Evening star., 1961-11-30
MERCURY
MERCURY
Chimp's Two Trips Around Globe
Roted as Successful Operation
Continued From Page Al

NASAs life sciences office said
Enos survived his experience
without apparent trouble.
NASA officials made it clear
that they did not regard the
ahead-of-schedule termination
of yesterdays flight as & failure
in any sense. Had a man been
aboard he could have corrected
the trouble. they said.
No further tests of the Mer-
curry system are required before
Col. Glenn goes, it is under
stood. However, the capsule
used yesterday will be examined
closely in the days Immediately
ahead.
Apparently with an eye on
the history books, Project Mer-
curry officials are going all out
to orbit a man before the end
of the year to match the Rus
slams 1861 feat. NASA head
quarters personnel, however.
continued to express doubt
that a 1861 launching will be
possible.
No target date for the next
shot has been officially re-
leased, but it is well known
that the Mercury team is
shooting for Wednesday. De-
cember 20, or Thursday, De-
cember 81.
Project Mercury has top pri-
ority on use of the Atlantic
missile range facilities from
now until after Christmas.
The decision to go ahead
with efforts to launch Col.
Glenn in 1861 appears to be
that of Robert R. Gilruth and
Walter Williams, the No. and
No. 2 men in the Mercury pro-
gram. Apparently, their supe-
riors are letting them go ahead
with the speedup campaign.
White House Al00f
The top-level decision on
Mercury, approved by the
White House, Is understood to
be against any launching this
year, but for as early as pos
sible in 1862. Last night a high
space official in Washington
said in a phone conversation
that there has been no change
in this decision at the top level.
THE White House is keeping
its hands off" this official said.
But you would be correct in
assuming that if anything goes
wrong, NASA is in the soup"
President Kennedy, while
anxious to push the space pro-
gram as fast as possible, is
known to be deeply concerned
over the question Of safety.
Launching pad No. IA here,
which is Mercury'S only access
route to outer space, was
cleaned over night and pre-
pared for another rocket. This
vehicle. No. 1O9 of the Atlas D
series, was to be erected in the
next couple of days.
While it is theoretically
possible to do all the work nee
essary in time for a December
20 launching, such speed would |
be unprecedented in the Mer-
curry program. /.
Extra Work Involved
In the past, Aliases have been
fired off Pad IA at ten-day in
tervals but there is lot more
work involved in preparing a
space capsule for manned or
bital flight than in getting an
ICBM ready for a 5,000-mile
trip down range.
The minimum time between
past Mercury-AtlaS shots was
So days. Seventy seven days
intervened between the launch
ing of a single orbit, unoccu-
pied capsule designated MA-4
and yesterdays chimp flight,
MA-5.
To carry out the December /.
launching, the Mercury team
here has been put on a round
the-clock, seven day schedule.
Some misgivings over this tough
work regime have been ex-
pressed by NASA men who fear
that long hours will take their
toll in reduced efficiency.
The Mercury capsule and the
chimp from yesterdays flight
were to be returned here from
Bermuda, probably about 3 pm.
tomorrow. Col. Glenn planned
a close examination of the
spacecraft.
Chimp to Get Check