Sep 3 1962
From The Space Library
MARINER II flight-path correction was postponed for at least 24 hours, because scientists could not determine if the Venus probe was stabilized on the moon or the earth. JPL scientists received moon-reference indication from MARINER II’s earth-sensing system and earth-reference indication from its high-gain antenna. If mid-course maneuver were executed with moon-lock instead of earth-lock, the probe probably would come within 12,000 mi. of Venus instead of 10,000 mi.
Dr. Hugh L. Dryden, NASA Deputy Administrator, interviewed in The National Observer, said: "Some people have drawn the conclusion that the Russians are ahead of the United States in the endeavor to land men on the moon and return them safely. This is based on a misconception that going to the moon is something like progress down a one-way street, passing successive street-corners.
"That is far from being the case. The enterprise requires mobilization of a large task force with many tasks to be done and brought to fruition simultaneously. In some aspects, it makes small difference in what order the tasks are performed. The fact that the Russians have done one part of the work of going to the moon does not mean that they are ahead in the entire enterprise. . . " When asked about U.S. participation in international space programs, Dr. Dryden said: 'The United States now has arrangements with more than 55 countries for space activity. . . . We hope to increase the number of countries with which we are co-operating. We have been engaged in negotiations with the Soviet Union toward that end.
"Recently, Academician Anatoli Blagonravov and I concluded the first phase of the negotiations with a joint recommendation to our governments that they undertake co-operative efforts in meteorology, communications, and the investigation of the earth's magnetic field. . . . "
Congressman George P. Miller, chairman of House Committee on Science and Astronautics, told the press that "since the orbiting of the Soviet twin Cosmonauts, the agitation [among members of the Senate, professional military societies, and the trade press] borders on panic and constitutes a threat to a program which is not only very important but complex and carefully planned. . . . I have been a consistent advocate of a military capability in space for the United States second to none, but I see no reason why our military requirements cannot be met without hamstringing or jeopardizing the civil space program.. . . There has been so much misinformation and misimpression generated about our space program, both the civil and military aspects, that I can no longer remain silent. The record has to be set straight and I intend to do it." He said he would deliver a major speech on the House floor later this week, when he would place the space program into "balanced perspective." Report outlining NASA's manned space flight projects was published by Senate Committee on Aeronautical and Space Sciences, with cooperation of NASA. Project Gemini two-man flights, planned for 1964 and aimed at orbital rendezvous, might be as much as a week long. Three-man Apollo flights would follow, circumlunar flights to be followed by lunar landing missions. Advance-design Gemini spacecraft would be first designed specifically by U.S. to come down on dry land, using Rogallo wing to control descent.
Preparations for Operation Harp (High Altitude Research Project) announced by Dr. D. L. Mordell, Faculty of Engineering Dean at Canada's McGill University. In the McGill-initiated project, McGill's 66-in., 470-lb. Martlet missiles would be fired to approximately- 200-mi. altitude from two 16-in., 140-ton guns provided by U.S. Navy. With the first launching in October from Barbados, B.W.I., McGill would become the first university to conduct its own space research program. At least 6 firings would be made before Christmas. Also involved in Harp were U.S. Army, which transported naval guns from Hampton Roads, Va., to Barbados; Florida State University meteorologists; and USN weather-observation aircraft.
P-1127 VTOL jet fighter airplane was publicly demonstrated for first time at Farnborough, England, Air Show. Developed by Hawker Siddeley Aviation, the P-1127 uses single Bristol Siddeley Pegasus jet engine whose thrust is directed vertically for takeoff, then directed backward for horizontal flight at supersonic speeds.
U.S.S.R. conducted atmospheric nuclear test explosion of intermediate-range yield, between 20,000 tons and one megaton. The firing took place near Novaya Zemlya and was the ninth in current Soviet series to be announced by AEC.
Prof. Alexander A. Mikhailov, chairman of U.S.S.R. Academy of Sciences Council for Astronomy, was reported by U.S. magazine as saying that the U.S.S.R. had 36 astronomical observatories in operation and 6 new facilities under construction.
Prof. Bruce Patton of London's Institute of Education told British Association for the Advancement of Science that English should be adopted as the universal language. He gave as one reason the fact that English was the accepted language of civil aviation (except in Communist countries) and as another the fact that approximately half the world's Scientific journals were in English.
September 3–5: Tenth Conference on Science and World Affairs held in London, with more than 200 scientists from 37 countries attending. President Kennedy urged the conference to "explore fully and objectively the basic reasons for our failure thus far to reach agreement" on a nuclear test ban.
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