May 14 1963

From The Space Library

Project Mercury flight MA-9 postponed at T-13 in launch countdown because of technical failure in computer converter at Bermuda tracking station. Earlier, at T-60, countdown was halted for 129 min. to repair faulty fuel pump in gantry's diesel engine, which had failed to start. Eight-min, recapitulation of prelaunch activities for Project Mercury flight MA-9, Cape Canaveral, was telecast to European viewers via RELAY I communications satellite shortly after flight was postponed. (NASA Release 63-104; NYT, 5/15/63)

Maj. Robert Rushworth (USAF) flew X-15 No. 3 to 95,600-ft. alti­tude and 3,600-mph speed (mach 5.20) in test to record tempera­ture increase rates with more than 600 sensors on X-15's skin. During the flight, Major Rushworth rolled aircraft into 90° bank to obtain the necessary data. Aircraft's exterior reached tempera­tures of 900° F. (FRC Release; UPI, Chicago Trib., 5/15/63)

First flight test of inflatable meteoroid probe (paraglider), using Aerobee 150 launch vehicle, was conducted from White Sands Missile Range. Objective of experiment was to develop technique for determining penetration rates in thin structural materials. Preliminary results indicated Aerobee 150 followed nominal flight trajectory, but paraglider did not accomplish flight because canister in which it was contained failed to eject. Experi­ment was joint project of NASA Langley Research Center (para­glider) and Goddard Space Flight enter (vehicle) under direc­tion of NASA Office of Advanced Research and Technology. (NASA Release 63-102; NASA OART/Levine)

William S. White, editorializing in the Washington Evening Star, May 14,1963, pointed out that "There are reformist politicians-who would never agree with the conservatives on anything else whatever-who don't want this money [for space exploration] sent simply because in their opin­ion not enough is being done or projects like `urban renewal.' Such men no doubt would have screechingly stopped development of the airplane a lifetime ago if, in the meantime, the street cars in New York were in any way inadequate and the slums in Chi­cago or Philadelphia had not been totally replaced by public housing." (Wash. Eve. Star, 5/14/63)

Scientific and Technical Subcommittee of U.N. Committee on The Peaceful Uses of Outer Space convened in Geneva. (NYT, 5/3/63)

Successful MA-9 Project Mercury flight, longest U.S. manned space flight to date (22 orbits; 34 hrs. 20 mm.) Mercury spacecraft FAITH 7, with Astronaut Leroy Gordon Cooper (Maj., USAF) as pilot, lifted off Pad 14, Cape Canaveral, at 8:04 a.m. EST. Atlas launch vehicle placed spacecraft in ini­tial orbit of 166-mi, apogee, 100perigee, 88.7-min. period, 32.5 ° inclination to equator 17,544-mph speed. Besides participation in flight procedures, astronaut ate, slept, and conducted scientific experiments. Because automatic control system (acs) failed during 19th orbit, spacecraft was oriented manually during 22nd orbit, retrorockets were fired manually, and re-entry phase was conducted without acs. FAITH 7 landed two miles from U.S.S. Kearsarge near Midway Island in Pacific. Value of trained pilot's presence in spacecraft was underscored by success­ful mission achievement despite acs failure. MA-9 provided biomedical data confirming man can survive and function during prolonged space flight with no ill effects. Ex­periments during flight included: ejecting from spacecraft in third orbit a 10-lb. flashing-beacon sphere (testing visibility of objects in space in preparation for future rendezvous maneuvers), which Cooper sighted during fifth and sixth orbits; photographs of zodiacal light nighttime airglow layer; horizon definition experiment, using colored filters in 70-mm. camera; radiation measurement experiment, using Geiger counters mounted on space­craft exterior and detectors inside spacecraft and inside astro­naut's space suit; tethered balloon experiment (to measure atmospheric drag) which Cooper attempted in sixth orbit but balloon did not deploy; infrared photography for meteorological purposes; television photography, which achieved historic "first" in U.S. manned space flight with direct transmission of TV pic­tures to tracking stations; cabin environmental temperature study, another historic "first" with cabin coolant valve and fan turned off from orbit #5 until about two hours before re-entry, astronaut relying on space suit for cooling while cabin temperature stabilized at around 96° F; HF antenna tests, another "first", involving transmissions with antenna horizontally polarized and verti­cally polarized; ground light experiment, with astronaut observ­ing three-million-candlepower xenon light at Bloemfontein, Re­public of South Africa; window attenuation experiment, with astronaut viewing calibrated standard light source and stars to evaluate transmission of light through spacecraft window; and white paint patch measurements, investigating changes in paint pigments during re-entry heating. Cooper's historic flight covered estimated 593,885 mi. in 34 hrs. 20 min. Nearly. 36 years before, Charles Lindbergh's historic flight from New York to Paris covered 3,610 mi. in 33 hrs. 30 min. (NASA MA-9 Press Kit; NYT, 5/15/63; NYT, 5/16/63; NYT, 5/17/63; Press Conf. Transcript, NYT, 5/20/63; Aerospace Year­book, 1960)

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