Jul 28 1969
From The Space Library
JPL engineers sent signals to Mariner VI to turn on TV camera and scientific experiments that would measure Mars surface characteristics and atmosphere. Spacecraft (launched Feb. 24) began tracking Mars and would begin taking first of 33 far-encounter pictures 771,500 mi from Mars early July 29. Full-disc photos would be received at JPL July 29. (AP, B Sun, 7/29/69, A5)
Geologists at Lunar Receiving Laboratory held press conference on Apollo 11 samples and expressed surprise at discovery of tiny glasslike crystals in lunar dust. Analyses had revealed samples were crystalline, igneous, fragmented, scoriaceous, and vesicular. They confirmed theory based on Surveyor V data that lunar material contained titanium and indicated presence of number of minerals. Columbia Univ. scientist Dr. Paul Gast said, "The most exciting discovery to date has been that of the glass. There is something going on on the moon far different than on the earth." He said scientists speculated impact of meteoroids on moon had vaporized lunar material and caused it to rain back on surface in small drops which formed tiny yellow, brown, and clear pieces of glass few tenths of millimeter in diameter. (Lyons, NYT, 7/29/69, 1; Sehlstedt, B Sun, 7/29/69, Al)
U.S. applied to Astronautic Committee of IAF for six world records based on Apollo 11 achievements: duration of stay on lunar surface outside spacecraft, Astronaut Neil A. Armstrong, 2 hrs 21 min 15 secs; duration in lunar orbit, Astronaut Michael Collins, 59 hrs 27 min 55 secs; duration of stay on lunar surface, Astronauts Armstrong and Edwin E. Aldrin, Jr." 21 hrs 36 min 16 secs; duration of stay on lunar surface inside spacecraft, Aldrin, 19 hrs 45 min 52 secs; greatest mass landed on moon, Armstrong and Aldrin, 7,211 kg (15,897 lbs) ; greatest mass lifted into lunar orbit from lunar surface, Armstrong and Aldrin, 2,648 kg (5,837 lbs). Records would not be acknowledged officially until NASA presented confirming data and Federation officials approved. (NYT, 7/29/69, 16)
At state banquet in Bangkok, Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej toasted President Nixon: "Last week's breathtaking achievement of Apollo 11 and its brave American crew cannot be measured solely in scientific terms, for it also indicates man's ability to look beyond his earthbound problems and to set his sights on new horizons in quest of wider knowledge and deeper understanding of himself and his environment." (PD, 8/4/69, 1049-50)
Gloom and embarrassment over Apollo 11 success and crash of Luna XV on moon had caused controversy among Soviet leaders, including Communist Party Secretary Leonid I. Brezhnev and President Nikolay V. Podgorny, at July 21-23 meeting of Eastern European leaders in Warsaw New York Times said. Reports of enthusiastic public response to Apollo feat across Eastern Europe had been interpreted as sign of lingering and latent sympathy for U.S. It was strongest in technologically advanced East Germany and Czechoslovakia, but had been noted as well in Poland, Hungary, and Romania. (Hofmann, NYT, 7/28/69, 7)
U.K.'s Royal Geographical Society awarded special gold medal-its first for space exploration-to Astronaut Neil A. Armstrong for leading Apollo 11 mission. Other gold medalists included Capt. Roald Amundsen, first to reach South Pole; Adm. Robert E. Peary, first to reach North Pole; Sir Edmund Hillary, conqueror of Mt. Everest; and Sir John Hunt, leader of Everest expedition. (AP, W Star, 7/28/69, A5)
Senate Committee on Banking and Currency favorably reported S.J.R. 140 with amendments, providing for striking of medals honoring U.S. astronauts who had flown in outer space. (CR, 7/28/69, D681)
MSFC announced resignation of M/G Edmund F. O'Connor (USAF) , Director of Program Management, would be effective July 31. Gen. O'Connor, on loan to NASA from USAF for past five years, would become Vice Commander of Air Force Aeronautical Systems Div. He would be succeeded by Lee B. James, Saturn V Manager, MSFC. (MSFC Release 69-166)
USAF released Air Force Review of the C-5A Program. Total cost of 120 Lockheed C-5A aircraft had increased from $3369 billion at 1965 contract award to total $5.125 billion, overrun of $1.756 billion. At DM press conference Air Force Secretary Robert C. Seamans, Jr., criticized "ambiguities and deficiencies" in original contract and hinted remaining 39 aircraft in 120-plane package might not be purchased unless revisions were made in contract. (Text; Phillips, W Post, 7/29/69, Al)
II Mattino del Lunedi, Asmara, Ethiopia, said of Apollo 11 mission's completion: ". . . today we not only admire, but exult. Because this `almost superhuman, exploit has been accomplished by a society which is free and pluralistic, by a society which has no close and oppressive traditions, by a society which has founded its political and constitutional structure not on a totalitarian ideology but on the democratic philosophy of the Declaration of Independence. It has been accomplished by a nation, the American nation, whose characteristic . . . is the fusion of the spirit of precision and discipline . . . with the spirit of freedom. . . . This is the reason why we today exult. Because we know that the conquest of Apollo-11 is in the service of man and not to oppress him." (Am Consul, Asmara)
Norrlandska Social-Demokraten, Boden, Sweden, editorial commented that Russian press was surprisingly generous with praise of men behind Apollo 11 and American space research in general during mission, but now press seemed to fear landing might have increased respect for U.S. around the world. "It is surely disturbing for Pravda and the Russian Party leaders that the American conquest of the moon . . . witnessed by the greater part of the Communist world, crushed the myth of the Communist system's superiority." (Am Embassy, Stockholm)
Within 76 hrs after Apollo 11 splashdown, Bantam Books and New York Times published We Reach the Moon, 416-page paperback account of U.S. space program from 1961 through Apollo 11's success. Early publication was effected by nearly 21/2 yrs of planning. Book went to press immediately after July 24 splashdown while aerospace reporter John Noble Wilford was completing text. Final copy was telexed to Chicago printer July 25. First printing comprised 375,000 copies. Hardcover edition would be published by W. W. Norton & Co. in September. (NYT, 7/29/69, 16)
“One Giant Leap” article in Newsweek magazine
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