May 17 1962
From The Space Library
NASA postponed MA-7 flight attempt until at least May 22, 1962, because of modification of altitude-sensing instrumentation in the parachute deployment system. Project Mercury Astronaut M. Scott Carpenter was pronounced in "excellent condition" for his orbital flight after a 5-hour physical examination.
In an address to the Duke University Symposium on "Regional Implications of Space Research," NASA Administrator James E. Webb stated: "I believe the regional approach is sound. It permits a number of universities to pool resources for research and to plan complementary programs directed to the needs of the region. Industry, too, has much to gain from regional cooperation . . . beginning, more and more, to look to the universities of their region for the most important resources of the age—ideas, scientific brainpower, and advanced technological skill and experience.
"It is not a question today of whether a region can already qualify. . . . The question is whether the region is creatively doing what it can to equip its citizens to serve their area and their Nation in a period when our prosperity and our very existence as a free people depend on scientific and technological leader- ship. . ."
First of a series of 80 rocket probes to determine wind patterns over Cape Canaveral initiated by NASA with launch of a single-stage Nike to 80,000 ft. where it laid down a white smoke screen for subsequent photographic Study.
NASA announced that John Stack, Director of Aeronautical Research, would retire June 1 after 34 years of Federal service with NACA and NASA. No successor was announced. Mr. John Stack achieved world-wide eminence for his wind-tunnel research and conception of the rocket airplane as a research tool, beginning with the X-1 and the D-558, and culminating with the X-15. He was awarded the Collier Trophy in 1951 for solution of the transonic wind tunnel problem. In 1947, he shared the Collier Trophy with Maj. Charles Yeager and Lawrence D. Bell for the X-1 which made the first flight through the speed of sound. Stack also received many other awards, including the Sylvanus Albert Reed Award of the IAS and the annual medal of the Swedish Society of Engineers. He was a fellow of the IAS and the Royal Aeronautical Society (England).
In a speech to the American Ordnance Association, Dr. Glenn Seaborg, AEC Chairman, said that nuclear energy provided the most feasible means of accomplishing long voyages in space: "To perform long-range, manned missions, it is essential that we increase the specific impulse (amount of thrust per pound of propellant) of the propulsion system well beyond the values that can be achieved with chemical combustion. . . ." He stated that a hydrogen-fluorine rocket system, now in research phase, can provide up to approximately 475-lbs. thrust per pound of propellant (keroSene-oxygen-300 lbs.). A nuclear rocket, which utilizes hydrogen (through its heat exchanger system) could provide highest specific impulse of 800 and above. He reviewed progress of Project Rover and Nerva.
USAF C-130 transport en route with emergency recovery unit for scheduled Mercury MA-7 launching crashed west of Nairobi, Kenya. Thirteen airmen were killed.
NASA announced that Lockheed Missiles and Space Company had been selected for negotiation of a contract for the design, development, fabrication, and testing of the Rift (reactor-in-flight-test) stage. The Rift vehicle is intended to flight test the Nerva (nuclear engine for rocket vehicle application) being developed jointly by NASA and AEC.
USAF announced award of a supplemental contract to General Dynamics, San Diego, for work on a global tracking network (CLOTRAC) ground system.
Reported that White House had endorsed a proposal to abolish the five-man AEC, replacing the Commission with a single administrator.
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