Apr 29 1970
From The Space Library
Members of Apollo 13 Review Board entered Apollo simulator at MSC and, using recorded data, reconstructed tense moments after explosion disabled spacecraft April 13. Board member Astronaut Neil A. Armstrong said purpose of reconstruction was to give investigators better appreciation of accident from crewmen's point of view. (W Post, 430/70, A27)
Dr. Robert C. Seamans, Jr., Secretary of the Air Force, presented Gen. Thomas D. White Space Trophy to Apollo 11 crew: astronauts Neil A. Armstrong, Edwin E. Aldrin, Jr., and Michael Collins, since named Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs-in Washington, D.C., ceremony. Award, established by National Geographic Society in 1961 for USAF members and units, honored crew for making most outstanding contribution to U.S. aerospace progress during 1969 by accomplishing first manned lunar landing. (DOD Release 35970)
ESSA announced award of $1.6-million contract to Gulton Industries Data Systems Div. to construct infrared temperature profile radiometer (ITPR), advanced satellite instrument for obtaining temperature sounding through atmosphere to earth's surface. ESSA was developing ITPR for use by NASA on Nimbus-E, scheduled for launch in 1972. (ESSA Release 70-28)
Vice President of Soviet Academy of Sciences Mikhail D. Millionshchikov said at second national Convocation on Challenge of Building Peace in New York that exchange of experience in space between U.S. and U.S.S.R. would be "very fruitful." It was "very dangerous to make a race . . . because the lives of human beings are at stake." Astronaut Frank Borman, chairman of panel discussion, suggested "Soviet-American committee to chart the exploration of the solar system, a group to develop and formulate policy and interchange of ideas, both in the manned and unmanned fields." (Wilford, NYT, 4/30/70)
Development of world's most powerful continuous-beam laser, with energy output capable of driving sports car, was described by Dr.. Edward T. Gerry of Avco Research Lab. during annual meeting of American Physical Society in New York. Laser could produce 30 kw of power in narrow beam and 60 kw in divergent beam. Values were triple those of most powerful continuous-beam lasers in operation. Avco laser resembled rocket engine. Nitrogen-carbon dioxide gas was heated to 1900 K (3000°F) in one chamber and shot through nozzle into second chamber at supersonic speed. Carbon dioxide molecules emitted photons which mirrors focused into beam of light emitted from chamber. At news conference following meeting, scientists denied lasers were being built for use as "death rays." Wayne State Univ. scientist Dr. Alexander J. Glass said scientists in U.S., U.S.S.R., and France were developing increasingly larger lasers that produced 100 kw of light energy in few trillionths of second. (Lyons, NYT, 4/30/ 70,20)
Christian Science Monitor editorial: "China's successful orbiting of her first satellite is further proof of her continuing effort in space and rocketry-even if her entering of the space age comes nearly 13 years after Sputnik I. It is proof, too, that even if China still lacks industrial brawn and remains basically an underdeveloped country, she is not lacking in scientific and technical brilliance. What she has achieved is all the more remarkable because-as the Chinese themselves report it-the Soviet Union reneged in 1959 on its 1957 agreement to help China with 'new technology for nuclear defense.' Thus what China has done has been done on her own-and by her scientists and technologists in spite of the self-inflicted torment of Chairman Mao's cultural revolution." (CSM, 4/29/70)
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