Aug 5 1964
From The Space Library
Space News for this day. (2MB PDF)
RANGER VII briefing to members of Congress, with Harris ("Bud") Schurmeier, Ranger Project Manager, JPL, and Dr. Gerard P. Kuiper, Director of Lunar and Planetary Div, Univ. of Arizona, as principal speakers. Dr. Kuiper said: "I do not think it is an exaggeration to say that a new era has begun in the exploration of the Moon. . . . "Here, in one step last week a gain of a factor of 2,000 was made-2,000 in the effective magnification of the image of the lunar surface [earlier reported as 1,000] . ." Discussing preliminary results of the lunar photographs, Dr. Kuiper said: ". . . down to the size of approximately two or three feet, the primary craters caused by direct impacts on the moon covered .. an area amounting to about one percent of the lunar surface. So this is a very great help in landing operations, either by unmanned soft landings, such as Surveyor, or manned landings as planned for Apollo. the innocent-looking ray systems, such as one has around Copernicus, Tycho, Kepler, a number of craters really are danger spots. When you look at them closely, . . one sees them resolved into multitudes, clusters of secondary craters . . . I wouldn't be surprised if slopes of the order of 15 degrees would be found. This would be somewhat difficult This is a rather uncomfortable inclination on which to land. ". . . the surface between these craters is smoother than I had thought . . . I have .. many times hypothesized that if you would go to higher and higher magnification, higher and higher resolution, that there would be a large number of cracks on the moon, fissures similar to those one finds on lava fields such as on Mauna Loa, Hawaii, or recent lava fields which have not yet been eroded. "This apparently is not the case. This was wrong . . . these cracks are not present. It looks as if the surface of the moon has been buffeted, has been simply pounded on, and has been sort of smoothed out, and the cracks filled in the process. . . . "Now the question is, what about the surface? What is the nature of the surface. . . . It is not just a loose pile of sand, dust. It has considerable stiffness. And . . . while we know from other data that the top structure is open, it is sort of like snow or a biscuit, a cracker. It has an open structure; nevertheless, it looks as if the moon may have considerable bearing strength. That, however, is something which must be measured separately, with separate equipment. "However, we can say that there are not enormous depths, several feet, ten, or a hundred feet of dust, which would simply not have permitted formation of the sharp little craters as we observe them." (NASA Transcript)
Success of RANGER VII spotlighted NASA's preparation for further lunar and planetary exploration, including two more Rangers (early next year), Surveyor soft-landing spacecraft, Lunar Orbiter photographing spacecraft, and Project Apollo manned lunar expedition, as well as two Mariner spacecraft to gather data from the vicinity of Mars (last quarter of 1964) . (NASA Releases 64-196, 64-205)
Senate passed H.R. 11296 (FY 1965 appropriations for independent offices), after rejecting (69-20) amendment sponsored by Sen. William Proxmire to reduce NASA funds by $68,594,000 for Research and Development; by $17,880,500 for Construction of Facilities; and by $13,525,500 for Administrative Operations. As passed by the Senate, NASA appropriations for FY 1965 amounted to $5.3 billion, divided as follows: R&D, $4,413,594,000; CofF, $262,880,500; and AO, $623,-525,500. Bill was sent to conference. (CR, 8/5/64, 17554-77)
Boilerplate Gemini spacecraft was dropped from C-119 aircraft at 1,500-ft. altitude, sixth in series of such tests to study landing on solid ground. The tests were being conducted by Landing and Recovery Div., NASA Manned Spacecraft Center. (AP, Houston Post, 6/8/64; MSC Roundup, 8/19/64,3)
At NASA Hq. awards presentation ceremony, Joseph Mandelkorn of Lewis Research Center and William R- Cherry of Goddard Space Flight Center jointly received NASA Contributions Award for development of improved (n-on-p) radiation-resistant solar cells. Mandelkorn received $5,000 cash award and Cherry, $1,000. William W. Smith, formerly of Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and Bruce W. Schmitz of JPL received $1,000 award for their contribution of Trajectory-Correction Propulsion System, used recently in RANGER VII lunar photography mission. Wilmer H. Reed III of Lam received $1,500 award for his contribution of a Test Unit Free-Flight Suspension System. Howell D. Garner and Henry J. E. Reid, Jr., of Langley Research Center, received $1,700 award for their contribution of Dynamic Precession Damper for Spin Stabilized Vehicles. Awards were presented by NASA Deputy Administrator Dr. Hugh L. Dryden. (Program)
USAF announced launching of Thor-Agena D space booster from Vandenberg AFB with unidentified satellite payload. (UPI, Wash. Post, 8/6/64; M&R, 8/17/64, 9)
Senator John Stennis (D.-Miss.) said on the floor of the Senate: "In exploring space, our Nation as well as any other nation is straining at the state-of-the-art and technology. We are moving into a medium where relatively little is known. As we move into such a medium we are confident that we can stay abreast in the field of scientific discovery and its application to space with any other nation. In this medium it is not a case of being able to defend ourselves by building ten planes to every five planes of a potential aggressor nation or five ships to two ships or three tanks to one tank in order to establish our superiority. By staying abreast of advancements in science and technology our nation will be able to prevent any surprise in this new medium. Our national space program is geared to this accomplishment. As for the present, our Nation subscribes to the philosophy that space should be explored for peaceful purposes, and we will do so. However, should an aggressor attempt to utilize this medium for warlike activities in the future, I am confident that our Nation will be prepared to defend itself." (CR, 8/5/64)
National Academy of Sciences announced establishment of 10-man committee to study effects of sonic boom phenomena as related to development of supersonic transport. Chaired by Dr. J. R. Dunning, dean of School of Engineering and Applied Science, Columbia Univ., the committee would assist Government in planning an expanded sonic boom test program and evaluating the data obtained in the program. FAA would continue to manage the test program operation, with support from NASA and USAF. NAS organized the committee upon request from President Janson. (NAS-NRC Release)
Dave W. Lang, Chief of MSC Contracts and Procurements Div, said in address to Gulf Area Development Committee of the Houston Chamber of Commerce that MSC "ranked first in the agency in terms of dollar and percentage awards" to contractors for the first half of FY 1964. SC awards totaled $629.1 million, or 32% of total NASA spending in that period. (Maloney, Houston Post, 8/6/64)
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 2829 30 31
