Feb 5 1962
From The Space Library
NASA submitted to the Congress a draft NASA authorization for FY 1963 bill. It would provide legislative authority to support the NASA budget for FY 1963, and authorize NASA to spend $2,968,278,000 for research, development, and operations and $818,998,000 for construction of facilities.
Results of Aviation Week poll of the members of the House of Representatives to secure "grass-roots" opinions on the U.S. space program were published. Representatives were asked to indicate how their constituents felt about key space aspects. The majority indicated that the U.S. space program is "proceeding at the right pace"; of the minority who disagreed with this, twice as many favored "speeding up the program." Landing a man on the moon was considered "something the U.S. must do primarily to keep up with the Russians." The majority also felt that NASA rather than the military should run the space program ("emphatic support for NASA on this question by a ratio of almost 5 to 1"). Rep. Emilio Q. Daddario noted on his questionnaire that it is regrettable that the space program is linked in the public mind to the cold war contest with Russia: "I am concerned by this because the space program does not therefore stand on its own and there is the resulting danger that it will not receive the continuous support it will need over the years ahead to do what must be done . . ." In Voice of America broadcast, Dr. Herbert Friedman, Supt. of Atmosphere and Astrophysics Division of NRL, reported that the mechanism involved in solar flares may contain the secrets of controlled production of thermonuclear power.
USAF Cambridge Research Lab team, headed by Dr. Richard Dunn of the Sacramento Peak Observatory, successfully observed perfect total eclipse in Lae, New Guinea, making useful observations of the chromosphere (1,000- to 10,000-mile band of energy between sun's visible surface and the corona) and the sun's corona.
Lt. Col. John H. Glenn, Jr., visited the White House at the invitation of the President.
Navy HSS-2 Sea King became first helicopter to exceed 200 mph in official speed trial; a claimed world record of 210.65 mph was flown by the twin-turbine helicopter over 19-km. course in Connecticut. Pilots were Lt. R. W. Crofton (USN) and Capt. L. K. Keck (USMC).
According to Tass, Academician Blagonravov reported that Soviet radar observations of Venus last year defined the astronomical unit as 149,599,500 kilometers, plus or minus 2,000 km.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28
