Mar 17 1965
From The Space Library
MARINER IV's ion chamber experiment failed completely, Jet Propulsion Laboratory officials reported. Count-rate of the Geiger-Mueller tube portion of the experiment had become abnormal in February. The experiment had been designed to measure PROTON and electron radiation. Otherwise, the spacecraft was operating normally; all other high-energy radiation detectors aboard were continuing their interplanetary measurements, In its 110th day of flight, MARINER IV was traveling 27,743 mph relative to earth and was 35,000,004 mi. from earth. It had traveled more than 178,000,000 mi. (NASA Release 65-90)
First Saturn IB booster, the S-IB-1, was placed into a static test stand at NASA Marshall Space Flight Center for scheduled static firings. Built by Chrysler Corp, the 1.6 million-lb.-thrust, 90,000-lb. booster contained eight engines, was 21 ft. in dia. and 80 ft. long. The stage would be shipped to NASA Michoud Operations for post-firing checks. (Marshall Star, 3/17/65, 1, 2)
Discussing the need for sustaining engineering funds for Centaur starting in FY 1966, NASA Associate Administrator for Space Science and Applications Dr. Homer E. Newell testified before the House Committee on Science and Astronautics, Subcommittee on Space Sciences and Applications: "A preliminary study and design phase is being initiated by NASA this Fiscal Year [for adaptation of the Centaur to the Saturn Is]. The primary mission for this vehicle is the Voyager. Initial studies indicate this vehicle is capable of launching a payload to Mars in excess of 8000 pounds during all of the opportunities in the 1970's. Generally, the modifications necessary to create this stage combination are not particularly difficult. They do represent a large engineering effort, but there is nothing apparent at this time which indicates that new technologies will be required. The Centaur will be mounted, along with the Voyager, inside a fairing the size of the Saturn (260-inch diameter). By constructing this size fairing the technical problems associated with adaptation of the Centaur to this new booster are significantly reduced and the diameter required for all of the Voyager missions is obtained." Dr. Newell described NASA's sustaining university program as an effort "to broaden the national research base in areas of importance to the national space effort and increase our capability to replenish continually the reservoir of basic knowledge. . . . "In response to the continuing manpower requirements, NASA conducts a predoctoral training program, under which grants are made to universities to select and train outstanding students in space-related fields. Specialized training for selected students offers them identification with the national space effort, and involves them directly in the new programs of the space age. . . . "At the present time, about 1,957 students are in training at 131 institutions. The disciplines represented by these 1,957 students are distributed as follows: physical sciences, 51 percent; engineering, 37 percent; life sciences, 8 percent ; behavioral sciences, 4 percent . . . In September 1965, about 1,275 new students will begin their three years of study and research as NASA predoctoral trainees. At that time, 142 institutions, located in every state in the union, will be participating. With the proposed budget of $25 million for fiscal year 1966, about 1,300 new students would enter the program. Consequently, the NASA goal of an output of 1,000 Ph.D.'s per year will not be reached before fiscal year 1968 or fiscal year 1969 . . . Of the students participating to date, 40 trainees have received their Ph.D. degrees. . . ." (Testimony; NASA Auth, Hearings, 634-35)
Astronauts Virgil I. Grissom and John W. Young gave the official name "Gemini 3" and the nickname "Molly Brown" to the spacecraft they would ride into orbit Mar. 23. (C Historian; AP, Miami Her., 3/17/65)
First six ships of a 20-vessel fleet that would participate in recovery of the Gemini GT-3 spacecraft following the two-man orbital flight scheduled for Mar. 23 left Cape Kennedy. Ships would be positioned from the mid-Atlantic to the Canary Islands. (Wash. Post, 3/17/65)
A strike was under way at the $256-million Mississippi Test Operations under construction in Gainesville, NASA announced. The dispute apparently concerned NASA's contracting policies. (AP, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 3/18/65)
DOD attracted more than 1,000 industrial representatives to its "regional unclassified briefing" in New York. It outlined the nation's military needs for the next decade and offered guidance in planning defense contracts. This was one of five meetings DOD had called throughout the country to provide industry, business, and labor with an idea of the military research, development, and production requirements. (Wilcke, NYT, 3/17/65, 65)
FAA granted an air worthiness certificate for an automatic landing system developed jointly by the Boeing Co. and the Bendix Corp. It was the first system in the world to be so certified by FAA for operation in the U.S. and would enable users to apply to FAA for "Category II" certification under which a pilot could land with only 100 ft, downward visibility and 1,300 ft., or a quarter mile, forward visibility. Most airliners must land under "Category I" conditions under which the pilot must be able to see the last 200 ft. to the ground and must have at least a half mile forward visibility before he could land. First Boeing 707 or 720 jetliners equipped to land by computer would be available about Jan. 1966. (Appel, NYT, 3/18/65, 1, 14)
FAA Administrator Najeeb E. Halaby announced that four Government agencies had joined forces to establish a national data bank for interagency exchange of information on civil manpower resources. The agencies were Dept. of Labor, Dept. of Health, Education, and Welfare, Civil Aeronautics Board, and Federal Aviation Agency. Halaby said availability of such a bank would make it possible to obtain more information on status of aviation manpower than FAA maintained. (FAA Release 65-20)
Speaking on safety in the Space Age, John L. Sloop, NASA Assistant Associate Administrator for Advanced Research and Technology, told the 22nd Annual Greater Akron Safety Conference that "for the past ten years, the NACA and NASA have had a frequency rate (injuries per million man hours work) ranging from 3.2 to 2.1. The national industrial frequency average, I am told, is 6.12 for 1963 and the average for all of Federal government is 7.9." I Text)
Dr. Robert Hutchings Goddard was posthumously awarded the Daniel Guggenheim Medal by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. Mrs. Goddard accepted the medal. (Av. Wk., 3/22/65, 13)
Brig. Gen. Charles A. Lindbergh ( USAFR ) was elected to the Board of Pan American World Airways. During his 36-year association with the airline, he had helped develop several aircraft from the Fokker and Sikorsky to the Boeing and Douglas jets. Recently he had worked on the supersonic transport and the fanjet Falcon. He was also a member of the NACA from 1931 to 1939. (NYT, 3/18/65, 47)
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