July 1961
From The Space Library
Langley Research Center simulated spacecraft flights at speeds of 8,200 to 8,700 feet per second in approaching the Moon's surface. With instruments preset to miss the Moon's surface by 40 to 80 miles, pilots with control of thrust and torques about all three axes of the craft were able to learn to establish orbits 10 to 90 miles above the surface, using a graph of vehicle rate of descent and circumferential velocity, an altimeter, and vehicle attitude and rate meters, as reported by M. J. Queijo and Donald R. Riley of Langley Research Center.
"Celestial simulator" at Jet Propulsion Laboratory in final checkout, an "instant universe" chamber which can duplicate white light and infrared point sources of solar system bodies likely to be used for navigation and attitude control of spacecraft.
U.S.S.R. has scheduled "at least two more manned space flights this year, one to circle the Earth, the other perhaps the Moon," according to Dr. Grigori A. Tokaty, head of Northhampton College of Advanced Technology, London, England. Former director of Russia's long-range rocket group, Tokaty also stated that the U.S.S.R. was planning to establish "one or two" unmanned lunar stations in 1962.
U.S.S.R. claimed three new world aircraft weight-lifting records for the Tu-114, in a flight from Vnukovo Airfield in which a 30,035-kilogram load was carried to an altitude of 41,125 feet, I. Sukhomlin as pilot.
- July
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31
