencies, the aerospace industry, and the academic community
to the massive research and development effort now well underway.
In his address at Rice University on September 12, 1962, President
John F. Kennedy said that this Nation “means to be a leading space-
faring nation.” These words sound the challenge for which a response
must be fashioned by all Americans. While 1962 was an eventful
year, the future of astronautics appears even more stimulating.
GEORGEL . SIMPSOJNr.,,
Assistant Administrator for Technology Utilization and Policy
Planning, National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
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ASTRONAUTICAL AND AERONAUTICAL
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PREFACE
A chronology is not a full-fledged history. But this chronology is a
necessary beginning of the historical process of documentation,
analysis, and verification concerning the activities, problems, and
accomplishments of the National Aeronautics and Space Administra-
tion and its academic, industrial, governmental, and international
partners in the exploration and use of space for the benefit of all
mankind.
This historical report was prepared from open, public sources.
Science and technology in today’s world are essentially indivisible.
Space-related efforts by the DeP artment of Defense and the military
services, as well as inhrnationa items of a non-NASA character, have
therefore been included to help retain a valid historical context. Any
effort by a free society also manifests considerable public discussion
and policy comment, the inclusion of which was considered pertinent
to meaningful presentation of known events in the science and tech-
nology of space exploration. The NASA Historical Staff appreciates
the generous supE o rt by various NASA offices and centers as well as by
members of the ‘storical community in compilation of this report.
Astronautical and Aeronautical Events of 1962 is supplemental to
Aeronautics and Astronautics, 1915-60, published by NASA (GPO,
Superintendent of Documents), as well as Aeronautical and Astro-
nautical Events of 1961, a NASA Historical Report published in 1962 by
the House Committee on Science and Astronautics. Appendix A:
“Satellites, Space Probes, and Manned Space Flights-1962, com-
”
piled by Dr. Frank W. Anderson, Jr., Assistant NASA Historian, is a
continuation of Appendix A in both of the above chronologies.
pendix B : “Chronology of Major NASA Launchings, 1958-62,
originally drafted by Mr. Robert Rosholt, provides a useful catalog
not previously available.
Compilation of this chronology involved the entire NASA Historical
Staff mth Mrs. Helen T. Wells carrying the major draftin and edi-
Mg
torial responsibilities. Appendix A was launched by r. Alfred
Rosenthal, Historian of the Goddard Space Flight Center, while
NASA Center historians at Launch Operations Center, Manned Space-
craft Center, and Marshall Space Flight Center also made their mark
in this preliminary report.
Incompleteness, perhaps errors, either by commission or omission,
may require further gutdance by history-makers and scholars. Com-
ments and criticism are welcomed by the NASA Historical Staff at any
time.
EUGENME. EMME,
NASA Historian (AFEH).
VZI
JANUARY 1962
January 1: National Bureau of Standards and U.S. Naval Observa-
tory increased the standard frequency transmissions by 2 parts
in 1 billion to allow for higher precision in scientific measurements,
radio communications and navigation, and satellite tracking.
The United Nations should tax commercial ventures in outer space,
the ocean depths, and polar regions to obtain financial support,
said Dr. Eugene Staley of the Stanford Research Institute in
a memorandum to the United Nations. He also proposed that
the U.N. should be given exclusive authority to license and regu-
late space traffic and satellites relaying telephone and television
signals.
January I:A rmy announced installation of new 102-foot antenna
near Fort Dix built in conjunction with DOD’S Project Advent,
one link in development of a microwave radio-relay system for
global communications using active-repeater satellites in a 22,300-
mile-hi h orbit.
Walter gahn of General Electric’s Defense System Department
was named NASAD’si rector of Management Analysis Division.
January 3: NASA announced that Mercury Mark I1 spacecraft would
be named “Gemini,” after the third constellation of the zodiac
featuring the twin stars Castor and Pollux. Gemini would be a
two-man spacecraft used in development of the rendezvous
technique, would be 50% larger than the Mercury capsule, and
launched into orbit by a Titan I1 booster.
e Mercury capsule installed on top of Atlas booster preparatory for
MA-6 manned flight; it was also reported from Cape Canaveral
that 6rst American orbital manned flight was now unofficially
scheduled for January 23.
e Vice President Johnson sent a congratulatory telegram to members
of the OSCAR amateur radio satellite team: “For me this project
is symbolic of the type of freedom for which this country stands-
freedom of enterprise and freedom of participation on the part
of individuals throughout the world.” OSCAR I was launched
with DISCOVERER xxxv~on December 12, 1961.
e Dartmouth College announced new graduate program leading to a
doctorate in the field of molecular biology.
January 3-10: Soviet cosmonaut, Major Gherman S. Titov, visited
Indonesia at the personal invitation of President Sukarno, was
then scheduled to go to Burma.
Janmry 4: Announced at the Manned Spacecraft Center that a large
“innertube” or “flotation collar” may be used to keep Mercury
capsule afloat after a water landing. Collar would be installed
by Navy frogmen. Astronaut Alan B. Shepard took part in
proving tests conducted on Chesapeake Bay.
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2 ASTRONAUTICAL AND AERONAUTICAL EVENTS OF 1962
January 4: NASA announced contract with the University of Texas to
design and build a radio antenna at the Balcones Research Center
to be used in making radiation measurements of the moon and
planets. It would be 16 feet in diameter and operate effectively
at 30,000 to 150,000 megacycles.
Dr. William W. Kellogg of the NAS Space Science Board reported
on the study of the planet Venus ut the American Geophysical
Union. Bolometer studies of the atmosphere of Venus indicated
a temperature of -40’ C (presumably the cloud tops), while
temperatures deduced from measurements by large radiotele-
scopes indicated temperatures of about 300O C (572’ F) (believed
to be surface tempertLturc). A planetary probe could probably
answer questions raised on the tliickness and nature of Venus’
aorosphere.
January 5: President Kennedy released part of a report submitted
earlier by Vice President Johnson, Chairman of the Space Council.
The report stated that the U.S. had generated a greater rate of
progress in space in 1961 than in any other year but that “it
is too early to make definitive comparisons as between our newly
developing competence and the capabilities of the U.S.S.R.”
0 NASA first made public drawings of three-man Apollo spacecraft
to be used in lunar landing development program.
Dr. J. P. Kuettner, formerly chief of the Mercury-Redstone pro-
0
gram, was named MFSC Manager of the Saturn-Apollo System
Integration Program.
0 USAF Minuteman successfully fired from silo at Cape Canaveral,
its third straight success in underground firing.
January 6: FAA released memorandum dated December 29, 1961,
stating that Stanford Research Institute’s radiotelescope was
a hazard to air navigation. The first of three such telescopes
to be built in the U.S. by SRI extends 90 feet too high for Moffett
Field air traffic and 128 feet too high for Palo Alto Airport
traffic .
January 7: National Science Foundation re orted that Congress
had appro riated $10.8 billion for researct and development in
FY 62, wtich included $3 billion for research, $6.7 billion for
development, $1 billion for facilities, and $100 million for informa-
tion. NASA spent $1.4 billion, the DOD $6.2 billion.
Executive Director of the Space Science Board of the National
0
Academy of Sciences, Dr. Hugh Odishaw, reviewed the prospects
in space in first of a series of lectures prepared for the Voice of
America. Despite the great promise of practical application of
space technology, Odishaw said: “I would contend that the
challenges of research dwarf those of adventure and application.”
Other members of the Space Science Board were slated for later
lectures in this Voice of America series.
Reported by J. Alsop that experts estimate that the U.S.S.R. could
possibly test an antisatellite missile during 1962, and would
probabl do so in 1963.
January 8: gpecial hand tools for use in zero-gravity conditions were
tested by personnel of the Manned Spacecraft and the Marshall
Space Flight Centers. Experiments were conducted in simu-
lated space environment to try out non-torque hand tools drawn
from a number of industrial sources.
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ASTRONAUTICAL AND AERONAUTICAL EVENTS OF 1962
Janwry 8-15: Fiveday symposium on aerospace medicine held at
School of Aerospace Medicine at Brooks AFB, Texas, which
included some 500 medical school professors, industrial scientists,
military, and other Government specialists.
Janwry 9: NASAA’ss sociate Administrator, Dr. Robert C. Seamans,
Jr., moderated a panel discussion on “Reliability-The Key to
Space Operations,” at the 8th National Symposium on Reli-
ability and Quality Control in Washington. Panelists John H.
Rubel, Assistant Secretary of Defense; Dr. C. Stark Draper,
Head of the Dept. of Aeronautics and Astronautics, MIT; Dr.
Simon Ramo, Exec. VP of Thompson Ramo Wooldridge, Inc.;
and Dr. Jack A. Morton, VP Device Development, Bell Tele-
phone Laboratories discussed means of comprehensive, planned
efforts to increase the Nation’s percentage of success in space
launchings and operations.
e
Addressing SAM’S Aeros ace Medicine symposium, Major General
C. H. Mitchell, Vice ommander of AFCS, said that the “Russian
threat in space is becoming obvious . . . Clearly it is our re-
sponsibility as a nation to insure that space is used to benefit all
mankind. We can insure this only through development of the
ability to conduct military operations in space with maximum
effectiveness . . .”
January 10: NASA announced that the Advanced Saturn launch ve-
hicle, to be used for manned flights around the moon and for
manned lunar landings with rendezvous technique, would have
five-engined first and second stages. The first stage (S-IB)
would be powered by five F-1 engines (total of 7.5 million pounds
thrust) and the second stage (S-11) would be powered with five
5-2 engines (total of 1 million pounds thrust). A third stage
(S-IVB) with a single J-2 engine would be used on escape
missions.
x-15 No. 1 piloted by Cdr. Forrest Petersen (USN) made its first
forced landing in 47 flights when its rocket engine failed to ignite
in mid-air after two attempts. X-15 was brought down without
incident at Mud Lake, Nevada.
0 NASA and AEC awarded 5-yr. contract for the development of the
Nerva engine to Aerojet-General Corp. At same time, Aerojet-
General signed a subcontract with Westinghouse Electric Corp.
for nuclear portions of the development which began in 1955.
January 11: In his State of the Union message to the Congress,
President Kennedy said: “With the approval of this Congress,
we have undertaken in the past year a great new effort in outer
space. Our aim is not simply to be first on the moon, any more
than Charles Lindbergh’s real aim was to be first to Paris. His
aim was to develop the techniques and the authority of this coun-
try and other countries in the field of the air and the atmosphere.
“And our objective in making this effort, which we hope will
place one of our citizens on the moon, is to develop in a new
frontier of science, commerce and cooperation, the position of
the United States and the free world. This nation belongs
among the first to explore it. And among the first, if not the
first, we shall be.
“We are offering @ow-how and cooperation to the United
Nations. Our satehtes will soon be providing other nations
4 ASTRONAUTICAL AND AERONAUTICAL EVENTS OF 196 2
with improved weather observations. And I shall soon send to
the Congress a measure to govern the financing and operation of
an international communications satellite system, in a manner
consistent with the public interest and our foreign policy.
“But peace in space will help us naught once peace on earth
isgone . . . .7 1
January 11: USAF B-52H flew nonstop and without refueling 12,519
miles from Okinawa to Madrid, breaking by 1,283.4 miles the
1946 record set by Navy P2V-1 “Truculent Turtle.” Maj. C. E.
Evely headed crew of eight making the 21-hour-52-minute flight.
At SAM symposium on aerospace medicine, Lt. Col. Burt Rowen
(USAF)C, hief of Bioastronautics at AFFTC, presented heartbeat
and breat,hing records of Maj. Robert White during X-15 record
speed flight of November 9, 1961. “When the President’s
Scientific Advisory Committee fist became aware of the high
heart and respiration rates [of pilots in high-performance air-
craft] they became concerned with the question of success of the
Mercury program. . . But now this has come to be regarded
as normal.” Dr. Charies Sandhous of the University of Cali-
fornia warned that an astronaut caught in space during a solar
flare might age three years or more as a result of the radiation
received.
At Eighth National Symposium on Reliability and Quality Control
in Washington, W. T. Sumerlin of the Philco Corp. estimated
that 3,000 engineers and others were now devoting full time to this
‘(new field.”
E. I. DuPont de Nemours & Co. announced it had awarded grants
totaling $1,693,300 to 161 American universities and colleges to
strengthen the teaching of science and related subjects, to pro-
mote fundamental research, and to aid facilities for education or
research in science and engineering.
January 12: John Jay Ide, European representative of NACA (1921-40,
1946-50) and U.S. representative at numerous international air
law and commerce conventions, died in New York. He was a
founder and fellow of the IAS, a board member of the NAA, and an
honorary member of the Royal Aeronautical Society. Mr. Ide
had contributed to world aviation in making known the results
of NACA research and in acquiring information on European
progress, as well as helping the establishment of transatlantic
commercial air routes.
January 13: USAF DISCOVERER XXXVII launched from Vandenberg
AFn but did not attain orbit.
NASA launched %stage Aerobee sounding rocket from Wallops Sta-
tion to an altitude of 130 miles to obtain planning data for future
solar physics projects.
Dr. Hans-Georg Clamann, Chief of Space Medicine at SAM, sub-
mitted that a mountain peak near the south pole of the moon
may be the ideal location for a lunar base. Continuous sunlight
would provide support for growing vegetation.
Reported from New York that three-day US.-British discussions
on U.N. problems had devoted considerable time to problems of
“the law of outer space.” U.S. representatives indicated that
the U.N. resolution of December covering “international co-
operation and the peaceful uses of outer space” had extended