The Complete Book of Spaceflight: From Apollo 1 to Zero Gravity

quently, he served in various naval squadrons until
NASA selected him as an astronaut in 1966. Weitz
remained with NASA after his second spaceflight and
became deputy director of the Johnson Space Center.
West Ford
A passive communications concept developed by the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology Lincoln Laboratory
for the Department of Defense in 1963. The reflector
was to consist of a belt, 8 km wide and 25 km long,
of 480 million hair-thin copper filaments, each about
2 cm long, in a 3,000-km-high orbit. Radio astronomers
opposed the idea, believing it might affect their research.
However, the copper cloud quickly dispersed, rendering
it useless for communications and no threat to astronomy.
Western Space and Missile Center (WSMC)
An American launch site, located at Vandenberg Air
Force Base, California, and operated by the 30th Wing
of the Air Force Space Command. From WSMC, the
Western Test Range extends westward over the Pacific
Ocean and into the Indian Ocean, where it meets the
Eastern Test Range. Most spacecraft launches from Vandenberg,
however, take place not westward (which would
be in opposition to the Earth’s spin direction) but southward
into polar orbits and include those of surveillance
satellites, low-Earth-orbit weather satellites, and environmental
and terrain monitoring satellites such as Landsat.
Polar launches are particularly safe from WSMC because
the next land mass south of the site is Antarctica.
wet emplacement
A launch emplacement that provides a deluge of water
for cooling the flame bucket, launch vehicle engines,
and other equipment before and during liftoff.
Wexler, Harry (1911–1962)
One of the first scientists to envision using satellites for
meteorological purposes; he is remembered as the father
of the TIROS weather satellite. Wexler received a Ph.D.
in meteorology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
in 1939 and worked for the U.S. Weather Bureau
from 1934 until his death. From 1955 to 1958, he was
also the chief scientist for the American expedition to
Antarctica for the International Geophysical Year. In
1961, he was a lead negotiator for the United States in
drafting plans for joint American-Soviet use of meteorological
satellites.
Whipple, Fred L. (1906–)
An astrophysicist who did pioneering research on comets
and, in the 1950s, helped expand public interest in the
white room 481
possibility of spaceflight through a series of symposia at
the Hayden Planetarium in New York City and articles in
Collier’s magazine. Whipple established the first optical
tracking system for artificial satellites. He earned a Ph.D.
at the University of California, Berkeley, and subsequently
served on the faculty of Harvard University. He
was also heavily involved in planning for the International
Geophysical Year, 1957–1958. 38
Whipple shield
A thin shield, also known as a meteor deflection screen,
that protects a spacecraft from damage due to collision
with micrometeoroids. It is named after Fred Whipple,
who first suggested it in 1946 and referred to it as a
“meteor bumper.” Whipple shields are based on the principle
that small meteoroids explode when they strike a
solid surface; therefore, if a spacecraft is protected by an
outer skin about a tenth of the thickness of its main skin,
an impinging body will be destroyed before it can cause
any real damage.
White, Edward Higgins, II (1930–1967)
An American astronaut who carried out America’s first
spacewalk, on Gemini 4. Born in San Antonio, Texas,
White received a B.S. from the U.S. Military Academy in
1952, an M.S. from the University of Michigan in 1959,
and an honorary Ph.D. in astronautics from the University
of Michigan in 1965. Following West Point, he
undertook flight training in Florida and Texas, then spent
3 1 ⁄2 years in Germany with an Air Force fighter squadron,
flying F-86s and F-100s. In 1959, he attended the Air
Force Test Pilot School at Edwards Air Force Base, and
later was assigned to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base,
Ohio, as an experimental test pilot with the Aeronautical
System Division. NASA selected White, an Air Force
lieutenant colonel, as an astronaut in 1962. He was pilot
on the four-day Gemini 4 mission that began June 3,
1965, and was commanded by James McDivitt. During
the first day, White stepped outside the spacecraft for a
21-minute spacewalk during which he maneuvered on
the end of a 7.6-m lifeline by using a hand-held jet gun.
During the remainder of the flight, McDivitt and White
completed 12 scientific and medical experiments. White
and fellow Apollo 1 astronauts Gus Grissom and Roger
Chaffee died in a spacecraft fire during a launch pad test
on January 27, 1967.
white room
The room in which astronauts prepare for a spaceflight
before entering the spacecraft. The name is borrowed
from a similar term used for clean rooms—free of dust
and other contamination—in industries and hospitals.