Feb 22 1966
From The Space Library
Launch from ETR of first unmanned Apollo spacecraft, scheduled for Feb. 23, was postponed because of cloudy, uncertain weather that would hamper visual and long-range photographic coverage of liftoff. ‘‘(NYT, 2/23/66, 20; Stern, Wash. Post, 2/23/66, A1; Hines, Wash. Eve. Star, 2/23/66, A6)’’
Astronauts Frank Borman and Walter M. Schirra, Jr., began eight-nation good-will tour of Asia with four-day visit to Japan. ‘‘(NYT, 2/23/66)’’
White Paper released by U.K. Defence Minister Denis Healey said RAF would buy 50 F-111 variable wing bombers from US. for 2.1 million pounds ($5,880,000) each and that plans for new British aircraft carrier had been dropped. F-111 aircraft operating from land bases would take over the strike-reconnaissance and air-defense functions of carriers. First Sea Lord, Adm. Sir David Luce, resigned in protest; Navy Minister Christopher Mayhew had resigned Feb. 19. ‘‘(AP, Wash. Eve. Star, 2/22/66, Al; Lewis, NYT, 2/23/66, 1, 5; Meyer, Wash. Post, 2/23/66, A1)’’
February 22-23: American Astronautical Society met in San Diego. Reconnaissance satellites, adapted for peaceful observations of earth’s surface, would bring revolutionary scientific and economic advances, Willis B. Foster, Director of Manned Space Science in NASA’s office of Space Science and Applications, predicted: “Remote sensing from space has unique capabilities, particularly in the opportunity it provides for repetitive synoptic coverage of the earth’s surface. . . . Spaceborne sensors will add to the knowledge of the figure of the earth, its mass distribution, and its magnetic and gravity fields. Movement of glaciers, growth of deltas, growth of crops, and even growth of populations can all be followed with this type of survey.” ‘‘(Text)’’
Austin M. Stanton, president and board chairman of Varo, Inc., said features of space such as airlessness, weightlessness, extreme temperature, and radiation could be “exploited as a completely new realm” for manufacturing. He said the earth might ultimately be encircled by a “vast doughnut-like ring 150,000 miles in circumference,” of articulated orbiting manufacturing facilities : “As a businessman, I propose that the time is ripe for a profitable industrial venture in space. . . . It will not be difficult to persuade investors to venture into buying stock in the new companies for three reasons: the predictions of the early advocates of astronautics have been fulfilled; the efforts of space agencies have been spectacularly successful; and . . . the communications satellite venture seems sound.” ‘‘(Hill, NYT, 2/27/66, 60)’’
The massive investment in technology and manpower created by space programs could be used to handle pressing problems associated with anticipated population growth on earth, suggested Dr. Peter A. Castruccio, director of IBM’s advanced space programs. Satellites could survey earth from space, pinpoint tillable land and examine staple crops using infrared techniques to detect diseases invisible to the naked eye. Seas could be mapped, isolating concentrations of fish and edible seaweed, and growing consumption of water offset by using satellites to map snow fields and glaciers. Underground rivers could be detected from space by measuring the tiny difference in soil temperatures above them; such streams were estimated to have 3,000 times the water present in all known rivers. Other fields, such as weather control and geological survey searches for fuel and minerals, could also be handled from space. ‘‘(M&R, 2/28/66,9, 12)’’
“The ultimate goal of weather modification and control may be realized only if man himself is placed in a Space Meteorological Lab,” suggested Sidney Sternberg, vice president and general manager of Electro-Optical Systems, Inc. He said the “ability and bandwidth of transfer of information between experiments and experimenter could not be duplicated by unmanned observations.” ‘‘(M&R, 2/28/66, 12)’’
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 28
