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

ASTRONAUTICAL AND AERONAUTICAL EVENTS OF 1962 77
May 12.- os0 I, the Orbiting Solar Observatory launched March 7,
completed 1,000 orbits; approximately 900 telemetry data tapes
were acquired and forwarded to all experimenters.
0 Lockheed Propulsion Co. test-fired 120-inch diameter solidpropellant,
segmented motor for more than 120 seconds and produced
a thrust of almost 400,000 lbs. Direction of exhaust jet
was repeatedly varied by injection of fluids into the sides of the
nozzle.
Panel of the Federal Council for Science and Technology, headed
by Allen V. Astin, submitted report to White House. Report
said that Federal laboratories are in imminent danger of losing
their best scientists and engineers because present salary scales
are not competitive. In a memorandum to Federal department
and agency heads, President Kennedy stated that the
Administration’s proposal for pay increases met one of the recommendations
of the panel’s report: “With the increasing importance
of science and technology in developing our military defense,
in achieving our foreign policy objectives, and in sustaining the
health and welfare of every citizen, the Federal Government must
attract and retain its share of talented scientists and engineers at
all levels.”
Report at American Assembly-British Institute for Strategic Studies
forum that Western Europe was planning 440 sounding rocket,
22 satellite, and 2 moon probe launchin
0 Army Nike-Zeus successfully intercepte r simulated by 19’0* target over
White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico.
In speech at Lubbock, Texas, Secretary of the Air Force Eugene M.
Zuckert said that Armed Forces Day 1962 has a special meaning:
“It means John Glenn and our rising capabilities in space. It
means our desire to share space for peaceful purposes. with the
rest of the world. And it underscores our determinatlon to see
to it that no nation is disfranchised in space . . .
“The primary purpose of our arms has always been peace, not
war . . .
‘(Space is the new measure of our problems as well as our opportunities.
The principal responsibilities for the nation’s space
program are vested in the National Aeronautics and Space Administration
and the Air Force. We work together as a team,
not rivals. And together we are doing the spadework for the
space technology of tomorrow.
“Today, space is still free and open. It must stay that way.
We can not allow it to be pre-empted tomorrow for use as a military
staging area by those who hope to dominate the world.
‘(1 believe with President Kennedy that space is a great opportunitv
as well as a great task. . . .”
May 13: In address before joint American Assembly-British Institute
for Strategic Studies conference at Brighton, England, John
J. McCloy urged Western Europe to forego its aspirations to become
a third space power and to cooperate with the US. in the
exploration of space. Mr. McCloy, chairman of the General
Advisory Committee to the US. Arms Control and Disarmament
Agency, appealed to the 70 delegates that once the leaders of the
Soviet Union “sensed a united position on the part of the West,