Jul 16 1963
From The Space Library
TELSTAR II communications satellite went dead during its 450th orbit, and subsequent efforts to reactivate the satellite by radio signal were not successful. Cause of TELSTAR II's failure was not known, but AT&T said that telemetry data had given "no indication that radiation damage has caused the satellite to fail." Efforts to turn on the satellite's communications equipment were continuing. (Osmundsen, NYT, 7/18/63; Hines, Wash. Eve. Star, 7/18/63)
House Committee on Science and Astronautics met in executive session and ordered NASA FY 1964 authorization bill (H.R. 7500) favorably reported to the House. (NASA Leg. Act. Rept. II/107) )
Sir Bernard Lovell, director of Jodrell Bank Experimental Station, held press conference after returning from three-week tour of Soviet space tracking observatories. Lovell said that "there is a great. deal of discussion in the Soviet Academy as to whether it will ever be worthwhile getting a man on the moon . . " "I think at the moment, the Americans are racing themselves . . .'; [for manned lunar landing], adding that he favored manned lunar exploration. He announced agreement on tracking deep space probes reached between tracking station in Crimea and Jodrell Bank facility, and agreement on three astronomical programs in which Soviet and Jodrell Bank telescopes would be synchronized. (Farnsworth, NYT, 7/17/63; AP, Wash,. Post, 7/17/63)
Addressing National Rocket Club in Washington, Rep. George P. Miller, Chairman of House Committee on Science and Astronautics, said: "To me, the most important indirect benefit we are gaining [from the space program] is probably the least tangible, the least measurable, and yet the most far reaching in effect insofar as our future national growth is concerned. I am referring to the impact our space program is having upon our educational programs and institutions. The fact that NASA places demands upon and draws from almost every academic discipline has produced a stimulus in universities and colleges that is unprecedented in peacetime . . . . "What is important to understand is that scientific research and development is for the first time in our peacetime history being organized within one agency to accomplish a national goal. The achievements of our immediate Space objectives are, of course, of paramount importance. But, I have little patience with the critics who cry out that our tax money is being thrown away in the exploration of space, or that going to the moon will result in the neglect of our problems here on earth. "It should be obvious to those critics, if they take the time for a short historical review, that. many years of experience have shown that the indirect payoff in human terms for technical innovation is many times more valuable than the original investment . . " (Text)
Dr. Milton Clauser, former Vice President of Space Technology Laboratories, and Dr. J. P. Ruina former Director of DOD Advanced Research Projects Agency, joined Communications Satellite Corp. as consultants. (ComSatCorp. Release)
Five men entered Boeing Co. space chamber, simulating quarters in manned space station or manned lunar base, for 30-day engineering test of integrated life-support system. Designed and built for NASA Office of Advanced Research and Technology, system included all elements of life support necessary for 150 man-day space mission. Associated with life-support equipment were specific crew tests simulating problems of space flight. Members of test crew: R. H. Lowry, Boeing Chief of Bioastronautics; Maj. Edward Westlake (USAF) of Air Force Systems Cmd.; Roger Barnicki, NASA Flight Research Center X-15 personnel equipment specialist; Charles Proctor, Boeing biochemist and food specialist; and Richard Farrell, Boeing psychologist. (NASA Release 63-155)
Disputing New York Times editorial (June 28) which approved House Science and Astronautics Committee's rejecting NASA lunar orbiter for special survey of the moon, Assistant Director of Univ. of Calif. Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics Gordon J. F. MacDonald wrote that "no other program funded or contemplated will provide critical data on the moon's gravity field and on the radioactivity of the lunar surface. . . . "[NAS Space Science Board] ... noted That tile surveillance of the moon on a planetary scale is of first importance both to the manned landing and to the long-range scientific investigation of the moon . "The full value of [Ranger and Surveyor] limited observations can be realized only if they are tied in to a less detailed but broader coverage of the kind that can be provided by the orbiter .... "The long-range manned and unmanned exploration of the moon will be delayed by failure to fund during the current fiscal year the orbiter program. This failure is another expression of the inability of the scientific community adequately to present their case to Congress." (Letter, 7/1/63, NYT, 7/16/63, E8)
51 British scientists working in U.S. and 17 in Canada have been offered government. appointments in Britain, Parliamentary Secretary for Science Denzil Freeth told House of Commons. British government board interviewed 171 candidates in U.S. and 65 in Canada. (Reuters, Wash,. Post. 7/17/63)
Westland Co. announced Bell Aerosystems Co. had obtained Western Hemisphere rights to manufacture Hovercraft, developed by Westland in England. (UPI, NYT, 7/17/63)
LRC Plum Brook reactor was started for first six experiments. One, under contract to the Lockheed Aircraft Corp., would study the effects of neutron bombardment on small samples of various alloys in a cryogenic environment. (LRC Release 63-57, Lewis Chronology, 6)
USAF launched Titan ICBM in routine training test from Vandenberg AFB. (DOD Release 1018-63)
USAF launched Minuteman missile from Cape Canaveral, the ICBM exploding about five sec. after lift-off. Cause of malfunction was not yet determined. (DOD Release 1018-63)
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