Jun 27 1962
From The Space Library
X-15 No. 1 flown to unprogramed but record speed of 4,159 mph (mach 6.09) by NASA’s Joseph A. Walker at Edwards, Calif. Record speed was achieved at 96,000 ft. on climb to an altitude of 120,000 ft. In test of X-15 re-entry stability, Walker glided in at 23-degree angle of attack, highest angle flown to date, and placed X-15 into 80-degree bank.
NASA announced that flight of X-15 No. 3 on June 21 by Major Robert M. White (USAF) reached an altitude of 247,000 feet (46.8 mi.) instead of the 250,000 feet as first announced.
Thor-Agena D booster launched USAF satellite from Vandenberg AFB, Calif.
NASA Director of Manned Space Flight, D. Brainerd Holmes, announced that Mercury-Atlas 8 manned flight would be programed for as many as six orbits late this summer. Astronaut Walter M. Schirra (Cdr. USN) was announced as prime pilot, with Astronaut L. Gordon Cooper (Major USAF) as backup pilot. Capsule No. 16 was scheduled as the mission spacecraft.
Holmes said : "We believe that another three-orbit mission will increase considerably our growing knowledge of space flight. Anything more than three orbits should be considered a bonus." A four-orbit mission would bring the spacecraft down about 200 miles east of Midway Island in the Pacific, while a five or six orbit flight would cause it to land 300 miles northeast of Midway.
"DOD-NASA Guide: PERT Cost System Design," a joint set of management principles for common use by NASA and DOD contractors, was issued. The basic PERT (program evaluation and review technique) was first introduced for government-industry use in 1958 and has been applied largely to evaluation of schedules and time-related problems with wide success. Since NASA and DOD use virtually the same industrial base, adoption of a single approach as contained in the NASA-DOD Guide will minimize differences in application of PERT techniques to cost applications.
NASA named Charles H. Zimmerman as Director of Aeronautical Research in the Office of Advanced Research and Technology. Zimmerman, who had joined NACA in 1929 and served as associate head of the Aerospace Mechanics Division of Langley Research Center since August 1959, succeeded John Stack who retired last month. Zimmerman would be responsible for the expanding NASA aeronautical program, which supports and conducts research for national goals in military and commercial aircraft, including V/STOL aircraft, supersonic transports, long-range flight at hypersonic speeds, technical support of the USAF X-20 (Dyna-Soar) and full responsibility for the X-15 research airplane program.
Dr. Eugene B. Konecci appointed NASA’s Director of Biotechnology and Human Research in the Office of Advanced Research and Technology. Dr. Konecci will be responsible for directing research and development of future life support systems, advanced systems to protect man in the space environment, and research to assure man's performance capability in space.
In announcing the appointment, Associate Administrator Seamans said: "Our success and progress in manned space flight in the next 10-20 years depend on the human research we do today. The human, man-machine and man-system requirements must be determined through research prior to the design of any manned system. The human capabilities and limitations will directly influence various subsystems of the space vehicle. It is therefore important that work in Biotechnology and Human Research be conducted at an accelerated rate, in order to have the necessary answers for the design of future acre-space vehicles." The Life Sciences Research Group at Ames Research Center will have a major role in carrying out the programs of Dr. Konecci's office, along with the other NASA centers and full utilization of the Nation's military, research, and industrial resources and personnel.
Dr. Konecci was Chief of the Life Sciences Section of the Missiles and Space Systems Division of Douglas Aircraft Co. and had previously served as a research scientist at the USAF School of Aviation Medicine and as Chief of Physiology and Technology in the USAF Directorate of Flight Safety before 1957.
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