Aug 24 1965
From The Space Library
First sounding rocket launching undertaken jointly by the U.S. and Brazil under a memorandum of understanding signed April 21, 1965, was conducted successfully at NASA Wallops Station. The Nike-Apache rocket carried a 60-lb. payload to peak altitude of about 101 mi. (162.6 km,) during the seven-minute flight, Instrumentation for payload and telemetry ground support equipment were constructed jointly by Brazilian Space Commission (CNAE) and NASA engineers at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, NASA furnished the rocket and use of Wallops Station facilities. The Brazilian launch team, presently in training at Wallops Station, directed the launch operations and acquired telemetry data during the flight. (Wallops Release 65-51)
House Committee on Science and Astronautics favorably reported out H.R, 10329, which would authorize the Secretary of Commerce to conduct a feasibility study on adoption of the metric system. (CR, 8/24/ 65, 19007)
Dr. Donald F. Hornig, science adviser to President Johnson, told the Senate Committee on Aeronautical and Space Sciences that a manned Mars expedition would take from four hundred to six hundred days. He continued: "The longest manned mission we are currently planning is some 14 days. Whether such a long mission is physiologically or psychologically feasible is almost impossible to judge before we have more experience with Apollo, AES, and other manned systems. In any case, we would have to build systems of greater complexity and reliability than we have yet dreamed of." , . if we compare the probable scale and technical difficulties of a manned Mars expedition with Apollo it is hard to conclude that its probable cost could be much less than perhaps five times that of Apollo-that is, of the order of one hundred billion dollars." (Text)
Rusted metal remains of a boilerplate Mercury spacecraft with parachute attached was found in Galveston Bay, Tex, by the shrimp boat "Nancy" and returned to NASA Manned Spacecraft Center. The spacecraft was lost May 31, 1962, when MSC conducted a drop test from a C-119 aircraft at 1,500 ft. altitude; a lanyard broke and the parachute failed to open. (MSC Roundup, 9/17/65, 1, 3)
Eighty per cent of the $4 million needed to construct new bridges, modernizing the access road complex to Cape Kennedy, would be contributed by the Federal Government. The announcement was made jointly by Vice President Hubert Humphrey, Florida Governor Haydon Burns, and Florida Senators George Smathers and Spessard Holland. NASA and USAF would divide the $3.2 million Federal share and the state of Florida would provide $.8 million. (Cocoa Tribune, 8/24/65; KSC Spaceport News, 8/26/65, 1)
Soviet claim that the GEMINI V spaceflight was undertaken with "haste and definite risk" received editorial comment in the Washington Evening Star: "Tass, the official Soviet news agency, should feel a little bit embarrassed at the moment. It has given a big play to a story by Leonid Ponomariov [sic], its New York correspondent. The story has charged that American space officials have been ordered by the Johnson administration to 'beat the Soviet Union at any price with regard to the duration of orbital flight.' "Our country may indeed be forging ahead. But nothing could be more ridiculous than Ponomariov's [sic] studied suggestion that Gemini V has been put into orbit in a slapdash manner, with callous disregard for the safety of the astronauts aboard, just to steal a space scene from the Soviets. The fuel system and everything else aboard the Cooper-Conrad vehicle are not whimsical improvisations. That has been made dramatically clear by the way in which Gemini's initial power failure has been eliminated with help from ground control, by the craft's built-in means of self-correction. "As a result, it seems fairly certain right now that Astronauts Cooper and Conrad will be able to complete their eight-day mission... . "God willing, the Gemini flight will succeed to a degree that may persuade the men of the Kremlin to pay serious attention to our country's standing proposal for a joint Soviet-American effort to promote a manned landing on the moon." (Wash, Eve. Star, 8/24/65)
Gen. Nikolai Kamanin, commander of Soviet cosmonauts, said the premiere showing in Moscow of "A Man Walks in Space"-film describing the March 18 VOSKHOD II flight-that Soviet data had helped advance the date of L/Col. Edward H. White H's "walk" in space June 4. Kamanin said: "The Americans had not planned to let a man out until the end of this year, But after our flight they became bolder. A small group of American specialists, with the permission of our government, came to the Soviet Union and talked with cosmonauts Col. Pavel I. Belyayev and L/Col. Aleksei Leonov about their flight and we didn't hide anything," Questioned by newsman about the visit by "American specialists," Kamanin said either three or five persons had interviewed the Russian cosmonauts for several days, but he could not recall their names, Kamanin was asked if the visitors were officials of the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration, "I don't know," he replied. "Officially they were here with a television company-allegedly," NASA categorically denied General Kamanin's allegation, UPI reported. A spokesman said: "We have been unable to uncover any United States delegation of scientists addressed by the Soviet cosmonauts." Reuters, NYT, 8/26/65, 40; UPI, NYT, 8/26/65, 40; Loory, N.Y, Her. Trib., 8/25/65, 1)
The New York Times editorialized: ". . . The care that has marked every phase of the [[[Gemini V]]] flight thus far provides assurance that the decision on whether to call the capsule back to earth before that time will be based solely on the best judgment of the scientific team as to whether any element of needless risk would be involved in keeping the astronauts aloft. Their safety must, of course, take precedence over the fact that the eight-day goal is the most important single objective of the flight. "This is no matter of one-upmanship over the Russians, whose Valery Bykovsky stayed up for five days in 1963. The eight days it is hoped to keep Gemini V in space are roughly the time that would be required for a round trip to the moon. If Colonel Cooper and Commander Conrad can function effectively in a state of weightlessness for that long and then return without injury, they will have given strong support to the hypothesis on which the whole program for a manned moonshot is based. "Whenever that shot is made-and remain convinced that it is foolhardy to chain it to any fixed deadline-it will have to be based on the fullest possible advance knowledge of man's ability to cope in another environment with challenges his evolution on earth never required him to encounter." (NYT, 8/26/65, 29N)
The Washington Post editorialized: "Decision of the Gemini V space flight commanders to try for the scheduled eight-day voyage, despite the power shortages that threatened the exploit during the first two days is one that the whole country will greet with delight. The astronauts have accomplished no mean feat already, but the execution of the intended plan will prove the sophistication of the American space engineers. "The power difficulties on Gemini V have, in a curious way, reminded us that these incredible penetrations of space are not yet so commonplace as to be devoid of risk and misadventure. A succession of triumphant experiments by Americans and Russians have made it look easy. The powerpack troubles, like the dips and bobs and pauses of gifted high-wire performers, have succeeded in reminding the `audience' that the whole act is indeed very difficult and dangerous. We may have forgotten it for a moment, but now we are convinced." (Wash. Post, 8/24/65, Al2)
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