Dec 7 1959
From The Space Library
Unofficial altitude record of 98,560 feet set by Navy McDonnell F4H carrier jet at Edwards AFB, Comdr. L. H. Flint as pilot.
Administrator of NASA, Dr. T. Keith Glennan, offered services of U.S. worldwide tracking network in support of any manned space flight the U.S.S.R. might plan to undertake, in a speech before the Institute of World Affairs in Pasadena, Calif.
Nine nations including the Soviet Union approved a new charter for COSPAR at The Hague, which opened membership in COSPAR to all national academies of science engaged in space research, and created a nine-representative executive board. The U.S.S.R. had not participated in COSPAR deliberations since November 1958.
The Advanced Research Projects Agency ARPA and NASA requested the Army Ordnance Missile Command AOMC to prepare an engineering and cost study for a new Saturn configuration with a second stage of four 20,000-pound-thrust liquid-hydrogen and liquid-oxygen engines (later called the S-IV stage) and a modified Centaur third stage using two of these engines later designated the S-V stage). AOMC was also asked to indicate what significant program improvements or acceleration could be achieved with an increase in Fiscal Year 1960 funding if provided late in the fiscal year. The study was sent to ARPA and NASA by AOMC on December 10 and formally submitted on December 28.
Senate Staff Report, Manned Space Flight Program, p. l80.
