May 24 1961
From The Space Library
FCC endorsed the ultimate creation of a commercial satellite system to be owned jointly by international telephone and telegraph companies and announced that it was calling a meeting on June 5 to explore "plans and procedures looking toward early establishment of an operable commercial communication satellite system." Launching of NASA ionosphere beacon satellite (S-45 II) at Atlantic Missile Range unsuccessful when Juno II power supply failed and prevented ignition of second stage.
Operational Atlas raised from emplacement and fired in an operational test exercise at Vandenberg Air Force Base.
Three Navy F411 Phantom II fighters, competing for the Bendix Trophy, bettered the existing record for transcontinental flight from Los Angeles to New York. The winning team of Lt. R. F. Gordon, pilot, and Lt. (JG.) B. R. Young, RIO, averaged 870 miles per hour on the 2,421.4-mile flight and established a new record with a time of 2 hours 47 minutes.
Comdr. P. L. Sullivan, U.S. Navy, and Lt. B. W. Witherspoon, flying an HSS-2 helicopter, set another new world class speed record with a mark of 174.9 miles per hour over a 100-kilometer course between Milford and Westbrook, Conn.
National Rocket Club President H. A. Timken announced proposal to Secretary of the Treasury Dillon to consider a special series of savings bonds and savings stamps to finance the U.S. space program, to be known as series S bonds for space.
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