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

246 ASTRONAUTICAL AND AERONAUTICAL EVENTS OF 19 02
November 16: At American Rocket Society Honors Night Banquet in
Los Angeles, Dr. Robert R. Gilruth, Director of NASA Manned
Spacecraft Center, was presented the Robert H. Goddard Memorial
Award, highest ARS honor, for “general eminence in the
field of rocket engineering and space flight.” Other 1962 ARS
awards: Lt. Col. John H. Glenn, Jr., NASA astronaut, received the
ARS Astronautics Award; Vice Adm. William F. Raborn, Deputy
Chief of Naval Operations, Special Projects Office, received the
James H. Wyld Memorial Award; Samuel E(. Hoffman, president
of NAA Rocketdyne Div., received ARS Propulsion Award; Dr.
Howard S. Seifert, of Stanford Univ. and United Technology
Corp., received the G. Edward Pendray Award; Theodore Forrester,
director of Electro-Optical Systems, Inc., Ion Physics
Dept., received the ARS Research Award; and John R. Winckler,
prof. of physics at Univ. of Minnesota, received the first ARS
Space Science Award.
Soviet aircraft designer Artem Mikoyan was quoted as saying
U.S.S.R. would have a “rocket plane” within this decade. Aircraft
was described as wide-winged, stainless-steel covered, and
powered by multistage rocket. After launching, craft would
fly ballistic trajectory reaching height of 150-222 km. and later
re-enter earth’s atmosphere, for intercontinental transport of
mail, freight, and, later, passengers. Rocket planes also would
be principal transportation between earth and earth satellites.
November 17: Aerobee sounding rocket launched from NASA Wallops
Station, the vehicle carrying 21 1-lb. instrumented payload to
12s-mi. altitude in experiment to study behavior of liquid hydrogen
exposed to radiant heating and zero gravity. Experiment
was conducted for NASA Lewis Research Center, which would
use data obtained in development of liquid-hydrogen rocket
engines.
Four USN officers in altitude chamber were injured when electrical
spark ignited fire in the chamber, near end of 14-day experiment
at USN Air Crew Equipment Laboratory, Philadelphia. Men
were participating in NASA experiment to determine effect on
human beings of breathing pure oxygen for 14 days at simulated
high altitudes.
USAF S stems Command said re-entry from space flights was being
simu 9 ated at Flight Control Laboratory, Aeronautical Systems
Div., Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio. The tests were “part of
AFSC’S long-range Mark IV program to determine the control-
display requirements for advanced orbital vehicles.”
Fifth attempt to launch Polaris A-3 missile failed when Polaris
second stage veered off course and had to be destroyed.
DOD released following statement:
“Lockheed [Aircraft Corp.] stands alone in refusing to follow
the course that the other members of the [aerospace] industry
considered reasonable. . . . Should a strike take place at Lock-
heed, Department of Defense programs of critical urgency to the
national defense would be affected. It is imperative in the na-
tional interest that the Department of Defense make necessary
preparations to minimize to the greatest extent possible any loss
of production that might follow a work stoppage. Responsible
officials of the Department of Defense are therefore considering