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

ASTRONAUTICAL AND AERONAUTICAL EVENTS OF 1962 121
July 13: Transatlantic telephone conversation via TELSTAR satellite,
from AT&T President Eugene McNeely to Jacques Marette,
French Communications Minister. On next ‘orbit, McNeely
spoke with Sir Ronald German, director-general of the British
Post Office. Technicians had unofficially talked on transatlantic
circuit via TELSTAR the day before, July 12.
0 United Aerospace Workers and the International Association of
Machinists served a notice of intention to strike on July 23
“unless an honorable settlement is reached by that time” against
five major space companies-Lockheed, h orth American,
Douglas, General Dynamics, and Aerojet. Fifty-one plants,
test sites, and missile bases would be affected by walkout of
125,000 union members.
Indian Government concluded agreement with the U.S.S.R. for
the manufacture in India of jet aircraft engines (Soviet RD-9).
Engines will be used to power Indian-designed HF-24 supersonic
jet fighter now being developed at the state-owned Hindustan
aircraft factory at Bangalore. Indian Government had pre-
viously planned to equip the HF-24 fighter with the British
Orpheus engine.
0 USAF Atlas E successfully test-&ed from PMR to impact near Wake
Island, the second successful firing of an Atlas E from Vanden-
berg AFB.
July 14: NASA launched large balloon from site near Goose Bay, Lab-
rador carrying bioscience payload including two rhesus monkeys
and /our hamsters for primary cosmic radiation experiments
Balloon was expected to reach maximum altitude of 128,000 feet
and to float some 2,000 miles to a landing near Edmonton, Al-
berta, Canada.
At Hyannis Port, Mass., President Kennedy issued a statement on
disarmament calling for the Soviet Union to join in a “creative
search for ways to end the arms race and to devote our common
skills and resources to the enlargement of the peaceful opportuni-
ties to mankind. . . . In a nuclear a e, all nations have a common
interest in preserving their mutua k security against the grow-
ing peril of the arms race. . .”
0 Navy Hydrographic Office accepted delivery of modified Lockheed
Super Constellation WV-2 to be used in Project Magnet, a world-
wide survey for the improvement of sea and air navigation charts.
Rear fuselage section was demagnetized and electrical circuits had
been required to eliminate magnetic fields.
0 Cleveland educators pointed out that the new transatlantic com-
munications prompted by TELSTAR and other satellites would be a
tremendous incentive to foreign language study. Supervisor of
Foreign Languages Eugene K. Dawson said: “I can think of
nothing more exciting for our students than to hear direct broad-
casts in the language they are studying.”
Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin was promoted from major to It. colonel
in the Soviet Air Force.
July 16: First NASA balloon carrying bioscience payload of two rhesus
monkeys and four hamsters traveled faster and higher than
planned after launch from Goose Bay, Laborador, requiring al-
ternate plan for early jettisoning to effect daylight recovery.
Payload was recovered 45 miles north of Prince Albert in Sas-
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