Jan 22 1962
From The Space Library
Reported from AMR that MA-6 launch would be delayed until January 27 at the earliest, due to difficulties in the oxygen system of the Mercury spacecraft.
Fuel tank of the Atlas booster of Ranger III was repaired from inside in 48 hours, first such repair while booster was upright on the pad. Effort of General Dynamics/Astronautics crew was necessitated by fuel leak.
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center announced the selection of Motorola. Inc., Military Electronics Division, of Scottsdale, Ariz.. as contractor for research and development on the Goddard range and range-rate tracking system. Intended for tracking satellites in near-space and cislunar space, the system will measure spacecraft position to within a few feet and velocity to within fractions of a foot per second by measurements of carrier and side-tone modulations.
Institute of the Aerospace Sciences awarded: the Louis W. Hill Space Transportation Award, carrying a $5,000 honorarium, to Robert R. Gilruth, Director of NASA's Manned Spacecraft Center, for his "outstanding leadership in technical development of spacecraft for manned space flight"; the Lawrence B. Sperry Award to Douglas G. Harvey for design, development, and testing of the first two nuclear auxiliary powerplants placed in orbit; and the Sylvanus Albert Reed Award to Alfred J. Eggers, Jr., chief of Vehicle Environment Division at NASA's Ames Research Center, for his work on solving problems of space vehicle re-entry and alleviating heat problems at hypersonic, satellite, and escape speeds.
National Academy of Sciences' Space Science Board report on the atmospheres of Mars and Venus released. Prepared by William W. Kellogg of RAND and Carl E. Sagan of the University of California, it reported that available evidence suggests the existence of life on Mars and that space flights during the next decade would probably resolve this question.
Reported by Dr. Sigmund Fritz of the Weather Bureau that TIROS III had spotted fifty tropical storms during the summer of 1961.
Construction contract for Saturn umbilical tower (Launch Complex 34, Cape Canaveral) was awarded by NASA Marshall Space Flight Center to Consolidated Steel and Ets-Hokin-Galvin. Cost of the 240-ft. steel tower was estimated at $504,900.
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