Jan 12 1966
From The Space Library
President Johnson, in his State of the Union address to the joint session of Congress, proposed a “program to construct and to flight-test a new supersonic transport airplane that will fly three times the speed of sound-in excess of 2,000 miles per hour.” No mention of the space program was made in the address. This fact received comment in Aviation Week: “Mentioned or not, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration has decided to stake out a top spot in domestic prestige after Apollo. . . . The agency now will take the initiative.” ‘‘(Pres. Doc., 1/17/66, 31; Av. Wk., 1/17/66, 25)’’
Successful launching of Boosted-Dart sounding rockets carrying chaff payloads from Natal, Brazil, and NASA Wallops Station marked first meteorological sounding rocket launchings conducted from North and South America the same day under coordinated NASA-Comisao Nacional de Atividades Espaciais (CNAE) experimental program. Natal launch was first of a series of 32 launches planned by CNAE for 1966 as part of InterAmerican Experimental Meteorological Sounding Rocket Network (EXAMETNET). Brazil, Argentina, and US., cooperating in EXAMETNET, were planning a north-south chain of stations through the Western Hemisphere to conduct coordinated sounding rocket launchings to obtain experimental data on hemispheric weather patterns. ‘‘(NASA Release 66-12)’’
Ground-test version of S-II, North American Aviation, Inc.-built 2nd stage of NASA’s Saturn V booster, was static-fired at Santa Susana Field Laboratory for 354 sec. in successful test of its engine-gimballing and liquid-oxygen-cutoff systems. S-II, which developed 1-million-lbs. thrust from five Rocketdyne J-2 engines, had been previously ground-tested for 18 sec. on Dec. 29, 1965. Firing was monitored by MSFC engineers. ‘‘(MSFC Release 66-17)’’
NASA Administrator James E. Webb, discussing applications of space technology at a meeting of Dallas County Medical Society in Dallas, said that “by adding to our knowledge of space, and of man in space . . . we are building a very large bank of knowledge that will serve generations of man in all major fields of activity.” In a news conference in Dallas, he said that the Soviet space program was ahead of the U.S.’s “and will be for the next year or two.’’ He said he felt the US. would beat the U.S.S.R. to a lunar landing, but was not as confident as 12 mos. ago: “A year ago I would have said the Saturn V would be far bigger than anything they could do. I’m not so sure now. They have a very vigorous program. . . . This year they have flown PROTON I and II -both four times the size of Gemini-and they have announced a big new rocket.” Asked if the Proton series promised ability to maneuver like US’s Gemini spacecraft, Webb replied: “Anytime you can put up a spacecraft that weighs 27,000 pounds, you’ve got a capability to do a lot of things you cannot do with a smaller craft. You can develop the maneuverability, but it’s hard to develop the large capacity of large spacecraft -and this is where we have been behind and are still behind.” ‘‘(Text, AP, Denver Post, 1/13/66)’’
Three NASA Gemini astronauts-Charles A. Bassett II, Elliot M. See, Jr., and Eugene A. Cernan -scheduled for a spring mission, completed a training program at Univ. of North Carolina’s Morehead Planetarium. They used a device that projected simulated GATV against a stellar background. ‘‘(UPI, NYT, 1/13/66, 44).
FRC awarded Martin Co. a six-month $200,000 contract to design, fabricate, and test a thermal protection system for X-15 experimental aircraft that would fly at speeds above 5,000 mph. The 300-lb. system would be based on Martin’s MA-25s silicon ablator and would maintain air-friction heating at well below the 1,200°F safety limit. Contract also called for establishment of refurbishment procedures. ‘‘(NASA Release 66-11; Martin Release)’’
Royal Aeronautical Society of Great Britain marked 100th anniversary. ‘‘(J/RAS 1/66)’’
January 12-13: “Technology gap” between US. and Western Europe was discussed at Paris meeting of industry’s scientific officials, sponsored by Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), which comprised most non-Communist industrial countries. Recent OECD report had stated that US. research effort was at least twice as great as Western Europe’s and that Europe could catch up in civilian research only by extraordinary effort, but it could not catch up in military and space work. Specific proposals for international research centers, international fellowships, and general increase in sharing of scientific effort and results were discussed. US. was represented by Office of Science and Technology Director Dr. Donald F. Hornig. ‘‘(Mooney, NYT, 1/13/66,63)’’
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