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The Nome Nugget
Nome, Nome County, Alaska
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At Langley Research Center, Va., the seven Mercury astronauts observed a miniature space capsule model endure white-hot heat tests simulating re-entry friction, part of NASA's urgent man-in-space program preparations for 1961 orbital flights.
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By ELTON C. FAY
LANGLEY RESEARCH CENTER, Va., (AP) - The nation's seven Mercury Astronauts, sampling what lies ahead for them, watched a miniature space capsule glow white hot in thousands of degrees of roaring heat today.
It was part of a demonstration for visiting newsmen of the man-in-space program which the National Aeronautics and Space Administration is pressing "with utmost urgency" at its laboratories here.
The capsule was a model of those in which the astronauts are to ride into space orbit in 1961.
The heating effect of air friction is only one of the problems being studied here in an effort to assure their safe return. That problem apparently has been solved.
The astronauts have watched this and similar space flight experiments for weeks as they prepare themselves for their first space excursions. They now know intimately all the problems - the 11,000 degrees of heat on the outside skin of their vehicles as they come flashing back into the earth's atmosphere, the devices intended to save them if something goes wrong, the mighty compressive "G" force of gravity from acceleration and deceleration.
As the test program now stands, NASA scientists will begin experimenting late this summer with the "Little Joe" rocket launcher a squat cluster of solid fuel rockets designed for measuring the reliability of equipment, with test firings from Wallops Island, Va.
Following this will come capsule re-entry experiments using the Army Redstone rocket, then moving into tests in which chimpanzees ride in the capsules. When the chimpanzees have "test flown" the capsule, the astronauts will be ready for manned flight - some time in 1961.
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Langley Research Center, Va.
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the heating effect of air friction problem apparently has been solved.
Event Details
The seven Mercury Astronauts watched a miniature space capsule model glow white hot in thousands of degrees of roaring heat during a demonstration of NASA's man-in-space program. The capsule models those for 1961 space orbits. Astronauts have observed similar experiments for weeks, familiarizing with re-entry heat, safety devices, and G-forces. Upcoming tests include Little Joe rocket firings from Wallops Island, Va., late this summer, followed by Redstone rocket re-entry experiments and chimpanzee flights before manned flights in 1961.