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

ASTRONAUTICAL AND AERONAUTICAL EVENTS OF 1962 193
September 18: First photographs of Gemini two-man spacecraft
mockup were released by NASA and McDonnell Aircraft Corp.
Three-section capsule would be used to train pilots to maneuver
in space, particularly to rendezvous and to dock with another
orbiting space vehicle.
DOD announced award of $12.2 million contract to IT&T for systems
engineering and technical advice in development of communica-
tions satellite systems.
Editorial in the New York Times said:
‘‘Since the National Aeronautics and Space Administration is a
civilian agency, it miglit be wiser to make all the astronauts
civilians so that no questions of inequality or discrimination arise
among them and also so that they might receive more adequate
pay than is provided by the low military pay scales. . . .
(‘In permitting the astronauts to cash in on their exploits, the
Eennedy Administration is following an unwise precedent set
by the Eisenhower Administration.
“While the practice of profiting from memoirs of Government
service is an old one, such memoirs are normally written by
persons who have already left Federal employment. . . .
“The government would be far wiser if it paid its astronauts a
sufficiently generous salary so that it could in good conscience
ask them to observe the same practices of discretion and modesty
which have hitherto been considered normal for all other Govern-
ment employees.”
Dr. Ivan A. Getting. President of Aerospace Corp., told National
Rocket Club in Washington that the US. space program had
been plagued from the beginning by an artificial “dicbotomy”
that assumed peaceful activities in space were “pure” and mdi-
tary activities were ‘(evil.”
“We lmow, all the world knows, that we have no intention of
exploiting space for reasons of aggression. But now the Russians
are demonstrtlting to the world that their space exploits are
straightforward demonstrations of raw military power. . . .
“We in the United States need to reafim our traditional
position-but with pride instead of seeming shame-that our
presently great military strength is the most potent force in the
world and that it is working 24 hours a day to help keep
the peace. . . .
“If our strength is to be maint,ained we must have the military
tools that are best suited to help keep the peace . . . operational
however and whenever and wherever necessary-in space, in the
atmosphere, under the seas, or even underground.
“We need to restate the historic peacetime military role of
sharing in exploring the frontiers . . . now in space . . . and
that this sharing be on a basis of both cooperation and also some
healt’hy competition. . . .
“We must recognize that many practical space missions have
both military and civilian uses; that the exploitation of space for
these missions necessarily involves both the development and
continuing operation of these systems, and that as a consequence,
each should be evaluated on the basis of how it can be realized
most effectively from the standpoint of overall national benefit.