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Aviation History
1962
1962 - 2248.PDF
THURSDAY OCTOBER 4 1962 Number 2795 Volume 82 Official Organ of the Royal Aero Club First Aeronautical Weekly in the World Founded in 1909 Editor-in-Chief MAURICE A. SMITH DFC Editor H. F. KING MBE Technical Editor W. T. CU NSTON Air Transport Editor J. M. RAMSDEN Production Editor ROY CASEY Managing Director H. N, PRIAULX MBE In this issue World News 548 Air Commerce 551 Talking: about ATC 558 Boom Time for a Helicopter 559 The Pen and the Air 5 60 Painting- the VCIO 562 Straight and Level 563 • Archetype for a New Generation 5 64 Service Aviation 566 Sport and Business 567 Missiles & Spaceflight 570 Letters 5 76 Industry International 578 Space—the First Five Years THE SPACE AGE is five years old today: it was on October 4, 1957. that a 20in, 1841b sphere called Sputnik 1 jerked open the shutters of Earth-bound minds to display a new and boundless realm of flight. In these five years such words as apogee and perigee have passed from the technical dictionaries into the mouths of schoolboys, and a story has begun to unfold wherein technological progess is linked more closely than ever before with human perseverance and courage. Sadly, the great adventure has been marred by continuing conflict between the Soviet Union and the United States, though dominant in the public mind are happier recollections—the direct hit on the Moon by Lunik 2; the first manned flight, by Yuri Gagarin, in Vostok 1; and the transmission of television and telephone signals via Telstar. As practical examples of applied technology the successes of Tiros, Transit and Telstar—in meteorology, navigation and communications respectively —came sooner than anyone had hoped; and a vast amount of useful, if expensively acquired, new scientific knowledge has been garnered by a family of diverse and ingenious spacecraft. Of even greater importance than the scientific and technical achieve ments is the manner in which they are to be put to use. Profoundly signi ficant in the area of international agreement and legislation was the draft ing and adoption last December of the United Nations resolution which affirmed, first, that international law applied to outer space, and, secondly, that celestial bodies were not subject to national appropriation. Deplorably, the hopeful exchange of letters between President Kennedy and Mr Khrushchev concerning co-operation in space has not been followed by firm, effective action. In Geneva, the legal sub-committee of the United Nations Outer-Space Committee became immersed in politics and failed to agree, although the scientific and technical sub-committee contrived to produce a report and appears to be making progress. Iliffe Transport Publications Ltd, Dorset House, Stamford Street, London, SE1; telephone Waterloo 3333 (Telex 25137). Telegrams Flightpres London Telex. Annual subscriptions: Home £4 15s. Overseas £5. Canada and USA 815.00. Second Class Mail privileges authorized at New York, NY. Branch Offices: Coventry, 8-10 Corpora tion Street: telephone Coventry 25210. Birmingham, King Edward House, New- Street. Birmingham 2; telephone Mid land 7191. Manchester, 260 Deansgate, Manchester 3: telephone Blackfriars 4412 or Deansgate 3595. Glasgow, 62 Bucha nan Street, Glasgow CI; telephone Central 1265-6. New York, NY: Thomas Skinner & Co (Publishers) Ltd, 111 Broadway 6: telephone Digby 9-1197. © Iliffe Transport Publications Ltd, 1962. Permission to reproduce illustra tions and letterpress can be granted only under written agreement. Brief extracts or comments may be made with due acknowledgement. Thoughts for the Next Five Historic anniversaries are occasions not only for reflection but for resolving and planning. Our own thoughts follow. While we believe that the Soviet Union deserves profound respect for its impressive demon strations of technical ability, we can offer no congratulation for its with holding of information, for its apparent timing of space shots to serve political ends, and for using pioneer cosmonauts as propagandists. The United States, on the other hand, is right to make available de tailed information on all aspects of its National Aeronautics and Space Administration's activities—whether successes, delays, or failures—and right to sponsor genuine international co-operation. But in our view it is far from right in making a race out of lunar exploration, and the military programme of secret satellite launchings casts its own sombre shadow. Surely the time has already come to remove the dangerous pretensions of national prestige from the arena of space. Does it really matter who is first on the Moon ? What is important is the realization that the first five years of the space age have shown not only vast progress, but also sad retrogression. For the next five years the choice, it seems, is either world co-operation through the United Nations, or anarchy.
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