Oct 1 1963
From The Space Library
Fifth anniversary of NASA. Ceremonies throughout the week included open house at Wallops Station, Va., Sept. 29 and 30; Fifth Anniversary Honor Awards Ceremony in Washington; Project Mercury Summary Report Conference at Manned Spacecraft Center, Houston, Tex., Oct. 3 and 4; and NASA Fifth Anniversary Banquet in Washington Oct. 5. In its fifth year of space operations (October 1, 1962-October 1, 1963)
NASA launched 12 orbital, deep space, and manned space flights, of which 10 were successful, 1 partially successful, and one unsuccessful. The X-15 rocket research aircraft set a new altitude record of 350,000 ft. and began its follow-on flights involving space research. The Mercury program added a 6-orbit flight and was concluded with a 22-orbit flight. Among other successful flights were four scientific satellites, two communications satellites, the first and second synchronous-orbit communications satellites, and another weather satellite. The fifth scientific lunar probe (RANGER V) was unsuccessful and led to a reworking of the remaining Ranger probes. Project Apollo flight testing was begun. In its five years of space operations, NASA had launched a total of 68 orbital, deep space, and manned space flights, of which 39 were successful, 9 partially successful, and 20 unsuccessful, for an overall average of 21/2 successes for every failure. The rate of improvement ranged from 1 success per failure in 1958-59 and 1959-60, to 2 to 1 in 1960-61, to 5 to 1 in 1961-62, to 12 to 1 in 1962-63. (HHR-14)
At NASA Fifth Anniversary Honor Awards Ceremony, held at Smithsonian Institution, 23 individuals were singled out for outstanding contributions to the civilian space program. Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson stated that U.S. space policy was clear: "With or without cooperation from any other country, we are going to the moon, and we are going to make that trip as soon as we can. . . . We would like to do this through international cooperation. Leaders of both parties have sought cooperation under two administrations. The moon represents our major space goal for this decade, and if cooperation is possible we are willing to share this goal as well as others." NASA Administrator James E. Webb summarized the five years of space achievements and looked ahead: "From the first two United States satellites, Explorer I and Vanguard I, launched early in 1958, we learned that the earth was slightly pear-shaped rather than being the sphere it had been thought to be. We also learned that the earth was surrounded by a zone of radiation, called the Van Allen Belt after its discoverer Dr. James Van Allen. "In addition to these first satellites of scientific significance, we have orbited highly successful weather and communication satellites, probed the area of Venus, put men into orbit and brought them safely back to earth, and sent thousands of sounding rockets into space to study the earth's environment. From these and other experiments installed in more than 100 satellites and deep space probes, we have succeeded in vastly expanding knowledge and understanding of our own planet earth and of the solar system of which it is a part . . . . "Looking ahead through the remainder of this decade, we have set our sights on a truly global weather satellite system, advanced communications and navigation satellites, space observatories for astronomical and solar studies, and a manned expedition to explore the moon . . . ." Awards were presented by Mr. Webb, NASA Deputy Administrator Dr. Hugh L. Dryden, and Associate Administrator Dr. Robert C. Seamans, Jr. Eight cash awards totaling $12,200 were divided among 14 NASA employees for inventions and scientific and technical contributions: Robert L. Trimpi, LaRC, $3,000; Charles H. McLellan, LaRC, $2,000; James H. Schrader, LaRC, $1,500; Jesse M. Madey and Xopher W. Moyer, GSFC, $1,500 shared; James B. Newman, FRC, $1,200; Hershel M. Nance, MSFC, $1,000; Lee B. Malone, Charles E. David, and Harold R. Lowery, MSFC, $1,000 shared; and Frank L. Clark, Charles B. Johnson, Wayne D. Erickson, and Roger L. Buchanan, Laic, $1,000 shared. The NASA Medal for Exceptional Scientific Achievement went to Dr. Dean R. Chapman, ARC, for his research on tektites; to Dr. Ernst D. Geissler, MSFC, for contributions to Mercury-Redstone, Saturn, and Nova boosters; and to Dr. John C. Houbolt, formerly of LaRC, for work on lunar orbit rendezvous. The NASA Medal for Outstanding Leadership was presented to Charles J. Donlan, LaRC; and Dr. Walter Haeussermann and Dr. William A. Mrazek MSFC. The new NASA Public Service Award, given to persons not employed by the Government, was presented to Jack N. James and Robert J. Parks, JPL, and John F. Yardley, McDonnell Aircraft Corp., Cape Canaveral. (NASA Releases 63-217,215; Wash. Post, 10/2/63; Webb, Text; Program, Honor Awards Ceremony)
NASA Administrator James E. Webb appeared on Voice of America, "Press Conference USA." Speaking of President. Kennedy's proposal for a joint U.S.-U.S.S.R. lunar program, Mr. Webb said: ". . after the ratification of the test ban and one day after Mr. Gromyko proposed that we agree not to put into orbit multi-megaton weapons, the President followed with a suggestion that had five elements. Most people have centered on only one of them." The five elements were (1) measures against war by accident or miscalculation; (2) measures against surprise attack; (3) measures to curb the nuclear arms race; (4) exchange of information and persons; (5) U.S. consent to Gromyko's proposal to negotiate an agreement not to orbit large nuclear weapons. "And then he added as a sixth item, we should also explore, now mark you, he said explore, possibilities for cooperation in manned space flight and then set a clear indication that he was not thinking of a limited exploration, that rather he was thinking of a broad exploration . . ., that we could even go step by step to the planning of a joint expedition." Speaking of the preparations for the President's U.N. speech, Mr. Webb said: ". . I myself personally attended a meeting in the White House called by Mr. Arthur Schlesinger, perhaps a month ago, to consider things that the President might want to discuss at the United Nations. And I did myself on the day before Mr. Gromyko's speech have a long talk with the President, maybe 35 or 40 minutes, about the whole space program in which we discussed this. And I think I should say that he had his office phone me in St. Louis on Thursday afternoon after Mr. Gromyko made his speech to read me the language that he then decided he would use, because it seemed such a natural follow-on to Mr. Gromyko's proposal." (Text)
In a ceremony coincident with NASA's fifth anniversary, Dr. Floyd L. Thompson, Director of NASA's Langley Research Center, presented a model of a Mercury space capsule to the new municipal aerospace park in Hampton, Va. (Newport News (Va.) Times-Herald, 10/1/63,13)
George Low, NASA's Deputy Director of Manned Space Flight, speaking at an AIAA-NASA symposium on interplanetary exploration in Palo Alto, Calif., spoke of two areas of possible U.S. U.S.S.R. cooperation on manned lunar flight: (1) a series of jointly programmed space probes to survey the lunar surface prior to a manned flight; and (2) exchange of information on problems of re-entering the earth's atmosphere at 25,000 mph. (San Francisco Chronicle, 10/2/63)
A Mars Excursion Module (MEM) would be the best means of landing men on Mars, according to Temple Neuman of Philco Corp.'s Aeronutronic Div., which had just completed a study of the subject under NASA contract. The MEM would carry two men, house and feed them for 40 days, and enable them to bring back 800 lbs. of equipment and samples, for a gross vehicle weight of about 55,000 lbs. (Space Bus. Daily, 10/2/63, 12)
Aerobee 150 sounding rocket was fired by NASA from White Sands Missile Range, N. M., the 235-lb. payload to take observations of ultraviolet light and the sun's corona. (GSFC Hist.; AP, Wash. Post, 10/2/63)
Definitive contract for research and development of a paraglider system for landing of Project Gemini spacecraft was awarded by MSC to Space and Information Systems Div. of North American Aviation, Inc. The contract set paraglider R&D at $20,015,100, of which $10.8 million had already been spent under a letter con tract issued about one year ago. The other landing system being developed for Gemini is by parachute, similar to the one used in Project Mercury. Paraglider would be designed for land landings, parachute. for water landings, although both systems have eventual capability for land and water landings. (MSC Release 63-159)
Marcel Nicolet of the Belgium National Space Research Committee was the winner of the Guggenheim International Astronautics Award at the banquet of the International Astronautics Federation in Paris. Nicolet had, in early 1961, suggested the existence of the helium layer between the oxygen nitrogen atmosphere and the hydrogen upper atmosphere, later confirmed independently by R. E. Bourdeau, E. C. Whipple, P. C. Donnelly, and S. J. Bauer, using EXPLORER VIII ion trap data. Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin attended the XIVth IAF banquet dressed in civilian clothes (Cf. R. Jastrow, "Results ...12/18/61)
Robert F. Six, president of Continental Airlines, speaking to an aviation group of the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce, proposed that the U.S. join with France and Great Britain to develop a mach 2.2 commercial airliner and that at a later date those countries join the U.S. in developing a stainless-steel-titanium mach 3 airliner: "If our country can propose a joint effort with the Russians to reach the moon, we certainly should be able to entertain the idea of joint development of a supersonic transport with two of our best friends." (Wall St. Journal, 10/2/63)
First transpolar nonstop flight from Capetown, South Africa., to McMurdo Sound, Antarctica, was made in a ski-equipped C-130 Hercules aircraft by Rear Admiral James R. Reedy (USN). The 14-hr.-31-min. flight covered 4,700 mi. and crossed the entire Antarctic continent, inaugurated Operation Deep Freeze 64, the Navy's logistic support of U.S. Antarctic research. (DOD Release 1313-63)
Value of weather Tiros satellites in giving advance warning of tropical storms was underscored by Rep. Paul G. Rogers (D.Fla.): "Yesterday's discovery of Hurricane Flora is a prime example.... Through the efforts of the U.S. Weather Bureau, using data supplied by a weather satellite, warnings were issued a bare 3 hours before the 110-mile-an-hour winds hit the islands [of Trinidad and Tobago]. Because of the 22-mile-an-hour forward speed of the storm, little or no warning would have been possible without the quick work of U.S. weathermen and their new ally, the satellite. While the damage was extensive, untold lives were saved and property damage prevented by the advance warning." (CR, 10/l/63,17156) [[ Polaris A-2]] was successfully fired by the Navy from the U.S.S. Andrew Jackson. (M&R, 10/7/63, 20)
Nuclear test ban treaty had caused cutbacks of two DOD space nuclear propulsion projects-Orion and Pluto, according to F. C. Diluzio, staff director of the Senate Aeronautical and Space Sciences Committee, speaking at a press conference in Albuquerque, N.M. Project Orion, conceived in 1957 by Dr. Stanislaw Ulam, would have provided propulsion through a series of controlled atomic explosions. Project Pluto would employ a nuclear reactor to propel a missile through the lower levels of the earth's atmosphere at supersonic speeds. (Wash. Eve. Star, 10/2/63)
The Astrophysical Journal reported that explosion of galactic core of M-82, galaxy some 10-million light years from earth, was photographed by 200-in. Mt. Palomar telescope last spring. (A&AE, December 1963, 5)
October 1-3: Youth Science Congress, sponsored by NASA and the National Science Teachers Association, was held at GSFC. Feature event was presentation of 25 award-winning research papers by high school students from Washington, D.C., Md., Del., Pa., and N.J. (GSFC Release G-20-63)
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