Oct 13 1961
From The Space Library
In speech at the American Rocket Society, Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson stated: "If I could get one message to you it would be this: The future of this country and the welfare of the free world depend upon our success in space. There is no room in this country for any but a fully cooperative, urgently motivated all-out effort toward space leadership. No one person, no one company, no one Government agency, has a monopoly on the competence, the missions, or the requirements for the space program. It is and it must continue to be a national job."
Discoverer XXXII was placed into polar orbit; its capsule contained components of USAF satellite systems. This marked the 100th successful firing of the Thor booster rocket.
The Ad Hoc Carrier Committee established by the FCC to make an industry proposal on the development and operation of commercial communications satellites recommended a nonprofit corporation be formed, to be owned by companies engaged in international communications, with the U.S. Government having one more representative on the board of directors than any one company. Western Union filed a minority statement proposing a public stock company arrangement to prevent dominance of the corporation by any one company.
The American Rocket Society presented its major annual awards as follows: Dr. Robert H. Goddard Memorial Medal to Dr. Wernher von Braun, Director of NASA Marshall Space Flight Center; Astronautics Medal to Comdr. Alan B. Shepard, Mercury astronaut, for his MR-3 flight of May 5; James H. Wyld Memorial Medal to Harrison A. Storms, Jr., of North American Aviation; Propulsion Medal to Robert B. Young of Aerojet-General Corp. for his role in development of Titan II engine; G. Edward Pendray Award to Krafft Ehricke for his contribution to astronautical literature; and Research Medal to Dr. James Van Allen of State University of Iowa for basic research.
On its second birthday in space, Explorer VII was still transmitting, although it had been scheduled to stop a year ago.
The Soviet Union announced it had fired fifth multistage rocket 7,500 miles into the Central Pacific, with all stages functioning perfectly and with the nose cone landing in the target area with a high degree of accuracy.
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 29 30 31
