• Abstract and Figures
• Public Full-text

Dufrlbution Today 21,850 trt* ncatttred Aowtn «Mlfih, terttawm, bifh « to ». San- day, ratty cloudy. Set matter, DIAL SH I-0010 W 2 VOL. 85 ' NO 232 Utmt «•»>*• x««w anv^-rtuar. s«o<md CUM OUlcu. RED BANK, N. J., FRIDAY, MAY 17, 1963 7c PER COPY PAGE ONE Cooper Faced, Met Challenge Magnificently CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — For some 29 hours,, ond orbit. His fellow astronauts on the ground supposed he Essentially, what it did was to limit the ways Cooper John H. Glenn, Jr., who talked him down -through the early Astronaut Gorden Cooper was a man waiting for a chal- might take other catnaps when he had nothing to do. Finally had to control and to sense the position or attitude of his re-entry, he was right on the money. Glenn counted out the lenge. he slept for 7% hours during a planned rest period, awoke spacecraft. It knocked out the automatic control system's slow-down rocket countdown for him and monitored the po- It came and he met it magnificently. refreshed. usefulness for the first stages of re-entry—and it knocked out sition by radar from the Pacific Ocean ship on which he This is the story of a relaxed man—a man who can It seemed almost as dull as catching the bus to go to the accurate sensing devices that give an instrument reading was stationed, the coastal sentry. catch it catnap a hundred miles above the earth between work on Monday morning. of the spacecraft's attitude. Cooper had to rely on marks on his window, lining them up with references such as the earth's horizon, to set his jobs—and the story of that man in stress. GREEN LIGHT ON The automatic control still could be used for damping "It was indeed a magnificent performance. Gordon was But then it happened. delicate position. down the shudder effects on the spacecraft as it entered the The landing was beautiful, about 4>/4 miles from the prime on top of the flight alt the time. He was acting perfectly Cooper saw it on his instrument panel. The green light denser atmosphere. But it couldn't be used—nor could the was on—indicating his spacecraft had encountered the "first recovery carrier, the U. S. S. Kearsarge. as a human computer," - position instruments—for the critical job of controlling the That was the statement of Cooper's fellow astronaut, smidgeon" of gravity force, something that should not have Robert R. Gilruth, director of the Manned Space Flight happened until he was re-entering the earth's atmosphere. spacecraft's position when the retro or slow-down rockets Center, called the automatic system which Cooper lost "the Alan B. Shepard, Jr., as he sat later in the glare of camera fired, preparatory for the spacecraft's plunge to earth. lights and tried to put into words just what Cooper had done. And Cooper still had about two orbits of his 22-orbit chimp mode." SCRUB USEFUL flight left. Later, as this problem approached solution, more trouble It was built into the system because of early flights with It began with a scrub that everyone agreed was a useful He reported the trouble to Hawaii on his 19th orbit— appeared. The inverter which changes direct current to al- chimpanzees, he said, to bring them and the spacecraft down dress rehearsal. Then, on the next day,' Wednesday, Cooper and below him a world-wide network of men, electronic ma- ternating current to run the automatic system failed. A back- to earth safely and automatically. It is very accurate when had a perfect blast-off; one of the best launches so far, a chines and experience took the shock and looked for the up inverter was pressed into service. But it too failed. No it is working, he said. But, he added, "some of us old air- near perfect insertion into orjbt.. answer. one knows why. plane people had confidence in the human race" and put ; Cooper seemed • to take his good fortune. in•; stride. He The decision came in five minutes, Astronaut Shepard in a way for a man to override the automatic system and was probably the most relaxed, the most nonchalant man in said later. But there still was time and the men on the So Cooper had to do the whole job himself. He had to land the spacecraft himself. ' space the world has had the opportunity to witness. ground could check and be sure. use manual means all the way to earth for almost every It was the first flight, agreed Operations Director Wil- • It turned out, his doctors felt from radioed medical evi- Operations Director Walter C. Williams said space tech- job—firing the slow-down rockets, controlling the spacecraft liams, where the man was absolutely essential. dence, that he may have dozed off in his. space craft waiting nicians went into a hangar, reconstructed the trouble with position, jettisoning the spent retro rockets. If Cooper had not been able to perform the landing task, for blast-off. Cooper admitted taking a catnap on his sec- the electrical system, and diagnosed the trouble. And he did it well. On position, said fellow Astronaut If he had been unconscious, he would be still In orbit. Cooper Fine After Flight; Awaits Hero's Welcome ABOARD USS KEARSARGE in the current Mercury series, (AP) — L. Gordon Cooper, a was avowedly more intended to groggy astronaut who bounced test the physique of man than back quickly to normal after his the space capsule. He made good 22 orbits around the earth, looks on it, confounding the gloomy forward today to broader Amer- predictions of medical men. ican space operations as he head- They had feared he would fall ed home U> a hero's welcome. on his face in a dead 'faint—or worse—if and when he came The moon is the obvious next down from his long journey into major goal of man's space con- space. Instead, he was supported quest, and Che National Aeronau- during about 15 seconds of diz- tics and Space Administration of- ziness, then passed all the early ficially looks forward to putting medical tests and downed a men like Cooper on it within this hearty meal. decade. Cooper's space flight, lasting The tense drama of his final CONCENTRATING ON COOPER —Donald K. Siayton, coordinator of astronaut af- 34 hours, 20 minutes and 30 sec- orbit and perfect descent by man- fairs, and astronaut Walter M. Schirra,.Jaft, smoke, cigars at Mercury Control Center onds, closely approximated the ual operation when an automatic electrical system failed, won the at Cape Canaveral as they watch reports on progress of astronaut Gordon Cooper time and mileage required for a round trip to the moon. applause of the Western world. as he circles the earth in his Faith 7 space capsule. / (AP Wirephoto) His mission, probably the last Cooper got a sampling of the welcome that awaits him in phone calls from President Kennedy, who congratulated the astronaut almost Immediately after he was Riterview'sBoard Still Maintains lifted aboard the aircraft car- rier. Blasted off from Cape Canav- eral, Fla., Wednesday morning, Middletown'k the Place to Expand Cooper spent a relatively lazy day in space. Then he guided his RED BANK—A professional consultant's study: of the feas- a 23-acre tract at Palmer Ave., but they shelved the plan when "Faith 7" capsule to the indi- ibility of adding a wing to Riverview Hospital has not swayed it was found that it did not have the doctors' support. cated touchdown spot 96 miles the hospital governors from their belief that Middletown is the The doctors maintain their consultant's report shows their southeast of Midway Island. ASTRONAUT COOPER IN ORBIT —This is a view made by the live television cam. place to build. plan to be feasible. Mr. DeRidder said this week that, although There this big carrier picked According to J. Raymond DeRidder, chairman of the board he does not wish to enter a prolonged controversy which might era in the capsule as Astronaut Gordon Cooper whizzed around through space.on his of governors, the wing construction plan would be feasible— hurt the hospital, he felt obligated to report his opinion of the l fourth orbit of the earth. It was recorded from a monitor screen at Cape Canaveral, l A s^ce aVrJ^fficiaThailed maybe desirable—if upward of t\ A million were available for survey: it indicates that local expansion is not feasible, he said. Cooper as a "human computer," Fla. (AP Wirephoto) land acquisition at the existing water front site. He added, The opposing interpretations of the consultant's report indi- but the human — Cooper — had "We just don't have it." cate that a meeting of the minds is not at hand. Both sides proved that man was master of The medical staff at Riverview ordered the survey to sup- recognize the need for more hospital beds to serve northern machine and looked eagerly port its contention that the addition of a wing at Red Bank MOnmouth County, but are unyielding in the defense of the ahead to mankind's next venture makes more sense than building a satellite at Mlddletown. The respective plans. into the universe. Englewood Negro Leaders doctors are opposed to what they call the decentralization of The disagreement has boiled down to a problem of space Cooper, 36, expressed confidence the facilities at Red Bank. requirement for parking. that "We have learned a lot from The governors advocate construction of a 120-bed annex on (See RIVERVIEW, Page 21) this mission for future, more ex- tended space operations." Want Action onNewDecision The spaceman's perilous de- ENGLEWOOD (AP) - In the extreme racial imbalance as.ob- pected from Raubinger In mid- Order County scent to his exactly predicted im- light of a precedent-setting state tains in the Oakwood School.<99 summer.

Load more

  32

Copy Link