Jul 10 1968
From The Space Library
NASA issued Apollo Status Summary: Apollo 7 spacecraft was being prepared for unmanned altitude chamber tests at 210,000 ft for 15 hr. If successful, manned tests might be scheduled to begin July 15 with Astronauts Walter M. Schirra, Jr., Donn F. Eisele, and R. Walter Cunningham in command module. In Apollo/Saturn 503 program, combined systems tests would continue through mid-July on Lunar Module 3. In Apollo spacecraft loading tests, drogue parachutes would be tested within several days at Naval Air Facility, with 13,000-lb test vehicle dropped from aircraft at 46,000-ft altitude, subjecting parachutes to "ultimate loads" in reefed condition before they opened fully. Drop, repeat of previous test which failed, was to complete verification test series which had begun in 1967. (Text)
Cosmos CCXXXI was launched from Baikonur Cosmodrome by U.S.S.R. into orbit with 391-km (243-mi) apogee, 206-km (128-mi) perigee, 89.6-min period, and 64.9° inclination. Equipment functioned normally and spacecraft reentered July 18. (upi, W Star, 7/11/68, A5; UPI, NYT, 7/12/68, 7; SBD, 7/12/68, 41; GSFC SSR, 7/15/68, 7/31/68)
Soviet Stalin Prize physicist, Prof. Andrey D. Sakharov, contributor to development of U.S.S.R. hydrogen bomb, had issued plea for full intellectual freedom, U.S.-U.S.S.R. cooperation, and worldwide rejection of "demagogic myths," in unpublished essay entitled "Thoughts About Progress, Peaceful Coexistence and Intellectual Freedom," which was circulating in Moscow. Expressing fear that world was on brink of disaster, he urged worldwide implementation of scientific method and freedom of thought in politics, economic planning and management, education, arts, and military affairs and denounced Soviet censorship. (Anderson, NYT, 7/11/68, 1)
DOD formally ordered work stoppage on USN F-111B development work being conducted by General Dynamics Corp. Action followed Congressional cuts of $460 million in program. (General Dynamics NO; SBD, 7/11/68, 30)
Sen. Eugene J. McCarthy (D-Minn.), candidate for Democratic nomination for President, in position paper urged that U.S. delay deployment of Sentinel ABM system and Poseidon and Minuteman III missiles, to facilitate agreement with U.S.S.R. on defensive and offensive armament limitation. Delay would not jeopardize U.S. security, he said, since neither Chinese nuclear threat nor Soviet ABM development is "moving ahead perceptibly." Paper was prepared by Harvard Univ. chemistry professor Dr. George B. Kistiakowsky and MIT Provost, Dr. Jerome B. Wiesner. (Text; Kenworthy, NYT, 7/11/68, 25; CR, 7/11/68, S8439-42)
July 10-12: Hearings were held by Senate Foreign Relations Committee and Senate members of Joint Committee on Atomic Energy on U.S. ratification of nuclear nonproliferation treaty. Secretary of State Dean Rusk affirmed treaty would bind U.S. to no more atomic defense action than already set forth in existing treaties and by membership in U.N. Security Council. Gen. Earle G. Wheeler, Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul H. Nitze in joint testimony said U.S. would give up nothing under terms of treaty but would benefit from major step to reduce tensions. (AP, NYT, 7/11/68, 16; Roberts, W Post, 7/11/68, All ; UPI, NYT, 7/12/68, 4; Sherman, W Star, 7/12/68, A5)
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 29 30 31
