Jun 27 1966
From The Space Library
U.S.S.R. would continue intensive exploration of space in 1966-70 period, Soviet Academy of Sciences president Mstislav V. Keldysh reported to general meeting of Academy. He listed these general programs: manned space flights; exploration of physical conditions on moon and nearest planets; and development of use of satellites and rockets for long-distance communications systems. (Tass, 6/28/66)
Rep. Hale Boggs (D-La.) told House: ". . . no businessman would invest tens of thousands of dollars in a locomotive and then allow it to rust in the yard for lack of a $5 part. Neither can we invest tens of billions in a space program and leave it to falter for the lack of funds." Calling the present budget "austere," Boggs warned that in future budgets we could not put important elements of our capability into mothballs. "We must use it or see it rust." (CR, 6/27/66, 13707-08)
NASA announced conversion of contract with Douglas Aircraft Co. for development of Saturn launch vehicle's S-IVB stage from cost-plus-fixed-fee to cost-plus-incentive-fee. Under revised contract, company's fee would be increased or decreased depending on "attainment of" the incentive for cost, schedule and performance." Estimated cost was $700 million, plus fee, (MSFC Release 66-141)
Lockheed Aircraft Corp. displayed 273-ft., full-scale mockup of its 1,800mph revised supersonic transport model to be submitted to FAA in SST competition with Boeing Co. Sept. 6. Made primarily of titanium and scheduled for first flight by 1970, the 266-passenger Lockheed 2000 would have double-delta wing to provide "outstanding flight handling characteristics at all speeds" and to permit cruising at 7,000-ft. altitude, and weather vision" nose which could move down 15° from supersonic cruise position to give pilot visibility during takeoff, landing, and subsonic flight. Boeing design-revealed June 15-had featured variable wing swept forward for takeoffs, landings, and subsonic flight and back for supersonic cruise. (Lockheed Release)
June 8 loss of XB-70 experimental aircraft would delay NASA-DOD SST research program for two or three months, Hal Taylor reported in Technology Week following interview with Charles Harper, Director, NASA Office of Aeronautical Research, OART. (Tech. Wk.7 6/27/66, 18)
NASA-sponsored space science course-including lectures, demonstrations, and experiments-began at (Washington) D.C. Teachers College to help local elementary school teachers understand space-age fundamentals and interpret them to their pupils. (Wash. Eve. Star, 6/26/66, D9)
Physicists at Columbia Univ., under the direction of Dr. Paolo Franzini, and at State Univ. of New York at Stony Brook, directed by Dr. Juliet Lee-Franzini, published experimental evidence that would disprove theory of charge conjunction invariance-theory that oppositely charged particles behave symmetrically. Photographic analysis of decay of eta meson, a neutral nuclear particle, into three pions-one positively charged, one negatively charged, and one neutral-indicated that positive pion traveled away from decomposed eta meson at a greater velocity than negative pion. Results, based on 1,441 photographs, Dr. Franzini said, had "far-reaching consequences regarding antiparticles" and provided means of identifying "whether a particle or body anywhere in the universe is positively or negatively charged." Experiment -conducted in Columbia's Nevis Laboratory, Brookhaven National Laboratory, and Stony Brook-was reported in Physical Review Letters. (Phys. Rev. Lett., 6/27/66, 1224; AIP Release, 6/26/66)
Question of "garbage problem" in space was raised during recent House Appropriations Committee hearings on Spacetrack, which maintained surveillance on over 1,800 orbiting objects, Drew Pearson reported in Washington Post. Assistant Secretary of the Air Force Alexander H. Flax replied there was no danger of collision "because of the tremendous amount of volume that these 1,800 objects are disposed in. It is like the problem of stepping on a flea in Grand Central Station. It could happen, but it is highly unlikely." (Pearson, Wash. Post, 6/27/66)
AFSC had awarded Bell Aerospace Corp. a one-year study contract to develop Dual-purpose Maneuvering Unit (DMU) that could be worn by astronaut or operated by remote radio and TV signals. DMU would combine "best features" of Astronaut Maneuvering Unit (AMU)which Astronaut Eugene Cernan was unable to test during GEMINI IX-A flight-and Remote Maneuvering Unit (RMU)-which had been tested in laboratory. (AFSC Release 116.66)
American Astronautical Society had granted following awards for achievements in 1965: W. Raymond Lovelace Award to Dr. Jeanette Ridlon Piccard "for past experiments in ballooning and continued contributions to space progress"; AAS Space Flight Award (posthumously) to Dr. Hugh L. Dryden "for outstanding technical and administrative leadership"; Melbourne W. Boynton Award to Dr. Charles A. Berry "for managing successfully medical program for astronauts"; AAS Flight Achievement. Award to Astronauts Walter M. Schirra, Jr., Thomas P. Stafford, Frank Borman, and James A. Lovell "for dual outstanding achievements for first successful in-plane rendezvous (GEMINI VI) and sustained orbit operations (GEMINI VII) "; Victor A. Prather Award to Richard Johnston "for outstanding contributions to design and technology of spacesuits for astronauts." (Av. Wk., 6/27/66, 19)
Pointing out that "space triumphs" had made "secrecy and the hoarding of scientific data less worthwhile," editorial in the Baltimore Sun concluded: ". . . it is not surprising that, despite the relationship between military defense and some space activity, Russia and France seem about to agree to cooperate in space research-and the United States and Russia likewise." (Balt. Sun, 6/27/66)
Several small solid motors had been test-fired during "last three months" at Hercules, Inc.'s Bacchus, Utah, facilities under classified program; highest impulse recorded in Free World was reported to have been reached. (Tech. Wk., 6/27/66, 3)
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