Jul 12 1966
From The Space Library
NASA Javelin sounding rocket launched from NASA Wallops Station reached 631-mi. (1,015-km.) altitude in Univ. of Pittsburgh-Syracuse Univ. experiment to observe ionization levels of exospheric helium. Rocket and instrumentation performance was satisfactory, with 18-min. telemetry signal. Unanticipated high-energy electron particles were measured, and data were under study to determine their source. (NASA Rpt. SRL)
U.S. and U.S.S.R. introduced their draft space law treaties at opening session of U.N. Committee on Peaceful Uses of Outer Space's Legal Subcommittee, meeting in Geneva to discuss peaceful cooperation in exploring the moon and other celestial bodies. US. Ambassador Arthur J. Goldberg told Subcommittee that although drafts were different in scope, they could be reconciled if there were good will and common purpose to reach agreement. Soviet representative Platon Morozov charged US. should not speak of peace in outer space while continuing its "shameful aggressive war on the peaceful people of Vietnam." (Reuters, NYT, 7/12/66; Wash. Post, 7/13/66, A23)
X-15 No. 1 was flown to 3,652 mph (mach 5.34) and 130,000-ft. altitude by Maj. William J. Knight (USAF) to check out electrical loads, nonglare glass, stick kicker, and shade window. (X-15 Proj. Off.)
M2-F2 lifting-body vehicle, piloted by NASA test pilot Milton O. Thompson, was successfully air-launched from B-52 bomber at 45,000-ft. altitude and maneuvered into 200-mph landing four minutes later in first free flight at Edwards AFB. Thompson, Chief Project Pilot for FRC's Lifting Body Program, noted that "With today's test we have just about completed our whole test program . . . the next area to be explored is whether such a craft could survive reentry into the Earth's atmosphere." The 2«-ton wingless vehicle was being studied "to establish the technological base" for design of future spacecraft and to ferry men and equipment between earth and satellites. (FBC Release 14-66; AP, NYT, 7/13/66, 1; Tech. Wk., 7/18/66, 17)
USAF launched unidentified satellite with Atlas-Agena D booster from WTR. (U.S. Aeron. & Space Act., 1966, 153)
NASA had tentatively selected six experiments to be carried on two Mariner Mars spacecraft scheduled for launch by Atlas-Centaur boosters between early February and mid-April 1969: two television cameras, infrared spectrometer, infrared radiometer, ultraviolet spectrometer, celestial mechanics experiment, and S-band occultation experiment. Experiments were selected to extend knowledge of Martian atmosphere and visible features of Martian terrain and to gather additional data to continue planning for landing instrumented capsules on the planet. JPL had project management responsibility for Mariner Mars 1969 missions. (NASA Release 66-174)
NASA had selected Garrett Corp., Los Angeles, Calif., for negotiation of $15-million contract for final design, development, construction, and testing of small research ramjet engines under Hypersonic Research Engine Project directed by NASA Hq. OART. Engines-which were to be compatible for mounting beneath aft fuselage of X-15 No. 2-would be useful for hypersonic transport aircraft, boosters, and for spacecraft flying within earth's atmosphere. (NASA Release 66-182)
Paramount objective of NASA's Apollo program was not to land man on the moon before U.S.S.R. but to make "US. first in space by the end of this decade, and to make this pre-eminence unmistakably clear to all the world," NASA Deputy Administrator Dr. Robert C. Seamans, Jr., told IEEE Aerospace Systems Conference in Seattle, Wash. Apollo program was a means of acquiring the ability to operate in space on a variety of missions, Dr. Seamans explained: ". . . we are building much more than a rocket and a spaceship. We are developing, in government, in industry, in our universities, one of the most remarkable teams that has ever been assembled. There are more than 400,000 men and women, 20,000 industrial companies, and more than 150 universities actively engaged in the NASA program. More than 90 percent of NASA's five-billion dollar-a-year budget goes to contractors." He warned against failing to look beyond the near-term goal of manned lunar exploration and said: "Programs of the future must be determined within the total context of national need and the availability of resources. The Nation's interest in space projects, and the level of support accorded them must in the long run be related to tangible benefits that can be derived from the emerging technical and operational capabilities." (Text)
U.S. had reaped many unexpected benefits from NASA's manned spaceflight program, NASA Deputy Administrator Dr. Robert C. Seamans, Jr., told Federal Executive Board in Seattle, Wash. Specifically, NASA was (1) "making a definite effort to stimulate the development of technology generally . . . [and had] set up what may well be a unique, formal endeavor to transfer technology which has been developed in the space program to more general usage in the industrial community . . . (2) striving to promote a rising educational level among the people . . . (3) developing industrial skills, management techniques, and a high degree of quality control that are of immense benefit to the Nation in such mundane things as washing machines, television sets, transistor radios, and other household items . . . (4) helping to assure the country of a hard core of engineers and scientists, technicians and managers, laboratories and industrial facilities, which have responded to the challenge of working on important projects in aeronautics and astronautics. . . ." (Text)
Five leading European aerospace companies announced formation of consortium to seek European space contracts. Called the European Satellite Team, group's major goal was $l8-million design and construction contract for ESRO's 800-lb. TD-1 and TD-2 research satellites scheduled for launch by NASA in 1969 and 1970. Consortium was composed of Elliott-Automation, U.K.; Compagnie Francaise Thomson Houston, France; Fokker, Netherlands; Allmanna Svenska Elektriska, A.B., Sweden; and Fabbrica Italiana Apparecchi Radio, Italy. General Electric Co.'s Missile and Space Div. would serve as consultant. (Wilford, NYT, 7/13/66; Chic. Trib., 7/13/66)
July 12-13: NASA launched five Nike-Apache sounding rockets from NASA Wallops Station between 9:00 p.m. and 5:00 a.m. EDT. Each rocket was programmed to eject a vapor cloud of reddish or bluish color as its altitude increased from 50 to 125 mi. Experiments were to measure wind velocities and directions at various altitudes; motion of the trails was photographed from five camera sites within a 100-mi. radius of Wallops. Launches were conducted for GCA Corp., under contract to GSFC. (NASA Release 66-181; Wallops Release 66-38)
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
