Feb 12 1963
From The Space Library
NASA announced delay from a previously planned April launching data of Astronaut Leroy Gordon Cooper’s MA-9 orbital space flight, because of decision to rewire Mercury-Atlas flight control system. Rescheduled date of flight was not given, but NASA Manned Spacecraft Center’s Chief of Manned Flight Operations, Walter C. Williams, estimated delay would be at least three weeks--putting launch date no earlier than mid-May. (MSC Release 63-26; Wash. Eve. Star, 2/13/63)
Dr. Albert J. Kelley, Director of Electronics and Control in NASA Office of Advanced Research and Technology, said problem of communications blackout during manned spacecraft re-entry may be solved by spraying water from the spacecraft as it re-enters the earth’s atmosphere. Kelley told NASA-Industry Program Plans Conference that experiments conducted at NASA Langley Research Center had found that water suppressed ionized plasma, which creates shield around re-entering spacecraft and blocks radio communications. (AP, Wash. Post, 2/13/63, A6)
NASA selected Marion Power Shovel Co. to design and build crawler- transport vehicle for lift and transporting three-stage Saturn V launch vehicle mated to Apollo lunar spacecraft and associated launch equipment. Vehicle would be required to haul the 400-ft.-high, 12-million-lb. assembly a distance of a little more than two miles-keeping it within 1/10 of a degree of true level-and deposit it on Merritt Island (Fla.) launch pad. Crawler would weigh 5.5 million lbs. and would measure 130-ft. long, 115-ft. wide, and 20-ft. high. Plans called for Saturn V - Apollo to be assembled in Vertical Assembly Building at NASA Launch Operations Center’s Complex 39, then transported via the crawler to launch pad. NASA planned to buy two crawlers at cost of $47-55 million each. (NASA Release 63-27; MSC Release 63-24)
Because of weather conditions at Cape Canaveral, launching of Syncom communications satellite was postponed from Feb. 13 to Feb. 14. (UPI, Wash. Post, 2/13/63, A6)
NASA announced it had awarded letter contract to RCA Astro-Electronics Div. for fabrication and test of additional Tiros weather satellites; negotiations of final contract were continuing for total purchase of seven satellite - three R&D type, two operational, and two backup. Before this order, eight Tiros satellites had been funded in R&D phase of the program; six had been placed in orbit since April 1960 and two would be launched in 1963. (NASA Release 63-29)
Mr. Oran W. Nicks, NASA Director of Lunar and Planetary Programs, told NASA-Industry Program Plans Conference that “we anticipate the development of spacecraft capable of trips to Jupiter, Saturn, and Pluto in the 1970’s.” Dr. Joseph Shea, Deputy Director for Systems, NASA Office of Manned Space Flight, indicated manned exploration of Mars might not be attempted before the 1980’s: “We consider Mars to be the most likely choice for our first [manned planetary] attempt, since its environment appears to be less hostile than that of Venus. It is also more likely to have some form of life, and is therefore of greater scientific interest.” (Wash. Eve. Star,2/12/63, A3)
NASA’s concern with reliability was stressed at NASA-Industry Program Plans Conference by Edgar M. Cortright, Deputy Director of NASA Office of Space Sciences. “We must now develop techniques of realizing nearly 100 percent reliability from the outset on our space projects . . . . This point of view is widely shared within the Department of Defense, and you may expect a coordinated attack on this most difficult problem.” (Wash. Eve. Star, 2/12/63, A3)
Soviet Power Minister Pyotr Neporozhni told news conference that two nuclear-powered stations for generating electricity would begin operating this year. Considered experimental, the stations would be located at Beloyarsk (in Ural Mountains) and at Voronezh (south of Moscow). (AP, Wash. Post, 2/13/63. A19)
Chief Justice Earl Warren, speaking at ceremony commemorating 75th anniversary of Georgia Tech, Atlanta, said that law had not kept pace with science and warned that, if science were to serve peaceful purposes of mankind, it “must be given a peaceful setting in both domestic and world law.” Warren said the Space Age posed many new world legal problems that man must solve or be faced with danger of self-destruction. “How high into space over his property does the right of an individual go? Does flight over national territory violate the right of a nation to the space above it? Can the privacy of our homes and offices be invaded by the use of electronic instruments that are far removed from the property? These are only a few of the problems which you men of science pose to us whose vocation it is to protect human life, human rights, and human property.” (UPI, Wash. Post, 2/13/63, A6)
S. Fred Singer, Director of National Weather Satellite Center, told Metropolitan Board of Trade, Washington, that weather satellites would probably make possible prediction of weather trends by as much as a year. By photographing cloud formations and measuring moisture content of atmosphere, satellites should enable meteorologists to discover conditions causing weather trends. (Wash. Post, 2/13 163, A4)
Eight professors of physics and geology at MIT, Harvard, and Princeton signed statement urging public to support U.S. nuclear disarmament position: “Our future depends on controlling the spread of weapons of mass destruction. The U.S. proposal includes both detection stations and on-site inspections. These together can identify almost all nuclear explosions. Only some small underground tests might go unidentified. “We believe that nothing can be learned from these small underground tests which can upset the balance of power. “In the long term, a ‘no-test ban’ policy would result in a great loss of national security. By contrast the U.S. proposal realistically offers us a practical first step forward.” (AP, Wash. Post.2/13/63, A19)
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