Project Mercury Ends; U.S. Shifts
Full Attention to Gemini Space Flights
Editor’s Note: With Project
Mercury ended, Howard Bene
dict, AP correspondent at Cape
Canaveral, Fla., looks to the fu
ture of manned space flights in
the last of three articles.
By Howard Benedict
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. W —
With Project Mercury officially
concluded, the United States now
shifts full attention to Gemini,
the second phase of a plan to land
astronauts on the moon before
1970.
Fortified with a mountain of
data collected from six Mercury
manned space flights — climaxed
by Air Force Maj. Leroy Gordon
Cooper Jr.’s 22-orbit mission in
May — Gemini officials are mov
ing confidently ahead.
Two-man Gemini teams will test
many techniques essential for the
Apollo lunar landing program. The
astronauts will remain in orbit for
periods up to two weeks: they
will join their spacecraft with an
other orbiting satellite, and event
ually one of the crew is to open
the capsule hatch and step outside
to see what it’s like more than
100 miles above the earth.
Gemini presently is nearly a
year behind schedule. This was a
major reason space officials de
clared an end to Project Mercury.
Main reasons for the lag in
volve technical problems associated
with developing a highly sophis
ticated spacecraft and man-rating
the powerful Titan 2 booster
rocket. Shortage of funds, which
resulted in elimination of all but
essential overtime work several
months ago, also has contributed
to the delay.
The Gemini spacecraft retains the
bell shape of the Mercury capsule
but it will be larger and weigh
about 6,000 pounds, twice as much
as the earlier vehicle. It will have
50 per cent greater cabin area to
accommodate two pilots.
As a result of Mercury experi
ences, new fuel and power systems
have been devised for Gemini and
the emphasis will be on pilot con
trol rather than on automatic as
in Mercury.
The need for a two-man crew
was explained by Gemini official
Tried to Dance . . .
LOS ANGELES UR — “A fat,
bald and flat-footed man like me
should not have tried the dance,”
Benjamin Satz admitted in court.
But Satz, 58, asked a Superior
Court jury yesterday to award
him $253,600 damages for a kick
he suffered when a joined a
conga line at the Hotel Flamigo
in Las Vegas.
Satz claimed he was kicked in
the left leg by one of the chorines
Aug. 14, 1959 and subsequently
developed phlebitis.
The hotel contends it wasn’t neg
ligent. It says Satz, a furniture
dealer from Long Beach, Calif.,
assumed the risk when he joined
the conga line.
COMIN' and GOIN'
From Fairbanks: Raymond Kays,
Robert Teagarden, Frank Lawson,
Harold Bonner, Harold Pilcher,
Henry Harris, Homer Mills, Jim
Hemphill, Gene Matthews, R.
Vogen.
To Kotzebue: Mrs. R. Mill
spaugh, W. Holz, D. Anderson.
To Fairbanks: C. Roberts, V.
Leieb, Marge Okinga, R. Tea
garden, Jack Bucher, Maggie Na
garuk, Elizabeth Saccheus, Stan
ley Stauffer, John Scott, Charles
Clark.
Arctic Sanitary
Service
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Office Open Daily 4-6 pan.
Andre Meyer Jr.:
“For really extended flight
periods, it was considered most
desirable to be able to alternate
rest periods and generally to light
en the load on one man.”
He said two men would simplify
rendezvous maneuvers and the
exit of one of the pilots into space.
Dr. Stanley White of the manned
spacecraft center said the dual
pilot arrangement will permit
simultaneous medical monitoring
of two men and enable the astro
nauts to use instruments to check
one another’s condition.
Present schedule calls for an
unmanned mockup Gemini cap
sule to be launched on a brief sub
orbital flight from Cape Canaveral
next December. An unmanned
orbital flight of a complete capsule
is scheduled for June 1964.
If all goes well, two astronauts
—selected from the original seven
Mercury pilots and the nine pilots
named last fall — will make the
first manned Gemini trip in Octo
ber of 1964. The flight presently is
programmed for three days to pro
vide basic data for long duration
flights, but it could be extended.
During 1964, the length of the
flights will be increased to a week
and then two weeks to gather ex
tensive medical data on the pilots’
reaction to prolonged exposure to
space weightlessness. The informa
tion is needed before man ventures
forth to the moon and planets.
During the long duration trips,
Gemini teams will conduct early
space rendezvous experiments with
a small target satellite. The two
objects will not be joined in space.
When confidence is gained in
this maneuver, an Agena satellite
will be shot into orbit from Cape
Canaveral by an Atlas rocket and
the two-man craft will be launch
ed a day or two later to attempt a
hookup, probably in late 1965.
Once the two vehicles have
docked, the Gemini astronauts
will use the Agena fuel supply and
engine to alter course, possibly
scooting from their normal 180
mile-high altitude to more than
600 miles into space.
Then the Agena will be jettison
ed and Gemini will return to earth.
Initial flights will use a Mercury
type parachute system for a water
landing. But a wing-like paraglider
device is being developed to en
able later Gemini craft to maneu
ver near earth and land like a
glider on solid ground.
The National Aeronautics and
Space Administration has placed
a $456.6-million order with the
McDonnell Aircraft Co., St. Louis,
for 13 Gemini capsules. Under an
agreement reached with NASA
earlier this year, the Air Force
will use some of the capsules to
test military applications of man
in-space — including rendezvous
with and inspection of suspected
hostile satellites, reconnaissance
and observation of enemy missile
launchings.
By 1965, initial earth orbit
flights of the Apollo spaceship
will begin to overlap Gemini and
by 1967 NASA’s participation in
Gemini is expected to end.
Then on to the moon, perhaps
to a manned landing by 1968.
For Packing, Painting or Puppies
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Community Church
METHODIST
SUNDAY. JUNE 23
Church School 10 a.m.
Divine Worship 11 a.m.
Sermon "My Redeemer Lives"
Guest Minister, Rev. J. Martin
Homer, Alaska
Evening Meeting 7:30
"The Frog Pit"
Film for children and parents
Festival Guests and Tourists
WELCOME
HOSPITAL CARE FOR VETS
IN 49TH AND 50TH STATES
WASHINGTON W — The Senate
passed a bill Wednesday to per
mit the use of private contract
hospitals in Alaska and Hawaii
for the care of veterans with
non-service-connected disabilities.
The practical effect of the bill,
which now goes to the House,
would restore the situation exist
ing prior to the time Alaska and
Hawaii became states.
It is similar to a bill passed by
the Senate in 1960.
Although private contract fa
cilities are now used by the Vet
erans’ Administration for service
-connected disabilities, the bill is
needed to permit their use for non
service-connected cases.
PLAN 1,500-MILE WALK
EDMONTON, Alta. — Four
men from Lansing, Mich., passed
through here Wednesday enroute
to Dawson Creek, B.C., from where
they plan to walk 1,500 miles
along the Alaska Highway to Fair
banks.
The four are Parker Seiler, 37,
a teacher; Ted Struble, 21, and
John Hall, university students, and
Keith Cossey, 17, a high school
student.
Seilpr. who planned the walk
and lined up his companions
through advertising, intends to
make a travelogue about the party’s
adventure.
5,438 Pending Court Cases
JUNEAU (J1) — The pending
case file for all state courts in
creased to 5,438 during the month
of May, State Courts Administra
tor Thomas Stewart reported yes
terday.
The courts had 5,331 cases pend
ing before them at the start of
the month. During May, they ter
minated 1,506 cases, but 1,613 new
cases were filed.
Claims He's Bankrupt
LOS ANGELES OP — Actor
Mickey Rooney claims he’s bank
rupt despite earnings of $12 mil
lion in 30 years.
Rooney, 40, testified at a bank
ruptcy hearing yesterday that
practically everything I’ve made
in the past 15 years has been
attached” for taxes or other debts.
YESTERDAY'S BASEBALL
American League
New York 5, Washington 4
Boston 8, Detroit 3
Minnesota 9, Chicago 4
Cleveland 11, Baltimore 8
National League
Chicago 5, Houston 0
Milwaukee 2, Pittsburgh 1
Cincinnati 11, Philadelphia 1
Pacific Coast League
Oklahoma City, 10, Denver 6
Spokane 11, Salt Lake City 3
Tacoma 5, San Diego 4
Hawaii 5, Dallas-Ft. Worth 1
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Fairbanks Goldpanners
Baseball Team Beats
Wichita Champions 6-0
FAIRBANKS UP — The non
professional baseball champions of
the world, the Witchita 'Kansas)
Rapid-Transit Dreamliners, suffer
ed its first loss of the season at
the hands of the Alaska Gold
panners of Fairbanks, in the first
of a four-game Midnight Sun
series here last night.
The game was a prelude to the
Midnight Sun game which will be
played at Memorial Park here be
ginning at 10:30 p.m. and running
through midnight without the use
of any artificial lighting.
The Panners took a quick 1-0
lead in the secod inning and went
on to win 6-0.
When the game ended at 10:30
the sun was hanging on the hori
zon and the night was bright as a
sunny afternoon. Two thousand
Fairbanksans turned out for the
first game of their series.
Moscow Readies Welcome
MOSCOW UPt — The Soviet Un
ion’s new space hero and heroine
continued their medical checkups
and scientific interrogations to
day while Moscow readied the
usual huge welcome for them.
An elated Valentina Tereshkova
hugged and kissed fellow cosmo
naut Valery Bykovsky when they
met at the debriefing center on
the Volga River yesterday. It was
their first face-to-face reunion
since they blasted into space, she
for 48 orbits and he for 81.
In Moscow, workers decorated
Red Square with flags and flowers
for the welcoming rally Saturday.
Three Contracts Let for
Design of Space Plane
WASHINGTON tP — The Air
j Force awarded today three con
l tracts for design studies that may
| lead to a piloted space plane which
would take off from earth, fly
into oribt and then land on earth
again.
It gave $500,000 design study
contracts to General Dynamics
Corp., San Diego; North American
Aviation Inc., El Segundo, Calif.;
and Douglas Aircraft Co. Inc., San
ta Monica, Calif.
The hope is that research may
lead to a manned space plane by
the late 1960's or early 1970's.
The craft would take off from
the kind of runway now used by
B-52 jet bombers.
Air Force officials have suggest
ed a number of possible missions
for such a craft, the most im
portant of which would be to in
tercept and inspect enemy space
devices.
RUSS DO IT AGAIN . . .
MOSCOW M* — The Russians
have done it again. They invent
ed the caterpillar tractor.
An article in Selskaya Zhisn
•Farm Life) said today:
“The first caterpillar tractor is
reported to have been invented
in 1912 by the American firm
Holt but in reality it was invented
by a Russian, Fyodor Blinov.
“In 1880 his invention was pub
licly tested in the city of Volsk.”
The Encyclopedia Brittanica says
an American tested one in the
fields, steam powered, in 1873.
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SUMMER SCHEDULE
FAIRBANKS — NOME — KOTZEBUE
FLIGHT 311/312 DAILY
Lv: Fairbanks 8:00 a.m. Ar: Nome 9:05 a.m.
Lv: Nome 1:30 p.m. Ar: Kotzebue 2:15 p.m.
Lv: Kotzebue 2:45 p.m. Ar: Fairbanks 5:25 p.m.
FLIGHT 309/310 DAILY
FAIRBANKS — KOTZEBUE — NOME
Lv: Fairbanks 4:30 p.m. Ar: Kotzebue 5:10 p.m.
Lv: Kotzebue 6:00 p.m. Ar: Nome 6:45 p.m.
Lv: Nome 7:45 p.m. Ar: Fairbanks 10:55 p.m.
Flight 501/502
NOME — N.E. CAPE — NOME
Monday, Wednesday and Friday
Lv: Nome 10:10 a.m. Ar. N.E. Cape 10:45 a.m.
Lv: N.E. Cape 11:05 a.m. Ar: Nome 11:40 a.m.
Flight 507/308
NOME — KOTZEBUE — PT. BARROW
Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday
Lv: Nome 10:15 a.m. Ar: Kotzebue 11:15 a.m.
Lv: Kotzebue 11:45 a.m. Ar: Barrow 2:55 p.m.
Lv: Barrow 3:30 p.m. Ar: Kotzebue 4:40 p.m.
WEDNESDAY - FRIDAY - SUNDAY
Lv: Kotzebue 8:00 a.m. Ar: Nome 9:00 a.m.
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