Sep 17 1962
From The Space Library
NASA's nine new astronauts were named in Houston by Dr. Robert R. Gilruth, Director of NASA Manned Spacecraft Center (MSC). Chosen front 253 applicants, the former test pilots who would join original seven Mercury astronauts in training for Projects Gemini and Apollo were: Neil A. Armstrong, NASA civilian test pilot; Maj. Frank Borman (USAF) ; Lt. Charles Conrad Jr. (USN) ; LCdr. James A. Lovell, Jr. (USN); Capt. James A. McDivitt (USAF); Elliot M. See, Jr., civilian test pilot for General Electric Co.; Capt. Thomas P. Stafford (AF); Capt. Edward H. White, II (USAF); and LCdr. John W. Young (USN). Dr. Gilruth stressed that they would not all necessarily make actual space flights. "Assignment to flight crews will depend upon the continuing physical and technical status of the individuals concerned and upon the future flight schedule requirements." USAF launched unidentified satellite with Thor-Agena B booster from Vandenberg AFB.
NASA Manned Spacecraft Center announced Mercury Astronaut Donald K. Slayton had been named "Coordinator of Astronaut Activities." Slayton would be responsible for assignment of training and engineering duties of all the astronauts.
Reported that NASA would build facilities worth $15 to $18 million at White Sands Missile Range (WSMR), N.M., for testing Apollo spacecraft's propulsion and abort systems. Facilities for flight tests of the abort system and the lunar excursion module would he ready in January 1963; static-firing sites for testing propulsion systems would be operational in mid-1963.
DOD established conflict-of-interest ruling on industry's role in DOD research contracts. New policy specified that a company serving as technical adviser in a research program was ineligible to compete for contracts in the hardware production phase. Ruling was first established in Project Advent communications satellite project.
First Snap-8 nuclear reactor was operated successfully at Santa Susana, Calif., AEC announced. The experimental reactor was of type designed to ultimately propel spacecraft through deep space.
Reported that Astronaut John H. Glenn, Jr., had received less than half the heavy primary cosmic radiation dosage expected during his 4.5-hr. orbital flight MA-6. According to Dr. Hermann J. Schaefer of USN Biophysics Branch, Pensacola, the MA-6 spacecraft walls and capsule instrumentation probably absorbed many of the rays and kept the total dosage lower than expected.
Lockheed Aircraft Corp. Board Chairman, Courtlandt S. Gross, wrote to 56,000 employees that the union-shop proposal by President Kennedy's fact-finding panel was "just plain wrong." In response to President Kennedy's plea that Lockheed and three other aerospace companies accede to labor demand for union shop, Gross protested that the "freedom to join or not to join an organization is a basic individual right. . . ." The other three companies—North American Aviation, General Dynamics/Convair Div., and Ryan Aeronautical Co.—reportedly were willing to withdraw their opposition to union shop, and the two unions—United Auto Workers and International Association of Machinists—indicated they would accept the proposed settlement.
Federal Radiation Council (Chairman: Anthony J. Celebrezze, Secretary of HEW) announced that radiation exposure greatly above the safety guide levels set two years ago "would not result in a detectable increase in the incidence of disease. . . . The radiation protection guides are not a dividing line between safety and danger in actual radiation situations; nor are they alone intended to set a limit at which protective action should be taken or to indicate what kind of action should be taken." Individual situations require individual evaluation before action is taken, the council continued.
M. G. O'Neil, president of General Tire & Rubber Co., told national convention of tire dealers that in 10 years astronautics industry may exceed size of combined automotive industries of the world. He compared the impact of the space age to that of the discovery of America in 1492.
Reported that telemetry equipment developed for missiles and earth-orbiting satellites was available to automobile engineers to help make cars quieter. To check noise and vibration accurately, car manufacturers could use two-channel electronic telemetry system that picked up sounds made by test cars and transmitted signals to receiver in another vehicle.
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