Jun 10 1964
From The Space Library
Space News for this day. (2MB PDF)
NASA launched an Aerobee rocket from White Sands Missile Range, N. Mex., to a height of 95 mi. The payload, an inflatable paraglider equipped with mylar-sandwich-type meteoroid penetration sensors, was flown in a meteoroid shower to investigate meteoroid hazards in space. Experiment performed as planned, vehicle worked successfully, and payload was recovered. (M&R, 6/15/64, 10; NASA Release 64-141, 64-135)
Nike-Apache launched from Wallops Island, Va., to 90.6-mi. altitude, in flight to detect quiet-day ionospheric electric currents using for first time a very small rubidium vapor magnetometer designed for use in small rockets. Experiment was project of NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. (NASA Rpt. SRL)
Tass reported Soviet Union had launched COSMOS XXXII, latest satellite in series of launches initiated in March 1962. Initial orbit: 333-km. apogee (206.9 mi.), 209-km. perigee (130.5 mi.), 89.78-min. period, and 51.28¦ inclination to the equator. COSMOS XXXII re-entered earth's atmosphere June 18. (Pravda, 6/11/64, in MSFC SIN, 7/64; GSFC SSR, 6/30/64)
Two-stage French Rubis rocket reached altitude of 1,800 km. (1,118.49 mi.) in launch from Hammaguir base. First stage of Rubis was Agate rocket and second stage was third stage of France's satellite launcher Diamant. (M&R, 6/29/64,12)
A Japanese astronomer of the Kurashika Astronomical Observatory observed a new comet. It had been earlier sighted by an observer at Tokyo Astronomical Observatory on June 7, as well as by an Australian. On June 9, Soviet astronomer Anatoli Bakharev discovered what was described as a 9th-magnitude comet moving rapidly with respect to the stars. (AP, NYT, 6/15/64; Pravda, 6/13/64, 6, ATSS-T Trans.)
American Institute for Biological Sciences expressed concern that NASA was not giving sufficiently high priority to the investigation of extra-terrestrial life. The Institute, a federation of biologists, said NASA should begin planning a project for detection of possible life on Mars when the planet comes into favorable position in 1969. Search for extraterrestrial life also was advocated by NAS Space Science Board nearly two years ago. NASA originally had hoped to perform the Mars biology mission in 1964, but technical, scientific, and political obstacles delayed the attempt. (Finney, NYT, 6/11/64, 2; Wash. Post, 6/11/64)
NASA announced replacement of Dr. Richard B. Morrison by Vincent L. Johnson as Director of Launch Vehicle and Propulsion Programs Div. of Office of Space Science and Applications, effective June 14. Dr. Morrison was to return to Univ. of Michigan where he had been on leave of absence as Prof. of Astronautical Engineering since 1962. (NASA Release 64-136)
Rep. Roman C. Pucinski (D.-Ill.) called attention to CBS broad-cast by correspondent Stuart Novins in which he discussed Soviet efforts to provide an efficient system for the retrieval of data from scientific research. In the Soviet Union's Institute of Scientific and Technical Information, thousands of specialists read the scientific literature and abstract the contents of scientific publications from around the world. Last year they abstracted the contents of 770,000 reports, and it was decided to publish an annual summary of world-wide scientific results, an achievement probably of the widest scope yet attained in retrieval of scientific information. (CR, 6/10/64, A3174)
Rep. Roman C. Pucinski (D.-Ill) called attention to an article in the Chicago Sun-Times on the Midwest's dissatisfaction with the distribution of Federal R&D projects. President's science adviser Dr. Donald F. Hornig said two Congressional committees were investigating whether research contract funds had been concentrated in too few areas of the country to the detriment of other regions. Dr. Hornig also said that this investigation showed that science can no longer ignore the political process. (CR, 6/10/64, A3138)
House and Senate received from NASA Administrator reports on a grant to Cornell Univ. of $1,350,000 for construction of facilities for research. Reports were referred to the two Congressional space committees. (NASA LAR, 111/116)
In answer to Air Transport Assoc. president Stuart G. Tipton's disapproval of FAA's policy of publicizing its test plane crashes, FAA Administrator N. E. Halaby said FAA would continue informing the public on its safety research. Tipton had said the publicity "scared the daylights out of people." (Wash. Eve. Star, 6/11/64)
American scientists began a two-year experiment at the South Polar ice cap in which they would study cosmic rays of solar and galactic origin. Located at the South Pole so that the same background of stars would be present at all times, experiment was to investigate any regularities in solar outbursts of cosmic rays, as well as reason for cosmic rays from sun and galaxy. Cosmic rays could be lethal to astronauts. (Wash. Eve. Star, 6/10/64)
U.S. Army Missile Command awarded contract to Perkin-Elmer Co. for Optical Re-entry Instrumentation System, Project Glow, which would gather "signature" data from vehicles re-entering earth's atmosphere, in various wavelengths. Program to use system was being sponsored by ARPA, as part of Project Defender, and by Army Materiel Command's Nike-Zeus Project Office. (Marshall Star, 6/10/64, 7)
First of improved H-1 engines, whose thrust had been upped from 188,000 lbs. to 200,000 lbs., were delivered recently by North American Aviation's Rocketdyne Division to NASA Michoud Operations. Cluster of eight H-1 engines was to improve thrust of Saturn booster, augmenting thrust of 1.5 million lbs. for Saturn I to 1.6 million lbs. for Saturn IB. (Marshall Star, 6/10/64, 1 )
Gen. Bernard A. Schriever (USAF), Commander AFSC, at a 10th anniversary commemoration of USAF ballistic missile and space programs, said Communist drives toward world domination presented challenge to U.S. to maintain technological superiority as war deterrent. At same time we should develop military flexibility to deal with conflict levels below all-out war. In future such flexibility would be provided by manned aircraft of novel design, to be used for support as well as actual fighting. Next step in space would be to investigate military strategy of manned space flight. This was a major purpose of USAF's recently acquired mission of developing Manned Orbiting Laboratory (MOL). Another possibility to investigate would be recovering used boosters to save new construction costs. "This would be a very important building block for future operations in space." (AFSC Release 46-R-72)
Soviet aviatrix Marina Popovich, wife of Cosmonaut Pavel Popovich, flew a jet trainer at speeds of 600 km/hr (373 mph), 5 km. (3.1 mi.) above the ground. This was said to be an excellent result for such a light aircraft as the L-29. (Izvestia, 6/12/64, 4, ATSS-T Trans.)
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 2829 30
