aeronautical and astronautical events of 1961

8/6/2019 Aeronautical and Astronautical Events of 1961

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AERONAUTiCAL AND A S ~ ~ O N A U ~ ~ C AEVENTS OF 1961

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A chronicle of scie nt if ic and technological events i n theexploration of space of fe rs us efu l perspective . To those of usengaged i n these ac ti v it ie s, it provides an inventory of th ecrowded kaleidoscope of swift-moving domestic and foreign events.T o others in tere sted i n space explorat ion, i t helps provide asense of pace and a c lea re r awareness of genuine achievements aswell 85 greater things t o come.

Events of 1961 are mingled w i t h the past and the future.The groundwork of this year's milestones w a s l a i d several yearsago. The sc ie n ti fi c discoveries of EXPLORERS IX , X, and X I ; thesuborbital Mercury f li g h ts of A l a n B. Shepard and Virgi l I.G r i s s o m ; the attainment of the designed speed (Mach 6) and altitude(40miles) of the X-15 rocket res earc h airp lane ; the impact ofTIROS s a te l l it e s on global weather forecasting; and the successfulf i rst fl ig h t of the Saturn booster f o r large space payloads of th efuture -- these were bong the highlights of 1961. The decisionsand programs undertaken t h i s year w i l l come t o f ru i t io n i n themonths and years ahead.

The national character of the space program i s evidencedi n the contributio ns by American industry, the sc ie n ti f iccommunity, the military services and other Government agencies.Growing public recognition of the value of increased scientificknowledge and the ultimate benefi ts fo r socie ty of the t o ta l spacee f fo r t was a l so evident. Known and unpredictable promises oftomorrow spur everyone ahead i n atk ain ing t he high goals of thenational space program.

As OUT broad-based s c i e n t i f i c program and the developmentof a space transportation technology underwrote the events of1961, it was also the year i n which man himself f i r s t f lew i nspace. Such wasall mankind mustexploration.a t h r i l l i n g reminder tha t the bes t in te res t s ofever provide the purpose and app licati on of space

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CONTENTS

~ f 8 ~ e . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vJ~-n~81~g....................................................... 1Feb~...... ................................................. 7~ch.......................................................... 13LLpI.il... ....................................................... 21. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27J~...................................................~....... 35J~........................................................... 45AUgU8trr.................. ..................................... 53S e p t ~ r..................................................... 63October........................................................ 73Nov~~r....................................................... 85I)ec~r....................................................... 97

APPENDIX A: SBTELLITES, SPACE PROBES, AND MANNED SPACEFLIGHT-1961, compiled by Dr. Frank '111 Anderson.. 109


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PREFACE

T h i s chronology represents but a f i r s t s tep in the h i s t o r i ca lprocess of f u l ly recording and explaining the myriad activities,accomplishments, and problems of the National Aeronautics and SpaceAdministration i n the exploration and exploitation of space for thebenefit of a l l mankind. I t was prepared from open public sources.Since science and technology are fundamentally indivisible, eventsof space -relate d e f fo r t s by ot he r governmental agencies including th eDepartment of Defem.5, as well as international-i%ems of a non-NASAcharacter, have been included to help provide the fu l le r context ofcurrent his tory.off ices arid centers and in te rest ed members of t he h i s t o r i c a l com-munity.

We are appreciative of the generous help of NASA

This chronicle for 1961 is supplemental t o Aeronautics andAstronautics, 1915-1960, published by NASA (Government Pr in ti ng Office,Superintendent of Documents). "Appendix A: "Satel l i tes , Space P r o b e s ,and Manned Space Flight-1961ff, prepared by D r . Frank W. Anderson ofthe NASA Histo rical Office, i s an updating of Appendix A of Aeronau-t i c s and Astronautics. -A chronology is but a preliminary t o o l of the hi s t or ic al processand cannot be regarded as being definitive. Historical bookkeeping andauditing are a continuous process prefatorial t o full-fledged analysis.Additional comments and criticism are welcome at any time.

Eugene M. Ennne


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January 1961January 1: White House statement of President Eisenhower issued,st at in g th a t "the ear ly establishment of a communication s a t e l l i t esystem which can be used on a commercial basis i s a national ob-ject ive .

: Project Ice W a y was established near Thule by the Geo-physics Research Directorate of the Cambridge Research Labora-t o r i e s t o t e s t t he f ea s i b i l i t y of landing heavy a ir c ra ft on icerunways. The tes ts , completed in June 1961, demonstrated thestrength and other engineering qualities of the ice runways con-struc ted of n atu ral sea water or reinforced with strands of f ibe r -glass .

Early January:with remote ( ta pe reco rder ) operation, the wide-angle camera ofTIROS I1 w a s turned on only fo r di re ct read-out, while sa t e l l i tepassed over Ft. hbnmouth and Point Arguello.

Because of the danger of a power d ra in i n connection

JanUary 3: NASA's Space Task Group, charged wi th ca rrying out P ro jectMercury and ot he r manned space f l i g h t programs, o f f i c i a l l y becamea separate NASA fi el d element.: NASA awarded contract to General Electric for an inves t i -gation of means of s tor ing solar heat energy in sa te l l i tes .

January 4 : Ablation model te s t with e lec t r i c a rc a t t a ined 4,000 F.f o r 105 seconds a t Langley Research Center, one of a s e r i e s of


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January 7: USAF Blue Scout I reached near 1,000-mile a lt i tu d e with90-lb data capsule from AMR.

January 9: JPL awarded co nt ract t o Beckman Instruments f o r desi gnstudies on equipment t o analyze th e su rf ace of th e Moon.

: Japanese scientist associated with Radio Research Lab-ora to ri es of the Japanese Minis try of Communications began s tu die sof space communications a t NASA's Goldstone, California, DeepSpace Tracking Station.

January 10: Pres iden t-ele ct Kennedy received rep or t of sp ec ia l nine-man committee on th e n ati onal space program. Chairman of the com-mittee w a s D r . Jerome B. Wiesner of MIT.: A Polaris missile of the advanced A-2 design, was firedfrom Cape Canaveral 1,600 miles down the Atlantic Missile Range.I t w a s the thi r d success i n as many fi r i n gs f or the new Polarisdesigned t o operate a t a range over 1,700 miles.

January 11: Pr es id en t- el ec t Kennedy azlnounced th a t Jerome B. Wiesnerof MIT would be Spe cial Assistan t t o th e Pr esident f o r Science andTechnology.

January 12: Pres iden t Eisenhower i n h i s St a te of th e Union addresst o Congress reviewed U. S. progress i n space explorat ion, s ta t in g:"These achievements unquestionably make u s preeminent i n spaceexploration for the betterment of mankind.

: Joint KID-NASA rel eas e outl ined actio ns of the Aero-nautics and Astronautics Coordination Board (AACB) since i t scre ati on i n September 1960.: F ir st I ta l i a n launching of sc ie n ti f i c sounding rocketi n cooperative program with U. S., a Nike-Cajun launched from arange i n Sard inia t o a height of over 100 miles, and released acloud of sodium vapor visible for many miles.

January 13: Convair B-58 Hust ler , j e t bomber powered by four GEJ-79 engines, broke s i x world speed records, Maj. H. J . Deut-


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January E: NASA began negotiations with French Commission forS pa t i a l and Sc ie n ti fi c Research f o r conducting a cooperativeFranco-Anrerican space program.

Jan- 16: FC C f i r s t a l located radio f requencies to pr ivate in-duetry (IT") f o r experiments in bouncing s ig nal s off th e Moon anda r t i f i c i a l s a t e l l i t e s .: I n the message of President Eisenhower accompanying hisbudget for FY 1962, it w a s s a i d : "In the program of manned spacef l i g h t , th e r e l i a b i l i t y of complex booster capsule escape and l i f esupport components of the Mercury system is now being tested to

assure a safe manned ba l l i s t i c f l i gh t i n t o space, and hopefullya manned o r b i t a l f l i g h t i n calendar year 1961. Further test andexperimentation rill be necessary t o es tabl ish i f there are anyvalid sc ie n ti f i c reasons fo r extending manned space f l i g h t beyondthe llercury program.":w a s completed.Fi n a l assembly of f i r s t Saturn flight vehicle (SA-1)

JanUary 17: F i r s t invention award under the authority of the NationalAeronautics and Space Act of 1958, g iven t o Dr. Frank T. McClureof the &plied Physics Laboratory of Johns Hopkins for his Satel -l i t e Doppler Navigation S y s t e m , the $3,000 a w a r d being presentedby NASA Administrator G l e n n a n a t NASA Hqts.JtUlUary 19: R e p o r t of th e Space Science Board of the National Acad-emy of Sciences s ta ted that l i fe i n some form on other planets ofthe solar system may possibly exist, but that evidence of this isnot available today.

: Iris rocket, ne w solid-propellant single-stage soundingrocket, fa i led t o a tt a i n programmed f l i g h t from Wallops Island,reaching only 86 miles al ti tu de instead of 160 miles.: NASA selected H u g h e s Air cra ft Co. f o r plac ing of amajor subcontract by JPL t o bu i l d seven Surveyor spacecraft de-signed f o r s o f t landings on the Moon.: WFC awarded contract to Douglas and Chance Vought t o


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January 19: Federal Communications C o d s s i o n all ocate d a rad io f re -quency t o th e American Telephone and Telegraph Company t o es tab-l i s h the f i r s t space s a t e l l i t e communications l i n k between Europeand the United Sta tes on an experimental basis, a program callingfo r NASA launching of a series of experimental communication sat-ellites capable of relaying telephone calls, te le vi si on programs,and other messages across the Atlantic.

: NASA announced indefinite suspension of the programingof the wide angle camera i n TIROS 11, the experimental weatherobservation satel l i te launched on November 23, 1960.

January 20: U.S. and U .K . signed formal agreement covering Minitracks ta t ion a t Winkfield, England.: Under NASA contract, United Technology Corporation suc-ce ss fu lly completed ground t e s t s of t h re e 15,000-pound thrustsegmented solid-propellant rockets. Each w a s made up of three1000-pound sect io ns which were jo ined p r io r t o f i r ing .: NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center (BFC) awarded con-

t r a c t s t o North American Aviation and Ryan Aeronautical t o developparaglider recovery system fo r the Sat urn booster, based upon con-cept developed by Francis M. Rogallo of NASA's Langley ResearchCenter.: Headline news i n Moscow w a s deta i led Tass announcementtha t ff St re lk a, ff ne of two female dogs recovered from orbi t ingSPACECRAFT I1 i n August 1960, had given b i r t h t o s ix puppies i ngood health. Pravda had announced three weeks earlier that one ofthe satellite-passenger dogs had given birth.

January 23:t o tar ge t down AMR, representing 35 successes, 8 p a r t i a l s and 6fa i lures in 49 test launchings for D model.F ina l t e s t f l i gh t of USAF A t l a s D t ravel led 5,000 miles

: NASA selected United Aircraft to make feas ib i l i ty s tudyof ion rocket app licatio n f o r long space f l ights .

January 24: NASA out lined speci f ica t ions fo r a low-altitude activecommunications satellite Project R e l a y a t Goddard Space FlightCenter.


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JanUary 25: NASA dis t r ibuted to the world s c i e n t i f i c c o d t y ,through CQSPAR, a deta il ed des cr ip tion of the next planned Beaconsatel l i te experiment.: NASA revealed it had selected 12 women airplane p i l o t st o undergo t e s t s t o determine space f l ig h t research capa bility.: Assembly of RANGER I was completed at JPL.: Titan I1 selected as launch vehicle for Dyna-Soar I byUSAF.

JanUary 29: NASA announced establishment of Goddard Institute forSpace Studies (GISS) In New York City, which would be an exten-s ion of the Theoretical Division of GSFC, Greenbelt, Bkl. I t willbe headed by Dr. Robert Jastrow.January 30: President Kennedy stated in his Sta te of th e Union ad-dress to Congress:

pramptly all possib le areas of cooperation with the S ovie t Unionand other nations 'to invoke the wonders of science instead of i t st e r rors . ' Spec i f i ca l ly , I now invi te all nations -- including theSoviet Union -- to jo in with us in developing a weather pred ic-ti o n program, i n a new communications s a t e l l i t e program, and i npreparation for probing the distant planets of Mars and Venus,probes which may same day unlock the deepest secrets of theUniverse.

" T h i s Administration inten ds t o explore

: James E. Webb nominated as Administrator of NASA byPresident Kennedy.

Jan. 30-Feb. 2: Conference of 12 European nation s held a t Strasbourgt o discuss a Bri t ish and French proposal for a European satellitelauncher development program.

January 31: W AKIS 11, a 4,100-lb. tes t s a t e l l i t econ taining photographic equipmnt, placed i n orbi t by Atlas-AgenaA from Point Arguello, California.: hkrcury-Redstone (MR-2) l i gh t from AMEt shot Mercury


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January 31: An eight-engine static test firing of the Saturn testbooster (SA-T1) for 113 seconds w a s completed at MFC.

During January: International Committee on Geophysics, successororganization to the IGY, meeting in Paris, endorsed proposal forQuiet Sun Year" during 1964-65 (IGY had been selected for itsintense sunspot activity).

: NASA internal studies of a manned lunar landingprogram were completed.based on a large Nova-type launch vehicle and the rendezvousmethod of earth orbit using a number of Saturn C-2's.Studies considered both the direct ascent

: Experiments with ECHO I were discontinued exceptfor occasional checks, having provided for innumerous communica-tions since launch on August 12, 1960.: Wind tunnel testing of model of the first Saturn(SA-I) began at Arnold Engineering Development Center at Tulla-homa, Tenn.: Explosions of Centaur engines at Pratt & Whitneyled to suspension of testing.


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February 1961February 1: U f e Sciences Laboratory estab lished by NASA a t AmesResearch Center t o augment, lead, d ir ec t, encourage and coordinatebiomedical research related to the space program.

: USAF Minuteman successful on f i r s t t e s t launch fr anAJMTC, a three-stage solid-propellant ICBM with full guidance, a l ltested on i t s firs t launching.

: The space Surveillance System (Spurn) was formally com-missioned a t th e Naval Weapons Mo ra to ry , Dahlgren, Va., underthe o pe ra tio na l co nt ro l of th e North American Defense command.February 2: W A - A E C Space Nuclear Propulsion Office invited industryt o submit proposals fo r p arti cip ati on i n development of NEKVA(Nuclear Engine f o r Rocket Vehicle Applicatio n), a p a r t of P roj ect

Rover ini t iated in 1955 by USAF-AEC.: Nomination of James E. Webb t o be Administrato r of NASAreported favorably by the Senate Committee on Aeronautica l andSpace Sciences.: Dr. T. Keith Glennan. was named consultant to the SenateCommittee on Aeronautical and Space Sciences.: NASA announced that it would negotiate with Ebeing Air-plane Co., Chance-Vought Corp., and Martin C o . , f o r tanks forfi rs t- st ag e fi ve Saturn launch vehicles. I t l a t e r announced addi-ti on al se lec tio n of Chrysler Corporation.


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February 5: Orientation of TIRQS I1 made i t impossible t o o btainnorthern hemisphere pictures and malfunctions made remote picturetaking undesirable, so th at use of s a t e l l i t e ' s cameras was sus-pended unt i l o r b i t precess ion again made nor thern hemispherepictures possible.February 6: NASA Aerobee-Hi su ccess full y reached 96 miles aboveWallops St ati on i n te s t of behavior of liq ui d hydrogen i n zerogravi ty fo r Lewis Research Center hydrogen propulsion development.Febmary 7: X-15 flown t o un of f ic ia l record 2,275 mph by Major

Robert White (USAF).February 7-8: Meeting of NASA and contr actor personnel held a t NASAHeadquarters t o review Centaur development program.

February 8: When asked a t Press Conference about U.S. man-in-spaceplans, Pre sident Kennedy s ta ted : "We are very concerned th a t wedo not put a m a n i n space i n ord er t o g ain some pr es ti ge and havethe man take a disproportionate r i s k ... even i f w e should comei n second i n putt ing a man i n space, I w i l l s t i l l be s a t i s f i ed i fwhenwe f in a ll y put a man i n space h i s chances of su rv iv al are ashigh as I think they must be.''

: NAA delivered X-15 No. 2 with XLR-99 engine to NASA f o rthe in i ti a ti o n of the NASA fl ig h t research program.

February 9:ear th i s a sl ig ht ly irr eg ul ar el l ip soi d according to new calcula-t ions.Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory reported that

: James E. Web?? confirmed by the Senate as Administratorof NASA.: Gen. Thomas D. White, USAF Chief of Staff, ordered spacesurveillance functtons transferred from ARDC t o t he Air DefenseCommand a t lht AFB, Colo., as technology i n this field moved fromresearch and development to an operational stage. The AD% estab-l i shed SPADATS (Space Detection and Tracking System).


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February 10: M r s t s t a t i c t es t of prototype tbrust chamber of F-1engine achieved a thrus t of 1,550,000 l b s . f o r a f e r seconds, atEdwards, California.: Three day meeting of s a t e l l i t e panel of th e WorldAkteorological Organization concluded a t Washington, D.C., minusparticipation by the Soviet member.

February 10-11: Space Science Board of the National Academy ofSciences worked out recommendation that "scie ntif ic exploration ofthe m ~ o n nd planets should be c l ea r l y s ta ted as the ultimate ob-jec t iv e of the United States space program for the foreseeablefuture.and was released publicly on August 6.This report was submitted t o the President on March 31

Februarg 12: SPUTNIK VI11 launched into earth o r b i t by USSR, whichthen placed 1,419-lb. Venus probe on i t s course.

Februarg U : USAF W-83B, modification of Navy Bullpup, a so l id-propellant air-to-surface missile, w as suc ces sfu lly launched a tsupersonic speed by an F-100 Supersabre.February 14: NASA Nike-Cajun rocket launched f m n Wallops Station,carrying 60-lb. payload ej ec tin g explosive charges, which f i r ed a tin te rva l s fram 20- to 80-mile altitude to provide data on densityof the atmosphere.

: Last of second series of s t a t i c f i r ings of Sa turn com-pleted a t B F C for 110 seconds, approximately full duration.: President Kennedy congratulated Premier Khrushchev onthe Soviet U n i o n ' s "impressive scientific achievement1t in launch-ing a space probe toward the planet Venus.: NASA selected Flight Propulsion Department, G.E., fornegotiation of 18-mnth contract to study heat f l o w charac te r i s t i c sof f luids i n nuclear power plants.: NASA-U.K. agreed t o estab lish jo in t program t o testcaunnunicatian s a t e l l i t e s t o be launched by NASA i n 1962 and 1963


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February 16: NASA EXPLORER IX plsced i n o r b i t by four-stage Scoutbooster from Wlallops S ta ti on , t he f i r s t s a t e l l i t e launching f r o mwa l l ops , and the f i r s t s a t e l l i t e boosted by a solid-fuel rocket .MpLOUEt IX was a 12-ft . diameter sphere after inflat ion ato rb i t a l a l t it ude .

:t e s t cnmnnlnication s a t e l l i t e s t o be launched by NASA i n 1962 and1963 in projects Relay and Rebound.NASA and France agreed t o establish joint program t o

Februarg 17: "Polka-dot" EXPLORER IX found in o rb it by visu al andphotographic mans a f te r fa il u re of radio beacon delayed confir-mation of orbit.: USAF DISCOVERER XX placed i n polar o r b i t with 300-lb.recovery capsule from Vandenberg AFB.: NASA negotiated $400,000 contract with G.T. SchjeldahlCo. t o design, develop, fabricate, and t e s t r i g i d i z e d i n f l a t ab l espheres for Project Echo, the passive communications satellite

P m P = *: The last successful camuunication with the USSR VenusProbe w a s made.

February 18: USAF DISCOVERER XXI fi re d i n to polar o rb it, and AgenaB restarted in f l i g h t a f t e r f i r s t o r b i t.Februarg 20: Navy told the House Committee on Science and Astm-

nautics that Polaris could be used as a mobi le sa te l l i te launchvehicle.February 21 : NASA Space Task Group eelected John H. Glenn, Jr.,Virgil I. Grissom, and Alan B. Shepard, Jr., t o begin specia ltra inin g f o r f i r s t manned Mercury space f l ig h t .

i n to orb it by Thor-AbleStar launch vehicle, but satel l i tes d idnot separate.capsule due t o technical di ff ic ul t i es .

: Navy T W I T I I I B with LOFT1 piggyback s a t e l l i t e placed

: USAF cance lled recovery operati ons of DISCOVERER XX


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Februarg 21: U S A ararded contract to G.T. Schjeldahl Co . f o r ninei n f l a t ab l e spheres f o r Echo program.: Ti tan ICEU completed 5,000-mile f l i g h t , th e 20th 8uc-

cess i n 29 t ea t s .: MA-2 launch from Cape Canaveral, tr aj ec to ry providingrugged t e s t of t he IILercury capsule.

February 22: French Veronique launched capsule containing rat( tfHectorll t o 95-mile altitude, recovered successfully.Februarg 23: NASA Administmtor James E. Webb and Deputy Se cre tar yof Defense Rosnell Gilp atr ic signed le t t e r of understanding con-finning the National Launch Vehicle Program, the in tegr at ed de-velopment and procurement of space bo os te rs by NASA and DO . I t. w a s agreed that nei ther DOD nor NASA would i n i t i a t e th e develop-ment of a launch vehicle o r booster f o r use i n space withoutwritten acknowledgement of the other agency.

: Proposed DOD Directive en t it l ed , Wevelopment of SpaceSystems,11was submitted t o the Join t Chiefs of S ta ff and themilitary services for comment by March 2.: TIROS I1 completed three months i n or b it , continuingusef ul observations beyond or igi na l estimate of usef ul l i f e .

February 24: NASA Juno I1 launched S 4 5 I ionosphere beacon satellitewhich d i d not achieve orbit due to malfunction shortly afterbooster separation.F e b m 25: Paul F. Bikle set world g l id er al t i tu de record of46,267 fe et i n Schweieer 1-23-E sailplane, beating record of

42,100 f e e t s e t by W.S. Ivans in1950. B i k l e i s Director of NASAFlight Research Center, Mwards, California, which is conductingth e X-15 f l ig h t research program.

February 26: SPACECRAFT I V (SPUTNIK VII), launched on February 4,


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February 27: NASA released Wvaluation of USSR vs U.S. Output i nSpace Science," a study prepared f o r the House Committee on Scienceand Astronautics.February 28:Kennedy had ordered a thorough review of the Nation's space pro-grams.

NASA Administrator James E. Webb st at ed th a t Pre side nt

During February: Acoustic t e s t chamber f o r recording sound of rocketuperatians and to study human stress limits, completed a t En-vironmental Simulation Laboratory, Nsval Mi ssi le Center a t PMR.f a c i l i t i e s . Japanese Space Science Survey Team toured NASA

: Bel l Telephone Laboratories and General E le ct ri cconduct a "phase stability" experiment on ECHO I , the resu l t sindicating that the sphere was keeping i t s "roundness" much longerthan anticipated.: NASA-USAF returned X-15 No. 1 o contractor ( N U )f o r in st al la ti o n of f i n a l engine of 57,000-pound th ru st .


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March 1961March 2: T a s s announced that r ad i o contact with the Soviet VenusProbe could not be established on February 27.

: The fourth f i r in g of an advanced Polaris A-2 and the f i r s tfram a ship, w a s made by the U S Observation Island as she cruiseda t 8 knots, 10 miles off shore from Cape Canaveral.: T h e Pre sid en t's Sc ie nt if ic Advisory Connuittee on Pr oj ec t

Mercury visited AM2 f o r a briefing.March 3: UTAF B l u e Scout I1 carried 172-lb. payload t o 1,580 milesaltitude from A1Q1.March 6: F i r s t NASA Agena B vehicle entered checkout of systems and

subsystem8 a t Lockheed, Sunnyvale, Ca li f. , vehicle scheduled tolaunch Ranger I .: Direct-made p ic tu re s of TIROS I1 camera were resumed aftera m n th of inoperation . The qu al ity of t he pi ct u re s showed somes l i g h t improvement, supporting the theory that foreign matter mayhave been deposited on the lens and was gradually evaporatlng.: B-52HY equipped with turbofan engines, m a d e i t s f i r s tf l i g h t at Wichita, Kan.

March 7: F i r s t f l i g h t model of Saturn booster (SA-1) nstalledon s t a t i c t e s t stand fo r pr e-f lig ht checkout, EFC, Hun tsville.


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March 8: Depar-nt of Defense decision indicated that perfectedmilitary space vehicles would be assigned t o each ser vic e whichdemonstrated an op erat iona l need f o r them, thus giv ing USAF majorrespo nsib ility f o r mi lita ry space development.March 9: USSR launched %ton SPACECRAFT V (SPUTNIK IX) i n t o o rb i t ,and recovered dog passenger, the second time this f e a t was per-formed.

: Harold B. Finger w a s appointed Assistant Director forNuclear Applications i n NASA's Office of Launch Vehicle Programs,a,nd continued as Manager of the AEC-NASA Space Nuclear PropulsionOffice (SNPO).: Dr. Harold Brown, of Univ. of C al if orn ia 's Lawrence Radia-tion Laboratories, w a s named Director of Research and Engineeringfo r the Department of Defense, t o succeed Dr. Herbert F. York.

March 10: NASA announced f i r s t success i n immediate d ete ctio n i nrea l time of radar signals off planet Venus by JP L Goldstone, aspa rt of two-mnth research program.

: NASA and Navy jo in t ly est ab li sh ed development program t oincrease payload ca pa bi li ty of Scout veh icle by 40 s by improvedperformance of t h i r d and fourth stage engines.: NASA awarded contr ac ts t o Convair, Lockheed and NorthAmerican f o r studies of space vehicles beyond the Saturn class,

having f i r s t stage thrust of s i x t o twelve mi llio n pounds.: National Meteorite Symposium held at Arizona State U n i -versity, Tempe, Arizona.

March 13: Sov iet astronomers claimed t o have discovered the presenceof oxygen i n the atmosphere of Venus. D r . Brian Warner of theLondon Observatory co rre late d and reinterpreted spectographic datagathered earller by Soviet astronomer N i k o l a i Kozyrev.:Ocean, plunged into the Atlantic only 200 miles from CapeCanaveral.

An A t l a s intended fo r 9,000-mile f l ig h t in to the Indian


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Mid-March: Up t o t h i s tlme, approximately 78s of the wide-anglephotographs relayed from TIROS I1 (weather s a t e l l i t e ) were con-sidered usable for current weather analysis.

March 15: NASA and U.K . ' s Space Sciences Camtittee agreed on experi-nrents t o be included i n th e second U.K. satel l i te ( launched byNASA's Scout), the experiments being ga la ct ic noise , atmosphericozone, and micrometeoroids.March 16: Scientis ts from Fordham University and Esso Research an-nounced that they had discovered waxy compounds inside a fragmentof a me teorite found near Orgueil, F'rance, i n 1864.

: NASA Robert H. Goddard Space Flight Center officiallydedicated at Greenbelt, EM., dedication address delivered by Dr.Detlev Bronk, President of t h e National Academy of Sciences. I twas the 35th Anniversary of Dr. Goddard's successful launching ofthe world's f i r s t liquid fuel rocket. Mrs. Robert H. Goddard ac-cepted the Congressional Medal honoring her husband.

March 17: VANGUARD I completed third year i n o rb i t and w a s s t i l ltransmitting. VANGUARD I provided much useful data on orbi ts , in-cluding the s l i g h t pear-shape o f t h e E arth and the e f fec t of solarpressure,Delta, and AbleStar , as well as the t h i rd stage of Scout, pio-neering solid-propellant stages used i n Polaris and muteman.Vanguard also provided the second stage for the Able,

: F i r st Northrop T-38 supersonic j e t trainer lcas deliveredt o USAF Air Training Command at Randolph AFB, Texas.

March 18: Li t t l e Joe V I fired Mercury spacecraft from Wallops, re-sulted i n limited t e s t of escape system because of unprogranmredsequence.March 19: Problems with the shutter of the wide-angle camera of theTIROS I1 were noted, but l a t e r disappeared and d i d not signifi-cant ly effec t da ta from this camera.

: Tiny particle of matter from another galaxy h i t upperatmosphere of the ea rt h over New Mexico a t a speed clo se t o t h a t


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March 20: Charles J . Dolan named Associate Director of NASA'sLangley Research Center. He had been assoc iat ed with th e NASASpace T a s k Group since i t s form ation a t Langley i n November 1958.

March 20-21: Representatives of NASA and the French Committee forSpace Research agreed on coopera tive space sc ience program i nmeeting a t Washington, D. C .

March 22: National Academy of Scien ces' Geophysics Research Boardannounced preliminary plans for an International Year of the QuietSun (IQSY) during 1964-65.: Dr. Edward C. Welsh, a former aide t o Senator Symington,was nominated by the President to be the Executive Secretary ofthe National Aeronautics and Space Council.

March 23 : Responding t o inq uir y by th e Chairman of the House Scienceand Astronautics Committee, Pre sident Kennedy st a te d i n a le t t e r :"It i s not now nor has it ever been my intention to subordinate theac t iv i t i e s of @g t o those of the Department of Defense.. .therea re legitim ate missions i n space f o r which the military servicesshould assume responsibility. ..ca;ld there ard major missions,such as th e s c i en t i f i c unmanned and manned expl or at io n of spacea n d th e ap pl ica tio n of space technology t o the conduct of peace-f u l activities, which should be carried forward by the civilianspace agency.

: The f i r s t World Meteorologicalnat ions under sponsorship of the Worldt i on .Day w a s observed by f i f t yMeteorological Organiza-

March 24 : Mercury-Redstone succes sfull y flew capsule i n 115-milef l i g h t t e s t a t AhR.: TIROS I1 completed fo ur months i n o rb i t and continued t oprovide useful cloud picture and radiation data. Signal from

TIROS I1 was used on 1,763rd or bi t t o tri gg e r dynamite t o breakground f o r new RCA space environment center a t Princeton, NewJersey.: NASA and U . K . ' s Department of Science and Industrial R e -search signed agreement covering da ta a cqu isiti on un it i n Falk-


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March 25: NASA T h o r - D e l t a f i r ed EXPILIFER X (P-14) in to h ighly e l l ip -t i c a l or bi t (apogee of 148,000 miles, perigee of 100 miles) withinstruments to transmit da ta on th e natur e of the magnetic f ie l d sand charged particles i n this region of space where the earth'smagnetic f i e l d merges with that i n interplanetary space.

: Prof. Martin Schwarzschild of Princeton University namedby the National Academy of Sciences t o re cei ve t he Henry DraperMedal f o r his work as director of ONR's Project Stratoscope (pro-duced clear photos of the s t ructure of t e surfa ce of t he sun).P: USSR launched SPACECRAFT V I (SPUTNIK X), a more than five-ton payload, and recovered capsule containing a dog named "L i t t l e

Star . T h i s w a s apparently a repeat of the March 9 shot.March 26: NASA Aerobee research rocket w i t h University of htichiganpayload s ho t t o 252-mile al ti tu de from Wallops Stat ion.

: Pravda a r t ic le s ta ted tha t the day w a s "not f a r d i s t an twhen a Soviet human being w i l l rocket into space."March 27: Budget Director David E. B e l l made known t o J oi n t Eco-nomic Committee of Congress that the new Administration would re-quest for FY 62, $125.67 mil lion more f o r NASA ( i n addi tion t oprevious $1,110 mill ion) and $65 million more for the NationalScience Foundation (ad diti on al t o $210 mil l ion) .

: President Kennedy initiated actions to speed up thedevelopment of large boosters.

: Dr. C a r l Sagen of the University of California suggestedthat the seeding of the atmosphere of Venus with algae might alteri t s atmosphere t o support human l i f e .: Its instruments recording a magnetic impulse, EXPLLlRER Xbecame the f i r s t s a t e l l i t e t o measure the shock wave generated by

a solar f l a r e .March 28: USAF DynaSoar System Project Office personnel visitedNASA Hq. f o r review of tech nical and management programs.


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March 28: NASA Goddard Scientists reported that EXPLORER X had en-countered magnetic fi e ld s considerably st ron ger th an expected i ni t s elongated orbit which carried it 112,500 miles from Earth(almost ha lf way to th e moon), a lthough i t would take severalweeks t o analyze acquired data.: Soviet press conference a t So vi et Academy of Sciences i nMoscow, a t which biochemist N .M . Sisakian announced that a l l s i xof "Strelka 's" pups, on exhibit, were developing normally: llOurresearch on these animals, just completed, has proved that nodangerous consequences t o the fun ctionin g of t h e i r organs havestemmed from the space flight. This problem has an importantbearing on our preparations for man's orbi t ing.": Alexander Topchiev, vic e chairman of the Sovi et Academyof Science, s ta ted i n Moscow th a t Western reports that some Sovietastronauts had perished i n space flight attempt were I t a completefabricat ion. . .entirely and abs olu tely unfounded. M Occasion w a spress conference a t the Academy of Science on the subject.of theimminent flight of man into space, a t which fo ur space dogs ands i x offspring were te levise d.: Draft DOD Directive on "Reconnaissance, Mapping andGeodetic Programsspace systems w a s sen t t o th e s erv ice s f o r comment.(5160.34) r e l a t i ve to development of military

March 29: A t 280th session of disarmament conference a t Geneva,A r t h u r H. Dean presented U.S. proposal th at a system of spaces a t e l l i t e s fo r pat rol l ing a ban on nuclear te st i ng be f u l l y op-erat ional s i x years af te r ra t i f ic a t io n of such a ban. Such aspace patrol could "open up a new frontier of knowledge for thebenefit of mankinl. If

March 30: Reactor In-Flight Test System ( R I F T ) Study, a p ar t of th eNASA-AEC program on nuclear rockets, was briefed by contractorsa t NASA Headquarters.

: USAF DISCOVERER X M I fa i led to achieve orbi t .: NASA-ED-USN rocket research X-15 flown t o 169,600 fee tby Joseph A. Walker, NASA pi lot , the highes t altitude ever reachedby m a n and which included twominutes of weigh tlessness a t t he top

NASA selected G.E.'s Space Sciences Laboratory and AVCO


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March 31:Corp. f or negotiation of con tracts t o study f e a s i b i li ty of mag-netogasdynamic e le c tr i c rocket or thermal a rc j e t rocket engines.: By this date, a l l s ta t io ns of NASA's world-wide Mercurytracking network were operational.: Space Science Board of the National Acaderny of Sciencessubmitted i t s recommendation of February 10-11, t ha t " s c i en t i f i cexp lorat ion of th e moon and plane ts should c le ar ly be s ta te d asthe ultimate objective of the United States space program forthe foreseeable future.

During March: Announced th a t National In st it ut es of Health s ci e n ti st swere growing organisms found inside of a meteor it e t ha t f e l l a tMurray, Icy., a r o d 1950; f i r s t reported instance of li vi ng ma-te r i a l , pe rhaps ex t ra te r res t r i a l , grown in a laboratory.: In an experiment at be i ng , b i o l og i s t J. D. McClurespent 26 hours i n a se aled environment with atmosphere recycledthrough algae to retain 214 oxygen content.: Marine he lic op ter crews conducted extensive te s t s t o

pe rfe ct water recovery of hkrcury capsule a t Langley AFB.: Personnel of NASA's techn ical and inte rn atio nal pro-rams part ic ipated in t a s k force study of methods for increasingeffect iveness- of U.S. inter natio nal sc ie nt if ic ac t i v i t ie s .: It w a s reported that th e I n s ti t u t e of Space Technologya t S t u t t ga r t, Germany, had developed inexpensive s t a t i c t e s t standfired steammotors producing 30 tons of thrust .


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April 1961April 1: D r . Charles A . Roadman named a s Acting D ir ecto r of the NASA

Office of Life Sciences t o succeed D r . Clark Randt, who resignedef fec t ive th i s da te .: Secretary of Defense McNamara issued directive (5160.34)assigning research, development, and ope ration al re sp on si bi li ti esf o r DOD reconnaissance, mapping and geodetic programs. The USAFwas assigned res po nsi bil ity f o r reconnaissance s a t e l l i t e systemsa s we ll a s resea rch and development of instru men tation an d data

processing asso ciated with these s a t e l l i t e systems. The USA wasassigned r esp onsi b il it y f o r establishment and management of aworld-wide master geodetic control s y s t e m , and necessary R&D andli br ar y support, while the USAF was made re sponsible f o r launchand recovery of geodet ic payloads. The USN was assigned responsi-b i l i t y f o r R&D and opera tion of a l l oceanographic and geodeticprograms a t sea.: USAF reorganized i t s research and development activities,creat ing the Air Force Systems Comand (AFSC) to replace parts ofthe Air Research and Development Command and t he A ir MaterielComand, t o be commanded by L t . Gen. Bernard Schr ieve r. Alsoseparately created was the Office of Aerospace Research (OAR ) t ofunction as a separate Air Command rep or ting d i rec t ly t o Chief ofStaff , USAF.

April 3 : N R L repo rted t h a t LOFTI, small piggyback s a t e l l i t e onTRANSIT I11 B launched on February 21, demonstrated that very l o wfrequency rad io si gn al s pass through th e ionosphere in to space,thus opening new area f o r communications development.


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iApril 6: M " C announced th a t 1,640,000 pounds thrust was achieved i nt e s t of F-1 rocket engine thrust-chamber st at ic -f ir in g a t Edwards,California, a record th ru st f o r a sin gl e chamber.

: U.S. and U.K. signed formal agreement covering trackingstation on Canton Island.

April 7-14:I t a ly . NASA par t i c ipa ted in COSPAR symposim hel d i n Florence,

April 8 : USAF DISCOVERER XXIII placed into polar orbit from PMR butre-entry capsule s tayed i n orbi t .

Apri l 10: Pre sident Kennedy requested Congress t o approve le g i s la -t io n making th e Vice Presiden t Chairman of th e National Aeronauti-c a l and Space Council.: Radar tracking of planet Venus f o r seven weeks by JPLsc ie n ti st s had proved "astronomical yardstick" of 93,498,125 miles

as the distance between the earth and the sun (within 1,000 milesof error).: Attempt t o recover capsule from DISCOVERER XXIII unsuccess-fu l .: Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory reported that ECHO Is a t e l li t e may remain i n o rb it another three years.: Rumors swept Moscow t h a t USSR had placed a m a n into space.

April 12: USSR announced that Major Yuri A. Gagarin had successfullyorbited the earth i n a 108-minute f l i g h t i n a 5-ton VOSTOK ( E a s t ) ,the f i r s t m a n t o make a successful o r b i ta l fl i g h t through space.: President Kennedy, i n h i s r egul ar pres s conference, st at ed

that Itno one i s more t i r e d than I am" i n seeing the United S tate ssecond to Russia i n the space fi el d . "They secured lar ge boo sterswhich have led t o the i r being f i r s t i n Sputn ik , and l e d t o t h e i rf i r s t p u tt in g their men i n space. We are , I hope, going t o be ablet o carry out our effo rts , w i t h due regard t o th e problem of th el i f e of the men involved, this year. But we are behind ... the


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A p r i l 12: Announced inMoscow t h a t a new S ta te Committee f o r Coordi-nating Research Work was created, t o be headed by L t . Gen.Mikhail V. Khrunichev.

April U : AT&T s ta ted tha t it hoped to orbit experimental cmmni-cations s a t e l l i t e by May 1962, and would sha re use o r ownership ofa sa te l l i t e system w i th oth er common c a r r i e r s .

Apri l 14: I n response t o questioning by th e House Science and Astro-nautics Committee, Associate NASA Administrator Seamans repeatedthe general estimate of $20 t o $40 b i l l i o n a s t he cos t fo r t het o t a l ef fo r t required to achieve a lunar landing, t ha t an all-outprogram might cost more, and that 1967 could be considered only asa pos sib le planning date a t th is sta ge of such a complex task.

: Gigantic ceremony i n Red Square i n Moscow honoringMajor Y. A. Gagarin, the f i r s t ltCosmonaut.ll

April 17: Subcommittee of the Senate Committee on Government Opera-tio ns, Senator Hubert H. Humphrey as chairman, submitted repo rt onllCoordination of Information on Curren t Research and DevelopmentSupported by the U.S. Government." I t recommended innovations bedeveloped to aid the management and conduct of research.: Construction of Dynamic Test Stand f o r Sat ur n completeda t S F C .: USAF Cambridge Research Labo ra torie s' balloon was launchedfrom Vernalis, Ca liforn ia, maintained constan t a l ti t u d e of 70,000feet for nine days with payload of 40 pounds.

April 19: Preliminary data from EXPLORER X disclosed a t NASA, in di -ca ted tha t so la r winds blow the sun's magnetic f i e ld out past theor bi t of the ear th .: Dr. Thmas Gold of Cornel1 Un iversit y submitted th at watere x i s t s on th e mon, perhaps shielded from evaporation by a la ye rof i c e below th e surface, i n a paper given a t American PhysicalSociety.


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April 19: S c i en t i s t s from the United Kingdom and NASA announcedagreement on the s c ie n t if i c i n s t m e n t a t i o n of a second U.K.s a t e l l i t e to be launched by NASA with a Scout vehicle.: Po la ri s f i r e d more than 1,100 miles from submerged-SRobert E. Lee.

April 20: National Academ of Sciences is su ed re port by i t s SpaceScience Board which sta te d th a t " the h is to ry of geographic ex-plo rat ion on ear th t e l l s over and over again of the deaths of boldexplorers ... To ignore t h i s i n the f a r more d i f f i c u l t and hazard-ous areas of m a n i n space i s fo ol is h. Men w i l l perish i n space asthey have on the high seas, i n th e Antarctica, i n the hear t ofAfrica, and wherever they have ventu red i n t o unknown regions."

: House and Senate approved b i l l to permit Vice President ofth e United St at e s t o serve as Chairman of the National SpaceCouncil.: D r . John R. Winckler of th e Unive rsity of Minnesota re-ported a t th e American Geophysical Union, th at the f i r s t di re ctsampling of a cro ss s ec tio n of so la r ma ter ial had revealed th a tpa rt ic le s of heavier elements of the sun ejected by so lar f la re shave been captured i n the vic in it y of the e art h i n study of emul-sions flown by balloons and rockets during the solar ac t i v i t y oft he f a l l of 1960. Tracks of helium, carbon, n itrogen , and oxygenhad been detected.

A p r i l 21 : USAF-USN-NASA X-15 flown t o cont rol led -fl igh t record speedof 3,040 mph by Major Robert White (USAF') a t Edwards, California.This w a s t he f i r s t f l i g h t of X-15 w i t h full t h r o t t l e .

: NASA f i r e d Nike-Asp rocket ca rry ing aluminum thermite andsodium pellets to an a l t i t ud e of 34 miles, one of a s e r ie s ofsodium cloud f ir in gs i n connection w i t h similar launchings i nI ta ly .: D r . W. 0. Roberts, Dir ect or of th e National Center ofAtmospheric Research ( N CAR ) , mounted that a National BalloonFli ght s F a c il it y would be esta bli she d t o encourage upper atmos-pheric research.


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A p r i l 23: TIROS I1 completed fiv e months i n orb it . Useful rad ia tio nobservations ceased due t o detec tor malfunctions, but radiat ionelect ronics and tape recorder continued to function, and TV camerascontinued t o operate as well a s on day of launch.

Apr i l 24: D r . Leonard S. Sheingold, D ire ctor of Applied Research a tsylvania Electronic Systems, was named by th e Pre sident t o beChief S c ie n t is t , USAF.

Apr i l 25 : Mercury-Atlas ( U - 3 ) launched unmanned Mercury spacecrafti n o r b i t a l t e s t from AMR, which was de str uc ted a t 16,000 f e e t byrange s afe ty of fi cer, whi le Mercury capsule was boosted by escapetower rockets above Atlas and subsequently recovered intact.: Pres iden t Kennedy signed le g is l a ti o n making the VicePresident Chairman of th e National Aeronautics and Space Council.: Official Soviet report described preliminary weightless-nes s tr ai ni ng of the Soviet cosmonauts as follows: " I t was estab-l i shed t h a t all se lec ted cosmonauts possess a good a b i l i t y t o

endure weightlessness up t o 40 seconds, the cosmonaut can eat foodliqu id, semi-liquid, and so li d; can perform delicate coordinatedacts , such a s wr i t i ng or purposeful hand motions; can maintaincommunication by radio ; ca n read ; and, besides, can or ie nt himselfv isual ly .April 27: Ja ve li n launched 70.6-lb payload t o an a l t i t u de of 475

miles i n beginning of GSFC program t o measure t h e de ns ity ofe l ect rons i n the ionosphere.: MPLORER X I , a gamma-ray sa t e l l i t e , was suc ce ssf ull ylaunched into orbit by NASA Juno I1 from Cape Canaveral.:at io n from th e hot gas over the mse of a model flying through thea i r a t 42,300 fee t per second. This speed w a s i n excess of para-bolic atmospheric entry speed and the data are s ign i f i can t i n re-

l a t i o n t o development of lunar spacecraft . The speed, 11,100 f e e tper second higher than m a x im u m air speed obtained previously, wasachieved by firing the model from a l ight-gas gun i n t o a high-speed j e t o f a i r flawing i n the opposite direction from a shock-driven w i n d tunnel.

NASA Ames Research Center measured the intensity of radi-

April 28 : Li t t l e Joe 5 B launched Mercury spacecraft from Wallops


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Statio n, which provided abor t t e s t under severe atmospheric f l i g h tconditions.: Simulated count down of Mercury-Redstone 3 was completedsuccessfully.: F i r s t manned balloon launched from, and landed back aboarda naval vessel, a Str ato lab High te s t fl ig h t over USS Antietam i nthe Gulf of Mexico (6,000 f e e t ) .: Final NASA report on the study proposal of Saturn f o r usea s Dyna-Soar booster was presented t o th e Air Force.

A p r i l 29: Saturn booster f i r i n g of 30 seconds using timer a t prede-termined s et t ing was successful i n f l i g h t qua lif i cat ion tes t .

During Ap ril : The Navy re ac ti vat ed the former NACA hydrodynamic re-search fa c i l i t i e s a t Langley Research Center, to conduct R&D onhydrof o iIs, a i r cushion vehicles, hydro-skis; catamarans, STOLseaplanes, torpedoes and underwater rockets. NASA continued in-vest igations a t other f a c i l i t ie s of Langley of di tching andwater landing of space vehicles.


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May 1961May 1: NASA Administra tor Webb issued a statement concerning thetwo-year Mercury manned space f l i g h t program, which s a i d , i n pa r t:

ltNASA has not attempted t o encourage pr es s coverage of the f i r s tlibercury-Redstone manned f l i g h t . I t has responded t o pr ess andtelevision requests , with the resu l t that over 100 representativesof the press, radio, and TV are now a t Cape Canaveral. . . W mustkeep the perspective that each flight i s but one of the many mile-ston es we must pass.spect, some part ial ly, and same w i l l fail. From all of them w i l lcome mastery of the vas t new space environment on which so much ofour future depends."Some w i l l completely succeed i n every re-

: May D a y parade in Red Square, Moscow, reviewed by Major Y u r iGagarin beside Premier Khrushchev.- T i r o s operations at Belmar, N. J., terminated t o begin moveof equipment t o Wallops Stat ion, Va.May 2: Manned Mercury-Redstone (MR-3) launch postponed because ofrain squa lls i n the recovery area.- USAF Bomarc-B area defense missile destroyed Regulus I1 tar-get missile flying a t Mach 2, i n test at Eglin Gulf Test Range.May 3: F i r s t s i l o launching of an IC=, a USAF T i t a n a t VandenbergAFB.May 4: ONR Str ato lab High V balloon launched from ca r r i e r Antietamin Gulf of Mexico reached world altitude balloon record of113,600 f e e t , remaining above 104,OOO f e e t fo r 2 hours 11minutes,

4: F i r & part of MR-3 firing countdown began a t T - 4 4 0 minutes


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@7-:30 a.m. EST) and held at T--390 minutes u n t i l f i n a l countdownbegan at 11:30 p.m. EST.May 5: FREEDOM 7, manned Mercury spacecraft (No. 7) carrying astro-

naut Alan B. Shepard, Jr. , 88 p i l o t , w a s launched from Cape C a -naveral by Mercury-Redstone (MR-3) launch vehicle, t o an al t i tu deof 115.696 miles and a range of 302 mi les . I t was f i r s t Americanmanned space f l ight . Shepard de mn stra ted th a t man can co ntr ol avehicle during weightlessness and high g-stresses, and s i d f i c a n tsc ie nt i f i c biomedical da ta was acquired.5,100 mph and f l igh t lasted 14.8 minutes. He reached a speed of: Saturn s ta t i c f i r i ng of 44.17 seconds durat ion to t e s t f i r e-detection system at engine position No. 2 was successful, thesecond SA-1 f l i g h t q u a li f ic a t io n t e s t a t MSFC.- In-house testing of Rawer I spacecraf t completed a t JPL.

May 8 : Alan B. Shepard, Jr . , Mercury astronaut, w a s awarded NASA'sDistinguished Service Awa rd by Presid en t Kennedy i n a spec ia lWhite House ceremony. I t w a s followed by an informal parade t othe Capitol by the seven astronauts for lunch, and a press con-ference a t the S t a te Department auditorium.

May 9: Senator Robert S. Kerr, C h a i r m a n of the Senate Aeronau ticaland Space Sciences Committee, to ld a group a t t he Natio nal Radioand Television Convention, that President Kennedy accepted theviews of NASA and Congressional le ad er s i n approving the mannedldercury-Redstone f l i g h t of May 5 .

May 9-10: Twenty-four Arcas-Robin weather sounding rockets firedwithin 24-hours by AFPGC at Eglin AFB, Florida.

May 11: JPL briefed NASA Headquarters on the Venus radar t rackingexperiment, after two mn t h s of intensive study begun on March 10.

: USSR's Izv es t ia headl ined the re su l t of Soviet radar probesof planet Venus, a report which s a i d that the Venusian day w a sfrom 9 t o 11 ea r t h days, and th a t t he Astronomical U nit (meandistance f r o m the ear th to the Sun) w a s computed a t 149,457,000


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May 12: USAF announced plans to institute special course for theinstruction of space pi lots at Edwards AFB, and it was activatedin June.

May 13: NASA Legislative Program for the 87th Congress was sub-mitted (S. 1857 and H.R. 7l15), asking fo r au thori ty t o l easeproperty, auth ority t o acquire patent relea ses, elimination ofthe CMLC, replacement of semiarrnual re port s t o Congress with anannual one, and autho rity t o indemnify contractors against un-usually haardous risks.May 14: A E C ' s Tory I I - A - 1 experimental powerplant for atmosphericramjet veh icle s underwent f i r s t power te s t s , a par t of USAFProject Pluto.

May 15: In testimony before House Appropriations Committee, Hugh L.Dryden revealed that simulated free-flight speeds Just under30,000 mph had been achieved at NASA Ames Research Center,Moffett Field, Calif .: National Aeronautic Association announced selection of ViceAdmiral W i l l i a m F. Raborn, Jr., t o receive the Robert J. Colliertrophy for his direction of the Polaris missile program.: Test f i r i n g of GE plug-nozzle engine developed 50,000 lbs .of thrust.

May 15-17: Final reports of study contracts on Project Apollo pre-sented by the three contractors at Langley Research Center andSpace Task Group.May 17: An HSS-2 helicopter flown by Cdr. Patr ick I,. Sullivan andL t . Beverly W . Witherspoon, set a new world c las s speed record of

192.9 mph f o r three kilometers at Bradley Field , Windsor Locks,CQnn.May 18: F i r s t t e s t i n fl a ti o n of D5-foot r igidized in fla tab le bal-loon s a t e l l i t e i n di rig ib le hangar, conducted by NASA Langley


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May 18: Announced by NASA I n s ti t u t e of Space Studies i n New Yorkth a t f i r s t major pr oj ec t, a two-month seminar on the o ri g in of t hesolar system, would be held i n f a l l 1961.

May 19: Soviet Academy of Sciences revealed that the pulse rate ofMajor Y u r i A. Gagarin had risen to 158 bea ts a minute i n hisVOSTOK f l ig ht , according to a report ci rculated by T a s s .: Second Minuteman t e s t launch w a s destructed by range safetyoff icer 90 seconds af t er l i f t .

May 19-20: Cape Canaveral opened t o t he gen era l pub lic fo r t he f i r s ttime i n i t s history.May 20: Unconfirmed signals were received on the frequency used bySoviet Venus probe launched February 12, according t o S i r BernardLove11 of the Jodrel l Bank Observatory.

May 22: General C u r t i s E. LeMay nominated by th e Pre siden t t o beChief of Staff, U W .

May 23: TIROS I1 completed six mnths i n orb i t , t ransmi tt ing over31,000 photographs of which over 75$ have been classified as f a i rt o good f o r meteorological ana lysis;: In a brief ceremony, a bust of Samuel P. Langley was pre-sented by Paul G a r b e r , Curator of th e National Air Museum, t othe NASA Langley Research Center, during which Dr. Langley's f i r s tdemonstration of mechanical flight with his "Aerodromeff model i n1896 and his sci en t i f ic cont r ibut ions t o ast rophysics ( i .e . thethermopile and the bolometer) were reviewed by Garber and DeputyNASA Administrator Dryden.: "Workshop: Telemetry i n Europe1' a t National TelemeteringConference i n Chicago brought seven European repr es en ta tive stogether Kith American scientists i n working out unofficial pre-liminary standardization planning on bands, means, and frequen-c i es .


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May 24: FCC endorsed the ultimate creation of a commercial satellitesystem to be owned jointly by intern ation al telephone and telegraphcompanies and announced that it w a s calling a meeting on June 5 ,t o explore "plans and procedures looking toward ear ly es tabl ish-ment of an operable commercial comrmmications s a t e l l i t e system.tt

: Launching of NASA ionosphere beacon satellite (S-45 11) a tAMR unsuccessful when Juno I1 power supply failed and preventedig n it io n of second stag e.: Operational A tlas ra is ed from emplacement and f i r e d i n anoperational t e s t exercise a t Vandenberg AFB.: Three Navy F4H Phantam I1 fighters competing for the BendixTrophy bettered the ex ist ing record for t ranscontinental f l ig htfrom Los Angeles t o New York. The winning team of L t . R. F. Gordon,p i l o t , and L t ( j g ) B. R. Young, RIO, averaged 870 mph on the2,421.4-mile flight and established a new record with a time oftw o hours, 47 minutes.: Cdr. P. L. Sullivan ( U S N ) and L t . B. W. Witherspoon, flying

an HSS-2 h el icop te r s e t another new world c la ss speed record w i t ha mark of 174.9 mph over a 100-kilometer course between M i l -ford and Westbrook, Corn.: National Rocket Club President H. A. Timken announced pro-posal t o Secretary of the Treasury Dillon t o consider a spec ia lse ri es of savings bonds and saving stamps to finance the U.S.space program, t o be known as "Series S Bonds f o r Space."

May 25: In his second St a te of th e Union message Pre sident Kennedyreported t o Congress regarding the space program: tlwith the adviceof th e Vice President, who i s Chairman of the National SpaceCouncil, we have examined where we (U.S.) are strong and where w eare no t, where we may succeed and where we may not... . Now is thet i m e t o take longer strides--time fo r a grea t n e w American enter-prise--time for this nation to take a cle arly leading role i nspace achievement which i n many ways may hold the key t o ourfu tu re on ear th. " President Kennedy s e t fo r t h an acceleratedspace program based upon the long-range na ti onal goals of landinga man on the moon and returning him safe ly to ear th; ear ly devel-opment of the Rover nuclear rocket; speed up the use of earth

25: A t NASA Press Conference following President Kennedy's


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May ca ll t o Congress f o r an accelerated space program, NASA Adminis-t ra tor Webb pointed out tha t the long-range and d i f f i c u l t t a sk oflanding a man on the moon and returning him saf el y to ear th be-fore the end of the decade o ffe red Ita chance" t o beat Russia.Joseph Walker, a t Edwards AFB, the f i r s t Mach 5 manned f l i g h t i na winged vehicle.

: X-15 flown t o record speed of 3,307 mph by NASA tes t p i l o t ,

: K a m a n H-43-B Huskie he li co pt er flown t o claimed a l ti tu derecord of 25,814 f ee t by Capt. W . C . M&en (USAF), bet ter ingRussian record of 24,491 feet established on March 26, 1960.: Prerecorded voice message successfully transmitted fromNRL t o BTL v ia ECHO I , the qu alit y of the transmission being v i r -t u a l l y as good as previous experiments.

May 26: USAF B-58 Hustler flown from C a r s w e l l AFB, Texas, toLe Bourget, P a r i s , i n record 6 hours 15 minutes, covering d i s -tance from New York t o P a r i s i n 3 hours 20 minutes. This f l i g h tcommemorated the 34th annive rsary of Charles A. Lindbergh's trans-atlantic crossing onMay 20-21, 1927, and the opening of the 24thP a r i s International Air Show.

: A t l a s E fired successfully from AMR.

May 26-27: F i r s t National Conference on the Peaceful Uses of Spaceheld a t T u l s a , O k l a h o m a , a t which leading American space sc ien -t i s t s and technologists appraised the current and futur e applica-tions of space science and technology for human welfare. I t w a ssponsored by NASA and the Tulsa Chamber of Commerce, with theAerospace Industries Association, Aerospace Medical Association,American Astronautical Society, American Institute of BiologicalSciences, the American Rocket Society, the Electronic IndustriesAssociation, Frontiers of Science Foundation (Oklahoma) and theIn st it u t e of t he Aerospace Sciences as co-sponsors,May 26-June 4: FREEDOM 7, Mercury spacec raf t i n which Alan B.Shepard, J r . , made his space fl ight on May 5 ww a major drawingcard a t t he P a r i s International Air Show. De ta ils of the spacec ra ftand of Shepard's f l i g h t were re la te d t o about 650,000 vis i tors .

M a y 29: A t l a s booster 111-D, o be used f o r RANGER I , w a s erected


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on the launch pad a t Cape Canaveral.

May 30: USSR revealed f i r s t d e ta i l s , concerning Cosmonaut Gagarin 'sorbi ta l space f l ight on April 12, when application w a s made t othe International Aeronautical Federation (FAI) t o have f l ig htmade an o f f i c i a l world record: Duration -- 108 minutes; Maximumaltitude--203 miles; Launch s i t e -- cosmodrome at Baikonur (near~ a k e ra l) ; Landing s i t e -- near vi l lage of Smelooka i n Seratovregion; Launch booster -- s i x engine rocket with t o t a l boost of20 million horsepower.

May 31: Three week meeting of the executive council of the U.N .World Meteoro logical Organization i n Geneva concluded, a t which18 national representatives (including A . A . Zolotouhin of theUSSR) discussed general ba sis fo r in ter nat ion al use of weathers a t e l l i t e s . Dr. Francis W. Reichelderfer, Chief of the U.S.Weather Bureau, was a U.S. representative.

During May: Army Chemical Corps Biological Laboratories completedprel iminary t e s t s of microorganisms i n a simulated space vacuumat the National Research Corp.: Complete systems studies of the Apollo spacecraft sys-t e m tha t were begun i n November 1960 were completed by th re e in -d u s t r i a l contractors.


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June 1961

June 1: NASA awarded con trac t for developing means of s t e r i l i z i n gspace ve hic les t o Wilmot Castle Co.: AEC and NASA jointly announced plans for KIWI-B Reactor Testa t Jackass Fla ts t e s t s i t e i n Nevada.: NASA announced th a t a two-stage Sa tu rn C - 1 w i l l be used forthe f i r s t t en research and development flights.

June 2: Collapse of a lock i n the Wheeler Dam below Huntsville onthe Tennessee River in te rd ic ted the planned water rou te of thef i r s t Saturn space booster fromMSFC to Cape Canaveral on thebarge Palaemon.

: Deputy Premier Mikhail Khrunichev, Chief Coordinator of th eSo vi et Union's man-in-space program, died i n Moscow.

June 3 : Dr. Edward R . Sharp, former Director of L e w i s ResearchLaboratory (1942-1961), was presented NASA's f i r s t OutstandingLeadership Medal by D r . Hugh I,. Dryden.:Paris of 3 hours 19 minutes, crashed af t e r takeoff from Le Bourgeta i rpor t , k i l l i n g i t s 3-man crew. Maj. Elmer E. Murphy, pilot , hadrecently been awarded the Im i s Ble riot speed trophy f o r recordspeed f l i g h t of 1,302 nrph in January.

USAF' B-58 which established Atlantic crossing record to

: Aerojet-General tes t-f ire d lar ge solid-propellant rocketmotor which generated a half million pounds th ru st, a t Sacramento,California.

June 4 : Northrop disclosed llporous w i n g " plane under development f o rUS&?, modified version of WB-66D based on inhalation concept


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(eliminating up t o 8% of the f r i c t i o n a l drag) proposed by WernerPfenninger. Work on drag redu ct io n by means of incr ea sing thelaminar flow by boundary la ye r s uc tion had been performed a tLaagley Aeronautical Laboratory Fn the l a t e 1930's by Albert E.Doenhoff and I r a H. Abbott.

June 5: Huge Saturn launch complex a t Cape Canaveral dedicated i nbrief ceremoq by NASA, construction of which was supervised bythe Army Corps of Engineers. G i a n t gantry, weighing 2,800 tons andbeing 310 feet high, i s la rg es t movable l a n d s t ructure i n NorthAmerica.: Two p il o ts sealed i n 8x12-foot simulated space cabin f o r17-day round t r i p to th e moon, a t th e School of Aerospace Medi-ci ne , San Antonio, Texas.

June 6: Biomedical r e s u l t s of Mercury-Redstone space f l i g h t ofAlan B. Shepard, Jr. , publicly reported a t a spec ial conferencei n Washington sponsored by NASA, National Insti tutes of Health,and the National Acadeq of Sciences. Shepard's heart reached amaximum of I38 beats per minute during the f l i g h t .

: NASA Agena B Management Meeting was h eld a t W C i t h repre-sentat ives f r o m MSFC, NASA Hq., AFSSD, IMSD, JPL , and GSF'C.: USAF Aerobee-Hi with Cambridge Research Laboratory payloaddesigned to trap space dust, reached 101 m i l e s over WSPG.

June 7: In address a t George Washington Univ ers ity, NASA A d m i n i s -t r a t o r Webb s t a t ed that the e xplor ation of space w a s an importantp a r t o f man's "driving, re st le ss , in sa tia bl e search f o r newknowledge.: Research Analysis Corporation established by U.S. Army a sa non-profit advanced research organization to replace OR0 of

Johns Hopkins University.: AEC-NASA jo in tl y announced plans t o neg otiate w i t h an in-du str ia l team fo r a firs t-p has e contr act f o r the development ofthe NERVA nuclear rocket engine. Team se l ec t ed fo r the NEFtVA p a r tof Pro jec t Rover co ns ist ed of Aerojet-General Corporation and


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June 7: NASA Administrator James E. Webb announced c rea t ion of a newOffice of Programs to be headed by D.D. Wyatt, and the renaming ofthe Office of Administrationunder Albert F. Siepert .June 8: Sma l l Rocket L i f t Device demonstrated p ub li cl y f o r the f i r s tth? a t For t fist is , Virginia, a rocket belt developed by B e l lAerosystems, which l i f t e d H a r o l d M. Graham i n a contr olled fr ee -f l i g h t t o an a l t i tud e of 15 feet and a stand-up landing I50 f e e tfrom his starting point -

: USAF DISCOVERERXXIV fa i l ed t o achieve orbit .: NASA announced accelerated rec ru iti ng of qua lifi ed sc ie n ti st sand engineers a t i t s f i e l d cent er s t o f i l l anticipated manpowerrequirements i n the expanded space exploration program. Dur ing1960, NASA interviewed 3,000 persons on 100 college campuses.: Astronomers of Lick Observatory positioned 36-inch refractortelescope so as to in tersect the path of ECHO I a t i t s predictedpoint of maximum elevation. Pred iction of GSFC was confirmed a texact time and within 10 minutes of arc.

June 9: NASA Press Conference revealed that data from VANGUARD I11.-during November 15-17, 1960) and EXPLORW VI11 (a lso duringNovember 1960) indicated that high-velocity clouds of micro-meteorites moved near th e earth , perhaps i n a meteor stream aroundthe sun. This ner da ta was j u s t revealed from completed analy sis.: ECHO I completed i t s 3,697th o r b i t a f t e r nine months. Whent h i s f i r s t passive cc-mmnlnications "balloon s a te l li te 1 twas launchedon August 12, 1960, it w a s not expected to have a long l i f e span.

June 10: Nation al Bureau of Standards broke ground f o r new researchf a c i l i t y a t Gaithersburg, Maryland, which will include a megapounddead-weight t e s ti ng machine t o provide measurement standa rds f o rmult imil l ion rocket thmst requirements.

: NASA Ad Hoc Task Group, cre ate d on May 25th t o survey launchvehicles and their development schedules p er ti nent t o the manned

June 12: Reuters reported that the U.S. pays about $140 per hour f o r


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use of the Jodrell Bank Observatory i n England, while the USSRpays nothing. S i r Bernard Love11 explained t h a t " th e Americansoccupy the telescope for long periods, where the Russians scarcelyuse i t .": NASA's Incentive Awards Committee determined that D r . HenryJ .A. Reid, Director lh er it us of the Langley Research Center, wouldreceive NASA's Outstanding Leadership Medal.

June 13: NASA engineer te s t p i lo t , Joseph A. Walker, who h i t reco rdal ti tu d e of 169,600 f ee t onMarch 30 an d record speed of 3,307 mphon May 25 i n the X-15, received th e 1961 Octave Chanute award a tIA S meeting i n Los Angeles.

June 13-25: FREEDOM 7 Mercury Capsule displa yed t o approximately750,000 vi st or s a t the Rassegna In ter na tio nal Electronic andNuclear F a i r a t Rome, I t a ly .

June 14: NASA's Plum Brook nuclear t e s t r ea ct or a t Sandusky, Ohio,went c r i t i c a l f o r t he f i r s t time. T h i s re ac to r was begun i nSeptember 1956, and the fa c i l i ty present ly has a s ta f f of 100persons, headed by D r . Theodore M. H a l l m a n .: NASA and the Argentine Comision Nacional de InvestigacionesEspac iales sign ed a memorandum of understanding f o r a cooperativespace science research program using sounding rockets.: Four-stage Ja ve li n f i r e d to 560-mile al ti tu d e from WallopsIsland, te st i ng extens ion of two 75-foot antenna arms on radiocommand a t a l t i tude , a t e s t f l i g h t i n the US-Canadian Alouettes a t e l l i t e development.

June 15: Search for USSR Venus probe " lo s t" si nc e February w a sended a t Jo d re ll Bank radio telesc ope, as vi s i t i ng Sovie t spacesc ie n ti s ts , Alla Masevitch and Jo u l i Khodarev, prepared to leave.The USSR Venus probe w a s l a s t commanded on February 12.

: President Kennedy presented the Robert J . Collier Trophy t o


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June 15: President Kennedy directed the National Aeronautics andSpace Council to undertake a full study of the Nation's commnica-t ions sa te l l i t e policy, s ta ted that leadership i n science andtechnology should be exercised to achieve world-wide communica-t ions through the use of sa te l l i te s a t the ea r l i es t pract icabledate. While no commitments as t o a n operational system should bemade, the Pres iden t s ta ted th a t th e government would "conduct andencourage resea rch and development to advance th e s t a t e of t hea r t and to give maximum assurance of rapid and continuing scien-t i f i c and technological progress.?'

June 16:T t andenberg AFB, California.

USAF DISCOVF3Wl XXV placed into pola r orb i t by Thor-Agena

: NASA Ad Hoc Task Group, established to determine the mainproblems, th e pacing items, and the major decisions required toaccomplish the manned lunar landing mission, reported i t s findings.The d i r ec t ascen t mission was used i n this intensive study withl e s s d e t a i l e d cons iderat ion of the rendezvous method.

June 18: Senate Government Operations' Subcommittee on NationalP o f i c y l h c h i n e r y released report on "Science Organization and thePresident's Office.11 This study recommended that a new off ic e ofscienc e and technology be created i n the Ekecutive Office of thePresident.: Skin div ers parachuted north of Hawaii t o recover th ecapsule of DISCOVERER XXV, which carried samples of common and

r a r e m e t a l s .: Presidium of the USSR Supreme Soviet awarded 7,026 honorsto those associated w i t h the f l i g h t of the spaceship sa te l l i t e ,VOSTOK I: Nikita S. Khrushchev received the Order of Lenin and a

t h i r d Gold Hammer and Sickle Medal f o r ?'guiding the creation anddevelopment of th e rocket industry, science and technologytf which"opened up a new e ra i n the conquest of space"; 7 outstandingsc ie n ti s t s and designers received a second Gold Hammer and SickleMedal; 95 designers, o ff ic ia ls , and technicians received th e t i t l eof Hero of S o c i a l is t Labor; and 6,924 workers, designers , sc ien -t is ts , and technicians received various orders and medals (Orderof Lenin--478 persons; Order of the Red Banner of Labor--l,218;

June 19: NASA announced contract w i t h th e Nationa l Research Corp. t o


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determine whether s i x types of microbes can su st ai n sh u l a t e dexposure t o the space environment inc lud ing u lt ra hi gh vacuum,ul t ra vi ol et radiat ion, and f luct uat in g temperatures.: Yuri Gagarin reported i n Pravda that "1 w a s i n the centerof a whirl of flamesll when h i s VOSTOK spacecra ft re-entered theatmosphere on April 12 . H i s book, Road t o Outer Space, was beingser ia l ized i n Pravda.* Le gis lat ure of th e S ta te of Alabama considered investment~ T $ ii l l ion in esta bl ish ing a Space Research I ns t i tu te a tHuntsville as a joint University of Alabama and Auburn University

center.June 20: Nuclear Vehicles P ro ject Offic e e st ab lis he d a t MSFC,Col. S co t t Fellows (USAF) named a s Chief.June 21: Five-year agreement on s c ie n ti fi c cooperation signed i nMoscow by re pr es en ta tiv es of t he academies of scie nce of the USSR

and Red C h i n a according to Tass.: NASA Administrator Webb accepted one of the three Pres i -dents' Safety Awards for accident prevention during 1960. Hepointed out that NASA's ac t i v i t i es involved te s t f ly ing of ex-perimental ai rc ra ft , unt rie d highly explosive fue ls, high-voltagee lec t r i c i ty , and highly-pressurized a i r and super-heated tempera-tures, i n addition to rocket and spacecraft tests and launching

an d th e operatio n of two nuclear re ac tor s and a cyclotron.: Hypersonic wind tunnel a t Douglas Ai rc ra ft became opera-t io n a l a t E l Segundo, rep ort ed ly th e la r g e s t industry-owned tunneli n the U.S. (36 inches long, 6 inch diameter, capab le of Mach 10).: USAF' Mace-B made 1,100-mile guided f l i g h t , ending i t s R&Dphase.

June 22: Deputy NASA Administrator Dryden sent a n explanatory let tert o Chairman Robert S. Kerr of the Senate Committee on Aeronauticaland Space Sciences on the broad scientific and technological gainst o be achieved i n landing a m a n on the moon and returning h i m t o

moon but ra the r i n the gr eat cooperative national ef fo rt i n thedevelopment of science and technology which i s stimulated by t h i s


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goal." Dr. Dryden pointed out that tithe b i l l i o n s of dol lars re-quired i n this effort are not spent on the moon; they are spent i nthe factories, workshops, and laboratories of our people forsalaries, f o r new materials, and supp lies, which i n turn representincome f o r others ... The national enterprise involved i n the goalof manned lunar landing and return within this decade i s an ac-t i v i t y of c r i t ic a l impact on the future of this nation as an in-d u s t r i a l and m il it ar y power, and as a le ad er of a f r e e world-1t

:5 a t AMR.Mercury-Redstone booster f o r m - 4 f l i g h t was erected on Pad

: K. Kordylewski of the Cracow Observatory i n Poland w a s re-ported to have photographed two cloudlike objects, possiblynatural sa te l l i t e s of the ea rth .June 23: NASB-DOZ) Executive Committee for Joint Lunar Study and aJoin t Lunar Study Program Office establishe d by l e t t e r di re cti vet o work out and define support requirements for the U.S. mannedlunar landing program.

: NASA-USAF-USN X-15 flown t o 3,603 mph (Mach 5.3 ), record fo rmanned aircraft by Major Robert White (USAF), which was fasterthan a mile per second. Losing cabin pressure a t 100,OOO fee t ,White was able t o p i l o t t h e X-15 safely because of ful l-p ress ures u i t . This w a s the f i f t h powered NASA f l i g h t w i t h the XLR-99engine.: Joint study was undertaken by NASA and DOD to make recom-mendations of the launch s i t e t o be used f o r th e manned lunarexplo ration missions; a repor t of this study was completed i n July.:by Cambridge Research Laboratory w i t h micrometeorite countingpayload.

Nike-Cajun sounding rocket fired from Eglin Gulf t e s t range

: Director of MSFC directed that further engineering work on .Saturn C-2 conf igurat ion would be discontinued, and t h a t e f f o r t swould be applied to cl ar i f i ca t io n of the Saturn C-3 and Novaconcepts.: TIROS I1 completed seven months in orbi t , s t i l l providing

June 24: Mercury capsule was modified f o r MR-4 f l i g h t , w i t h observa-ti on window rep lac ing two viewports and w i t h improved manual con-trol system.


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June 26: In an interview i n U.S. News and World Report, NASA Admin-is tr a to r Webb sta ted t ha t Ifthe kind of overa l l space ef fo rt th atPresident Kennedy has recommended ... w i l l put us there (on themoon) f irs t ." This achievement, co st in g between $20 and $40bill ion, "probably toward the $20 bi ll io n le ve l ... w i l l be mostvaluable i n oth er pa r t s of our economy.I1 Mr. Webb sa id tha t t heUSSR d id have a n advantage i n being ab le f i r s t t o o rb i t a mul ti -manned spacecraft around the earth and a l so around t h e moon.

: A N a v y 'YFNB barge was obtained by NASA to serve as a re-placement f o r the Palaemon i n transporting of the Saturn boostert o Cape Canaveral.

June 27: Senate Aeronautical and Space Sciences Committee unani-mously approved th e Admini str at ion 's $1,782,300,000 budget f o rNASA i n FY 1962.:on the rotation speed of the planet Venus and the AstronomicalU n i t , and suggested th a t the Sov iet s c i e n t i s t s may have been in-fluenced by earlier MIT st udi es (1958). Completion of extens iverad ar st udi es of Venus by JPL Goldstone, he submitted, providedmore accurate information. The dif fe ri ng fig ur es as reported a re :

Eberhardt Rechtin of JPL questioned th e Soviet ca lculatio ns

USSR (1961)--9 to 11days rotation--A.U. 92,812,797 milesJPL (1961) --c. 225 days rotation--A.U. 92,956,000 miles: Eight-engine static t e s t of Saturn SA-T2 of 29.9 secondsduration successful a t MSFC.

June 28: F i r s t showing of new S ov ie t a i r c r a f t i n f l i g h t r eh ear sa l f o ran a i r show on July 9 i n Moscow ( f i r s t major a i r show si nc e 1956),one a large delta-wing j e t bomber perhaps comparable t o the B-58,as w e l l as a turboprop B e a r Tu-ll4 carrying missiles.

June 28 - July 21: A I l P l an n i n g Task Force of the National Academy

June 29: F i r s t l aunching of th ree ac t ive sa te l l i t e s i n one shot, andthe f i r s t launching of a s a t e l l i t e w i t h nucle ar power, when a


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Thor-Able-Star launched TRANSIT IV-A (equipped with a n atomicradioisotope-powered b a tt e ry of th e SNAP s e r i e s ) , and two accom-panying s a t e l l i t e s , I N J U N and GREB 111, from AMR. TRANSIT Iv i sforerunner of a navigation sa t e l l i t e system, while INJUN gathersdata on the radia t ion be l t s , and GREB I11 gathers data on X-rayradiation from the sun.

: NASA awarded contract to Pratt and Whitney for developmentof space radiators and condensors f o r th e L e w i s Research Center.

June 30:- 5 ) from Wallops Station, third stage d i d not ign i te and theIn Scout launching of micrometeorite counter s a t e l l i t evehicle was destroyed.: D r . Henry J . E . Reid, senior s taf f assoc iate and former

Director of th e Langley Research Center, re ti r ed a f t e r over fo urdecades of government se rv ic e. He began as a junior engineer a tLangley i n April 1921, became Direc to r i n 1926, i n which capacityhe served f o r 34 years.: Navy announced t h a t I N J U N and GREB s a t e l l i t e s p la ce d i norb i t w i t h TRANSIT IV-A had not separated and were thus notfunctioning a t full efficiency.

During June: Na tio na l Academy of Sciences e st ab li sh ed the GeophysicsResearch Board (GRB) i n 1960 i n response t o a request from theInte rnat iona l Council of S ci en ti fi c Unions ( I C S U ) . B y June 1961,i t had four ac t ive panels t o cons ider speci f ic in ter na t io na lpr o-grams: World Magnetic Survey (WMS); In te rn at io na l Year of th e QuietSun (IQSY); In te rn at io na l Exchange of S ci e n ti f ic Data; and Sol idEarth Problems.c *: D r . von K a r m a n and some of his associates organized theAstronau tics Foundation, Inc., i n Washington, D.C., t o enable U.S.individuals and corporations to support through this mn -p ro f i tFoundation various cooperative int ern ati on al ac t i vi t i es .

: Boeing began mo dific ation of B-52 t o ca rr y a l o f t andrelease the Dyna-Soar manned space glider.: Army Redstone missile completed i t s eight-year mili tary


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July 1961

July 1: Weather Bureau announced that cloud cover p,stures taken byTIROS I went on public sale at the National Weather Records Center,Asheville, N.C .

: T h e Space Detection and Tracking Systems (SPADATS) beganN O W operations as scheduled, a system which "det ect s, tr acksand id en t i f i e s manmade objects in space and consolidates and d i s -plays information regarding such objects.": F i r s t anniversary of K3FC 88 a NASA Center, and NASA

Administrator Webb vi si te d the Mmtsville f a c i l i t y .: U SA F reorganized i t s Hq. Staff t o re fl ec t cre at ion of AirForce Systems Conmmxl (AFSC), which made the Deputy Chief of Stafffor Development, L t . Gen. Roscoe C. Wilson, Deputy Chief of Stafffor Research and Technology.

July 5 : NASA amounced tmwdlng of study contract of Douglas Air-c r a f t Co. f o r the development of o r b i t a l placement techniques andengineering design for Project Rebound inf la ta ble spheres .: NASA awded contract wi th Boeing t o inve stigate the develop-ment of l ar ge Saturn-Nova cl as s rocke ts employing different com-binations of li qu ld or so l id types of fuel.: Israel fi re d a multi-stage solid- prop ellant Shavit (Meteor)I1 rocket t o an a l t i tud e of 80 kilometers, releasing a sodium-cloud meteorological payload.: Major Gagarin, speaking in H e l s i n k i , Finland, stated thatthe USSR would launch another manned space vehicle sametime before

July 7: USAF DISCOVERER 3MvI orbited from Vandenberg AFB carryinginstrument c apsule t o be recovered af te r 32 polar orbits and 4days, O f the 25 previous Discoverers, 17 had gone in to o r b it ~IXI


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15 carr ied recovery capsu les, of which 5 had been recovered.: The second s t a t i c f i r i n g of th e Saturn SA-T2 t e s t booster

w a s successfully completed at EFC in an eight-engine t e s t of 119seconds duration.: A t l a s E launched from Cape Canaveral established distanceflight record of 9,050 miles, i t s nose cone landing 1,000 milessoutheast of Cape Town, So. Africa.

July 9: Massive Soviet air show over Tushino a i rpo r t i n Moscow, onSoviet Air Force Day, which demonstrated that USSR had continueddevelopment of all classes of mi l i t ary a i rc raf t .: Capsule of DISCOVERER XXVI snatched a t 15,000 feet duringfi na l descent af te r 32 polar orbi t s . Mdair recovery by C-119,Capt. Jack Wilson (USAF) as pilot , was fourth s o performed. Cap-sul e ca rri ed undisclosed payload.: National Science Foundation released forecast of the Nation'sscience needs f o r the nex t decade, which pre dic ted th a t U.S. wouldneed nearly twice as many s c i en t i s t s in 1970 (168,000) as today(87,000).: Reported that Navy had been launching telephone poles withrocket boost i n t e s t of fl oa ti n g launching requirements.

Ju ly 10: National Science Foundation policy document entitledInvesting in Scientif ic Progress w a s released, which showed dollarand manpower investments needed by U.S. i n decade 1960-1970 t oensure fulfi llme nt of the natio n's research ca pa bil itie s.

July 11: NASA announced that a complete F-1 engine had begun aser ies of s t a t i c t e s t f i r in g s a t Edwards Rocket Test Center,California.

July 11-12: Cosmonaut Gagarin visited E n g l a n d .

July 12 : MIDAS I11 (Missi le Defense A l a r m System) launched into


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polar orbi t from PMR, with record 1,850-mile-high orbit and w a sheaviest U.S. s a t e l l i t e launched t o dat e. Second-stage Agena Bw a s restarted at apogee of f i r s t orb i t .: Jet Propulsion Laboratory smounced that construction w a ~underway on the f i r s t l ar ge Space Simulator i n the U.S. capableof t es ti n g fu ll- sc al e spacecraft of th e Ranger and Mariner classeswith the three primary space effects -- solar radia t ion, coldspace heat sink, and a high vacuum equivalent t o a b u t one p a r t i na b i l l i o n (l/l,OOO,OOO,OOO) of the atmospheric pressure on theear th.

July 13-14: Two Nike-Cajun rocket s launched Univ. of New H a m p s h i r e -GSFC payloads from NASA Wallops Station.

July 14: Advanced Polaris f i red 1,600 miles down AMR with al l- iner-t i a l guidance system.July 16: Vice President Johnson announced that the National Aero-nautics and Space Council had reached unanimous agreement on thenational communications satellite policy, and unspecified recom-mendation transm itted t o Presiden t Kennedy.

July 17: NASA announced selection of RCA Astro-Electronics Divisiont o b u i l d seven capsules f o r experimental ion propulsion engines.: A Joint Tenancy Agreement for NASA and DOD use of theAtlantic Missile Range w a s signed by Commander, AMR and the D i -rector of Launch Operations (NASA).

July 18: IAF (F&&ation Aeronautique Internationale) officiallyrecognized th e f i r s t space fl ig h t records claimed by USSR andthe US:

Y u r i G a g a r i n (April 12 , 1961): dura tion in orb i t a lf l i g h t --- 108 minutes; greatest al t i t ud e i n ea rtho r b i t a l f l i g h t --- 203 miles; greatest mass l i f t e dl b s .

July 18-20: NASA-Industry Apollo Technica l Conference held i nWashington, D. C . , which assembled Apollo requirements with par-


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t ic ip at io n of Space Task Group, re pre sen tat ive s of othe r NASACenters, and the three Apollo study contractors -- General Dy-namics/Astronautic