E NUGGET
OLDEST NEWSPAPER IN ALASKA—MEMBER ASSOCIATED PRESS
NOME, ALASKA, FRIDAY, MAY 25, 1962
Per Copy 15*
iNew Dangers Brought to Light On
Carpenter’s Triple Orbit of the Earth
By Vera Haugland
fit®;
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. UR —
Malcolm Scott Carpenter may have
been in more danger during his
triple flight around the earth than
even he realized, it was disclosed
today.
The communications team that
tracked Carpenter on three orbits
around the earth indicated today
that he may have become danger
ously tired — even confused —
on the last time around.
This startling information came
to light in a post-flight de-briefing,
by radio hookup, among all 17
stations on the Project Mercury
world-wide network.
It could help explain why the
Aurora 7 capsule re-entered the
atmosphere at such a shallow angle,
at the end of its orbital journey
yesterday, that it overshot the
planned landing area by some 250
miles.
It might also account in part for
the dead silence from Carpenter
that mystified and alarmed mil
lions, and the searchers into a vast
manhunt, from the moment of re
entry until the astronaut was lo
cated 41 minutes later.
The tracking station at Kauai,
awaii, said that when it instruct
ed Carpenter to get ready to fire
his breaking rockets on the ap
proach to California, “ho started
doing something else.”
Very Confused
snnr itmi ur
was very confused about what was
going on, but it was very difficult
to assess whether he was confused
or pre-occupied,” the station said.
The Woomera, Australia, station
agreed that “we also feel the as
tronaut was acting somewhat tired
during the last pass.”
From the Bermuda post came a
suggestion that oxygen pressure in
Carpenter’s craft may have been
low and that an emergency oxy
gen system should have been used.
Carpenter rested meanwhile at
Jamaica - controled Grand Turk
Island, where he had an emotion
al reunion last night with John H.
Glenn Jr., the first American to
go into orbit.
In relative isolation, he will tell
his exciting story there to physi
cians and spacecraft technicians—
before he can forget any part of it.
And then, probably on Sunday,
he will be returned here for a
news conference — a clinical dis
cussion of the most dramatic bit of
space fiction yet to come true.
To the scientists, the engineers
and the space medicine workers
who monitored every minute of
the almost-five-hours-long flight,
this was a major milestone on the
way to the moon.
Brought to Light New Dangers
The mission brought to light
new dangers — the hazards of
missing landing target areas by
wide margins, for example — and
pointed toward solutions of some of
the problems of man in space.
WEATHER OUTLOOK
Decreasing cloudiness today
I?artly cloudy tonight and Satur
day. Low tonight 35, high tomor
row 40-45. In the last 24 hours
High of 39, tow of 30. Max. wind
19 mph from NE. Sunrise at 2M
a.m., sunset at 9:52 pma. Temps
a year ago today: High of 53, low
Extremes on this date since
1907; High of 62 in 1957, low oi
22 in 1952.
The launching of Carpenter’s
Aurora 7 spacecraft at 7:45 a.m.
EST yesterday was a perfect one.
The orbit into which the Atlas ve
hicle inserted the capsule was near
the ideal.
And the orbital flight itself, as
ticked off in Carpenter’s flat, terse
reports, seemed almost routine in
spite of nagging little problems
that kept cropping up.
The really alarming part came
after the Navy lieutenant com
mander fired the retro-rockets that
would retard his speed sufficiently
to make the capsule drop out of
orbit and descend through the at
mosphere.
Normally the heat of re-entry,
the ionization of the air in front of
the spacecraft, cuts off radio com
munication for a minute or two.
Glenn experienced a communica
tions blackout at this stage of his
historic flight of last Feb. 20.
But Carpenter’s craft, struck
dumb at the 12:30 p.m. re-entry,
never regained its voice. Nor did
Aurora 7 become visible to the
ships in the planned recovery area
800 miles southeast of here. The
craft might have been burned to
a cinder. It simply disappeared.
Aurora 7, tilted at a wrong angle
at the time the braking rockets
were fired, simply went into a
longer, shallower descent than
would have been the case had it
dug in more steeply into the at
mosphere. It plopped into the ocean
off Anegada Island; north of the
Virgin Islands and about 1,000
miles southeast of Florida.
Eased Himself Out
Carpenter methodically eased
himself out of the floating space
craft and into a rubber dinghy.
Then, while the world wondered
what had happened to him, he sat
and waited for help.
(Continued on Page 2)
GAGARIN SENDS SPECIAL
GREETINGS TO CARPENTER
NAGOYA, Japan W — Maj. Yuri
A. Gagarin, the Soviet Union’s
first cosmonaut, said today “I’m
happy to learn the United States
Aurora 7 succeeded in orbiting the
earth.”
“I send greetings and pay my
respects to cosmonaut Navy Lt.
Cmdr. Scott Carpenter,” the smiling
Russian spaceman told newsmen
after arriving from Kyoto.
Earlier, the 28-year-old air force
officer expressed some doubts as
to whether Carpenter’s successful
orbit meant that the United States
has made an advance in its space
flight program.
The Soviet major, first man to
orbit the earth, noted Carpenter
missed his landing target by 200
miles and commented:
“There were no such failures
with either myself or Gherman
Titov. We landed in our designated
areas.”
Carpenter’s flight, he added,
“cannot be termed a total success.”
Titov, the second Soviet spaceman,
made a 17-orbit flight on Aug.
6-7, 1961.
Earlier, Gagarin, after news
paper accounts of Carpenter’s flight
were read to him, expressed some
doubt about the American’s flight.1
“It is still unknown whether
Carpenter’s flight is a fact,” he
said. “However, if it Is true, it
did not indicate any progress”
over Lt- Col. John Glenn’s three
orbit ride on Feb. 20.
-■ . ■
Living Costs
Show Rise in April
WASHINGTON US) — Living
costs rose two-tenths of one per
cent in April — setting a record
for the third straight month.
The government reported con
sumer prices have risen seven
tenths of one per cent so far in
1962, equaling the total rise rec
orded during the entire 12 months
of 1961.
The Labor Department index of
consumer prices rose in April to
105.2 per cent of the 1957-59 aver
age. This is 1.3 per cent higher
than in April last year.
The April increase will bring
pay raises of one to two cents an
hour to an estimated one million
workers of the auto, farm equip
ment and aerospace industries, and
various local transit systems.
These workers have union con
tracts calling for wage adjust
ments in relation to the govern
ment’s living costs index.
Robert J. Myers, Deputy Labor
Statistics Commissioner, told a
news conference he wasn’t worried
that the latest price increase marks
an inflationary uptrend. He said
that, while he looks for another
increase in May, he expects living
cost declines later in the summer.
U.S. Sets Off Underground Blast
WASHINGTON US) — An under
ground nuclear test blast was set
off today at the Atomic Energy
Commisison Nevada test site.
The blast, the 34th to be an
nounced in the Nevada series, was
described only as having a low
yield — a blast force lass than
that of 20,000 tons of TNT.
JFK Plans to
Propose Revision
Of Tax Structure
WASHINGTON — Chairman
Walter W. Heller ot the President’s
Council of Economic Advisers said
today the administration is re-ex
amining the tax system from stem
to stem with the aim of proposing
changes to Congress.
In a televised interview Heller
indicated — without being specific
— that tax reduction as well as
extensive revision of the tax struc
ture is a distinct possibility.
Other officials have reported
that President Kennedy will send
Congress before this session ends
a sweeping set of tax changes, for
consideration next year. Discus
sions have revolved around a pos
sible drop in the top bracket in
come tax rate from 91 per cent to
perhaps 65 per cent; and in the
basic, or bottom rate, from 20 to
16 or 18 per cent.
Heller avoided any specific fore
casts, but emphasized that the
administration warns to know
whether present tax laws are hit
ting at the right points in the
economy and whether they are too
high to bring about a maximum
return. •
He said also that the administra
tion is taking a look at whether
the tax system is retarding the
rate of growth.
The federal budget system may
also be retarding influence, Heller
said. He described the budget sys
tem as the most conservative in
the ”»orld. Tf translated into terms I
of vstfrvriean budgets, he said, “we
find <~>ut that we have had,;
•n surpluses and fewer defi
cits ’ an any country in Eurone.” <
Three Russian
Ships Monitor
U.S. Nuclear Tests
WASHINGTON W) — The De
fense Department said today that
three Russian ships are within a
few miles of the Pacific nuclear
tests area, “obviously on a large
scale military intelligence collec
tion mission.”
The Defense Department said
the ships “are heavily equipped
to monitor U.S. activities in pro
gress and have been actively en
gaged in obtaining what informa
tion is possible on our tests.”
The largest of the three ships
is the modern 3,600-ton research
ship Shokalskiy, which the Penta
gon said, is extensively equipped
with instruments.
The ship also has a pad for
launching meteorological rockets
which, by Soviet statement, can
reach the ionosphere to analyze the
effects of nuclear explosion in the
upper atmosphere.
The two smaller ships are con
verted trawlers which have elec
tronic equipment designed to sup
plement information received by
the big research ship.
The three ships are within 10
to 15 miles of the western edge of
the test area, a Pentagon spokes
man said.
The spokesman, in answer to
a question, said the three ships
have been in the area during most
of the month of May. The first
nuclear test in the present series
was on April 25, followed by one
April 27 and another May Z.
To another questions, the spokes
man said, that U.S. Navy ships can
do no more than warn the Soviet
ships about the danger area. There
is no international legal bar to
the presence of the ships in the
high seas area.
DRYING OUT TREATMENT
KINGSTON, England UR — A
burglar who helped himself to
drink every time he broke into a
house has been sentenced to a
drying out treatment instead of to
prison.
Stephen Shippen, 40, was caught
by insurance broker Wm. Catch
pole. When Catchpole heard a
noise and went downstairs he
found Shippen — the worse for
drink — sitting in his favorite
:hair.
Shippen | was wearing Catch
pole’s favorite suit, necktie and
shoes and was drinking Catch
pole’s best brandy.
Shippen was put on probation
for three years and sent to a re
habilitation center for alcoholics.
DON'T MARRY. BOYS . . .
BURLINGTON, N.J. UR — Don’t
narry, boys, if you want to live
to be 101.
That’s the word from David B.
Huffman.
On the eve of his 101st birthday
:oday he credited bachelorhood for
lis longevity.
Huffman was born in Clinton
:ownship and now lives at the
Masonic Home here. He formerly
ivas a farmer and a watchmaker.
CHILDREN BEWARE
Blank machine-gun ammunition
In .30 caliber are being found in
the vicinity of Satellite Field and
are VERY DANGEROUS.
AH children must be cautioned
not to handle them and report
their finding to the Police De
partment.
The ammunition is either red
Chinese Reds Stop
Flow of Refugees
Into Hong Hong
HONG KONG UP) — The mass
flight of refugees across the Red
Chinese border into Hong Kong
stopped abruptly today. It appeared
that Communist Chinese author
ities had taken postitive action to
choke off an exodus which had
poured 70,000 refugees into teem
ing Hong Kong since May 1.
In an official statement, British
authorities said the situation on
the border is rapidly reverting to
normal. They said British army
units have been withdrawn from
patrol activity and that a detention
camp in which refugees were held
until they could be returned to
Red China has been closed.
The reference to normal condi
tions apparently meant that a
trickle of refugees trying to slip
into Hong Kong was expected to
continue. That trickle swelled into
a torrent in the past few weeks,
causing harried British authorities
to appeal to the Peiping govern
ment for action to halt the flights.
It was not immediately establish
ed what action the Communist au
thorities and guards had taken on
the other side of the border.
Border sources said they had
heard no shooting and that all ap
peared to be orderly and quiet at
the main crossing points which the
refugees have been using since the
big rush began.
' . ..BSPEfS
U.S. -RUSSIA JOINTLY
DECLARE TO END
WAR PROPAGANDA
GENEVA W — The United
States and the Soviet Union joint
ly proposed to the 17-nation dis
armament conference today a dec
laration that “war can no longer
serve as a method of settling in
ternational disputes.”
The 500-word draft declaration
against war propaganda was hansir
mered out in weeks of private ne
gotiations between the co-chairmen
of the conference, U.S. Ambassador
Arthur Dean and Soviet Deputy
Foreign Minister Valerian Zorin.
It states that an end to propa
ganda “which can provoke or en
courage a threat to or breach of
the peace” would facilitate the
conclusion of an agreement on gen
eral and complete disarmament.
But it left governments free to
take whatever measures they con
sidered practical or desirable to
suppress war propaganda.
rONY BERNHARDT OF
FCOBUK BAGS 122 WOLVES
As of May 10, Tony Bernhardt
Df Kobuk, Alaska, has taken 122
wolves. Tony flies his J-3 Piper
2ub to hunt these animals and he
hunts mostly in the Kobuk and
NToatak valleys. His yellow and
red plane has been a familiar
sight to villages along these rivers
as he flew from last October until
now, landing on tundra, lakes and
rivers. He has flown at tempera
tures of minus 48 degrees and has
landed at altitudes of over 4,500
to pick up his kills.
This winter has been one of good
snow for Tony’s hunting, and on
just one night he could not make
his way back to Kobuk due to
weather.
It appears that this might be
some sort of a record for wolves
taken. The past known count was
119. 'While many would not care
to fly at treetop levels in all kinds
af weather, Tony enjoys it and has
nade it a profitable winter’s work.