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

DECEMBER 1962
December 1: Three sounding rockets were launched from NASA Wal-
lops Station in series of GSFC experiments to study structure and
composition of upper atmosphere and ionosphere:
Nike-Apache carried 65-lb. payload to 105-mi. altitude, pay-
load designed to measure electron density and temperature and
ion density and conductivity of the ionosphere.
Nike-Apache with 70-lb. payload containing Pitot-static probe
reached 82-mi. altitude, instrumentation designed to measure
pressure, temperature, density, and winds in upper atmosphere.
Nike-Cajun with payload to measure winds and temperatures
in upper atmosphere, payload consisting of 12 special explosive
charges which were detonated at intervals from about 24 to 58 mi.
NASA Nike-Apache was also launched from Eglin Gulf Test
Range, Fla., to 128-mi. altitude to measure winds by sodium
vapor method.
Medium-angle camera on TIROS VI meteorological satellite stopped
transmi ttmg pictures, during orbit 1,074, but satellite’s wide-
angle camera was still sending pictures of “excellent quality.”
Through orbit 1,073, the medium-angle, Tegea-lens camera took
12,337 cloud-cover pictures of which 11,131 or 90.2% were usabIe
for weather analysis.
President Kennedy was reported by New York Times to have re-
quested Bureau of the Budget to look into possibility of ob taining
extra funds for US. manned lunar flight program. An additional
$300,000,000 to $400,000,000 was estimated requirement for
fiscal year 1963. President’s request came after White House
meeting with NASA Administrator James E. Webb and NASA
Director of Manned Space Flight D. Brainerd HoImes.
Unnamed DOD spokesman said DOD was preparing a list of exceptions
to its ban against disclosing information on military space shots.
New list of exceptions would provide for information about both
launch and subsequent performance of USAF, USN, and US. Army
scientific research vehicles. Specifically included were X-20
(Dyna Soar) manned space vehicle; Project West Ford (orbiting
metallic filaments) ; space projects to gain scientific data; Transit
navigational satellite; Project Anna geodetic satellite; and U.S.
Army scientific rocket launchings from White Sands Missile
Range, N.M.
Harold Berger, Associate Physicist at Argonne National Laboratory,
said recent experiments with neutron beams had demonstrated
they not only match penetrating power of x-rays but also reveal
structural features which x-rays cannot expose. “It has been
known virtually from the time the neutron was discovered 30
years ago that these particles might be used to make pictures
through objects opaque to light,” Berger said. “But neutron
radiography could not be developed until sources of slow neutron
beams became available. Such sources were provided by the
development of the nuclear reactor and particle accelerator.
257