Oct 24 1962
From The Space Library
NASA test pilot Joseph A. Walker, key speaker at 40th Anniversary and 1962 Annual Meeting of National Aeronautic Association in Washington, said: "I feel very strongly that the source of our strength in the air in commerce and in National Defense is gradually drying up. Looking at the attrition of small airports, the cost of flight instruction, the attitude of local residents near airports, and the increasing restrictions upon use of airspace and facilities, I cannot help becoming alarmed. . . . The supply of individuals with skills capable of supplying the demand for pilots will inevitably decrease from old age and retirement. . . .
"Two things are apparent. One, that the present outlook is gloomy. Two, that history and foresight give us grounds for expecting that there will be plenty of need for pilots in space as well as in the atmosphere. . . The need for pilots will not be confined to the cockpit. Engineers with pilot training have a better understanding of the cockpit problems. We need the understanding of the cockpit problem in operations, in maintenance and repair, in management and in planning. Beyond doubt, pilot experience can be an effective tool and augment business administration as well as engineering and accounting... .
"The space programs are depending upon qualified, experienced test pilots. It is my belief that they don't happen, they are made, and they are made just about the time of the first solo." Problem of communications blackout during spacecraft re-entry ionization has been surmounted, according to Boeing Co.'s X-20 Project Manager A. M. Johnston and engineers at Radio Corp. of America. RCA-developed equipment using higher radio frequencies would penetrate the blackout sheath 99 per cent of the time during which it engulfed a spacecraft,.
USAF Cambridge Research Laboratories reported its 150-ft. radiotelescope at Sagamore Hill Observatory, Hamilton, Mass., would be ready for operation in early 1963. Telescope, would be among three largest radiotelescopes in U.S., the others being one operated by Stanford Univ. at Palo Alto, Calif., and one by NRL at Chesapeake Beach, Md.
White House memorandum asking U.S. news media to use "caution and discretion" in handling information regarded by DOD as vital to national security during the Cuban crisis. All military commands had been ordered not to release such information, memorandum said, but "such information may come into the possession of news media." A single communications satellite in stationary equatorial orbit could connect 92 per cent of world's telephones, Dr. Herbert Trotter, Jr., president of General Telephone Electronics, Inc., told U.S. Independent Telephone Association in Chicago.
Launching of DOD geodetic satellite Anna was postponed indefinitely for undisclosed reasons.
Scientists at Lockheed-Georgia Co. and Georgia Tech announced development of method to prevent space vehicle disintegration upon atmospheric re-entry. New method involved coating the vehicle with liquid refractory (heat resistant) materials: Refractory materials in powder form were mixed with inert gases at temperatures up to 40,000° in spray gun. Heat turned the materials to liquid, which could be sprayed on the foundation metal.
AEC announced a second 24-hour postponement of high-altitude nuclear test in the Pacific, for technical reason.
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