Astronautical and Aeronautical Events of 1962 - NASA's History Office

106 ASTRONAUTICAL AND AERONAUTICAL EVENTS OF 19 62
with like-rrindcd Feoyles of the world, the utilization of space
for the benefit of mcn. C’aFtein Grixsom and the other astronauts
are ylrying a xitcl role in the nationel spce tffort. NASA’s
progrcm is of xitcl imyortrnce to the Air Force. We must build
the nction’s defcnse carability in space on the foundation which
NASA lays . . .
“The feat for which he [Capt. Grissom] is recognized,” said
Secretary Zuckert, “is one step, a very, very early step, toward
mastery of space for constructive purposes. The American
people have launched a tremendous program to acquire the capa-
bility to master the aerospace just as we have mastered the seas
and the air, and kept them free . . .”
June 19: USAF broTight down a research balloon after a record 19-day
fliyht 9,300 miles from Bermuda to near Iwo .Jima. Launched at
Kindley AFB, Bermuda, on May 31, the balloon carried instru-
ments measuring wind direction and velocity, humidity, pressure,
and temperature. One of a series of high-altitude flights, the
34-ft.4iameter balloon flew at a constant altitude of 68,000 ft.
OSCAR 11 (Orbital Satellite Carrying Amateur Radio) re-entered
earth’s atmosphere and disintegrated, after 295 orbits since launch
June 1.
AFSC cnnounced devclorment of “self-maneuvering unit” (SMU),
a 160-lb. pack which converts a pressure-suited spacemen into a
one-man space vehicle. Designed to position and stabilize an
astronaut or crewn’cn outside a spacecraft and to give him
mobility in an orbiting assembly area, SMU contains its own sta-
bilization, control, propulsion, and power systems.
Pozition of Special Assistant for Astronaut Affairs created by
NASA under the Director, Manned Spacecraft Center. Tem-
porarily filled by Ford Ecstman, the position provides central
coordination of commitments to extra-program activities of the
astronauts.
June $0: Aerobee 150A launched from Wallops Station with 271-lb.
payload boosted to 97-mile altitude; carried camera to study
behavior of liquid hydrogen under conditions of symmetrical
heating and zero gravity. Lewis Research Center payload was
recovered 25 minutes after liftoff.
Legal Subcommittee of the 28-nation United Nations Committee
on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space concluded its first session of
three weeks’ duration with a factual report. The report indicated
that ‘(no agreement has becn reached on any proposals” but that
a “most useful exchange of views” had been held.
Thor missile with nuclear warhead launched for high-altitude nuclear
test (Operation Dominic), destroyed over Johnston Island two
minutes after launch.
* Army Corps of Engineers issued a call for bids to modify Launch
Complex 19 at Cape Canaveral to accept the Gemini manned
spacecraft. The Corps estimated that work would cost about
$1.5 million and bids would be opened August 16.
Radarastronomy observations of the moon taken by Millstone radar,
MIT Lincoln Laboratory, revealed unusually strong echo from
region of crater Tycho. G. H. Pettengill and J. C. Henry, who
reported on experiments in Journal of Qeophysical Research, con-
cluded the enhanced radar reflectivity may be explained by un-