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

184 ASTRONAUTICAL AND AERONAUTICAL EVENTS OF 19 62
most important decisions that will be made during my incumbency
in the office of the Presidency. . . .
“We have had our failures, but so have others, even if they do
not admit them. And they may be less public.
“To be sure, we are behind, and will be behind for some time
in manned space flight. But we do not intend to stay behind.
In this decade we shall make up and move ahead. . . . ),
September 12: NASA announced it would launch a special satellite before
the end of the year to “obtain information on possible effects of
radiation on future statellites and to give the world’s scientific
community additional data on the artificial environment created
by the [radiation] belt.” The 100-lb. satellite would be launched
from Cape Canaveral into an elliptical orbit ranging from about
170-mi. perigee to 10,350-mi. apogee.
USAF Titan I1 rocket flew 5,000 miles in its third success of five test
launchings. All test objectives were met on the 30-min. flight
from Cape Canaveral to target area near Ascension Island in the
South Atlantic Ocean.
U.K. and Canada supported U.S. request that U.N. Committee on
Peaceful Uses of Outer Space concentrate on international
cooperation on space programs rather than on legal matters that
contained elements of “a highly political and controversial
nature.”
0 NASA management meeting held to brief key officials on a manned
space station program and to discuss possible FY 1964 funding.
0 Senate passed bill (S. 3138) to authorize FAA to conduct research
to ‘‘determine what means and criteria can be employed to reduce
and, hopefully, eliminate objectionable aircraft noise.” Bill
was referred to the House.
Walter Reed Army Institute of Research dedicated a new, 55,000-
watt nuclear reactor, to be used in research on “creating a medica-
tion to ward off radiation.”
First “mystery” satellite in history of space exploration was
launched, according to British magazine Flight International.
Magazine said satellite orbited at height of 113 mi. and re-
entered earth’s atmosphere 12 days later. Satellite was listed
as belonging to USAF, but spokesman said this was a “scientific
guess based on our assessment of previous satellite launchings.”
Launching was not confirmed, and no official U.S. listing included
such a satellite.
0 Balloon-borne Cassegrain telescope was launched from Artesia,
N.M., to altitude of about 86,000 ft. by USAF Cambridge Re-
search Laboratories. Besides the telescope, the 850-lb. payload
included interl‘erometer spectrometer to take spectra of moon
and planet Venus. Other information obtained on this initial
Project Skytop flight concerned amount of water vapor present
in upper atmosphere. Third objective of flight was to obtain
information required to measure amount of different gases in
upper atmosphere of Venus. Instrumentation failure prevented
the telescope from orienting on Venus for sufficient length of time.
USAF named first two test pilots of the mach three RS-70: Lt. Col.
Joseph F. Cotton, of Rushville, Ind.; and Maj. Fitzhugh Fulton,
of Talladega, Ala.
Two USN pilots, in separate flights, officially claimed two world
flying records held by U.S.S.R. since 1940. LCdr. Fred A. W.