May 10 1962
From The Space Library
MIT scientists, headed by Prof. Louis Smullin, fired 13 separate bursts of light (using a ruby crystal maser) through 12-inch telescope at smooth area of the moon, then "caught" the reflection seconds later in a 48-inch telescope. Ruby crystal rod was about six inches long and the red light would have been visible on the moon. Technique demonstrated was hailed as promising "a means of delivering power over vast distances to orbiting satellites." Attempt to launch Anna geodetic satellite by Thor-Able-Star rocket was unsuccessful.
In address at dedication of the NASA Space Exhibit at the Seattle World's Fair, Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson said that "our entire space program now costs each American about 30 cents a week. During the next few years we plan to spend about 50 cents a week per person on space.
"However, our space program and its by-products will stimulate a sharp increase in the nation's productive output which in turn will increase our gross national product, our income, and the Federal Government's intake . . .
". . . we are hopeful of achieving fruitful cooperation with the Soviet Union in such fields as communications, weather forecasting, mapping the earth's magnetic fields and space medicine.
"We feel that cooperation in outer space may establish a firm basis for greater mutual understanding—which in turn will help in our efforts to obtain disarmament . . .
"The responsibility to cooperate also lies heavily on the other great space power—the Soviet Union. I am able to tell you in a spirit of cautious optimism that the Soviet Union appears to realize that—in outer space, at least—there may be something to be gained by cooperating with the rest of humanity." In speech to the Oregon Department of Planning and Development, NASA Administrator James E. Webb pointed out that "one of the dominant features of our age is the short time lag between scientific discovery and practical applications." The practical benefits of the U.S. space program would, he said, be early derived in three major ways: (1) satellites will be put to work on a global basis to report the weather, transmit messages and worldwide television programs, and to serve as electronic lighthouses in the sky; (2) in pushing our space program, we are making many technological advances which can be utilized to improve industrial processes and raise our standard of living; and (3) the money we spend on space activities stimulates business in general and our industrial pioneering in particular.
House Science anal Astronautics Committee authorized record $3.7 billion for NASA in FY 1963, eating $116 million from NASA’s request.
Deputy Secretary of Defense Roswell Gilpatric, at Wilton, Conn., stated that peaceful uses of outer space was still the National goal but that the U.S. would be "ill-advised if we did not hedge our bets." He said that a satellite interception system would get serious attention if another nation was developing such a capability. "We ought to be ready," he said in a press conference, "to anticipate the ability of the Soviets at some time to use space offensively." Premier Nikita Khrushchev said in speech to transport workers that despite, the claims of American scientists no U.S. rocket has hit the moon: "The Americans have tried several t hues to hit the moon with their rockets. They have proclaimed for all the world to hear that they had launched rockets to the moon, but they missed every time. The Soviet pennant on the moon has been awaiting an American one for a long time but in vain and is becoming lonesome." In answering Premier Khrushchev, Dr. William Pickering, Director of JPL stated: "On April 26, at 4:47.50 AM, Pacific standard tune, RANGER IV was tracked by the Goldstone receiver is it passed the leading edge of the moon. At 4:49.53 it crashed on the moon at a lunar longitude of 229.5 degrees East and lunar latitude of 15.5 degrees South." After 64 hours of tracking, the trajectory of RANGER IV was precisely known and it was only 110 miles from the surface when it vanished behind the moon.
NASA X-15 pilot, Joseph Walker, said that film taken during recent record altitude flight of 246,700 feet showed five or six mysterious objects. Other space pilots on the panel at the National Conference on the Peaceful Uses of Space at Seattle, all of whom have flown above 100,000 feet., were Cdr. Malcolm Ross (USNR), Capt. Joseph Kittinger (USAF), Col. David Simons (USAF), Neil A. Armstrong (NASA), Cdr. Forrest S. Petersen (USN), Maj. Robert M. White (USAF), and Lt. Col. John H. Glenn (USMC).
In session on the impact of space exploration on society at the Second Conference on the Peaceful Uses of Space, President Lee Du-Bridge of the California Institute of Technology said that man is limited as a butterfly: "Man is out of his cocoon [in space] . . . his life span is too short to get very far from home." DuBridge pointed out that a flight to the nearest star would take at least 40,000 years and that a trip to Mars at present speeds would take six months, "but months would run into years even reaching other planets of the earth's system. We are not going to accomplish space travel except to nearby planets for many generations to come." In talk at National Conference on Peaceful Uses of Space, William H. Meekling, RAND Corp. economist, stated that space-age economic payoffs are being exaggerated: "The exploration of space is a very exciting affair, indeed If glamour displaces science in guiding national policy, however, the results may be disappointing. . .
"A communications satellite system that charges prices not very much different from present prices and that must be constantly subsidized and protected from competition, is not much of an accomplishment. . . .
"How much is it worth . . . to have improved weather forecasts? In the absence of a market in which weather forecasts or weather information is sold, it is nearly impossible to answer such questions. . . .
"Who is it in foreign nations that is impressed by our space accomplishments? How are their attitudes changed as a consequence? How does that change in behavior affect me as a citizen of the United States? . . ."
In address to the House of Representatives, Congressman Emilio Q. Daddario pointed to a need for a common patent policy for inventions arising out of research and development financed by Federal funds and cited President Kennedy's statement at his press conference the day before.
DOD announced that Perkin-Elmer Corp. was completing a new 36-inch airborne telescope with 3-5 times as much resolution as any telescope on the ground. New instrument should finally answer the speculation about the so-called canals on Mars, the mysterious red spot on Jupiter, and perhaps the hidden surface of Venus. "This historic enterprise is only one more step forward, leading to large telescopes orbiting the earth in satellites and eventually constructed on the moon." Sparrow IH fired from an F4H-1 scored a direct hit in head-on attack on a Regulus II missile while both were at supersonic speed. The interception, made in Pt. Mugu test range, was first successful attack made by an air-launched weapon on a surface-launched guided missile.
Plans of a non-profit Washington Planetarium and Space Center Corp. were reported at the National Capital Planning Commission by Father Francis J. Heyden, S.J., of Georgetown University Observatory. They called for the construction of a $1.5 million, 85-foot-diameter dome on Daingerfield Island, south of the Washington National Airport. The planetarium would "provide the public with a much needed space education facility" and would be operated by the National Park Service.
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