Scrapbook 1: Nov 1961–Jan 1962 — Enos, John Glenn, UK rockets, moon predictions, Telstar

MILES AWAY . . . pathfinder Enos relaxes in his “couch” before the blast-off yesterday

AMERICA last night named her No. 1 choice for her first MANNED orbital Space flight.

He is LIEUTENANT-COLONEL JOHN GLENN, 39, of the US Marines. His “backup man,” or stand-by, will be Commander M. Scott Carpenter, of the US Navy.

The first choice for the second manned orbital Space flight, said Mr. Robert Gilruth, Director of the man-in-Space project, would be Major Donald Slayton, with Commander Walter Schirra as his stand-in.

This leaves out America’s first two astronauts—Commander Alan Shepard and Captain Virgil Grissom—who both made straight-up-and-down flights earlier this year.

Shepard was named yesterday as “technical adviser” for the Glenn-Carpenter team. Grissom will play the same role on flight No. 2.

Mr. Gilruth said the selections did not necessarily mean that there would not be further tests with animals before manned flights.

But, he said, he would be “ready to go” on a manned flight before the end of the year.

Glenn, who is married, with two children, is the oldest of the seven selected astronauts.

He joined the Marines in 1943 and flew fifty-nine combat missions in World War II, mainly in the Pacific.

He has more than 5,100 hours of flying time, and has been awarded the distinguished Flying Cross five times.

“I am very happy about this choice of team,” he said yesterday. “Scott and I work well together.”

JOHN GLENN, 40-year-old lieut.-colonel in the U.S. Marines, was chosen last night as the first American to be sent into orbit. He will follow the trail-blazing chimpanzee Enos, who circled the earth twice yesterday. But the announcement does not necessarily mean a manned flight this year.

Colonel Glenn . . . No. 1 choice

SCIENTISTS will begin to design a British-manned Spaceship in the New Year under a big shake-up in the nation’s Space research programme.

The shake-up has been ordered by Mr. Peter Thorneycroft, the Minister of Aviation. Beginning on January 1 the country’s Space research resources will be streamlined under the overall direction of the Royal Aircraft Establishment at Farnborough, Hants.

Main aim is to prepare Britain’s part in the new European Space Research Organisation (ESRO) and its counterpart, the European Launcher Development Organisation (ELDO).

Cost

Britain’s contribution to ESRO and ELDO will cost the taxpayer an estimated £25,000,000 over the next five years.

The Royal Aircraft Establishment will have three main units under the reshuffle:

• The Space Development Department. This will be headed by Dr. Albert Lines, 47, a soft-spoken six-footer who is one of the country’s top radar specialists.

The main job of the department will be to advance Britain’s highly successful Black Knight and Skylark research rockets and to ensure that Blue Streak is properly used as the main booster for the ESRO programme.

• The Weapons Department. In charge will be Dr. Dennis John (“Joe”) Lyons, a leading rocket specialist. He will develop new air-to-air, air-to-ground and ground-to-air rockets.

• The Instrumentation and Ranges Department. This will be headed by ruddy-cheeked Dr. Robert Pye, who will control Britain’s four rocket test ranges.

Forward

Yesterday, Sir Bernard Lovell, director of Jodrell Bank radio astronomy station, gave his Space predictions for 1962.

He said: “I predict that 1962 will be a year when instruments will be landed on the moon’s surface. This will be a very exciting step forward.”

U.S. ON MOON BY 1965

• America is planning to build a 3,000-ton Spaceship which will put a man on the Moon by 1965, Dr. Wernher von Braun, the top US rocket expert, said yesterday.

• The power plant will be a boosted-up version of the Saturn rocket—first launched last October.

• Cost of the project—which will put America level with the Russians in the Moon race—will be £890,000,000.

Cape Canaveral, Florida, Monday

AMERICA’S man-in-orbit shot, scheduled for Wednesday, has been put off until Saturday.

Early today, faults were found in the breathing apparatus of the Spaceship in which Marine Colonel John Glenn is due to make three orbits of the Earth.

At first, the shot was postponed for twenty-four hours. Then it was decided to make a thorough check of the system feeding oxygen to Colonel Glenn’s Spacesuit.

Later, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration announced that the launching was scheduled for “not earlier than Saturday.”

The official announcement said this would give engineers time to correct “technical difficulties.”

Strain

Another reason for the extra delay is that on Friday the Americans plan to launch a gold-plated Ranger III robot Spaceship on a sixty-six-hour trip to the Moon.

This shot is so complex that instruments here cannot handle both Ranger and Glenn on the same day.

The new setbacks are bound to put a big strain on 40-year-old Glenn.

But he certainly showed no sign of it when I saw him walking about the Cape in his Spacesuit this afternoon, his portable air-conditioning unit tucked under his arm.

Asked how he felt, he grinned through his helmet face-piece and replied: “I feel fine.”

Glenn, father of two, is unlikely to go home to his family while the Spaceship Friendship 7 is being got ready for its 18,000 mph flight.

It is planned to bring the Spaceship safely down in the Atlantic south-east of Bermuda.

NEW RUSSIAN MOON SHOT?

HEAVY traffic on Russia’s radio frequency for space satellites yesterday—reported by West Germany’s Bochum laboratory—started speculation on a new moon shot.

The frequency had been silent for eight days.

Washington, Wednesday.

THE first live Space TV programme may be flashed from America to Britain soon.

It will almost certainly feature President Kennedy with a “hands across Space” message for British firesides.

And, if all goes well, Americans will see Prime Minister Macmillan returning the compliment.

Bounce

Such a venture is planned by the giant American Telephone and Telegraph Company in a £10,000,000 attempt to flash the first live TV programme across the Atlantic by “bouncing” signals off satellite.

The company plans to put up its first TV satellite—the Telestar—in April or May. It will weigh 125lb., be crammed with electronic gear and will orbit at between 600 and 3,000 miles.

The Telestar will be able to transmit for about ten minutes to London. Britain’s receiving station, now being erected by the Post Office in Cornwall, will be ready in the spring.

Costs

The AT and T Company with its eye on the future, is carrying all costs of the Telestar experiment, including buying the launching rockets from the American Government and paying launching costs.

But if Telestar should be a success, then it will start looking for profits.

Is it wise that a new field of Space communications should be farmed out to a private company? Doubts are being voiced in the US Congress.

LAST NIGHT the BBC confirmed that transatlantic TV experiments will be conducted by America with Post Office help.