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

172 ASTRONAUTICAL AND AERONAUTICAL EVENTS OF 1962
the fact that English was the accepted language of civil aviation
(except in Communist countries) and as another the fact that
approximately half the world’s scientific jourrials were in English.
September 3-8: Tenth Conference on Science and World Affairs held
in London, with more than 200 scientists from 37 countries
attending. President Kennedy urged the conference to “explore
fully and objectively the basic reasons for our failure thus far
to reach agreement” on a nuclear test ban.
September 4: ItCadio signals to Venus probe MARINEIZ 11, nearly 1.5
million mi. from earth, repositioned the craft and fired an on-
board rocket to send the probe on desired trajectory toward
Venus. Launched August 27, the 447-113. interplanetary probe
would have missed Venus by 233,000 mi. if the mid-course ma-
neuver had not corrected its path. Signals from JPL’S Goldstone
Tracking Station were sent after 24-hr. delay for scientists to
determine that the spacecraft’s antenna mas pointing to earth
and not the moon. Assuming that its corrected course was
nominal, it was estimated that MARINER 11 would come within
9,000 mi. of Venus December 14, covering about 180,200,000 mi.
through space and relaying scientific data on interplanetary space
and Venusian atmosphere.
In joint letter to NASA Administrator James E. Webb, Chairman of
Senate Committee on Aeronautical and Space Sciences Robert S.
Kerr and Chairman of House Committce on Science and Astro-
nautics George P. Miller said: “The world must of necessity
admire the remarkable achievements of the Soviet Union in the
field of space. A shadow is thrown over the entire space effort
through their refusal to admit to failures. . . .
“We feel it is important that if the U.S. Government possesses
any information relative to unsuccessiul attempts by the Soviet
Union to launch a spacecraft to Venus, or other planetary probes,
that this information should be made available to our committees
and to the American people.”
John Rubel, Director of DOD Office of Research and Development,
testified before subcommittee of House Committee on Science
and Astronautics that it was “highly doubtful that DOD would
undertake a new weather satellite program at this time,” and
stated the military interest in weather satellite development was
adequately protected by existing NASA and Weather Bureau
programs.
Dr. S. Fred Singer, director of National Weather Satellite Center,
said he was recommending an operational Tiros weather satellite
system by next June because of Tiros’ “quite astounding” ability.
TIROS v was fist to spot five of the ten major tropical storms
around the world in August. He added that scheduled launch
of sixth Tiros satellite would not be delayed by the man-made
radiation belt.
U.S.S.R. formally protested L‘provocative flight” of a U.S. U-2
reconnaissance airplane over Sakhalin Island in the Pacific.
Replying to the U.S.S.R., U.S. stated that the pilot of the August
31 flight “has reported he was flying a directed course well outside
the Soviet territorial limits but encountered severe winds during
this nighttime flight and may, therefore, have unintentionally
overflown the southern tip of Sakhalin.” The note reaffirmed