Mar 2 1963
From The Space Library
Inter-Parliamentary Union's seven-nation space subcommittee, meeting in Geneva, approved draft treaty on space law. Treaty would provide that outer space be subject to international law, including U.N. Charter, and that astronauts forced to land in foreign countries would be granted diplomatic immunity. Treaty would be presented to plenary meeting of IPU's 60-member nations in Lausanne, Switzerland, April 15-21. (UPI, St. Louis Post-Dispatch,, 3/3/63)
Stratoscope II 36-in. telescope, separated from tandem balloons by radio signal, landed 10 mi. north of Pulaski, Tenn.; balloons landed 14 mi. west of Pulaski. Project Manager Dr. Martin Schwarzchild, arriving at landing site, said he was "delighted" with condition of the instruments and termed the flight a success. (AP, Wash. Sun. Star, 3/3/63)
FAA Administrator N. E. Halaby announced recommendation on whether U.S. should develop supersonic transport would be ready for President Kennedy by May. (AP, Wash. Post, 3/3/63)
Secretary of the Air Force Eugene M. Zuckert said in address at Patrick AFB: ". . about our future in space, let me establish two bench marks. The first is that the Air Force needs everything it can get from NASA. NASA needs us, too, as the record of how NASA puts things into space indicates, but if there weren't a NASA, the same facility and capability would have to be created some other "There is reassuring precedent for the principle of having an outside-of-defense civilian agency provide the type of support we need. The case at point is the Atomic Energy Commission. Our own nuclear weapon flexibility as well as the Polaris-carrying submarine is sufficient testimony. "The clear lesson for us in the space field is that we must put requirements on NASA to meet whatever part of our needs can be met in this way. We must utilize every possible resource to build the necessary military capability and I can assure you that NASA is ready to respond. Jim Webb, the NASA Administrator, harbors no illusions about NASA's responsibilities in support of national defense requirements. "The second bench mark is that there is no such thing as peaceful space or military space. There is just space. The new and massive space program a civiIian agency was launched nearly five years ago, with- for reasons which seemed not unreasonable at the time-a great hullabaloo about peaceful objectives .... "We have a lot to learn. The recent agreement with NASA for joint participation in the Gemini program is one way. That agreement represents an answer from both non and NASA to critics who said there was no place in space for military man. Our own activity directed toward manned space vehicles will increase, and with NASA's back-up, we'll attain the needed capability earlier than we would otherwise. "A term you hear around Washington to denote the areas of cooperation between government agencies is `interface.' Here at Patrick is one of the primary 'NASA-Air Force interfaces.' Such terms usually leave me pretty cold but this one does have some descriptive value. "There will be plenty of problems between the Air Force and NASA, but not by any means all at the `interface' points such as the Cape. We wouldn't either one be true to trust or tradition if there weren't. Any machine as big as the national space effort is bound to have some kind of friction. But just remember, a clutch is a friction interface. Its purpose is to join two shafts for the transmission of power. "The power we can get will provide protection for the free world in space. This was my third point-to make sure that no aggressor can exploit space, either for expansionism on earth or interference in space with the peaceful pursuits of the free world. .. ." (Text)
Cosmic-ray shower caused by atomic nucleus so powerful that it must have come from another galaxy was reported in Physical Review Letters. Cosmic-ray shower was detected at Volcano Ranch recording station near Albuquerque by John Linsley of MIT Laboratory for Nuclear Science. (AP, Wash. Eve. Star, 3/2/63, A2)
Officials of NASA, NSF, NAS, and other U.S. Government organizations denied allegations by Lord Hailsham, Britain's Minister of Science, that U.S. was conducting a high-pressure campaign to recruit British scientists. (AP, Wash. Eve. Star, 3/2/63)
Boyden Observatory near Bloemfontein, South Africa, had confirmed location of SYNCOM I communications satellite, Harvard Univ. Observatory Director Donald H. Menzel announced. SYNCOM I was tumbling end over end in its orbital path about 19,000 n. mi. high. Boyden's unconfirmed photographs of the satellite, missing since Feb. 14, were reported Feb. 28, and NASA requested that the findings be confirmed by further observation. "Since then it has been cloudy over the Boyden Observatory until last night, when it cleared and we obtained two good plates showing images in the expected position. With this final confirmation, we have no doubt whatever of the location of the satellite. It behaved approximately as expected." (AP, Wash. Sun. Star, 3/3/63)
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