22 NOME NUGGET
__OLDEST NEWSPAPER IN ALASKA—MEMBER ASSOCIATED PRESS _
62nd Year No. 86 NOME, ALASKA, FRIDAY, JULY 21, 1961 Per Copy 15^
U.S. Achieves Second Sub-Orbital
Flight . . . Grissom Plucked from Sea
O
By Howard Benedict
CAPE CANVAVERAL, Fla. OF—
Astronaut Virgil <Gus> Grissom
survived a 5,280 - mile - an - hour
journey in space today, then made
a dramatic swim for his life as
his capsule plummeted to the bot
tom of the Atlantic Ocean.
Loss of the $2-million space
craft and its equipment will not
delay the Project Mercury pro
gram, which is aimed at placing a
man in orbit a few months from
now and on the Moon later, an
official said.
Films of Grissom and his con
trol panel went down with the
capsule, but Robert Gilruth,
Project Mercury director, said
most of the information desired
was received through telemetry.
Gilruth said it has not been de
termined whether this would be
the last sub-orbital flight. It had
been suggested that there might
be two more before the attempt
is made to fire a man into orbit.
Capsule Sank
The capsule sank in 2,800
fathoms (16,800 feet) of water.
Officials said no effort would be
made to recover it.
Grissom blew his escape hatch
and left the sinking capsule in
the manner all astronauts had
been taught in their rigorous
training.
Explosive bolts on the escape
hatch were a new feature of the
capsule, added since Shepard’s
flight.
After swimming about 70 feet,
Grissom was picked up by a heli
copter two minutes after his es
cape from the capsule. Attempts
to recover the spacecraft failed
as it plummeted to the bottom.
118 Miles High
Grissom rode 118 miles high
on the nose of a Redstone rocket \
and 303 miles down the Atlantic
missile range. And he looked down
on a view so fascinating he for
got momentarily that he had
chores to perform during the 15
minute journey.
The 35-year-old Air Force cap
tain had flown higher (two miles),
father (one mile) and faster by
180 miles than Alan B. Shepard,
the first U. S. astronaut.
After making his escape from
the doomed space ship, Grissom
was not in danger of sinking. His
flight suit was buoyant. But he
did go under water briefly in
the wake of the rescue helicop
ter’s spinning blades.
The pickup was made 31 min
utes after the Redstone booster
rocket thundered away from Cape
Canaveral.
The flight had been delayed j
twice—on Tuesday and Wednes- j
day—by heavy clouds over the
RENEE GUERIN INVITED TO
PERFORM TANANA FAIR
JUNEAU UR — Gov. Egan’s of
fice said today Renee Guerin, a
Juneau-born singing star now on
Broadway, had been invited to be
featured performer at the Tanana
Valley Fair in Fairbanks Aug.
10-13.
Egan’s office said Miss Guerin
was invited to return to her home
state as a star performer after
Kent Brandley, fair association
manager, had asked the state’s
help in obtaining some star for
the fair.
Miss Guerin is currently under
study to Mary Martin in the hit
Broadway show “Sound of Music.”
launch area which prevented
camera tracking of the Redstone
rocket during powered flight.
Calling on his many years of
experience as a combat and test
pilot, Grissom performed a va
riety of tasks on the pulse-pound
ing flight.
For brief periods, he controlled
the two-ton space ship by switch
ing its roll, pitch and yaw.
Throughout the flight Grissom,
of Mitchell, Ind., radioed assur
ances that his condition was good
and that all capsule systems per
formed normally.
19-Inch Picture Window
Through his 19-inch “picture
window”, he reported seeing the
East Coast of the United States
but was unable to identify land
marks because of the bright sun.
Shouting encouragement to
Grissom from the ground was the
astronaut who preceded him to
the threshold of infinity. Alan B.
Shepard was at the vital capsule
communicator post in the control
tower.
The two fellow astronauts main
tained almost constant voice com
munication throughout the flight.
The success gives the United
States two spacemen to the So
viet Union’s one. Both Grissom
and Shepard gained valuable ex
perience for later orbital mis
sions — a feat already accom
plished by Yuri Gagarin of the
Soviet Union. Gagarin circled the
globe once at a maximum alti
tude of 187 miles at a speed of
more than 17,000 miles an hour
last April 12.
The National Aeronautics and
Space Administration hopes to
orbit an American late this year
or early in 1962.
Grissom to Take a Rest
GRAND BAHAMA Island UP) —
Smiling and seemingly relaxed,
astronaut Virgil Grissom arrived
on this island today for 48 hours
of rest after his space flight.
He stepped down from an
orange and silver plane to be
greeted by James T. Webb. Ad
ministrator of the National Space
Agency.
Noting that Grissom rode in
the co-pilot’s seat of the plane
that brought him from the air
craft carrier Randolph, Webb re
marked:
“I see you are not tired of
flying.”
“Not a bit,” Grissom replied.
Girssom, wearing an orange
flying suit and silver boots, rode
to the hospital about a mile away
where he had to take medical ex
aminations and start giving his
full report on the flight.
Jimmy Edwards, son of Herk
Edwards, is home for a short va
cation with his two children from
Grand Bahama, Florida.
Jimmy is meteorology super
intendent for Pan American Air
ways at this site which is the
first of the missile tracking sites
south of Cape Canaveral. Pan
American Airways has the con
tract for the weather stations in
connection with the operation of
guided missiles fired from Cape
Canaveral.
He plans to start on his return
to Florida tomorrow.
Grand Bahama is the island
where astronaut Virgil Grissom
was landed today after his return
from space flight today.
Alaska Airlines
Plane Crashes,
Claims Six Lives
SHEMYA, Alaska (A*) — An 1
Alaska Airlines cargo plane grop
ing for a landing in fog hit 300
feet short of the runway today
and piled up in flames, killing all
six crew members.
There were no passengers on
the military cargo flight.
Visibility was one-half mile
with a 100-foot ceiling as the
transport crashed at this Aleutian
Island base, a major refueling
stop on the Gr *at Circle airline
route.
The DC6 plane, under contract
to the Military Transport Service,
was enroute from Travis Air
Force Base, Calif., to Tachikawa
AFB near Tokyo.
It had been scheduled for a re
fueling stop at Shemya, 1,500
miles southeast of Anchorage.
An airline official here said he
had no word except that the plane
crashed and burned at 6:30 a. m.
The airline identified the crew
members as:
Capt. Edward Bowman, 44,
Seattle; Capt. Galvin William
Sargent, 41, Danville, Calif.; Co
pilot John Herman Bird Jr., 29,
Kent, Wash.; Flight engineer
Dwight Morton Babock, 28, Seat
tle; Flight engineer William
Everett Donovan, 26, Seattle; Na
vigator Edson A. Marahrens, 41,
Bellevue, Wash.
Negotiations on Pan Am's
Labor Dispute Break Off
. . . No Sign of Strike
WASHINGTON UR — Negotia
tions in a Pan American World
Airways labor dispute have been
broken off. But no sign of a
strike was reported and Pan Am
said early today its service was
normal.
The pressing dispute is with the
Flight Engineers International
Assn. The engineers could have
walked out at midnight Wednes
day when a 30-day cooling off
period under the Railway Labor
Act expired. But an engineers’
spokesman said then there would
be no work stoppage “for at least
24 hours”—which put the dead
line at anytime after midnight
last night.
The negotiations cover wages
and other economic terms of a
new contract. A Presidential
Commission was standing by to
discuss crew complements and
other issues with Pan Am, the
Flight Engineers and Air Line
Assn.
The pilots are also in a posi
tion to call a walkout but so far
haven’t raised a strike threat.
AF Turned Down On
Funds to Modernize
Officers’ Clubs
WASHINGTON UP) — The Air
Force request for $1,589,000 to im
prove and modernize officers’
clubs at five Air Force bases was
denied today by the House Ap
propriations Committee.
They were among more than a
score of projects for which the
committee refused to recommend
funds in an omnibus military
construction bill.
The committee said existing
facilities at the five bases were
adequate to meet requirements.
The bases, and the amount the
Air Force had requested included
Eielson, Alaska, $354,000.
NEW PENICILLIN PILL
MADE IN BRITAIN
LONDON UPI — British doctors 1
have developed a new penicillin |
that can be taken as a pill and !
is effective against a wide variety
of diseases.
The British Medical Journal said
the drug penbritin, has proved ef
fective against food poisoning, in
fluenza complications, secondary
effects of pneumonia, wound in
fections and blood poisoning.
The Medical Journal in an
nouncing the development of the
new drug, devoted 18 pages to it.
The new drug was named Pen
britin to emphasize its British
origin.
A team of three-two men and
a woman developed the drug at
the Beecham Research Labora
tories at Brockham Park, Surrey.
They are Dr. Frank Doyle, Dr.
George Rolinson and Dr. Shirley
Stevens.
The British Medical Jurnal re
ported that one of the new drug’s
great advantages is that there are
few signs that resistant strains
follow its use, as happened with
the original penicillin.
Selective Service
Orders Pool of Men
Increased to 100,000
WASHINGTON UP\ — Selective
Service officials have ordered the
pool of men available for draft
ing increased to 100,000 but the
Army has not requested any boosl
in the number actually to be
drafted.
Several states have reported
they are enlarging their pools of
available men — ordering them
to report for examination — but a
Selective Service spokesman said
today the August draft quota had
| not been changed from the 8,000
previously announced.
The spokesman said there is
! “no direct relationship” between
the order increasing the pool and
the Berlin crisis.
“There is no significance to the
increase” he said. He added that |
the latest check showed about i
70,000 men in the available pool. I
Kennedy Signs Bill
Authorizing $1,784,300,000
For the Space Effort
WASHINGTON UP> — Only a
few hours after this country sent
its second man into space, Presi
dent Kennedy today signed a bill
authorizing vastly expanded
space projects, including a start
toward sending a man to the
Moon.
Kennedy took note of Capt.
Grissom’s space flight as he put
his signature to the bill. It au
thorizes the National Aeronautics
and Space Administration to
spend $1,784,300,000 in the year
ahead. The amount was every
cent Kennedy had asked.
In a brief statement, Kennedy
said it was significant that the
bill was signed on the day Ameri
ca’s second astronaut made his
flight “before the eyes of the
watching world and with all the
hazard it entails.
“It is also significant that once
again we have demonstrated the
technological excellence of this
country,” the President said.
“As our space program con
tinues it will continue to be this
nation’s policy to use space for
the advancement of all mankind
and to make free release of all
scientific and technological re
sults.”
The bill was passed only Thurs
day by the House and Senate.
Buffalo Hunt In
Delta Junction Area
Will Not Be Canceled
JUNEAU UP» — The state is de
finitely going ahead with plans
for a controlled hunt of buffalo
in the Delta Junction area this
fall, Director Jim Brooks of the
Division of Game said yesterday.
“There is no reason to cancel
the hunt,” Brooks said.
Residents of the Delta Junction
area sent a petition to Gov. Egan
last week asking that the state
call off plans for the bison hunt.
The petition contained 300 sig
natures.
“Actually, the number of ani
mals we plan to take, 50, is few
er than the number of calves
born in the herd this spring,”
Brooks said, “so the harvest won’t
even mean a reduction in the
herd.”
The buffalo herd has been esti
mater at 350 animals.
Brooks said more than 50
calves were counted alone this
spring in the portion of the herd
which ranges along the Delta
I River.
Calves in other sections of the
herd, in the Gerstle River and
Healy Lake areas, were not count
ed, the state’s game chief said.
More than 3,000 applications
(were filed for a drawing held
today at Delta Junction to deter
mine the winners of the 50 buf
falo permits.
“We consider the large number
of applications filed as public ac
1 ceptance of our decision to man
age the buffalo as a game animal,”
Brooks said.
French Smash Into
I Embattled Bizerte
TUNIS UP) — Tunisian govern
| ment officials reported that a
massive French assault smashed
into embattled Bizerte tonight by
land, sea and air.
The officials and witnesses near
the scene said knots of Tunisian
infantrymen were shooting in the
hearth of the barricaded city,
which sits astride the narrow
channel leading to the Bay of
Bizerte.
French paratroopers, backed by
tanks, were said to be approach
ing the central square of Bizerte
while launches from three war
ships disembarked French troops
inside the bay.
The reported new fighting came
after a lull following a French
drive which pushed Tunisian
forces back from the besieged
naval base.
President Habib Bourguiba of
Tunisia called for foreign volun
teers to step up his undeclared war
against France. He ordered seizure
of a French oil pipeline in south
ern Tunisia.
HOFFA'S DAUGHTER TO
WED COMPANY MAN
DETROIT l/P)—The daughter of
James R. Hof fa will marry a
management man in October.
Pretty, green-eyed Barbara Hof
fa, 23, is bethrothed to Robert E.
Crancer, 24, son of president Les
Crancer of the Valley Steel Co.
of St. Louis after a speedy court
ship. They met three weeks ago
at the Teamsters convention in
Miami Beach, Fla.
Robert is manager of his father’s
Dallas, Tex., plant. Barbara, an
Albion, Mich, college graduate,
has taught in junior high school
in Detroit.
“My father hasn’t teased me
about choosing a company man,
but Robert has,” Barbara said.