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

ASTRONAUTICAL AND AERONAUTICAL EVENTS OF 1962 131
July 26: Acting mayors of New York and West Berlin, Paul R.
Screvane and Franz Arnrehn, exchanged greetings during six-
minute transatlantic telephone call via TELSTAR on its 152nd
orbit. Call had been arranged by USIA in cooperation with
AT&T.
0 AFSC established permanent Research and Technology Division,
located at Bolling AFB, to provide centralized planning and
direction of applied research and advanced technology programs.
Provisionally activated on April 4, 1962, the new division would
be headed by Maj. Gen. Marvin C. Demler and, in addition to
supporting development of advanced aerospace systems, it would
be the AFSC central point for scientific and technical liaison with
universities, the USAF Scientific Advisory Board, NSF, AFOAR,
and the scientific community; and in maintaining liaison with
Army, Navy, and NASA installations.
July 27: x-15 No. 1 flown to near 100,000 feet to begin descent
maneuvers with yaw dam er off, NASA’s Neil Armstrong as pilot,
in test of re-entry contro r with electronic equipment turned off.
X-15 No. 1 was grounded after this flight for installation of
telescopic cameras for future research flights.
NASA-JPL-USAF Mariner R-1 Post Flight Review Board determined
that the omission of a hyphen in coded computer instructions
transmitted incorrect guidance signals to Mariner spacecraft
boosted by two-stage Atlas-Agena from Cape Canaveral on
July 21. Omission of hyphen in data editing caused computer
to swing automatically into a series of unnecessary course correc-
-tion - signals which threw spacecraft off course so that it had to
be destroyed.
GSFC awarded contract to IBM Corporation’s Federal Systems Divi-
sion for computer support servhes for Project Mercury flights,
nonrendezvous Gemini, and unmanned lunar flights scheduled
for Project Apollo.
0 USAF launched unidentiiied satellite (AIpha Theta) from Vandenberg
. - -
AFB with Thor-Agena booster.
Reported that Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory was estab-
lishing a midwestern network of 16 observing stations with four
automatic cameras to photograph the night sky to locate meteo-
rites quickly after they fall. Located in 7 midwestern states, the
stations will scan a total possible recovery mea of two and one
half billion acres.
0 NASA Administrator Webb named Franklyn W. Phillips, Assistant
to the Administrator (October 1, 1958-present) , to establish and
direct NASA’s Northeastern Operations Office in Boston, Mass.
Phillips served as Acting Secretary of the National Aeronautics
and Space Council from January 1959 to February 1960.
Jdy 28: U.S.S.R. launched COSMOS VII into orbit (apogee: 299 miles;
perigee: 130 miles; period: 90.1 minutes; inclination: 65’ to the
equator), announcing that satellite would gather data on the
“radiation hazards for long space flights.”
In address at Wheeling, West Virginia, Thomas F. Dixon, NASA
Deputy Associate Administrator, pointed out that NASA and DOD
“cooperate closely. For example, we have established a national
launch vehicle program to provide the rocket power that both