November 1962
From The Space Library
In letter to House Committee on Science and Astronautics, NASA Administrator James E. Webb advised Congress of plans to reprogram $10,426,000 in FY 1963 funds to begin construction of facilities at White Sands Missile Range (WSMR)..
Of this sum, $1,717,000 was needed for Little Joe launch-complex construction; $9,084,000 was for site development and support facilities.
Goodyear Aircraft Corp. announced development of tunnel to simulate conditions encountered by satellites, missile nose cones, and recovery packages during re-entry into earth's atmosphere.
Aerojet-General Corp. reported first successful firing of development engine for Apollo spacecraft's service module, full-scale prototype engine with ablative thrust chamber assembly fired for checkout runs up to 50 sec.
General Dynamics/Astronautics named by NASA as systems integration contractor for Project Fire re-entry test program. Project systems included Atlas D launch vehicle built by GD/A, velocity package built by Chance-Vought, and re-entry vehicle built by Republic Aviation.
NASA selected Hamilton Standard Div. of United Aircraft Corp. as prime contractor to manage and integrate spacesuit program for Project Apollo as well as to design and produce its life-support pack. Spacesuit development and fabrication would be done by International Latex Corp. under subcontract.
USAF OAR announced it had awarded basic research grants and contracts to 56 universities and 20 research firms in U.S. and Europe in November.
USAF awarded Radio Corp. of America a contract to develop new communications system which would allow X-20 to maintain communications with ground stations during re-entry. New system would use frequencies in "super high" range and would sustain communications for greater than 97 per cent of re-entry phase.
General Dynamics/Astronautics announced results of its molecular erosion-rate tests of low-altitude satellites showed erosion due to molecular bombardment was less than one billionth of an inch per year.
Project Mercury boilerplate capsule successfully landed at Gary Army Air Field, Tex., in soft-landing technique being studied by NASA Manned Spacecraft Center for future manned space vehicles. System utilizes retrorocket for deceleration and steer-able paraglider device. Three previous landing tests were made on water.
Dr. Marvin H. Gold, manager of Propellant Chemicals Div. of Aerojet-General's Solid Rocket Plant, was awarded Navy Meritorious Public Service Citation by ONR for his contributions to high energy rocket propulsion for advanced Polaris.
NASA Ames Research Center established Space Sciences Div. to be headed by Dr. Charles P. Sonett. New division will conduct research in the areas of geophysics, interplanetary and planetary physics, planetary sciences, astronomy, and astrophysics.
- November
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