Dec 26 1967
From The Space Library
U.S.S.R. successfully launched Cosmos CXCVII. Orbital parameters: apogee, 505 km (314 mi); perigee, 220 km (137 mi); period, 91.5 min; and inclination, 48.5°. (GSFC SSR, 12/30/67; Aero Tech, 1/1/68,13)
First flight test of Apollo Lunar Module (LM) , designated Apollo 5, was scheduled no earlier than Jan. 17, 1968, NASA announced. The 31,700-lb LM, one of three modules comprising the Apollo spacecraft, was designed to carry two astronauts from lunar orbital flight to a landing on the moon, then back to the Apollo spacecraft in lunar orbit. It would be launched on the 6-hr 30-min test flight by 1.6-million-lb-thrust Uprated Saturn I (AS-204) originally scheduled for first manned Apollo mission in February 1967, and would not be recovered. Primary objective of the unmanned Apollo 5 flight would be verification of LM's flight readiness for manned operations in space. Test would flight qualify LM descent stage propulsion engine, including restart; ascent stage propulsion engine; systems; structures; and staging. (NASA Release 67-313; UPI, NYT, 12/27/67, 15; AP, W Post, 12/27/67, A4)
In response to FCC inquiry on future communications in Atlantic area-currently served by two comsats and four cables-ComSatCorp President Joseph V. Charyk and AT&T Vice President Richard R. Hough presented their proposals in separate letters to FCC Chairman Rosel H. Hyde. Hough, advocating a fifth underwater cable, said that although AT&T supported the idea of a global comsat system, all of the international carriers believed the cable project was "the right way to add to our capabilities at this time." The best service, he said, could be provided by "a balanced, integrated network of both cables and satellites." Charyk charged that the cable would not be economically feasible: ". . . when a new cable is laid to carry traffic that could otherwise be carried at no extra cost by satellite facilities which must be established in any case, the ultimate customer must bear the cable cost as an addition to the already committed costs of service." As traffic was diverted from comsats to a cable, a greater share of satellite revenue requirement would have to be carried by routes not served by the cable, primarily less developed countries with smaller traffic streams. US., he said, was committed to develop the INTELSAT system. To ensure that US. met this commitment, "the advanced [comsat] system must be in operation in the time frame we have proposed for INTELSAT IV. It is essential that a vigorous advanced satellite development progam be under way during 1968." (Texts; Smith, NYT, 12/29/67, 43)
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