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

ASTRONAUTICAL AND AERONAUTICAL EVENTS OF 1962 87
May 2’4: Astronaut John H. Glenn, Jr., was selected as the National
Father of the Year. Earlier this month, his mother had been
selected as World Mother of the Year.
0 Air Force announced the award of a contract to Pan American
World Airways for operation and logistic sup ort of a Rocket
Range Test Facility at Fort Churchill, Cana i a. Operated by
the U.S. Army for the past five years, the Fort Churchill Test
Range will transfer to USAF operational contract on July 1 of
this year and will be managed by the Office of Aerospace Research.
The facility was originally established as a joint Canadian-U.S.
project to support the International Geophysical Year.
May 26: NASA launched Aerobee research rocket with 213-lb. ayload
containing four scientific experiments from wallops Lation.
Reaching an altitude of almost 125 statute miles, the nose cone
was recovered by an S-62 helicopter some 52 miles down range.
0 In speech before the Aviation and Space Writers Association meet-
ing in San Francisco, Dr. Harry Goett, Director of GSFC, reviewed
the events in the life of scientific satellites after they are placed
into orbit. Once in orbit, he said, a scientific satellite “does not
have striking news value. . . .
“Except for manned space projects there is no single per-
sonality on whom the spotlight can be concentrated; the job of
putting together the cosmic jigsaw uzzle of space from the bits
and pieces obtained from our sate Ir ites is one that engages the
effort of many people throughout the scientific community; and
this jigsaw puzzle goes together so gradually that there are no
singular events which merit a headline. I suspect that there are
Nobel prizes in the making, but it is going to be difEcult to
determine who should get the medal.”
Dr. Goett, reviewing the scientific accomplishments in space,
said that the general public needs to understand this part of the
space effort “on the basis of its real accomplishments and potentialities.”
He said that this was a real challenge to the space
writers.
0 In speech at the Seattle World’s Fair, Secretar of State Dean
Rusk urged that activities in space be subjecte d to international
law and supervision before it is too late. Without international
regulation, he said, “the frontiers of space might be pierced by
huge nuclear-propelled dreadnaughts, armed with thermonuclear
weapons. The moon might be turned into a military base.
Ways might be found to cascade radioactive waves upon an en-
Weather control might become a military weapon. . . . >,
emy.
0 One year ago, President Kenned in his address to Congress declared
the national space goal of “randing an American on the moon
in this decade.”
0 Velery Lutsky, Soviet astronomer of the Moscow Planetarium,
said in English-language Radio Moscow broadcast to North
America, that the flight of AURORA 7 made it “more urgent”
that the U.S. and U.S.S.R. cooperate in s ace exploration.
Consolidation Steering Committee of the Boarcfof the American
Rocket Society (ARS) and the Council of the Institute of the
Aeros ace Sciences (IAS) completed preliminary “Principles of
Conso%dation” for a proposed new society to be known as the
American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA).