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

ASTRONAUTICAL AND AERONAUTICAL EVENTS OF 1962 19
“This country has received more than 30 messages of congratulations
from other heads of state all over the world . . . . I
want to ex ress my thanks to them and at the same time pay
tribute to t !
e international cooperation entailed in the successful
operation of the Mercury tracking network . . . .
“. . . Chairman Khrushchev of the Soviet Union [suggested]
. . . that it would be beneficial to the advance of science of our
countries if our countries could work together in the exploration
of space. I am replying to his message today . . . .
“We believe that when men reach beyond this planet they
should leave their national differences behind them . . . .
“It has been said that peace has her victories as well as war,
and I think all of us can take pride and satisfaction in this history
of technolo y and the human spirit.”
February 21: &rcury officials debriefin Astronaut John Glenn at
GI and Turk Island announced that E e was in “excellent physical
condition.” Dr. Robert B. Voas, psychologist and training
officer, said that it was “quite significant” that Glenn had been
unable to detect any ill effects during almost five hours of weight-
lessness. Voas pointed out that lon er flights such as the 17
orbits of Cosmonaut Titov are require i to document the physical
effects of prolonged weightlessness.
In formal response to congratulatory note from Premier Khrushchev
on the flight of FRIENDSHIP 7, President Kennedy said: “. . . I
welcome your statement that our countries should cooperate in
the exploration of space. . . . We of come believe also in strong
support of the United Nations in this field and are cooperating
directly with many other countries individually.
“I am instructing the appropriate officers of this Government
to prepare new and concrete proposals for immediate projects of
common action, and I hope at a very early date our representa-
tives may meet to discuss our ideas and yours in a spirit of
practical cooperation.”
NASA announced plans to attempt to launch 440-lb. Orbiting Solar
Observatory (Oso) containing 13 experiments, within a week.
D. Brainerd Holmes, Director of NASA’s Office of Manned Space
Flight, addressed the Engineers, Scientists, and Architects Day
meetmg, in which he said: “as a stimulus to our fervent interest in
rocketry have been the realities of life in a world which is divided
into two armed camps, one of which has the avowed intention of
imposing its own way of life on free peoples everywhere. We are,
in short, compelled to achieve and maintain leadership in space
research and technology because our own fate as a free nation
and, in fact, the fate of human civilization as we know it, will
depend upon whether the spacecraft of the future are devoted to
peaceful purposes or to the destruction of the human race . . .”
Thomas F. Dixon, NASA Deputy Associate Administrator, in a
speech on the Apollo Program at San Jose, California, outlined
NASA’s progressim of flight programs leading to goal of a manned
lunar mission before 1970, relating the X-15, Ranger, Surveyor,
Mercury, Gemini, and rocket propulsion developments to the
Apollo program.