Jul 23 1962
From The Space Library
TELSTAR relayed two 20-minute live TV shows, the first formal exchange of programs across the Atlantic. The first U.S. program to the Eurovision network of stations in 18 nations included sequences on the Statue of Liberty, a major league baseball game in Chicago, President Kennedy's news conference, Astronaut Walter M. Schirra from Cape Canaveral, and the Mormon Tabernacle Choir from Mt. Rushmore. Three hours later on another orbit, the Eurovision program was beamed to the U.S. where it was carried by all three networks. It included scenes of Big Ben in London, the Colosseum in Rome, the Champs Elysées in Paris, reindeer in the Arctic Circle region of Sweden, Sicilian fishermen tending their nets, and a scene in the Sistine Chapel of Vatican.
In regular press conference, President Kennedy said: "I understand that part of today's press conference is being relayed by the Telstar communications satellite to viewers across the Atlantic, and this is another indication of the extraordinary world in which we live. This satellite must be high enough to carry messages from both sides of the world, which is of course a very essential requirement for peace, and I think this understanding which will inevitably come from the speedier communications is bound to increase the well-being and security of all people here and those across the ocean. So we're glad to participate in this operation developed by private industry, launched by Government, in admirable cooperation."
NASA supplemental appropriation for FY 1962 was approved by the House and the Senate. It carried $82,500,000 for research and development and $71,000,000 for construction and facilities at Cape Canaveral.
USIA reported that the U.S.S.R. had been invited to participate in the TELSTAR broadcasts but had never answered the invitation.
Atomic Support Agency's Project Banshee balloon carried payload of instruments and 500 lbs. of high explosives to I5-mile altitude over White Sands, explosion four hours after launch providing test of high-altitude effects of large explosions; the 200-foot-long string of instruments which parachuted to earth was recovered, In interview with Science Service, Dr. John O'Keefe of NASA said that pattern of re-entry of pieces of MA-6 booster rocket reinforced the theory that tektites originate from the moon. Tektites are black, glossy rocks scattered on the earth's surface, and the wide area covered by MA-6 rocket pieces was a. similar pattern.
Report by Dr. James R. Killian, Jr., released by the National Civil Service League, stated that the U.S. Government is "unusually desperate" for more and better scientists and engineers. Education is not keeping pace "with the growing size of our national commitments in science and technology" and Government is being outbid by industries and even some universities for scarce talent. Greatest need, said the former scientific adviser to President Eisenhower and now President of Mil', is for scientists and engineers "with managerial ability." "Already there is a dangerous weakening of supervising technical leadership." U.A.R. held three-hour parade in Cairo celebrating the tenth anniversary of the Egyptian revolution. Twenty of the new Egyptian rockets were displayed.
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