astronautix.com | September 20 |
Composition research. Launched at 1003 local time. Reached 58.6 km.
Biological research. Launched at 0931 local time. Reached 70.8 km. USAF made first successful recovery of animals from a rocket flight when an instrumented monkey (Yorick aka Albert VI) and 11 mice survived an Aerobee flight to an altitude of 70.8 km from Holloman AFB.
NACA flight 11. Brief engine power only; flight aborted, unspecified engine malfunction. References: 49 , 97 .
First Jupiter C (a three-stage ABMA-JPL Redstone missile) was launched at Cape Canaveral, Fla., attained an altitude of 1096 km and traveled 5,300 km downrange. The first three-stage re-entry missile, was fired at 0145 hours EST from AMR. This missile attained an estimated range of 3,335 ST miles, an altitude of 682 ST miles, and reached Mach 18 velocity. The primary objective of the firing was the propulsion and separation tart of a multi-stage vehicle. The missile was a four-stage configuration with the last stage inactive. The first stage was an elongated Redstone missile, the second and third stages were up of 11 and 3 six-inch scaled SERGEANT rockets, respectively. The payload consisted of approximately 20 pounds of instrumentation attached to the inactive fourth stage. The flight was successful and the sequence of operations occurred as programmed. This vehicle could have obtained sufficient velocity to place it in orbit, if the last stage had been activated. First deep penetration of space. Serial number coding for early Redstones and related vehicles used the following substitution cipher: 1234567890 = HUNTSVILLEX References: 439 .
Complete USAF Thor IRBM first successfully launched from Cape Canaveral. Dummy Warhead sent to 1800 km range.
President John F. Kennedy, during an address before the United Nations General Assembly, suggested the possibility of Russian-American "cooperation" in space. Though not proposing any specific program, Kennedy stated that, "in a field where the United States and the Soviet Union have a special capacity - the field of space - there is room for new cooperation, for further joint efforts in the regulation and exploration of space. I include among these possibilities," he said, "a joint expedition to the moon. . . . Surely we should explore whether the scientists and astronauts of our two countries - indeed, of all the world - cannot work together in the conquest of space, sending some day in this decade to the moon, not the representatives of a single nation, but the representatives of all humanity." Additional Details: President Kennedy suggested Russian-American cooperation in space. References: 16 .
Maximum Speed - 677 kph. Maximum Altitude - 13720 m. Flight Time - 211 sec. References: 49 , 97 .
Soft lunar landing attempt failed. Surveyor II was launched from Cape Kennedy at 8:32 a.m. EDT. The Atlas-Centaur launch vehicle placed the spacecraft on a nearly perfect lunar intercept trajectory that would have missed the aim point by about 130 kilometers. Following injection, the spacecraft successfully accomplished all required sequences up to the midcourse thrust phase. This phase was not successful because of the failure of one of the three vernier engines to ignite, causing eventual loss of the mission. Contact with the spacecraft was lost at 5:35 a.m. EDT, September 22, and impact on the lunar surface was predicted at 11:18 p.m. on that day. References: 1 , 2 , 5 , 6 , 16 , 278 .
KH-4A. All cameras operated satisfactorily. First mission flown with pan geometry modification. References: 1 , 2 , 5 , 6 .
MSC proposed to the NASA Office of Manned Space Flight a sequence of missions leading to a lunar landing mission. The sequence included the following basic missions:
Space craft engaged in investigation of spaceflight techniques and technology (US Cat A). References: 1 , 2 , 5 , 6 , 99 .
Suborbital. References: 5 .
Area survey photo reconnaissance satellite; returned film capsule. References: 1 , 2 , 6 .
Statsionar T. Transmission of colour and black-and-white USSR central television programmes to the network of public receiving units located in population centres in Siberia and the Far North. References: 1 , 2 , 5 , 6 , 67 , 274 .
High Energy Astronomy Observatory; cosmic, gamma ray measurements. Spacecraft engaged in practical applications and uses of space technology such as weather or communication (US Cat C). References: 1 , 2 , 5 , 6 , 278 .
Completed installation of Rapana truss. References: 66 .