Jun 28 1963
From The Space Library
NASA concurred in Grumman Aircraft. Engineering Corp. selection of Radio Corp. of America as subcontractor for Lunar Excursion Module (LEM) electronic subsystems and engineering support. (NASA Release 63-143)
Rocket-boost testing of the Apollo spacecraft would begin during the summer of 1963 from White Sands Missile Range, N.M., NASA announced. The first flight tests would see dummy Apollo capsules launched to relatively low altitudes by the Little Joe II solid rocket to subject sections and the assembled vehicle to maximum combinations of g forces and aerodynamic resistance that would be encountered in the launch phase of normal flights. (NYT, 6/29/63,35)
Mercury astronaut M. Scott Carpenter, accompanied by NASA astronomer Dr. Jocelyn R. Gill, would observe solar eclipse over central Canada on July 90 from a. specially equipped DC-8 jet, flying above most of atmospheric haze at 42,000 ft. During the flight Dr. Gill would point out to Astronaut Carpenter various scientific phenomena rely to be encountered in future manned space flights, and Carpenter would attempt to photograph airglow caused by zodiacal light. Scientists from NASA Ames Research Center also would be onboard to photograph rays of the sun's corona, seeking particular detail in sun's polar regions to trace solar magnetic fields. Flight would be sponsored by Douglas Aircraft Co., National Geographic Society, and 11 other organizations. (NYT, 6/28/63, 1; NASA Release 63-148)
Astronaut Leroy Gordon Cooper arrived in home town of Shawnee, Okla., for weekend celebrations in his honor, his first visit there since Project Mercury MA-9 space flight (May 15--16). (AP, Wash.. Post, 6/29/63)
Speaking at Third International Technical-Scientific Meeting on Space at the 10th International Congress on Electronics, Nuclear Energy, Radio, Television, and Cinema, in Rome, NASA Director of Space Vehicles (OART) [Milton B. Ames], Jr., reviewed content and objectives of U.S. space program, describing NASA's Space research program: "[NASA] was created to carry out a program to explore space in the best interests of men everywhere. The entire world is affected, directly or indirectly, by this effort to investigate, explore, and make use of outer space. This tremendous activity affects economy, science, technology, education, and human welfare . . . ." (Text)
USAF successfully launched a Minuteman ICBM from Vandenberg AFB, Calif., the eighth successful Minuteman launch from the West Coast base. (NYT, 6/29/63, 8)
Dr. Leland J. Haworth was sworn in as the Director of the National Science Foundation, succeeding Dr. Alan T. Waterman, who was retiring. Dr. Haworth is a leading authority on high-energy physics, a former director of Brookhaven National Laboratory, and AEC Commissioner. (NYT, 6/29/63, 8)
Editorializing on cuts made y the House Committee on Science and Astronautics in the NASA FY 64 appropriations, New York Times said: "Now for the first time it is taking a closer look at NASA's activities and is making a belated attempt to reduce the waste and duplication uncovered there. "This approach should have been utilized all along. Instead, the committees largesse and laxity encouraged NASA to act as if there were no limit to what could be spent in the skies." (NYT, 6/28/63, 28)
USAF launched unidentified satellite for geophysics research purposes from NASA Wallops Station, Va., using Scout booster. (AP, Wash,. Post, 7/7/63; GSFC Sat. Sit. Rept.)
Aerobee 150 sounding rocket launched to 126 mi. altitude from White Sands Missile Range, N.M. Payload contained experiments to study the solar corona and extreme ultraviolet radiation-studies which would later apply to the OSO-B (S-17) experiment. (NASA Rpt. of S. Rkt. Launching, 7/10/63)
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