This Date in Space History

On this Date (3 Oct):

• Sixty-two years ago: As the initial attempt to establish an earth satellite program, the Bureau of Aeronautics established a committee to evaluate the feasibility of space rocketry.  This would lead to the Vanguard project.
• Forty-five years ago: Sigma 7, Commander Walter M. Schirra pilot was launched into orbit by a Mercury-Atlas rocket from Cape Canaveral and, after nearly six orbits and a flight of over 160,000 miles, landed in the Pacific, 275 miles northeast of Midway Island. Schirra’s was the first of two longer-duration Mercury missions. After Carpenter’s flawed reentry, the emphasis returned to engineering rather than science (Schirra even named his spacecraft "Sigma" for the engineering symbol meaning "summation.") The six-orbit mission lasted nine hours and 13 minutes, much of which Schirra spent in what he called "chimp configuration," a free drift that tested the Mercury’s autopilot system. Schirra also tried "steering" by the stars (he found this difficult), took photographs with a Hasselblad camera, exercised with a bungee­cord device, saw lightning in the atmosphere, broadcast the first live message from an American spacecraft to radio and TV listeners below, and made the first splashdown in the Pacific. This was the highest flight of the Mercury program, with an apogee of 283.24km (176mi), but Schirra later claimed to be unimpressed with space scenery as compared to the view from high-flying aircraft. "Same old deal, nothing new," he told debriefers after the flight. Sigma 7 landed near the international date line in the Pacific Ocean, 275 miles (440 km) NE of Midway Island. The landing coordinates were near 32° 7′ 30" N – 174° 45′ W.  Mercury spacecraft # 16 – Sigma 7, used in the Mercury-Atlas 8 mission, is currently displayed at the United States Astronaut Hall of Fame, Titusville, Florida.