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RESCUE TEAMS SET19,000 Have Eyes (My for CoopCAFE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — Spread out beneath astronaut L. Gordon Cooper as he zips through space in a planned 34-hour aerial performance will be a huge safety net of men and machines*Every half hour during his, 600,000-mile mission, Cooper will pass over a spot where a specially-trained team waits to snatch him from the ocean should he find It necessary to land.The No. 1 team will be waiting ill the Pacific, near Midway Island, where the 22-orbit mission is scheduled to end,If something goes wrong, however, and Faith 7 conies back to earth outside a planned landing area, search and rescue aircraft are poised for takeoff at 28 staging bases around the world.These planes are equipped to “home in” on the capsule’s radio beacon. They carry teams of military para-rescue men—mentrained as parachutists, divers, survival experts and medical technicians. They are prepared to jump to Cooper’s assistance in ocean, desert or tropical rain forest.The force spread out to welcome Cooper includes 19,()00 men, 28 ships and 172 aircraft, Only a handful of these men will play an active part in what the National Aeronautics and Space Administration calls “a task in which the probabilities are few, but the possibilities almost unlimited.”Ill the Pacific, Task Force 130 is under the command of Rear Adm, Charles A, Buchanan*The mid-Paeifie recovery forces—the one which will be centered 125 miles south of Midway in the prime recovery area—is commanded by Capt. T. S. King. It includes the carrier Kearsarge, which took astronaut Walter Schirra aboard at the end of his six-orbit mission last Oct. 3, Sixdestroyers and 14 aircraft are also in this force.The Western Pacific recovery group, covering ail area south of Japan, includes four destroyers and six search-and-rescue aircraft,In the Atlantic, Task Force 140 is commanded by Rear Adm. Harold G. Bowen.Two minesweepers and a salvage ship will be in shallow waters just 12 miles off Cape Canaveral to pick up Cooper if something goes wrong shortly after his space vehicle is launched.NASA has given the recovery force the job of locating Cooper anywhere in the world within 18 hours after he lands. While the force is geared to dc this in the event of a forced landing, actual recovery could take days. In the North Atlantic, a ship could arrive at any spot within a day, but in the South Atlantic or Indian Oceans, five days would be required.
Newspaper Details
Pacific Stars and Stripes
Tokyo, Tôkyô, JP
Wed, May 15, 1963
Page 13
Full Page
Clipped by
Marc H.
VA, USA 03 Oct 2024
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