Wednesday, May 9, 1962: Project Luna See

Louis Smullin and Giorgio Fiocco of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology aimed a ruby laser beam toward the moon's surface and Albategnius became the first lunar feature to reflect laser light from Earth. (From the book "Moonwalk with Your Eyes" by Tammy Plotner, 2010.)

From a New York Times article dated May 10:

Last night, for the first time, man illuminated another celestial body.

Had someone been standing in the mountainous region southeast of the crater Albategnius on the moon, the stark and darkened lunar landscape about him would have been lighted by a succession of dim red flashes.

The effect is thought to have been limited to a circular area of the moon's surface only one mile in radius. The light beam was produced by engineers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, using a device known as a laser or optical maser.

It produces a beam of extreme intensity and narrowness. The reflected light could be detected on earth only by electronic means. However, according to Dr. Charles H. Townes, inventor of the maser of now provost of M.I.T., the illumination on the moon's surface was comparable to that produced on the walls of a large room by a flashlight bulb. ...

He and many others believe such devices will play a key role in communications with and between space vehicles. ... Ultimately, Dr. Townes believes, the laser principle may provide an efficient means for transmitting energy long distances. It could be used to provide power to expeditions on the moon or other planets, using sources on the earth. It is also being tested as surgical knife and may be useful for delicate welding jobs.

* Report from Smullin and Fiocco (MIT publication; scroll down to "Project Luna See"): @

* "The laser in astronomy" (from New Scientist, June 1963): @

* Entry on Albategnius (from the book "The Moon in Close-Up: A Next Generation Astronomer's Guide," John Wilkinson, 2010): @

* Entry on Albategnius (from Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature): @

* Earlier post on lasers (May 16, 1960): @

* Earlier post on laser surgery: @

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April 1962: New York Auto Show

Among the new models presented at the International Automobile Show (held April 21-29 at the New York Coliseum) are the Shelby Cobra, the Studebaker Avanti and General Motors' XP-755 (aka the Mako Shark, a concept car and forerunner of the redesigned Corvette Sting Ray).

* "Remember the Class of '62" (from www.oldcarsweekly.com): @

* Newsreel: @

-- Shelby Cobra

* Entry from www.hemmings.com: @

* Entry from www.metaphorsinmotion.com: @

* "The Shelby Cobra at 50, an Icon of Sex and Power" (New York Times, 2012): @

-- Studebaker Avanti

* Avanti Owners Association International: @

* Entry from howstuffworks.com: @

* "Studebaker's Luxury Model Shown Today" (Associated Press, April 26, 1962): @

* Earlier entry on Avanti (March 1961): @

-- Mako Shark

* Entry from www.corvettes.nl: @

* Entry from Corvette Action Center: @

* Corvette timeline, 1956-1992 (from www.motortrend.com): @

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Wednesday, April 25, 1962: Project Highwater

From the April 25 edition of The Miami News:

A giant Saturn rocket, forerunner of the moonship launcher, set off the world's first man-made thunderstorm in space today and spewed forth an icy cloud tracked by radar from Miami.

Moon project officials were jubilant over the second perfect performance of the 162-foot, 927-pound Saturn, the world's largest known rocket, although it is still a baby in the U.S. moon program.

A spectacular slideshow was the deliberate disintegration of the rocket by dynamite 65 miles up in the ionosphere so it could released 95 tons of water into the rarefied air.

The mass of water at first vaporized rapidly and then formed a great, man-made cloud of ice visible for miles up and down the Florida coast, where clear skies permitted.

"In this cloud, electrical charges were detected," said Dr. Wernher von Braun, famed German rocket developer now in charge of the Marshall space flight center in Alabama.

"We have caused the first synthetic thunderstorm in space," von Braun said.

(Note: the newspaper article should have said that Saturn weighed 927,000 pounds, not 927.)

* NASA news release (April 22, 1962): @

* "Saturn Aids GSFC Research" (from May 4 issue of Goddard News; scroll to page 3): @

* "Saturn SA-2 Flight Evaluation" (from Marshall Space Flight Center, June 5): @

* Excerpt from "Stages to Saturn: A Technological History of the Apollo/Saturn Launch Vehicle" (1999 book by Roger E. Bilstein): @

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Saturday, April 21, 1962: World's Fair

The Seattle's World Fair opens, built around the futuristic theme "Century 21."

From "The Washington Journey," a 2009 textbook for 7th-graders:

The Space Needle, now an emblem for downtown Seattle, was built for the World's Fair in 1962. The Space Needle was a symbol of the nation's space program, which was pushing hard to get a man on the moon before the Soviets did. The World's Fair was a chance to show what the future might bring in science and technology. A huge science exhibit stressed more science eduation for American students. The monorail was an example of future transportation. It still operates in downtown Seattle.

* Essay from www.historylink.org (Washington state history site): @

* www.62worldsfair.com: @

* "Seattle World's Fair: Then and Now": @

* Anniversary coverage from The Seattle Times: @

* Newsreel on fair's opening: @

* "Let's Go to the Fair" (CBS report with Walter Cronkite): @

* "Century 21 Calling" (Bell System video): @

* Time-lapse video of Space Needle construction: @

* Life magazine, February 9: @

* Life magazine, May 4: @

* "Seattle's 1962 World's Fair" (2010 book by Bill Cotter): @

* "What'll It Be Like in 2000 A.D.?" (Popular Science, April 1962): @

* "Journey to the Stars" (American Cinematographer, 1963): @

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Undated: '1975: And The Changes to Come'

What's on Delhi-Television Tonight? This is the ultimate in proposed television sets for a decade hence. It can receive television signals bounced from circling satellites, bringing programs from any city on the globe. The spot of origin of the program is indicated by a light on the world map in the upper panels. Round dials are clocks showing the hour in four major time zones. Dials at right are for tuning and sound control. The set is only three inches thick. On the reverse side it is equipped with an international stereophonic radio.

That's among the predictions in "1975: And the Changes to Come," a book by Arnold B. Barach, a senior editor at Changing Times magazine. From an ad for the book in the March 1962 issue of Changing Times (later known as Kiplinger's Personal Finance):

A dramatic forecast of life in 1975, based on what's actually being developed today, and including a list of suggested investments in industries and companies most likely to prosper in the years ahead. A profusely illustrated and detailed expansion of a study originally presented in the January 1961 edition of Changing Times. More than 140 photographs and drawings of what's to come ... including charts showing business and economic growth, population increases, employment, college enrollment, and the coming shortage of doctors. ... You'll enjoy and profit from this fascinating preview of YOUR future.

Image provided by Derrick Bostrom; more selections from the book here: @

* January 1961 issue of Changing Times: @

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Thursday, March 1, 1962: 'Global village'

Marshall McCluhan's "The Gutenberg Galaxy: The Making of Typographic Man" is published.

From the book "The Internet: A Historical Encyclopedia" (2005):

"McCluhan formalized his theories about the changes in consciousness and society brought about by the advent of print culture. According to McCluhan, the 'invention of movable type' by Johannes Gutenberg in the mid-15th century, 'forced man to comprehend in a linear, uniform, connected, continuous fashion' -- a way of thinking that had not previously existed, when manuscript culture and the oral tradition that preceded it defined communications. McCluhan argue that those changes in consciousness, particularly the effect of isolation that reading created, opened the door for powerful cultural forces such as nationalism. ... McCluhan also discussed ... his concept of the global village ... the vast collective space that emerged as electronic media broke down the normal physical and temporal barriers associated with print and oral cultures. Thus, with the advent of television, for instance, the nationalism of print media would be supplanted by the globalism of electronic media."

Note as to publication date: Various sources show the book being published anywhere from March 1962 to sometime in the fall. McCluhan's son, Eric, said in a e-mail that the earliest review he knows of appeared in the (Toronto) Globe and Mail in mid-July. Along with other early reviews, he says, this likely indicates the book was published sometime in the spring of 1962. The University of Toronto Press later confirmed that the publication date was March 1, 1962.

* "The Gutenberg Galaxy": @

* "Marshall McCluhan: The Medium and the Messenger" (Philip Marchand, 1998): @

* Short biography from The Canadian Encyclopedia: @

* marshallmcluhan.com: @

* Marshall McCluhan Center on Global Communications: @

* McCluhan Global Research Network: @

* McCluhan Program in Culture and Technology: @

* CIOS/McCluhan Website Project: @

* International Journal of McCluhan Studies: @

* McCluhan Galaxy blog: @

* Source of term "global village" (from Eric McCluhan): @

* 1960 episode of CBC's "Explorations" (note use of "global village"): @

* Book review, American Journal of Psychiatry, October 1962: @

* Video resources (from University of Minnesota): @

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Tuesday, February 20, 1962: John Glenn

From the Sarasota (Florida) Journal:

American astronaut John H. Glenn Jr. scored a stunning space triumph for the United States today, becoming the first American to circle the earth.

The whole world watched and listened as the plucky 40-year-old Marine lieutenant colonel circled the earth three times.

His aircraft hurled around the earth at speeds of 17,530 miles per hour as he traveled at various ranges from 100 miles to 160 miles high.

After the third orbit, Col. Glenn brought the huge craft to safe landing in the Atlantic near the Bahamas. The three-orbit mission lasted approximately five hours.

He did encounter some minor trouble with his space control system, but officials of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration said it was not serious.

-- NASA resources

* Short mission summary: @

* "The Friendship 7 Mission": @

* "Results of the First United States Manned Orbital Space Flight" (PDF): @

* Audio from flight: @ and @

* Anniversary video: @

* Short John Glenn biography: @

* Longer biography: @

* "40th Anniversary of the Mercury Seven": @

* "Mercury 7 Archives": @

* Glenn Research Center website: @

* Kennedy Space Center history: @

-- Video

This is just a small selection of the available footage. For more, search on www.criticalpast.com and www.archive.org.

* Coverage from ABC network: @

* "Space Triumph! Glenn Flight Thrills World" (newsreel): @

* "Friendship 7" (1962 documentary): @

* "The John Glenn Story" (1963 documentary): @

-- Photos

* NASA photos: @ and @ and @ (above photo is from NASA)

* Life magazine photos: @

-- Newspaper front pages

* Baltimore News-Post: @

* Boston Record-American: @

* Cleveland Plain Dealer: @

* Miami News: @ and @

* New York Daily News: @ and @

* New York Times: @

* Seattle Post-Intelligencer: @

-- Life magazine coverage

* February 2: @

* March 2: @

* March 9: @

-- Other

* Summary of mission (from www.spacefacts.de): @

* Summary of mission (from www.historynet.com): @

* New York Times story (February 21, 1962): @

* KCBS radio broadcast of flight: @

* Anniversary coverage (www.floridatoday.com): @

* Excerpts from "Failure Is Not an Option: Mission Control from Mercury to Apollo 13 and Beyond" (book by Gene Krantz): @

* Excerpts from "Tracking Apollo to the Moon" (book by Hamish Lindsay): @

* Earlier post on Yuri Gagarin (April 12, 1961): @

* Earlier post on Alan Shepard (May 5, 1961): @

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February 1962: "Spacewar!"

Created at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology starting in 1961, the "Spacewar!" video game was in full working mode by the following February. It quickly proved popular among computer enthusiasts and helped lay the foundation for video game development. In the game, two players steer spaceships and try to destroy the other, all set against a background of stars.

* Play the game: @ and @

* Entry from MIT Museum: @

* Entry from Computer History Museum: @

* Entry from www.1up.com: @

* "Spacewar: Fanatic Life and Symbolic Death Among the Computer Bums" (Rolling Stone, 1972): @

* "Space War! A Computer Game Today, Reality Tomorrow?" (Saga, 1972): @

* "The Origin of Spacewar" (Creative Computing, 1981): @

* "Seminal video game Spacewar lives again" (CNET.com, 2011): @

* "Spacewar!, the first 2d top-down shooter, turns 50" (Ars Technica, 2011): @

* "The first 'electronic' game ever made?" (from pongmuseum.com): @

* Video of "Spacewar!" in action: @

* Interview with Steve Russell, one of the game's creators: @

* "Understanding Video Games: The Essential Introduction" (book): @

* "Smartbomb: The Quest for Art, Entertainment and Big Bucks in the Videogame Revolution" (book): @

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Undated: 'Music From Mathematics'

From the November 17, 1962, issue of Billboard magazine (the article uses the spelling "computor"):

"Decca Records introduces two new artists in its 'Music From Mathematics' LP this week when the IBM 7090 computor and the Digital to Sound Transducer make their disk debuts. The electronic duo are the stars of the new Decca album and the results of their rapid and unerring calculations make the music heard on this disk.

"The process of composing music for the computor is described by the label as 'outlining musical sounds by ascribing to them mathematical sequences of numbers. The numerical descriptions are the equivalent of musical sounds.' These numerical sequences are punched up on IBM cards and, upon instructions from the composer, the cards are fed into the machine which transfers them into sounds which are amplified and recorded on to the usual tape recording console.

"Decca notes that the composer is still the controlling factor and, in so many words, without the man, the machines can't go. So far this kind of music has been produced instrumentally, but it is also known that the Bell Laboratories have a produced a singing voice through electronic manipulation. It shouldn't be too long before card-feeding composers create tomorrow's singing idol."

The album features otherworldly sounds alongside musical renditions of the well-known songs "Frere Jacques" and "Joy to the World." But the most memorable piece by far is "Daisy Bell (Bicycle Built for Two)," with the computer singing the last verse. From the National Recording Preservation Board of the Library of Congress: "This recording, made at Bell Laboratories on an IBM 704 mainframe computer, is the earliest known recording of a computer-synthesized voice singing a song. The recording was created by John L. Kelly Jr. and Carol Lochbaum and featured musical accompaniment written by Max Mathews." (The song was later used in the 1968 movie "2001: A Space Odyssey"; the computer known as HAL sings "Daisy" while in its death throes.)

Notes on "Daisy":

The reason this post is listed as "undated" is that there's a bit of discrepancy as to when "Daisy" was actually completed. A different version of "Music From Mathematics" was released as a 10-inch album in 1961 by Bell Telephone Labs, but the track listing does not include "Daisy." (Click here for the entry from discogs.com.)

However, United Press International's year in review for 1961 includes the song. (Click here to read transcript and listen.) The National Recording Registry also puts the year as 1961.

"Daisy" also appears on a magazine insert called "Synthesized Speech" from June 1962. (Click here for details, and here to listen.)

I emailed Max Mathews in 2011 to try to pin down the date. His reply, dated March 28, reads as follows: "The best date I have is sometime in 1962. The piece was made in two parts. Kelly and Lochbaum made the singing voice first with a singing voice synthesis program they wrote. I made the accompaniment later using my Music 3 program." (Mathews died on April 21, 2011.) Bell Labs also says it was recorded in 1962. (Click here for summary.)

* Listen to album (from Computer History Museum): @ and @

* Album liner notes: @

* Back cover: @

* Max Mathews obituary (New York Times, April 2011): @

* "The First Computer Musician" (New York Times, June 2011): @

* "Max Mathews Makes Music" (from Computer History Museum): @

* "The Computer Music Tutorial" (book by Curtis Roads): @

* "HAL's Legacy: 2001's Computer as Dream and Reality" (from MIT Press): @

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December 1961: Avrocar

The joint Canada-United States project to develop a vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) craft ends when the U.S. military withdraws funding for the Avrocar. The flying-saucer-like vehicle proved unstable in flight.

* Entry from National Museum of the Air Force: @

* Entry from "The Encyclopedia of Science": @

* Entry from Arrow Digital Archives: @

* "The Pentagon's Flying Saucer Problem" (Air & Space magazine, 2003): @

* Project Silver Bug summary: @

* Air Force technical report on Project Silver Bug (February 1955): @

* Newspaper stories from 1999 and 2000: @

* Footage: @

* "Flaws of the Avrocar" (video from howstuffworks.com): @

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Friday, November 24, 1961: SAC-NORAD communication failure

From www.mentalfloss.com:

On November 24, 1961, all communication links between the U.S. Strategic Air Command (SAC) and the North American Air Defense Command (NORAD) suddenly went dead, cutting cutting off the SAC from three early warning stations in England, Greenland and Alaska. The communication breakdown made no sense, though. After all, a widespread, total failure of all communication circuits was considered impossible, because the network included so many redundant systems that it should have been failsafe. The only alternative explanation was that a full-scale Soviet nuclear first strike had occurred. As a result, all SAC bases were put on alert, and B-52 bomber crews warmed up their engines and moved their planes onto runways, awaiting orders to counterattack the Soviet Union with nuclear weapons. Luckily, those orders were never given. It was discovered that the circuits were not in fact redundant because they all ran through one relay station in Colorado, where a single motor had overheated and caused the entire system to fail.

* Entry from "The Limits of Safety: Organizations, Accidents and Nuclear Weapons" (book by Scott Douglas Sagan): @

* Entry from "Book of Lists: Subversive Facts and Hidden Information in Rapid-Fire Format" (entry by Alan F. Phillips, book by Russell Kick): @

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November 9, 1961: 'Flying bicycle'

What's believed to be the first flight of a human-powered aircraft capable of taking off under its own power takes place as Derek Piggott pedals a plane to a height of 5 feet and a distance of 50 yards. The SUMPAC (Southampton University Man Powered Aircraft) was designed and built by students at the British university.

* Anniversary story from The Guardian newspaper: @

* Video (from britishpathe.com): @

* Website for SUHPA (Southampton University Human Powered Aircraft): @

* "Gossamer Odyssey: The Triumph of Human-Powered Flight" (book by Morton Grosser): @

* "Man-Powered Flight" (Flying magazine, June 1963): @

* "Man-Powered Flight" (Popular Science magazine, January 1971): @

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Wednesday, October 11, 1961: 'Space Flight Report to the Nation'

From The Associated Press:

If your children are eager to go rocketing into space, tell them to start saving their money. Commercial manned space flights could be a reality by 1975-80, a space researcher predicted today. Space transportation techniques are expected to develop rapidly in the next 20 years, greatly reducing the cost of a round-trip from earth into an orbit, or to the moon, said H.H. Koelle of the George E. Marshall Space Flight Center at Huntsville, Ala. This could be the timetable, Koelle told the space flight report to the nation sponsored by the American Rocket Society:

* Large, orbiting space stations carrying men in 1968-1969.

* A permanent, manned station on the moon, 1970.

* A lunar settlement by 1975.

* Manned expeditions to other planets starting in the 1972-74 period.

* Round-trips from earth to low altitude orbits involving 5,000 men every year by 1975. Several men would be involved in each trip.

* About 500 annual man round-trips from earth to moon by 1975.

* Commercial manned space flights developing in the 1975-80 period.

"It will be witnessed by the middle-aged generation of today, with the younger generation of today taking an active part in it," Koelle suggested. His prepared paper did not estimate the cost of the round-trip ticket into orbital flight or to the moon.

* "Show Window for Space Progress in New York" (video from www.britishpathe.com): @

* "Free Enterprise v. the Moon" (Time magazine, October 20): @

* "The American Rocket Society Story -- 1930-1962" (from Journal of the British Interplanetary Society, 1980): @

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October 1961: Electronic calculators

Made by the Bell Punch Company and marketed through Sumlock Comptometer Ltd., the first electronic desktop calculators are introduced: the ANITA Mark VII (pictured) at the Hamburg Business Equipment Fair in Germany, and the ANITA Mark VIII at the Business Efficiency Exhibition in London.

* www.anita-calculators.info: @

* Entry from Vintage Calculator Web Museum: @

* Entry from oldcalculatormuseum.com: @

* Advertisement: @

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Tuesday, September 12, 1961: The Mercury 13 (updated)

Five days before they were to begin flight simulation training in Pensacola, Florida, the 13 members of the privately funded Woman in Space program received the following telegram, effectively ending their hopes of joining the U.S. space effort.

Regret to advise arrangements at Pensacola cancelled Probably will not be possible to carry out this part of program. You may return expense advance allotment to Lovelace Foundation c/o me Letter will advise of additional developments when matter cleared further= W Randolph Lovelace II MD

* Earlier blog post (from 1960): @

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Wednesday, September 6, 1961: National Reconnaisance Office

From The Washington Post's "Top Secret America" series:

The National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) was established in September 1961 as a classified agency of the Department of Defense. The existence of the NRO and its mission of overhead (satellite) reconnaissance were declassified in September 1992. Headquartered in Chantilly, Va., the NRO designs, builds and, with the Air Force, operates the nation's reconnaisance satellites, which are the main collection assets for geospatial intelligence (GEOINT) source data. The satellites also provide significant signals intelligence (SIGINT) data.

* More from Washington Post series: @

* Background and relevant documents (from National Security Archive): @

*"Out of the Black: The Declassification of the NRO" (from National Security Archive): @

*"The 16 Members of the U.S. Intelligence Community" (from www.mentalfloss.com): @

* "Space-Based Reconnaissance" (from Army Space Journal): @

* NRO website: @

* More links (from Federation of American Scientists): @

* Post from August 18, 1960: Spy pictures from space: @

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Thursday-Friday, August 31-September 1, 1961: Soviet nuclear testing

* August 31: Citing the Berlin crisis and France's nuclear testing, the Soviet Union announces to the world that it is ending its three-year moratorium on testing and will detonate a nuclear weapon the next day. (Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev had informed the Soviet nuclear community on July 10 of his decision.)

* September 1: A 16-kiloton device is detonated at the Semipalatinsk Test Site in central Asia.

Time magazine cover from September 8.

* "Early record on text moratoriums" (from Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, 1986): @

* Excerpt from "The Nuclear Express: A Political History of the Bomb and is Proliferation": @

* Excerpt from "President Kennedy: Profile of Power": @

* atomicarchive.com: @

* Semipalatinsk website: @

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Wednesday, August 23, 1961: Gravity assist

Michael Minovitch, a graduate student at UCLA working at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory for the summer, presents a technical paper titled "A Method for Determining Interplanetary Free-Fall Reconnaissance Trajectories." In it he describes how a planet's gravity can be used to propel or "slingshot" a spacecraft past other planets and into deeper space. (The first spacecraft to employ the maneuver was Mariner 10 in 1973. The more famous Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 were launched in 1977; at left are their paths.)

* More about Minovitch: @

* Minovitch's website: @

* "A Method for Determining Interplanetary Free-Fall Reconnaissance Trajectories" (PDF): @

* "A Gravity Assist Primer" (from Jet Propulsion Laboratory): @

* "The Voyage of Mariner 10" (from NASA): @

* "Mariner 10 to Venus and Mercury" (from JPL): @

* "Voyager -- The Interstellar Mission": (from JPL): @

* Excerpt from "Voyager: Seeking Newer Worlds in the Third Great Age of Discovery": @

* Excerpt from "Ambassadors from Earth: Pioneering Explorations with Unmanned Spacecraft": @

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Thursday, August 10, 1961: Herbicides in Vietnam

Aerial spraying of herbicides is first tested in the Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam). It is the beginning of what would become a much larger U.S. effort, code-named Operation Ranch Hand, that would officially start in January 1962. Its aim: to clear away trees and other vegetation that provided cover for North Vietnamese and Viet Cong forces, and to destroy enemy food supplies.

* "Operation Ranch Hand: The Air Force and Herbicides in Southeast Asia, 1961-1971" (Office of Air Force History, 1982): @

* "Ranch Hand" (Air Force magazine, 2000): @

* "The Herbicidal Warfare in Vietnam, 1961-1971" (Agent Orange & Dioxin Committee, Vietnam Veterans of America): @

* "The extent and patterns of usage of Agent Orange and other herbicides in Vietnam" (Nature magazine, 2003): @

* "Characterizing Exposure of Veterans to Agent Orange and Other Herbicides Used in Vietnam: Interim Findings and Recommendations" (Institute of Medicine of the National Academies, 2003): @

* More links (from website on air operations in Vietnam): @

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