June 1963
From The Space Library
Dr. Edward C. Welsh, Executive Secretary of the National Aeronautics and Space Council, writing in Ordnance, said "It should be unnecessary to point out that the space race is between the United States and Soviet Russia, not between NASA on the one hand and the Department of Defense or any of its services on the other. Yet, I believe the point needs to be made. "We are trying to build national competence and international good will and cooperation through our space program, not agency competence or intragovernmental rivalries. We are trying to build an effective image of a nation devoted to peace, to the improvement of mankind's well-being, and to the furthering of man's abilities and knowledge e. "To do so we must able to discourage aggression, which is the antithesis of our objectives. To fail to develop strength for peace through competence in space would, in a sense, be to disarm by default." (Ordnance, May-June 1963, 658)
NASA announced that it would recruit 10 to 15 new astronaut trainees this summer. (MSC Space News Roundup,1/8/64,2)
Study of Soviet astronautics from 1957 through 1962 (RM-3595PR) by F. J. Krieger of the RAND Corp., under USAF contract, concluded that the Soviet space program is an integral part of the Soviet military program. Krieger listed four main categories of Soviet effort: (1) earth-orbiting man in Space; (2) lunar scientific exploration; (3) interplanetary exploration; and (4) Cosmos earth satellites, paramilitary in nature. Cosmos satellites have come in two sizes large ones similar to the Vostoks, launched from Tyuratam cosmodrome east of the Aral Sea, orbiting at around 65°, and brought back to earth; and smaller ones launched with smaller rockets from Kapustin Yar cosmodrome north of of the Caspian Sea orbiting at about 49° and not recovered. Kreiger counted 10 Soviet attempts at interplanetary flight, of which 2 have been partially successful (one passing Venus, another Mars, but both with communications failure) and six have failed to get out of earth orbit. (M&R, 6/10/63,16)
U.S.S.R. would use earth-orbit rendezvous for an early circumlunar manned flight with present-generation hardware, according to article in Pravda by "chief designer" of Vostok Spacecraft. Author indicated that the tandem flight of L/Col. Valery Bykovsky and Jun. Lt. Valentina Tereshkova was successful preliminary to such flight, which he said would last 8 to 12 days. Re-entry, he indicated, was the most difficult part of the moon flight. (M&R, 7/1/63,29)
Bill (H.R. 6866) to provide each House of Congress with a three man scientific staff was commented on approvingly by Science, publication of the AAAS : ". . . Congress is showing interest in sound scientific dissent against official policy set by the executive agencies-the lunar landing program is an example-and is looking increasingly to the scientific community for help in seeing the other side of the question." (CR, 6/26/63,A4064)
MSFC officially changed the name of its Mississippi Test Facility to Mississippi Test Operations (MTO). (MSFC Hist. Off., MHM-7, Draft of MTO Chapter, 2)
Details of plan for $250,000,000 research center near Pittsburgh disclosed by Dr. Edward Litchfield, Univ. of Pittsburgh chancellor and Oakland Corp. board chairman. Oakland Corp. was specially formed to undertake development of center, which would include nuclear reactor and instrumentation complex, computer center, and data bank, in addition to theaters, school, restaurant, and Carnegie Museum. (NYT, 6/23/63, 39)
Editorial in Industrial Research on "Myopia in Space": "Contained in the concept of space exploitation is at once an economic substitute for war, an opportunity for peace on earth, an answer to overpopulation, and, more important, an unprecedented expansion of everything we know! The exploration of space and the planets presents a future so wonderful as to make its accomplishment imperative at almost any cost. It is the next logical move in man's quest for new knowledge and a better way of life." (CR, 6/27/63, A4105)
Dr. Eugene Fubini succeeded John H. Rubel as Deputy Director, DOD, Research and Engineering. Rubel resigned to return to private industry. (Av. Wk., 6/10/63,25)
Patent #3,093,346 was awarded to seven engineers for design of Mercury manned Spacecraft. (Jones, NYT, 6/15/63, 26)
In Interstellar Communication, anthology of articles on man's search for intelligent extraterrestrial life published by W. A. Benjamin, Inc., Dr. Freeman J. Dyson proposed that highly advanced civilization elsewhere in Milky Way galaxy may be using gravity machines instead of sunlight as principal power Source. If a civilization on planet which orbits twin stars fired vehicle from planet toward twin Stars so as to circle approaching star, vehicle would return with far more energy than initially; vehicle could then be recovered in manner exploiting the energy. Dr. Dyson is theoretical physicist at Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, N.J. (Sullivan, NYT, 6/9/63)
Engineer Nathan Price described in Science Digest his Air Space Transportation (ASTRA) system proposed for the 1970's: transcontinental passenger rockets would be vertically launched on predetermined courses from vertiports in the middle of cities. (NYT, 6/22/63)
A working experimental model of a one-man space scooter was successfully flight-tested at NAA's Space and Information Division. The jet-powered platform was designed by Jack Bell, director of Lunar and Planetary Systems, who made the first flight, and John W. Sandford, research Specialist in Advanced Systems. According to Bell, "precision control of platforms can be learned in a few minutes' flight time." The vehicle hovers, rotates, or moves in any direction desired. An extremely versatile piece of equipment, the lunar scooter could permit moon explorers to traverse flat, rough terrain where walking is difficult and where surface vehicles would stall; as a "crater hopper," it would permit a space-suited moon explorer to span or descend into fissures or crevasses; as a "lunescape climber," it would serve as a vehicle to scale steep cliffs. As a "shuttle bus," it would transport crew members between orbiting space vehicles, or it might used to support, man in assembling advanced space stations in earth orbit. Finally, its potential for use in military maneuvers on earth is considerable. (S&ID Skywriter, 6/28/63)
“Putting a Spacecraft in the Groove” article in Popular Science magazine by Wernher von Braun
- June
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