Evening star., 1960-08-12
SPACE
Recovery Of 85-Lb. Satellite Hailed
AS Historic First for u. S. Science
Continued From First Page

buChy 1O, IlO"CNCL. 1lIC zap
sule was Instrumental with a
"diagnostic payload" which was
supposed to report on all the
things that had gone wrong in
previous shots.
Failures Before
In the time since the launch
ing of DiScoverer on February
%, 1859, seven of these satel-
lites are known to have achieved
orbits, four are known to have
failed to orbit, and the per-
formance of two was never de-
termined. OF the seven orbiters,
recovery attempts were made
with five. Only today's was en-
tirely successful.
The entire mission was car
ried off f1awlessly, according to
Air Force reports. The two
stage Thor-Agena rocket was
put into a north south
("polar') orbit at 4:30 pm.
(EDT) Wednesday. It's orbital
characteristics (436-mile apo
gee, l6l-mile perigee, 94-min-
ute period were close to ideal.
AS the big Agena second
stage. nearly 20 feet long and
weighing almost a ton, came
over Alaska on its 18th trip
around the world. a signal was
sent from the ground to start
the re-entry sequence. The
time was TIL pm. (EDT).
CHI and C-119 Air Force
cargo planes were deployed in
the drop area northwest of
Hawaii. Some of them were
equipped with special harnesses
by which the capsule might be
snatched in mid-air as it para
chuted into the ocean. A naval
ship. the Haiti Victory, cruised
in the area with helicopters
aboard in the almost certain
event that the intricate "air-
snatch" would fail.
Radio signals, radar "chaff"
and other electronic aids ema-
mated from the falling capsule,
enabling the recovery crew to
zero in. Signals indicated that
the capsules parachute opened
at 1926 pm. (EDT), and the
capsule itself was sighted bob
bing in a moderate sea at
sos pm.
C-119s Hover in Area
Two C-l19s hovered in the
area Immediately over the cap
sule. They located its position
as Is degrees 36 minutes north
latitude, 16l degrees "a min
utes west longitude, about 300
miles northwest of Honolulu in
the northern part of the tar
get zone.
The Haiti Victory headed
toward the capsule, and shortly
after $50 pm. dispatched hell
copters.
Space history was written
less than an hour later.
THE capsule from the Air
Force Discoverer XIII has now
been recovered"
At about midnight, Gen.
SchrieVer and Mai. Gen. o. j.
Ritland, head of the Bailistic
Missile Division in Los Angeles,
conducted a news conference
over transcontinental phone
hookup.
THE capsule was recovered
completely intact" Gen. Rit-
land said on the West Coast.
1T did get wet. but we had
provided for that"
Congratulations Offered
In Washington, Gen. Schri-
ever called the recovery "by all
odds the most complex project
ever undertaken in this coun-
try and I believe in the world"
Then he offered congratula-
tions to Gen. Ritland and his
chief associates in the Dis
coverer project.
To Col. Lee Battle. the man
directly responsible, Gen.
Schriever said he wished to
give particular commendation
because I've given you many
a wire brush in the past"
Gen. Schriever said he be-
lieved that, having licked the
recovery problem at last, it
would not be so difficult to
bring capsules back in the fu-
ture. This was the case with
nose cone recovery from bal
listic shots: Difficult at first,
now practically routine.
Virtually perfect reliability
will be needed before men can
be sent into orbit, as is planned
in the civilian space agency's
Project Mercury. Gen. Schriever
said the Discoverer lessons will
be put to use both in Mercury
and in the Air Forces Dyna-
Soar spaceman program.
The Discoverer program is
also very definitely" a fore
runner of the Samos spy-in-the
sky satellite, as we'll as Midas,
the orbiter designed to give
early warning of hostile missile
firings, according to Gen.
Schriever.
On the other hand, he said,
DISCOVERIES lessons will not be
Of value for the development
of so-called black satellites.
These are envisioned as hydro
gen bombs placed in orbit, to be
called down on an enemy at
some later date.