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

ASTRONAUTICAL AND AERONAUTICAL EVENTS OF 1962 269
December 1.4: X-15 No. 3 flown by Major Robert White (USAF) in
stability test at speed exceeding mach 5, with lower tail-fin
absent and with nose raised to 25’ angle above the horizon.
Successful flight was the 75th by the rocket research airplane.
Ground signal station at Nutley, N.J., turned on RELAY satellite’s
communications transponders and sent signals to the satellite ;
telemetry indicated RELAY received signals, but RELAY failed to
return transmission to Nutley, Andover (Me.), or Pleumeur-
Bodou (France) stations. All onboard systems were turned off
except command receivers.
Unidentified USAF payload launched with Thor-Agena vehicle from
Vandenberg AFB.
Soviet news agency Tass distributed announcement by U.S.S.R.
Academy of Science giving new details on MARS I interplanetary
probe. Announcement said scientists had held 37 radio com-
munications with MARS I during first month of the probe’s journey
and that more than 600 orders had been transmitted to it. Com-
mand, measuring, and computing centers onboard the spacecraft
were reported working properly. Announcement said MARS I
would pass planet Mars at distance of about 119,000 mi. (193,000
km) and added that its trajectory would have to be corrected
sometime during the flight. Data from probe indicated space
radiation had increased about 50 to 70% since 1959 Soviet lunar
probes made measurements; other data indicated extremely low
density of meteor matter at great distances from earth. An-
nouncement said MARS I onboard equipment included television
to photograph Martian surface; spectrograph to study ozone ab-
sorptions in Martian atmosphere; equipment to measure mag-
netic fields and radiation in space and around Mars; and radio-
telescope to register streams of low-energy protons and electrons.
Project Stargazer balloon landed after 18>&hr. trip to 82,000-ft.
altitude, in southwestern New Mexico, by Capt. Joseph A.
Kittinger, Jr. (USAF), and William C. White, astronomer from
US. Naval Test Station at China Lake. White had clearest view
of heavens of any astronomer in history by using telescope
mounted on top of gondola. J. Allen Hynek, director of USAF
OAR’S Project Stargazer, predicted great future for balloon
astronomy.
General Assembly of the United Nations voted unanimously to
approve resolution submitted by the U.S., U.S.S.R., and 24 other
nations, calling for continued scientific cooperation directed
toward using space to improve weather forecasting and inter-
continental communications system. The U.N. Assembly also
approved continuation of the U.N. Committee on the Peaceful
Uses of Outer Space.
Scientists requested Continental Air Defense Command to shoot
down tandem pair of runaway test balloons launched from
Palestine, Texas, on December 12th. 600-ft.-long balloons, which
had drifted eastward across the Gulf of Mexico were considered a
hazard to the airways.
USAF Minuteman ICBM launched from silo at Cape Canaveral, its
re-entry package landing approximately 5,000 mi. down the AMR.