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

ASTRONAUTICAL AND AERONAUTICAL EVENTS OF 1884 219
October 19: USAF Atlas F missile was successfully fired more than 4,000
mi. from Cape Canaveral in test flight.
October 20: U.S.S.R. launched COSMOS XI into orbit (572-mi. apogee,
x 152-mi. erigee, 96.1-min. period); one of series of satellites to
studyra ‘ation belts, propagation of radio waves in the ionosphere,
and the sun.
0 An Echo I-type balloon launched from White Sands Missile Range
ruptured at 21-mi. altitude and fell back to earth 91 min. after
launch. The lOO-ft.-diameter balloon was to have reached 24-
mi. altitude in structural test.
At executive session of Defense Industry Advisory Council, a sub-
committee to investigate implementing changes in Armed Services
Procurement Regulation was established.
October $1: RANGER v, its batteries dead, passed within 450 mi. of the
moon on its way into orbit of the sun.
NASA announced U.S. and Swedish experimenters were studying
samplings of noctilucent clouds obtained in four Nike-Cajun
sounding rocket fli hts during August. Preliminary analysis
indicated that samp 9 es taken when noctilucent clouds were ob-
served contained significantly more particles than when no
noctilucent clouds were visible. Analysis of origin and structure
of the particles may take up to a year. Participants in the
project include scientists from University of Stockholm Institute
of Meterology, Kiruna (Sweden) Geophysical Observatory, NASA
Goddard Space Flight Center, and USAF Cambridge Research
Laboratories.
October 2%: President Kennedy addressed the Nation concerning the
Cuban crisis, pointin to the “unmistakable evidence” of preparation
of missile sites, t B e purpose of which “can be none other than
to provide a nuclear strike capability against the Western Hemi-
sphere.” President Kennedy demanded removal of Soviet off en-
sive missiles and bombers from Cuba. Two days later, U.S.
began naval quarantine of Cuba.
Report of Soviet dual space flights VOSTOK 111 and VOSTOK IV,
published in Pruvdu, disclosed the minimum distance between
the two orbitin spacecraft had been 6.5 km. (about 4 mi.), ti
revision from 5 Pkm . as earlier estimated. On radiation, Prudu
said maximum dose for both cosmonauts was 11 millhad. Total
dose incurred by Maj. Nikolayev was 43 millifad and by Col.
Popovich, 32 &ad; Pruvda described these dosages as “abso-
lutely safe.”
0 USAF announced names of 10 additional officers to be trained as
space pilots, engineers, and program managers for X-20 (Dynti
Soar) manned space flight, rovams: Capt. Alfred L. Atwell;
Capt. Charles A. Bassett; &ai. Tommie D. Benefield; Capt.
Michael Collins; Ca t. Joe M. En le; Maj. Neil R. Garland;
Capt. Edward G. Jivens; Capt. firancis G. Neubeck; Capt.
James A. Roman, Capt. Alfred H. Uhalt.
DOD postponed launch of Anna geodetic satellite to Oct. 24, for
undisclosed reason.
Lunar and Planetary haboratory of University of Arizona, directed
by Dr. Gerard P. Kuiper, reported its analysis of lunar photo-
raphs taken by LUNIK 111 differed with that announced by
&viet scientists. The most extensive feature of moon’s far side,