Dec 20 1963
From The Space Library
NASA selected Boeing Co. for negotiation of incentive-type contract to build Lunar Orbiter spacecraft, contract expected to exceed $60 million. One of the five bidding firms, Boeing would provide probes that are three-axis stabilized, use Eastman Kodak-developed camera system, and RCA power and communication subsystems. Five Lunar Orbiter spacecraft would be launched to take close-range photographs of lunar surface, as well as to measure such conditions as radiation and micrometeoroid density. Lunar Orbiter complements Ranger and Surveyor lunar probe projects, providing scientific data about the moon in preparation for Project Apollo manned lunar landing. (NASA Release 63-280)
NASA Manned Spacecraft Center announced Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corp., prime contractor for development of Apollo - lunar excursion module (LEM) had awarded $8,370,000 contract to Hamilton Standard Div. for design, development, and production of environmental control system for LEM. (MSC Release 63-257 )
25th Minuteman ICBM fired by USAF from Vandenberg AFB made routine training flight down PMR. (M&R, 12/6/63, 10)
Gordon M. Bain, FAA Deputy Administrator for Supersonic Transport, suggested at meeting of Society of American Travel Writers in New York that he believed the U.S. supersonic transport aircraft could be economically used on routes as short as "perhaps 1,200 miles." Maximum range of the U.S. SST would be around 4,000 mi. (Clark, NYT, 12/21/63)
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