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11 January - Contract signed by NASA and the Western Electrice for the Mercury tracking network. - A contract (NAS 1-430) was signed by NASA and the Western Electric Company in the amount of $33,058,690 for construction and engineering of the Mercury tracking network....
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14 January - Super booster program to be accelerated - President Dwight D. Eisenhower directed NASA Administrator T. Keith Glennan "to make a study, to be completed at the earliest date practicable, of the possible need for additional funds for the balance of FY 1960 and for FY 1961 to accelerate th...
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18 January - Mercury-Atlas flight test working group to become a standing coordination body. - A proposal was made by Walter C. Williams, Associate Director of Project Mercury Operations, that the Mercury-Atlas flight test working group become an official and standing coordination body. This group brought together representation from the Space...
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21 January - 15 Atlas launch vehicles and 26 Mercury spacecraft purchased. - At a meeting to draft fiscal year 1962 funding estimates, the total purchase of Atlas launch vehicles was listed as 15, and the total purchase of Mercury spacecraft was listed as 26....
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21 January - Mercury LJ-1B - Little Joe 1-B (LJ-1B) was launched from Wallops Island with a rhesus monkey, 'Miss Sam,' aboard. Test objectives for this flight were the same as those for Little Joe 1 (LJ-1) in which the escape tower launched 31 minutes before the planned launch, ...
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28 January - NASA's Ten-Year Plan presented to Congress - In testimony before the House Committee on Science and Astronautics,
Richard E. Horner, Associate Administrator of NASA, presented NASA's
ten-year plan for 1960-1970. The essential elements had been recommended
by the Research Steering Committee o...
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1960 January - Manned lunar landing and return (MALLAR) - The Chance Vought Corporation completed a company-funded, independent, classified study on manned lunar landing and return (MALLAR), under the supervision of Thomas E. Dolan. Booster limitations indicated that earth orbit rendezvous would be necessar...
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1960 January - Name Apollo suggested - At a luncheon in Washington, Abe Silverstein, Director of the Office of Space Flight Programs, suggested the name "Apollo" for the manned space flight program that was to follow Mercury. Others at the luncheon were Don R. Ostrander from NAS...
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31 January - Six chimpanzees ready for Mercury missions. - Six chimpanzees were rated as being trained and ready to support Mercury-Redstone or Mercury-Atlas missions. Other chimpanzees were being shipped from Africa to enter the animal training program....
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1 February - Lunar Exploration Program Based Upon Saturn Systems - The Army Ballistic Missile Agency submitted to NASA the study entitled "A Lunar Exploration Program Based Upon Saturn-Boosted Systems." In addition to the subjects specified in the preliminary report of October 1, 1959, it included manned l...
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1960 February - Mercury astronauts instruction in celestial navigation - As part of their training program, the astronauts received 2 days of instruction in star recognition and celestial navigation presented by Dr. James Balten at the Morehead Planetarium in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. The purpose of this training was t...
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1960 February 10-11 - NASA Space Exploration Council - The first meeting of the NASA Space Exploration Council was held at NASA Headquarters. The objective of the Council was "to provide a mechanism for the timely and direct resolution of technical and managerial problems . . . common to all NASA Ce...
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15 February - Lunar Program Based on Saturn Systems - Study issued by Huntsville of lunar landing alternatives using Saturn systems. Huntsville transferred from Army to NASA. Vought study on modular approach to lunar landing. Internally NASA decides on lunar landing as next objective after Mercury....
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15 February - Mercury landing system and post-landing equipment tests were completed. - ...
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29 February - Eleven companies submitted contract proposals for the Saturn second stage - Eleven companies submitted contract proposals for the Saturn second stage (S-IV): Bell Aircraft Corporation; The Boeing Airplane Company; Chrysler Corporation; General Dynamics Corporation, Convair Astronautics Division; Douglas Aircraft Company, Inc...
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1 March - 20 Cosmonaut candidates report for Vostok training - ...
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1960 March-April - Mercury-Atlas working panels - The Mercury-Atlas working panels were reorganized into four groups: coordination, flight test, trajectory analysis, and change control. Each panel was composed of at least one representative from NASA (Space Task Group), McDonnell, Air Force Ballisti...
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1960 March - Qualification tests started on the Mercury escape tower rocket. - These tests were completed at the end of July 1960. As a part of the qualification program, three escape-rocket motors were successfully fired on a spacecraft model at conditions corresponding to approximately 100,000 feet altitude in the Lewis Resea...
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1960 March 3-5 - Advanced manned space flight program - At a NASA staff conference at Monterey, Calif., officials discussed the advanced manned space flight program, the elements of which had been presented to Congress in January. The Goddard Space Flight Center was asked to define the basic assumptions t...
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11 March - Pioneer V - Pioneer V, launched as a probe of the space between Earth and Venus, began to provide invaluable information on solar flare effects, particle energies and distributions and magnetic phenomena. Pioneer V continued to transmit such data until on June 2...
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15 March - Saturn I transferred to NASA. - The Army Ballistic Missile Agency's Development Operations Division and the Saturn program were transferred to NASA after the expiration of the 60-day limit for congressional action on the President's proposal of January 14. (The President's decision...
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16 March - The Space Task Group published recovery requirements for the Mercury-Atlas 1 (MA-1) flight test. - ...
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19 March - Mercury tracking agreements with foreign countries - United States-Spanish agreement on Project Mercury tracking station in Canary Islands was announced (1 of 16 similar agreements with other nations)....
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1960 Spring - Chance Vought study of the lunar orbit rendezvous method - Thomas E. Dolan of the Chance Vought Corporation prepared a company-funded design study of the lunar orbit rendezvous method for accomplishing the lunar landing mission....
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28 March - Two H-1's fired together. - Two of Saturn's first-stage engines passed initial static firing test of 7.83 seconds duration at Huntsville, Ala....
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28 March - Mercury astronaut first open-water egress training. - Between March 28,1960 and April 1, 1960, the astronauts received their first open-water egress training in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Pensacola, Florida, in cooperation with the Navy's School of Aviation Medicine. The training was conducted ...
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1 April - Mercury astronauts complete centrifuge training. - Seven Mercury astronauts completed training session at the Navy Aviation Medical Acceleration Laboratory, Johnsville, Pa....
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1960 April-May - Guidelines for an advanced manned spacecraft program - Presentation by STG members of the guidelines for an advanced manned spacecraft program to NASA Centers....
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1 April - Mercury first production spacecraft delivered to NASA - The first McDonnell production spacecraft was delivered to NASA at Wallops Island for the beach-abort test....
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5 April - Houbolt paper on rendezvous in space with minimum expenditure of fuel - John C. Houbolt of the Langley Research Center presented a paper at the National Aeronautical Meeting of the Society of Automotive Engineers in New York City in which the problems of rendezvous in space with the minimum expenditure of fuel were consi...
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6 April - Four H-1's fired together. - Four of the eight H-1 engines of the Saturn C-1 first-stage booster were successfully static-fired at Redstone Arsenal for seven seconds....
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12 April - First production Mercury capsule delivered. - First production model of McDonnell-built Mercury capsule was delivered to NASA....
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15 April - Luna failure - third stage insufficient delta V - Reached an altitude of 200,000 km before plunging back to earth....
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16 April - Luna failure at lift-off - This dramatic failure resulted in a loss of thrust, and the lateral strap-on units separated and flew over the tracking stations and living areas. The core continued on its trajectory....
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26 April - Douglas to build the second stage (S-IV) of the Saturn C-1 - NASA announced the selection of the Douglas Aircraft Company to build the second stage (S-IV) of the Saturn C-1 launch vehicle....
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29 April - Mercury tracking agreements completed. - Milestone achieved in completion of interim or formal agreements concluded for all oversea Mercury tracking stations....
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29 April - All eight H-1 engines of the Saturn C-1 first stage ground-tested simultaneously - At Redstone Arsenal, all eight H-1 engines of the first stage of the Saturn C-1 launch vehicle were static-fired simultaneously for the first time and achieved 1.3 million pounds of thrust....
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29 April - Agreements concluded for all overseas Mercury tracking stations - Construction was proceeding on schedule at Cape Canaveral, Bermuda, Grand Canary Islands, the Woomera and Muchea Australian sites, and at the demonstration site on Wallops Island, Virginia. The survey of Guaymas in Western Mexico completed that phase...
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1960 April - MIT Report on space guidance and control design - A study report was issued by the MIT Instrumentation Laboratory on guidance and control design for a variety of space missions. This report, approved by C. Stark Draper, Director of the Laboratory, showed that a vehicle, manned or unmanned, could hav...
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1960 May - Production of the manned space flight configuration of the Mercury pressure suit was started. - The astronauts and medical personnel who had tested the developmental suits received in November 1959 recommended a number of changes to increase the physical mobility of the astronaut before the production effort began. Evaluation of the test suits ...
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2 May - Proposed advanced manned spacecraft program presented to von Braun - Members of STG presented the proposed advanced manned spacecraft program to Wernher von Braun and 25 of his staff at Marshall Space Flight Center. During the ensuing discussion, the merits of a completely automatic circumlunar mission were compared w...
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3 May - Proposed advanced manned spacecraft program presented to Lewis Research Center - STG members presented the proposed advanced manned spacecraft program to the Lewis Research Center staff. Work at the Center applicable to the program included: analysis and preliminary development of the onboard propulsion system, trajectory analysi...
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4 May - Ranger project named - Clifford I. Cummings, Jet Propulsion Laboratory spacecraft program director, announced at a meeting of the Aviation Writers Association in Los Angeles, Calif., that the spacecraft which would carry television and a detachable instrumented capsule to ...
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5 May - STG and Grumman discuss advanced spacecraft programs - Robcrt R. Gilruth, Paul E. Purser, James A. Chamberlin, Maxime A. Faget, and H. Kurt Strass of STG met with a group from the Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation to discuss advanced spacecraft programs. Grumman had been working on guidance requir...
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9 May - Beach Abort 1 - First production model of Project Mercury spacecraft was successfully launched from NASA Wallops Station to test escape, landing, and recovery systems. Known as the "beach abort" shot, the Mercury capsule reached 775 m before parachute land...
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9 May - Mercury Pad Abort 1 - McDonnell's first production spacecraft, with its escape rocket serving as the propulsion force, was launched from Wallops Island. Designated the beach-abort test, the objectives were a performance evaluation of the escape system, the parachute and l...
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15 May - Korabl-Sputnik 1 - The Soviet Union launched a Vostok 1KP prototype manned spacecraft (without heat shield; not recoverable) into near-earth orbit. Called ...
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1960 May 16-17 - Meeting on space rendezvous at Langley - The consensus of the meeting was that the rendezvous technique would be essential in the foreseeable future and that experiments should be made to establish feasibility and develop the technique. There was as yet no funding for my rendezvous flight t...
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25 May - Advanced Vehicle Team to make preliminary design for advanced multiman spacecraft - STG formed the Advanced Vehicle Team, reporting directly to Robert R. Gilruth, Director of the Mercury program. The Team would conduct research and make preliminary design studies for an advanced multiman spacecraft....
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26 May - First public demonstration of the H-1 engine - Eight H-1 engines of the first stage of the Saturn C-1 launch vehicle were static-fired for 35.16 seconds, producing 1.3 million pounds of thrust. This first public demonstration of the H-1 took place at Marshall Space Flight Center....
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26 May - Assembly of the first Saturn flight booster began - Assembly of the first Saturn flight booster, SA-1, began at Marshall Space Flight Center....
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31 May - Selection of Rocketdyne for the J-2 rocket engine - NASA selected Rocketdyne Division of NAA to develop the J-2, a 200,000-pound-thrust rocket engine, burning liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen. (A decision was later made to use the J-2 in the upper stages of the Saturn C-5.)...
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8 June - Full Saturn I engine cluster full duration test. - Complete eight-engine static firing of Saturn successfully conducted for 110 seconds at MSFC, the longest firing to date....
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15 June - Saturn C-1 first stage completed test series - The Saturn C-1 first stage successfully completed its first series of static tests at the Marshall Space Flight Center with a 122-second firing of all eight H-1 engines....
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18 June - Atlas launch vehicle 50-D was delivered for the first Mercury-Atlas mission (MA-1). - ...
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21 June - Radiation and its effect on manned space flight - Robert O. Piland, Head of the STG Advanced Vehicle Team, and Stanley C. White of STG attended a meeting in Washington, D. C., sponsored by the NASA Office of Life Sciences Programs, to discuss radiation and its effect on manned space flight. Their re...
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1960 Summer - Boilerplate Apollo spacecraft to be used on Saturn C-1 - H. Kurt Strass of STG and John H. Disher of NASA Headquarters proposed that boilerplate Apollo spacecraft be used in some of the forthcoming Saturn C-1 hunches. (Boilerplates are research and development vehicles which simulate production spacecraft ...
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23 June - Korolev tries to obtain support for a military orbital station - Korolev wrote to the Ministry of Defence, trying to obtain support for a military orbital station (OS). The station would have a crew of 3 to 5, orbited at 350 to 400 km altitude. The station would conduct military reconnaissance, control other space...
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23 June - Soviet plan for mastery of space issued. - Decree 715-296 'On the Production of Various Launch Vehicles, Satellites, Spacecraft for the Military Space Forces in 1960-1967' authorised design of a range of spacecraft and launch vehicles by Korolev, Yangel, and Chelomei. The decree included the ...
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27 June - Mercury Project Orbit - As a complement to the Mercury spacecraft reliability program, a decision was made that one production spacecraft would be withdrawn from the operational program for extensive testing. The test environment would involve vacuum, heat, and vibration co...
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5 July - House recommends a high priority manned expedition to the moon - The House Committee on Science and Astronautics declared: "A high priority program should be undertaken to place a manned expedition on the moon in this decade. A firm plan with this goal in view should be drawn up and submitted to the Congress ...
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8 July - Kiwi-A Prime tested at full power. - Second experimental reactor (Kiwi-A Prime) in the Project Rover nuclear rocket program was successfully tested at full power and duration at Jackass Flats, Nev....
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12 July - Mercury astronaut desert survival training - The astronauts underwent a five and one half day course in 'desert survival' training at the Air Training Command Survival School, Stead Air Force Base, Nevada. The possibility of an arid-area landing was remote but did exist. So this training was ac...
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1960 July 14-15 - Space Exploration Program Council - The third meeting of the Space Exploration Program Council was held at NASA Headquarters. The question of a speedup of Saturn C-2 production and the possibility of using nuclear upper stages with the Saturn booster were discussed. The Office of Launc...
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25 July - Name Apollo approved for the advanced manned space flight program - NASA Director of Space Flight Programs Abe Silverstein notified Harry J. Goett, Director of the Goddard Space Flight Center, that NASA Administrator T. Keith Glennan had approved the name "Apollo" for the advanced manned space flight progra...
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28 July - Korabl-Sputnik - First attempted flight of the Vostok 1K manned spacecraft prototype. Dogs Chaika and Lisichka perished in the explosion of the rocket....
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28 July - Apollo Program Announced - Name 'Apollo' selected by Silverstein. Conference with aerospace industry outlined NASA's plans for circumlunar and lunar flight....
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1960 July 28-29 - Announcement of the Apollo program to American industry - The first NASA-Industry Program Plans Conference was held in Washington, D.C. The purpose was to give industrial management an overall picture of the NASA program and to establish a basis for subsequent conferences to be held at various NASA Centers....
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29 July - Mercury MA-1 - ...
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3 August - Redstone launch vehicle No. 1 was delivered to Cape Canaveral for the MR-1 (Mercury-Redstone). - ...
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13 August - First photo-geological survey of the surface of the moon - Secretary of the Interior Fred A. Seaton and Secretary of the Army Wilber M. Brucker announced that the U.S. Geological Survey had completed the first known photogeological survey of the surface of the moon....
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13 August - Army mapping of lunar landing sites completed. - Army announced completion of a project for mapping lunar landing sites....
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19 August - Korabl-Sputnik 2 - The Soviet Union launched its second unmanned test of the Vostok spacecraft, the ...
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30 August - Industry briefing on feasibility studies for the Apollo spacecraft - The Goddard Space Flight Center GSFC conducted its industry conference in Washington, D.C., presenting details of GSFC projects, current and future. The objectives of the proposed six-month feasibility contracts for an advanced manned spacecraft were...
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1 September - Apollo Project Office formed - In an organizational change within STG, Maxime A. Faget was appointed Chief of the Flight Systems Division and Robert O. Piland was named Assistant Chief for Advanced Projects. The Apollo Project Office was formed with Piland as Head of the Office; m...
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2 September - Accelerated joint planning effort for NASA - NASA Administrator T. Keith Glennan directed that an accelerated joint planning effort be made by persons at NASA Headquarters who were most familiar with the Saturn, Apollo, manned orbital laboratory, and unmanned lunar and planetary programs. They ...
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10 September - Contract for development of the Saturn J-2 engine - A NASA contract for approximately $44 million was signed by Rocketdyne Division of NAA for the development of the J-2 engine....
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13 September - Apollo Study Bidder's Conference - Bidder's conference for circumlunar Apollo. Specification: Saturn C-2 compatability (6,800 kg mass for circumlunar mission); 14 day flight time; three-man crew in shirt-sleeve environment....
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13 September - STG briefing for prospective bidders for Apollo - An STG briefing was held at Langley Field, Va., for prospective bidders on three six-month feasibility studies of an advanced manned spacecraft as part of the Apollo program. A formal Request for Proposal was issued at the conference....
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13 September - South African deep-space tracking facility - A formal agreement was signed by the United States and South Africa providing for the construction of a new deep-space tracking facility at Krugersdorp, near Johannesburg. It would be one of three stations equipped to maintain constant contact with l...
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20 September - Mercury Atlas launch vehicle 67-D delivered to Cape Canaveral - The Atlas launch vehicle 67-D was delivered to Cape Canaveral for the Mercury-Atlas 2 (MA-2) reentry test mission....
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26 September - Roll-out inspection of Mercury Atlas launch vehicle 77-D - The roll-out inspection of Mercury Atlas launch vehicle 77-D was conducted at Convair-Astronautics. This launch vehicle was allocated for the Mercury-Atlas 3 (MA-3) mission, but was later canceled and Atlas booster 100-D was used instead....
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29 September - RAND Corporation to evaluate nuclear propulsion missions - In a memorandum to NASA Associate Administrator Robert C. Seamans, Jr., Robert L. King, Executive Secretary, described the action taken on certain items discussed at the July 14-15 meeting of the Space Exploration Program Council. Among these actions...
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30 September - Space Exploration Program Council - The fourth meeting of the Space Exploration Program Council was held at NASA Headquarters. The results of a study on Saturn development and utilization was presented by the Ad Hoc Saturn Study Committee. Objectives of the study were to determine (1) ...
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1960 September 30 - October 3 - STG Evaluation Board for advanced manned spacecraft - Charles J. Donlan of STG, Chairman of the Evaluation Board which would consider contractors' proposals on feasibility studies for an advanced manned spacecraft, invited the Directors of Ames Research Center, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Flight Research...
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5 October - Discussion of Saturn and Apollo guidance integration - Members of STG visited the Marshall Space Flight Center to discuss possible Saturn and Apollo guidance integration and potential utilization of Apollo onboard propulsion to provide a reserve capability. Agreement was reached on tentative Saturn vehic...
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7 October - NERVA test facilities bidder's conference. - AEC briefing held at the Nevada Test Site at Jackass Flats, Nev., for representatives of 26 companies for proposals to study the requirements for a National Nuclear Rocket Engine Development Facility. Existing test facilities are fully committed to t...
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9 October - Contractors' proposals for an advanced manned spacecraft - Contractors' proposals on feasibility studies for an advanced manned spacecraft were received by STG. Sixty-four companies expressed interest in the Apollo program, and of these 14 actually submitted proposals: The Boeing Airplane Company; Chance Vou...
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17 October - Mercury weather support group formed. - Project Mercury weather support group established at NASA's request in the Office of Meteorological Research of the Weather Bureau....
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19 October - Project Rover request for bids. - Kiwi-A No. 3 static test of nuclear rocket propulsion was successfully conducted at AEC Nevada test site, resulting in NASA-AEC call for bids for industrial development phase of Project Rover on November 1, 1960....
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21 October - Design constraints for in-house study of the Apollo spacecraft - A staff meeting of STG's Flight Systems Division was held to fix additional design constraints for the in- house design study of the Apollo spacecraft....
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21 October - Evaluation completed on proposals for an advanced manned spacecraft - The Technical Assessment Panels presented to the Evaluation Board their findings on the contractors' proposals for feasibility studies of an advanced manned spacecraft. On October 24, the Evaluation Board findings and recommendations were presented t...
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25 October - Convair, General Electric, and Martin selected to prepare Apollo spacecraft feasibility studies - NASA selected three contractors to prepare individual feasibility studies of an advanced manned spacecraft as part of Project Apollo. The contractors were Convair/Astronautics Division of General Dynamics Corporation, General Electric Company, and Th...
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25 October - Apollo Initial Study Contracts - From 16 bids, Convair, General Electric, and Martin selected to conduct $250,000 study contracts. Meanwhile Space Task Group Langley undertakes its own studies, settling on Apollo CM configuration as actually built by October 1960....
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25 October - Saturn flight schedule plans - Included in the current Saturn flight schedule were: mid-1961, begin first-stage flights with dummy upper stages; early 1963, begin two-stage flights; late 1963, begin three-stage flights; early 1964, conclude ten-vehicle research and development fli...
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28 October - Air Force lunar base briefing to NASA - Key staff members of NASA Headquarters and the Commander, U.S. Air Force Research and Development Command, met at the Air Force Ballistic Missile Division, Los Angeles, Calif., to attend briefings and discuss matters of mutual concern....
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2 November - Lunar atlas prepared by USAF. - Lunar atlas prepared for USAF by group under technical direction of G. P. Kuiper was released, an "Orthographic Atlas of the Moon" charted 5,000 base points combined with best available photos and grids....
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3 November - US Geological Survey studies of lunar geology - The Department of the Interior announced that the U.S. Geological Survey would undertake detailed studies of lunar geology as part of a new $205,000 program in astrogeology financed by NASA....
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8 November - Mercury Little Joe 5 (LJ-5) - LJ-5, the first of the series with a McDonnell production spacecraft, was launched from Wallops Island to check the spacecraft in an abort simulating the most severe launch conditions. The launch was normal until 15.4 seconds after lift-off, at which...
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8 November - Mercury LJ-5 - Little Joe 5 with a Mercury production spacecraft was launched from Wallops Island to test the spacecraft in an abort simulating the most severe launch conditions. At 15.4 seconds after liftoff, the escape rocket motor and tower jettison motor ignite...
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18 November - Mercury Spacecraft No. 8 delivered to Cape Canaveral - Spacecraft No. 8 was delivered to Cape Canaveral for the Mercury-Atlas 3 (MA-3) unmanned orbital mission....
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21 November - Mercury MR-1 - Suborbital launch attempt. After a four- or five-inch liftoff, MR-1 launched its escape tower but not the capsule. The undamaged spacecraft was recovered for reuse....
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21 November - An attempt was made to launch Mercury-Redstone 1 (MR-1) from Cape Canaveral. - This unmanned mission was unsuccessful because premature cut-off of the launch vehicle engines activated the emergency escape system when the vehicle was only about 1 inch off the pad. Engine cut-off was caused by premature loss of electrical ground ...
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29 November - Briefing on the Apollo and Saturn programs - A joint briefing on the Apollo and Saturn programs was held at Marshall Space Flight Center MSFC, attended by representatives of STG and MSFC. Maxime A. Faget of STG and MSFC Director Wernher von Braun agreed that a joint STG-MSFC program would be de...
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1 December - Korabl-Sputnik 3 - The Soviet Union launched its third spaceship satellite, ...
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2 December - Saturn I static firing. - First of new series of static firings of Saturn considered only 50 percent successful in 2-second test at MSFC....
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1960 December 6-8 - First technical review of the General Electric Apollo feasibility study - The first technical review of the General Electric Company Apollo feasibility study was held at the contractor's Missile and Space Vehicle Department. Company representatives presented reports on the study so that STG representatives might review pro...
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1960 December 7-9 - Martin presented the first technical review of its Apollo feasibility study - The Martin Company presented the first technical review of its Apollo feasibility study to STG officials in Baltimore, Md. At the suggestion of STG, Martin agreed to reorient the study in several areas: putting more emphasis on lunar orbits, putting ...
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10 December - Lunar orbit method of accomplishing the lunar landing mission - Representatives of the Langley Research Center briefed members of STG on the lunar orbit method of accomplishing the lunar landing mission....
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13 December - Saturn transport barge commissioned. - Palaemon, a 180-foot barge built to transport the Saturn launch vehicle from MSFC to Cape Canaveral by water, was formally accepted by MSFC Director from Maj. Gen. Frank S. Besson, Chief of Army Transportation....
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14 December - Seamans briefed on the lunar orbit rendezvous method - Associate Administrator of NASA Robert C. Seamans, Jr., and his staff were briefed by Langley Research Center personnel on the rendezvous method as it related to the national space program. Clinton E. Brown presented an analysis made by himself and R...
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1960 December 14-15 - Frst technical review of the Convair Apollo feasibility study - Convair/Astronautics Division of the General Dynamics Corporation held its first technical review of the Apollo feasibility study in San Diego, Calif. Brief presentations were made by contractor and subcontractor technical specialists to STG represen...
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19 December - Mercury MR-1A - Mercury-Redstone 1A (MR-1A) was launched from Cape Canaveral in a repeat of the November 21, 1960, mission and was completely successful. This was the third attempt to accomplish the objectives established for this flight. The first attempt on Novemb...
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22 December - MIT proposal for a study of a navigation and guidance system for Apollo - The MIT Instrumentation Laboratory submitted a formal proposal to NASA for a study of a navigation and guidance system for the Apollo spacecraft....
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22 December - Korabl-Sputnik - Unable to reach orbital velocity, the Vostok prototype separated while the third stage was still firing. While the ejection seat failed to operate, the capsule did make a hard landing in severe winter conditons in Siberia. It was recovered after some...
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29 December - Grumman began work on a lunar orbit rendezvous study - The Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation began work on a company- funded lunar orbit rendezvous feasibility study....
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