Jul 1 1964
From The Space Library
Referring to Centaur rocket (AC-3) which splashed into Atlantic on June 30 after failing to orbit, NASA officials pointed out that "from an engineering point of view the flight was highly successful. . . ." Five of six test objectives were achieved, and the sixth-liquid-hydrogen engine start and run-was partially achieved. Grant Hansen, vice-president of General Dynamics/Astronautics, which built Centaur, said examination of instrument readings from the flight indicated failure of a nylon coupling which joined two shafts in hydraulic system associated with one of Centaur's two engines. Coupling seemed to have failed about four seconds after Centaur stage ignited. (Wash. Eve. Star, 7/2/64, A5)
Soviets launched COSMOS XXXIV artificial earth satellite equipped for scientific study of outer space. It was part of program announced by Tass on March 16, 1962. Period was 90 min., apogee was 360 km. (223 mi.), perigee was 205 km. (127 mi.), and equatorial inclination was 64.96°. (Tass, Komsomolskaya Pravda, 7/2/64, 1, ATSS-T Trans.)
President Johnson congratulated American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) on its first annual meeting and technical display, held June 29-July 2, Washington. He said: "I am particularly pleased that you have selected this occasion to honor the highly respected and capable Dr. Hugh L. Dryden, of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration." (AIAA Booster, 7/2/64, 1)
NASA's George E. Mueller reported to AIAA that "beginning in 1958 with the first United States satellite launching, the Explorer-Jupiter C, and continuing through the Thor, Atlas, Thor-Delta, and Thor-Agena to the Saturn V in 1968 through 1970, the cost of payload in orbit will be reduced by about three orders of magnitude. "This remarkable decrease in costs results from the growing reliability and operational effectiveness of our launch vehicles and from the trend towards larger and larger weight-lifting capacity. The relative increase has been greatest in large vehicles because of the economies associated with their operation." Regarding the extension of capability of existing launch vehicles, Mueller reported: "Basically, our launch vehicle technology is sound, and it is advancing in an orderly, evolutionary fashion. We have mastered the design, manufacturing, transporting, checking out, and launching of small, medium, and large launch vehicles- "Existing space boosters have done a creditable job. Engine reliability has been exceptionally good; the clustering of relatively large numbers of engines is now a proven technology; uprating of engines in thrust and efficiency has been possible; and further uprating can be accomplished to meet additional payload demands. "We are developing a basic launch vehicle industrial and technological capability that can be extended and expanded for both future space exploration and exploitation. "For the future, we are building on today's firm foundation- New high-energy propellants and nuclear rockets have great promise. Large solid-propellant motors are being employed. Much progress is being made in correlating high-energy propellants and engine materials and engineering technology. "Increased emphasis will be placed on management and the development of reliability. Management responsibilities will continue to grow more complex, while cost effectiveness will continue to be stressed. A smaller inventory of vehicles will be developed which have greater reliability and broader utility. "All in all, we can look forward to a new and challenging era of progress in launch vehicle technology." (Text)
Paul G. Johnson of AEC-NASA SNPO said at AIAA meetings that early explorers of Mars may pass by planet Venus on way back to earth, to slow down spacecraft to safe reentry speed. Side trip would lengthen voyage by a few months. Johnson also said that nuclear rockets might make Mars trip possible in 1980's. Mission could involve six to eight crewmen and take from 400 to 500 days. (NASA Release 64-165)
Dr. Eugene G. Fubini, Deputy Director of Defense Research and Engineering, called on defense industry at AIAA meetings to stop what he called unjustified and potentially dangerous "gloom and doom talk" about future defense spending. He said Pentagon R&D spending, currently at a $5.5 billion annual level, should remain relatively stable in coming years. Such pessimistic fears on part of industry, based on recent very small decrease in defense budget, Fubini said, could prompt top engineers and scientists to move into other industries and thereby weaken U.S. military posture by reducing industry's capability of generating new ideas for DOD and developing new weapons. (AIAA Booster, 7/2/64; NYT, 7/2/64, 32M; Av. Wk., 7/13/64, 19)
President Johnson transmitted NASA's Ninth Semiannual Report to the Congress on progress and projects for period from January 1, 1963, to June 30, 1963. President's covering message stated that "the breadth of performance promises subsequent periods of even greater accomplishment in meeting the challenge of space." (NASA LAR III/132)
Richard H. Nelson, Boeing's project manager for production of Saturn V rockets, said production was about 10 weeks behind schedule because of a parts shortage. However, first rocket scheduled for flight was to be delivered on schedule in late summer or fall of 1966. Present delay affected Saturns designed to test design and engines in ground firings at MSFC. Last 10 of Saturn V's were expected to be delivered to Cape Kennedy by late 1968- Nelson was addressing Aviation Writers Association in Houston. (Houston Chron., 7/2/64)
Dr. Hugh L. Dryden, NASA Deputy Administrator since 1958, received the AIAA premiere award, the Louis W. Hill Award for 1964, for the Outstanding Contribution to Space Transportation- Dr. Dryden was honored for his fluid mechanics research leading to space era, technical leadership of NACA and NASA teams which made civilian space program a reality, and personal contribution to research in the X-15 program. He was called "a symbol of our aerospace success." In his address at the AIAA Honors Night Banquet, Dr. Dryden said that those involved with our space program must consider broad national goals in addition to scientific details. Other goals mentioned by Dryden were "to obtain maximum benefit to the welfare of the Nation and to all mankind" and "to provide not only material benefits to free man in a peaceful world, but also incentives for mental and spiritual growth and accomplishment." While recalling the day about 40 years ago, "when an airplane was essentially the product, from concept to final machine, of one man, the designer with the aid of two or three assistants," Dr. Dryden said today's space technologist ". . . must search for knowledge of the facts, conduct our work with devotion to intellectual honesty and objectivity, and realize in our activities the highest moral aspirations and ideals of which we are capable-" Dr. Dryden expressed confidence that the Nation would continue to support comprehensive space exploration program because of sum total of goals space planning strove for. These included national prestige, national defense, human knowledge of space, development of efficient space vehicles, and utilization and international exchange of technological information. He added : "I believe that the rate and scale of the program are not excessive in view of the great resources of this country." (AIAA, The Louis W. Hill Award pamphlet, 7/1/64; AIAA Booster, 7/2/64, 1; Speech Text; NASA Release 64-161)
At AIAA banquet, G. Edward Pendray Award was presented to Andrew G. Haley for his "pioneering contribution to the analysis of governmental and international legal questions arising from the rapid development of space travel and space exploration, as exemplified by his book, Space Law and Government, published in 1963-" AIAA Lawrence B. Sperry Award was presented to Daniel M. Tellep, Manager of Launch and Entry Thermodynamics Research and Engineering at the Lockheed Missiles and Space Co., for Tellep's "contributions to re-entry technology through participation in the United States" first re-entry flight test program and for advancements in the field of heat transfer as related to aerospace programs." Also presented were the 1964 Graduate and Undergraduate Student Awards to Richard C. Lessman and Lawrence S. Iwan. (AIAA Annual Mtg. Program; AIAA Booster, 7/2/64)
At AIAA former American Airlines" vice president William Littlewood said problems of sonic boom and economics might postpone introduction of supersonic airliner from 1970 target date to some time between 1975 and 1980. Problems of practicability and noise would have to be solved before supersonic transport became reality, Mr. Littlewood said: (Finney, NYT, 7/2/64, 28)
NASA awarded $1,125,040 contract to Ling-Temco-Vought for construction of Dynamic Crew Procedures Simulator which would allow astronauts to simulate orbital, lunar, and interplanetary flights in model spacecraft. Simulator's completion was scheduled for May 1965, when it would be delivered to MSC. (MSC PAO; Denver Post, 7/5/64)
NASA announced award of contract to North American Aviation's Rocketdyne Div, to provide four RN-6 liquid-hydrogen-cooled nozzles to be used in tests/ Three nozzles were to be used for Nerva program, the fourth for Lewis Research Center's Advanced Nuclear Rocket Systems Analysis Program. (NASA Release 64-162)
NASA awarded contract to Documentation, Inc., of Bethesda, Md., for $4.9 million to operate NASA Scientific and Technical Information Facility for another year. Maintaining world's largest collection of aerospace literature, facility was to operate selective dissemination of information program during coming year, using automatic equipment to notify individual scientists and engineers of new developments in their special fields. (NASA Release 64-163)
Dr. Oscar E. Anderson, Jr., was appointed Director of International Organizations Div. of NASA's Office of International Programs. He was previously Project Officer in Cooperative Projects Div. of same office. Before coming to NASA in 1962, Anderson was a historian at AEC. (NASA Announcement 64-135)
John H. Glenn, Jr., discussed with NASA Administrator James E. Webb the possibility of the former astronaut's returning to NASA in advisory capacity, according to NASA spokesman, but nothing had been decided by the two. (UPI, Wash. Post, 7/2/64; AP, Wash. Eve. Star, 7/2/64, A8)
Dr. Allen E. Puckett, vice president of Hughes Aircraft, said world's first commercial communications satellite, Early Bird, being built for ComSatCorp, would be completed in less than one year and ready for launch a month later. Early Bird was a first step toward global telecommunications and was a commercial version of Hughes" Syncom satellite- (Miles, L. A. Times, 7/1/64)
NASA-USAF Memorandum of Understanding defined responsibilities of NASA and various USAF organizations which loan aircraft to NASA or provide logistical support for such aircraft. (Nan 2-3-34A)
July 1-2: NASA's Science and Technology Advisory Committee for Manned Space Flight was holding three days of meetings with MSC officials on problems related to Project Apollo. Members of Committee, established by NASA Administrator James E. Webb in December 1963, and which functioned in advisory capacity to NASA Associate Administrator for Manned Space Flight, Dr. George E. Mueller, delved into problems posed by launch vehicle systems, spacecraft systems, launch operations, science program, and space medicine. MIT physicist Dr. Charles Townes said at MSC meeting of the Committee that he believed astronauts, not scientists, should be first men to explore moon. Scientists, he said, would concentrate on their own specialties in exploring the moon's surface, but astronauts trained in scientific principles would bring back important information on the moon as a whole. (MSC Roundup, 7/8/64, 1; Houston Chron., 7/2/64)
Manpower needs of civil aviation were discussed in Washington by FAA's Aviation Human Resources Study Board. (FAA Release 64-61)
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