50 Years Ago: X-15 speed record, MA-8 news
X-15 Number 1.
Fifty years ago the X-15 program was still in full swing as NASA
research manned craft control in the upper thin atmosphere, and the
fringes of space. On June 27, 1962 X-15 pilot Joe Walker flew X-15
number 1 to an altitude of 120,000 feet. While firing the rocket motor
on his way to that altitude, he managed to fly the craft at Mach 6.09
(4159 mph) while he passed the altitude of 96,000 feet. After casually
managing to make this new record speed, Walker continued with his
planned tests of steep angle re-entry through the atmosphere.
X-15 pilot Joe Walker.
The height flown in the mission was not the highest. NASA announced on
the same day that a previous mission on June 21 had reached the altitude
of 247,000 feet. That flight was done by NASA pilot Robert White in
X-15 number 3. As the X-15 program continued, new records were being set
and great research completed.
Also on this day back in 1962, NASA made an announcement about the next
Mercury manned mission. Designated MA-8, the plan was to have the
Mercury craft piloted in at least three, and perhaps up to six orbits.
The astronaut selected for this mission would be Navy Commander Walter
M. Schirra, Jr.
Walter M. Schirra, Jr. "Wally"
Wally Schirra came from Hackensack, New Jersey, and was born into a
family deeply involved in aviation. His father had earned his pilot
wings during World War 1 in Canada. Both parents became "Barnstormers"
between the world wars and entertained crowds with their amazing skills.
His mother even did the "wing-walking" stunts! By the time he was 15,
Wally could fly his father's plane.
Schirra (right) studies the MA-8 operation plan with Chris Kraft
(left). Kraft would be the Mission Control Flight Director during the
MA-8 mission.
NASA publicity picture of Walter Schirra in Mercury spacesuit. The
suit cooling unit is attached. A model of the Mercury spacecraft and
escape tower is posed to the right.
The backup pilot assigned to MA-8 was astronaut L. Gordon Cooper, a
Major in the US Air Force. He had been a test pilot at Edwards AF Base
testing the F-102 and F-106 jet combat aircraft.
L. Gordon Cooper.
50 Years Ago: TIROS keeps hunting Hurricanes
TIROS Satellite
When someone asks you why we should spend money on the space program,
start by telling them about TIROS. Fifty years ago, as our nation
watched television breathlessly for the next manned space launches, the
benefits of being able to launch satellites was paying off large
dividends. On June 19 NASA launched the TIROS 5 satellite into orbit.
The pictures coming from TIROS 4 had been degrading since the middle of
June, and only some of its visual data was useful for forecasting. TIROS
5 was expected to relieve the aging TIROS 4 and start helping the
nation prepare for the current hurricane season.
TIROS cloud cover map made from TIROS TV imaging.
On June 15, 1962, The US Weather Bureau informed the news agencies that
they believed the formation of the first hurricane of the 1962 season
would be detected by "one or all of its battery of ships, planes, radar
and TIROS weather satellites." In 1961, TIROS 3 had spied hurricane
Esther in the Atlantic Ocean just as it was forming. The total 1961
count of watching storms from space had been 5 hurricanes and 1 tropical
storm in the Atlantic, and 11 hurricanes and typhoons plus 1 tropical
storm in the Pacific. By tracking these storms from space better than
storms had ever been tracked before, many lives were saved, property
prepared for the storms, and ships at sea diverted.
Thor-Able 4th from left, to right side of Gemini-Titan. I took this
picture of NASA's Kennedy Space Center Visitor Center Rocket Park on my
last trip.
TIROS 5 was sent into space on the Thor-Able rocket from pad LC-17A just
as TIROS 4 began experiencing failures. Unfortunately the launch placed
the satellite into an elliptical orbit instead of a circular one;
nevertheless the pictures from TIROS 5 were excellent at first. TIROS 5
would continue to work for 161 days.
When you consider all the hurricanes and ocean storms that have occurred
over the last 50 years, that were tracked and watched from these remote
stations in outer space, you begin to realize just how much damage and
loss of life could have hit our nation without them. Think also of all
the weather forecasting that has increased crop production as well as
saved them and you begin to see the enormity of what the space weather
satellites have achieved.
By Mark Daymont
Space Center Educator
Spacerubble.blogspot.com
