Aug 11 1961
From The Space Library
Thomas F. Dixon of North American Aviation was appointed Director of NASA's Office of Launch Vehicle Programs (OLVP), effective September 18, 1961. He replaced Maj. Gen. Don R. Ostrander, U.S. Air Force, who returned to military duty as Vice Commander of AFBSD (AFSC), having served as first Director of OLVP since December 16, 1959.
Project West Ford received approval in National Aeronautics and Space Council policy statement released at the National Academy of Sciences by Presidential Scientific Adviser Jerome B. Wiesner. Conceived at MIT's Lincoln Laboratory, project proposed placement of 350-million copper threads (0.7-inch long and 0.001-inch diameter) into a 5-mile wide and 24-mile long belt around the Earth from a satellite, which would serve as reflector antennas for extremely short wave lengths (8,000 megacycles), perhaps expanding usable frequency channels.
Vostok II press conference held in Moscow, featuring President of the Soviet Academy of Sciences, Matislav Keldysh, and Cosmonaut Maj. Gherman S. Titov.
NASA announced negotiation of a contract with Hughes Aircraft for construction of three experimental synchronous communications satellites.
Aerojet-General Corp. announced first successful underwater launching of a liquid-fueled rocket, an Aerobee fired from a water test basin at Azuza, Calif.
NASA Langley Research Center awarded contract to Marquardt Corp. to increase structural wind tunnel testing temperature from 600° to 2,000° F.
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