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

230 ASTRONAUTICAL AND AERONAUTICAL EVENTS OF 1962
activities. Of this $40 million, $2 million was utilized to initiate
the training grant program; $6)4 million was used to initiate the
facilities grant program; and some $3)4 million was utilized for
the special purpose research grants. The rest of the funds supported
project type research. . . .
“It is expected that the university involvement in NASA
activities during the current fiscal year will be more than double
that of FY 1962. . . .
9)
November 2: James E. Webb, NASA Administrator, and the NASA
astronauts were honored at Explorers Club’s Night of Exploration
dinner in New York. Addressing the club on NASA programs and
goals, Mr. Webb said: “Curiosity-the driving human thirst for
knowledge-is only one reason, of course, for undertaking space
exploration on the scale and at the pace which our country has
established. . . .
“First, we seek for mankind the benefits inherent in the
scientific and technological knowledge and dexterity that will
emerge from this dynamic effort to conquer the most hostile
environment that man has ever entered-and to use that knowl-
edge and technical skill as an important new resource for human
progress.
“Second, we seek to maintain our position as leader of the Free
World, through continued superiority in science and technology.
‘(And, finally, we seek space power as a deterrent to any
potential adversary who might attempt to exploit space as an
avenue of aggression against us . . . . 91
0 Transatlantic use of TELSTAR communications satellite was dis-
continued for about seven weeks. During this period, TELSTAR’S
orbit brought it too briefly on line of sight with North America
and Europe for useful transmission. AT&T said the situation
would recur every six months. Domestic transmissions would
be suspended only from Nov. 26 to Dec. 2, during which time
ground equipment would be “tuned up.”
Unnamed NASA spokesman said MARINER 11 was sending “about 90
kinds of information” from interplanetary space, despite power
drop of Oct. 31. Officials were “pretty optimistic” Venus-bound
probe could renew experiments turned off because of drop in
voltage of the spacecraft’s power system.
DOD announced ANNA geodetic satellite was functioning properly and
its orbit was “near perfect.” ANNA’S flashing light system
would be tested Nov. 4 with single series of five flashes triggered
by onboard command. Full-scale operation of all systems would
begin within a week with ANNA’S flashing light series triggered by
ground command from Johns Hopkins Univ. Applied Physics
Laboratory, Md.
Soviet academician M. Sissakian, Presidium member of Soviet
Academy of Sciences, was quoted as saying U.S.S.R. hoped to
bring MARS I back to earth.
H. Julian Allen, Assistant Director of NASA Ames Research Center,
proposed at NASA-University conference in Chicago that inter-
planetary spacecraft be cone-shaped and that they enter the
atmosphere point-end-first. The originator of concept for re-
turning orbital spacecraft blunt-end-fist, Allen stated: “Blunt
vehicles are desirable when you are dealing with speeds of the
sub-orbital range up to speeds required to escape the effects of