Page:Project Mercury - A Chronology.pdf/21

4

An NACA report was issued covering several projects and proposals for the flight of manned and unmanned vehicles to altitudes above the earth where atmospheric density was very low. The substance of these reports was presented at the June 24, 1952, meeting of the Committee on Aerodynamics. After the presentation, committee member Robert J. Woods recommended that basic research be initiated on the problems of space flight and stated that the NACA was the logical organization to carry on this work. To accomplish this task, a small working group was established to analyze the available information on the subject of space flight. The objective of this group was to arrive at a concept of a suitable manned test vehicle that could be constructed within 2 years.

The Special Committee for the International Polar Year (later designated the International Geophysical Year), was established.

H. Julian Allen of the NACA Ames Aeronautical Laboratory, Moffett Field, California, conceived of the blunt nose principle for reentry vehicles. On this date Allen stated he had determined that the blunt form would be suitable for any body reentering the earth’s atmosphere. This principle was first used on the intercontinental ballistic missile nose cone and was later incorporated into the configuration of the Mercury spacecraft.

The NACA Committee on Aerodynamics recommended that NACA increase its research efforts on the problems of manned and unmanned flight at altitudes between 12 and 50 miles and at speeds of mach 4 through 10. As a result of this recommendation, the Langley Aeronautical Laboratory began preliminary studies on this project and immediately identified several problem areas. Two of these areas were aerodynamic heating and the achievement of stability and control at very high altitudes and speeds. Of the two, Langley considered aerodynamic heating to be the more serious, and, until this problem was resolved, the design of practical spacecraft impractical. (See January 30, 1952, entry).

The Navy's Johnsville, Pennsylvania, human centrifuge began operations. This installation was later designated the Aviation Medical Acceleration Laboratory (AMAL) and was used extensively in the training of the Mercury astronauts.