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

156 ASTRONAUTICAL AND AERONAUTICAL EVENTS OF 1 9 6 2
August 16; Soviet Defense Minister, Marshal Rodin Malinovskg,
declared in message to Cosmonauts Nikolayev and Popovich
published in Krasnaya Zoezda: “Let our enemies know what techniques
and what soldiers our Soviet power disposes of.”
* S-IV stage of Saturn C-1 launch vehicle was successfully staticfired
for first time in 10-sec. test at Sacramento, Calif., facility
of Douglas Aircraft Co. First flight test of the liquid-hydrogen/
liquid-oxygen-powered upper stage would be made in 1963.
August 17: U.S. Senate passed Administration communications satellite
bill (66 to 11 vote), ending 20-day debate and liberal bloc
opposition which had invoked seldoni-used anti-filibuster rules.
Bill was returned to the House, which had previously passed a
slightly diff went version.
NASA selected Dalmo-Victor Co. and Amelco, Inc., to negotiate for
R&D and production services for initial systems of Satan (satellite
automatic tracking antenna). New antenna system would orient
itself automatically to orbiting spacecraIt and would be a major
improvement in NASA’s worldwide Minitrack system.
XASA Administrator James E. Webb announced appointment of Dr.
Howard S. Turner to the Industrial Applications Advisory Committee.
Dr. Turner was vice president for R ~ of D Jones & Laughlin
Steel Corp. and formerly president and a director of Industrial
Research Institute.
DOD spokesmen considered there was nothing in the space flights of
VOSTOK 111 and IV that DOD had not anticipated, and that the
double flight appeared to have no immediate military significance.
In joint interview of Cosmonauts Nikolayev and Popovich published
in Soviet newspaper Izvestia, Major Nikolayev stated:
‘(In an unstrapped condition in the cabin I carried out communications
and ate. In a condition of weightlessness one can live
and work completely. . . . In accordance with the schedule, we
got up, conducted scientific work, maintained communications
with the earth, made new entries in the flight log. We also had
a special time for rest. In general, we worked and lived just as
we do at home.”
Lt. Col. Popovich said that there had been a lot of work to do
in collecting the maximum amount of scientific data. . . . ((We
were not idle.”
Reported that launch of NASA’s second Mariner Vcnus probe would
be delayed until August 26 or later, because of (‘unusual” failures
in rocket’s guidance equipment revealed during prelaunch checkout
at Cape Canaveral.
Navy’s Polaris A-2 missile, testing components for A-3 version,
exploded a few scconds after launching at Cape Canaveral.
Seven newspaper pages were transmitted by facsimile from Westrex
Corp. laboratories, New York; to Andover, Maine; to TELSTAR
satellitc ; and back in successful 12-minute communications experiment.
e Announced that Bmerican Cable & Radio CorD., subsidiary of
IT&T, would conduct the first experiments in lsdnding tel&ype
messages betwecn the U.S. and Great Britain via TELSTAR communications
satellite. Tests would be made between August 20
and September 7, in cooperation with AT&T and British Post
Office Department,