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

ASTRONAUTICAL AND AERONAUTICAL EVENTS OF 1963 283
dollar expenditure which must be justified-preponderantly if not
wholly-m terms of ita value for military security and inter-
national prestige.”
During December: NASA awarded contract to Ford Motor Co. Aero-
nutronic Div. for development of camera system to be hard-
landed on the moon. To relay photographs of lunar surface
back to earth, camera would be used in future’Ranger lunar
spacecraft and would replace seismometers carried in RANGERS
111, IV, and v.
0 Hibernation of space crewmen was roposed for long-term space
travel, by USAF surgeons Capt. T. E. Cockett and Capt. Cecd C.
Beehler of SAM, Brooks AFB, Texas. Under their plan, one astro-
naut would work while the other would ride in state of sus ended
animation, with life processes slowed to the minimum. burin!
simulated hibernation the body withstands stresses that woul
be harmful under normal body conditions, the sur eons said.
Subcommittee of House Committee on Science an 9 Astronautics
issued report on solid-propellant rocket motors for Nova-class
vehicles: “If the cancellation of this development program
[solids for Nova] is based on the cost factor alone, then the com-
mittee feels that NASA should review the events of the past.
For it was this approach in the development of our ICBM that
gave the U.S.S.R. their superbooster and the resultant lead in
space exploration which the U.S. is still struggling to overcome.
The United States cannot afford a second setback of this magni-
tude. . . .
“The committee is struck by the large amount of manpower
and time that both the DOD and NASA have devoted to coordi-
nation in tryin to reach an agreement and the extended delay in
starting even t % e most basic development program.” Committee
recommended givin NASA the funding responsibility for continua-
tion of solid-prope if ed motor effort, since there exists no direct
military requirement for the large boosters.
0 Modulation from ARIEL I satellite appeared on the carrier approxi-
mately 10 days out of the 31. Data received indicated the x-ray
e eriment had failed.
0 Dr.%. Stark Draper, director of YIT Instrumentation Laboratory,
named 1962 recipient of Louis W. Hill Space Transportation
Award by IAS. Dr. Draper was cited “for his leadershi in the
development of inertial guidance and automatic contro P equip-
ment and techniques vital to the success of space flights.”
Vice Adm. William F. Raborn (TJSN) wrote in U.S. Naval Institute
Proceedings that ability to control weather might bring about
greater changes in warfare than did explosion of first nuclem
bomb, adding: “The capability to chan e the direction of de-
structive storms and guide them towar% enemy concentration
may exist in the future arsenal of the Navy tactical com-
mander. . . . We already have taken our first steps toward
developing an environmental warfare capability. We are u?ine
satellite weather from TIROS 11 for current tactical operatlons
and more accurate long-range weather predictions. . . . Some
in fog dissipation have shown promise, and some
research has been conducted on ways to change the
storms. . . .”