Jun 7 1967
From The Space Library
Launch of the first manned Apollo mission by March 31,1968, "is a very difficult milestone to achieve, but it is possible," George M. Low, Manager of the Apollo Spacecraft Program at MSC, told the press at MSC. All changes in the Apollo spacecraft necessitated by the Jan. 27 Apollo fire had been planned, he said, but until daily scheduling was completed, no date could be set for the mission. Low noted that Apollo parachute landing system might require requalification because design changes had increased spacecraft's weight by 200-300 lbs, but he indicated that testing, if necessary, could be conducted in summer 1967 without seriously affecting the Apollo schedule. (Tech Wk, 6/12/67, 15; SBD, 6/8/67,217)
Sen. William Proxmire (D-Wis.) warned the Senate that U.S. deficit could reach $30 billion unless drastic cuts were made in Federal spending. He suggested that a $5-billion reduction in proposed FY 1968 spending be made by: (1) postponing public works programs such as highway construction until economic and military demands were lowered; (2) foregoing the "expensive frill" of SST development; (3) curtailing military costs by further reducing U.S. troop strength in Europe; and (4) cutting NASA's post-Apollo funds by over $1 billion by postponing "such projects as a soft-landing on Mars, which has nothing to do with our present goal of a moon landing. "The situation that we face in fiscal 1968 involves an economy dominated by a heavy Federal budget, no matter how it is measured. If these circumstances materialize, there is no question about the immediate urgency of substantial expenditure reductions. . . . We may need a tax increase too, but first priority by all means should go to the reduction of spending." (Text)
NASA selected Bendix Field Engineering Co. for negotiations on $21-million contract to provide maintenance and operations services at two U.S. and four foreign Satellite Tracking and Data Acquisition Network (STADAN) sites, and at NASA Communications Center and Network Test and Training Facility, both at GSFC. Effective Oct. 1 for three-year period with NASA options for two one-year extensions, contract covered actual cost-plus-incentive award based on performance. It completed maintenance and operations arrangements for STADAN. (NASA Release 67-148)
OAR's AFCRL would launch four 812-ft-long balloon systems from walker AFB in summer 1967 to complete series of five launches conducted by NASA to investigate possible parachute landing systems for Voyager program [see May 9], OAR Commander M/G Ernest A. Pinson announced. Scheduled for June 27, July 20, Aug. 9 and 24, flights would evaluate performance of different types of parachutes at pressures and velocities equivalent to a descent through the Martian atmosphere. Each balloon would carry, for release at high altitude, a simulated Voyager capsule and a parachute designed to soft-land the capsule on Mars. Five cameras-two on the capsule and three on the parachute-would be used to evaluate each test. First flight in the series was conducted Aug. 30, 1966. (OAR Release 67-17; AP, NYT, 6/8/67,3)
MSFC had awarded Lockheed Missiles & Space Co. a $334,031 contract to study methods of increasing the number of astronauts that could be delivered to the moon with the Saturn V booster and to determine the most promising concepts for efficient delivery of logistic payloads. For the purposes of the study, Lockheed would consider: (1) a hypothetical 1975 mission involving two "product improved" Saturn V boosters-one to launch a modified Apollo spacecraft and one to launch a cargo payload; and (2) a hypothetical 1980-82 mission in which two Uprated Saturn V boosters would launch a six-man spacecraft directly to the moon. (MSFC Release 67-123)
Widow of NASA X-15 test pilot Joseph A. Walker filed $1-million damage suit for the June 8,1966, death of her husband when his F-104 fighter aircraft collided with an XB-70 experimental bomber near Barstow, Calif. Aircraft had been flying in tight formation "to allow photographic coverage of aircraft powered by General Electric engines" for publicity purposes. Mrs. Walker's suit, filed in Federal Court in Los Angeles, charged negligence on the part of General Electric Co. and its chief test pilot John M. Fritz, and North American Aviation, Inc., manufacturer of the XB-70. (UPI, W Post, 6/9/67, A2)
Scientists have an increased responsibility to relate the merit of their research to the public "in understandable terms," M/G Ernest A. Pinson, commander of USAF Office of Aerospace Research, suggested at 12th Annual Science Seminar in Albuquerque, N. Mex. "Science has to do a better job in making known its values and its needs. Science has to remember that the past 25 years, when everything came comparatively easy for financial support of research, are gone and that science has to compete with many other high priority sectors of the economy" for operating funds. (OAR Release 67-13)
Two ten-week programs for college faculty members-administered jointly by Auburn Univ., Univ. of Alabama, and MSFC-opened at MSFC. First program would be summer institute in space-related sciences, sponsored by NASA and American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) , and would be conducted by Univ. of Alabama. (Five other summer institutes, sponsored by NASA and ASEE, would be conducted by NASA centers and nearby colleges at MSC, GSFC, ARC, LaRC , and IRRC.) Second ten-week program, administered by Auburn Univ., would be 1967 NASA Engineering Systems Design Summer Faculty Fellowship Program. (MSFC Release 67-124)
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 28 29 30
