Mar 17 1966
From The Space Library
U.S.S.R. launched COSMOS CXII with scientific instruments aboard for continued space research, Tass announced. Orbital parameters : apogee, 565 km. (350.9 mi.); perigee, 214 km. (132.9 mi.); period, 92.1 min.; inclination, 72°. All systems were reported to be functioning normally. (Tass, 3/17/66)
NASA selected Bendix Corp. for negotiation of a $17-million cost-plus-incentive-fee contract to manufacture four Apollo Lunar Surface Experiments Packages (ALSEP) . The 170-lb. packages containing scientific instruments to measure lunar surface characteristics and atmosphere would be carried to moon in Lunar Excursion Module (LEM) on initial Apollo landing missions and would transmit data back to earth for six months to one year after crew’s departure from lunar surface. Contract would be managed by MSC. (NASA Release 66-63)
Heinz Kaminski, chief of the Bochum Observatory, West Germany, said the emergency abort March 16 of the GEMINI VIII mission showed that control systems onboard the spacecraft as well as on the ground were versatile enough to cope with even the most serious trouble: “The Americans now have realistic data on space emergencies and. . .the mission has been very successful. The emergency has been a blessing in disguise.” (Reuters, Chic. Trib., 3/18/66)
Tass told the Soviet people that GEMINI VIII had achieved history’s first docking in space, and added: “But its program was carried out only partly. Its main elements-more practice in linking up, a lengthy stay by an astronaut outside his ship and the maneuvering of the ship and astronaut-remained unsolved.” (UPI, NYT, 3/19/66, 41)
Taped conversations between Astronaut Neil A. Armstrong and ground controllers disclosing the drama of the emergency but revealing nothing of the difficulty that had caused emergency landing March 16 of GEMINI VIII were released at MSC press conference. There was no indication of panic aboard the spacecraft during motion. In an “almost matter-of-fact tone,” Armstrong had reported to MSC: “Well, we consider the problem serious. We are toppling end-over-end. . . . We cannot turn anything off.” It was announced there would be no public discussion of their mission by Armstrong and Scott for at least nine days during which they would rest and undergo debriefing at KSC. MSC Director Robert R. Gilruth announced that preparations for the May 26 GEMINI IX launching would continue ‘‘just as if nothing had happened to GEMINI VIII. . . . While we are expending every effort to find the cause of the GEMINI VIII occurrence, preparations will move ahead for GEMINI IX so when the results of this flight become available, we’ll be as far along as possible with GEMINI IX.” (Waldron, NYT, 3/18/66,20; Simons, Wash. Post, 3/18/66; AP, Wash. Post, 3/18/66)
Problems that beset eight of the U.S.’s 12 manned space flights were listed by AP: July 21, 1961, before any American had achieved orbit, Astronaut Virgil I. Grissom had had to swim for his life when the hatch blew off the LIBERTY BELL 7 after it had landed at sea; Feb. 20, 1562, Astronaut John H. Glenn had had to take partial manual control of FRIENDSHIP 7 when a small jet thruster failed; May 24,1962, Astronaut M. Scott Carpenter was forced to use the horizon when a short circuit cut off the device which told him attitude of AURORA 7; May 15-16, 1963, drinking water leaked into the cabin of FAITH 7, and ground stations, fearing the automatic reentry system might have been short circuited, directed Astronaut Leroy Gordon Cooper to fly the spacecraft manually in reentry-the first astronaut to do so; June 4-7, 1965, Astronauts James A. McDivitt and Edward H. White II, because of malfunctioning computers, controlled GEMINI IV reentry on instructions from the ground; Aug. 21-29, 1965, Astronauts Leroy Gordon Cooper and Charles Conrad, Jr., flew GEMINI V through 120 revolutions after it seemed a fuel pressure problem might force them down after six; Oct. 25, 1965, Gemini VI mission was canceled when the Agena target vehicle exploded before going into orbit; March 16, 1966, Astronauts Neil A. Armstrong and David R. Scott brought GEMINI VIII under control from a spin that had reached at least one rpm and landed it almost exactly in the planned emergency zone. (AP, Wash. Eve. Star, 3/17/66)
New York Times: “The docking maneuver thus successfully pioneered is of the utmost importance. It is through combining the loads brought into space by individual rockets that the great structures can be built that will be necessary for man’s activities in the cosmos in the years ahead. Tomorrow’s stations in space will serve as laboratories for astronomers and other scientists, as terminals for transshipment of passengers and freight between short-range and long-range rockets, and unfortunately-if the future resembles the past-also as military bases reflecting in the sky the tensions and hostilities of earth. But whatever purpose they serve, these islands in space will have been made possible by repeated use of the same maneuver that Astronauts Armstrong and Scott performed for the first time last night.” Washington Post: Space feats have become so commonplace and have been carried out with such precision that we tend to forget about the hazards. The abrupt but fortunately safe return of Gemini VIII is a timely reminder that space is still a frontier and that the exploration remains at best an inexact science. “That Astronauts Armstrong and Scott emerged unharmed from their awesome experience with their space capsule out of control is a tribute not only to their own cool judgment but also to the extraordinary competence of Space Agency officials. Americans listening to reports of the emergency must have applauded collectively when the crewmen made a successful reentry. They survived a predicament in space which, had it been on a highway, would have meant disaster.” Press commented on the GEMINI VIII mission.. Washington Evening Star: “In addition to its docking achievement, the mission was a success in the sense of demonstrating the care with which emergency devices were built into the space ship and the thoroughness of the planning for rescue operations in event of a forced landing. It is possible, indeed, that more can be learned from a mission that goes wrong than from one which is successful all the way. “Incidentally, there is a commentary on our times in the fact that while the suspense-filled space story was unfolding, Batman was being shown on television. The ABC network interrupted the program with special news announcements, and was rewarded with more than 1,000 phone calls from complaining viewers.” (NYT, 3/17/66, 36M; Wash. Post, 3/18/66, A20; Wash. Eve. Star, 3/17/66, A16)
Discussing the urgency of NASA’s deciding “what to do in space after the first Apollo astronauts return from the moon about 1970,” William Hines said in the Washington Evening Star: “. . . it is hard to forget a hint, dropped . . . by a leading Russian space official several years ago. The Soviet Union, this functionary suggested, might very well celebrate the 50th anniversary of its great revolution by having cosmonauts plant a flag on the lunar surface. That deadline-if it is a deadline-is now less than 20 months away. “But suppose the Soviet Union is not racing us to the moon, or for that matter suppose that she is. In the present state of planning, the US. with the moon in its grasp would be very much like a dog chasing an automobile-what does he do with it if he catches it?” (Hines, Wash. Eve. Star, 3/17/66)
USA-USAF-USN X-22A V/Stol airplane, designed and built by Bell Aerosystems Co. under Navy contract, completed 10-min. first flight at Niagara Falls (N.Y.) International Airport. The four-engine, dual tandem, ducted-propeller craft made four takeoffs and landings, reaching 25-ft. maximum allowable altitude. While hovering, Bell test pilots Stanley J. Kakol and Paul Miller, Jr., executed a 180° counterclockwise turn and reported that X-22A responded to “all control commands.” After planned 225-hr. flight test series, Bell would deliver their two X-22A research aircraft to a tri-service group at Patuxent Naval Air Test Center, Md., for further evaluation. (Bell Releases 3/17/66, 4/4/66-20)
Dr. S. Bhagavantam, scientific adviser to Indian Defense Ministry, reported at a news conference that India had developed a “limited guided missile.” He said that tests of the missile, which could be fired from aircraft, had been completed and arrangements were being made to produce it for Indian armed forces. (AP, NYT, 3/19/66, 3)
Eighth anniversary of launching of VANGUARD I, second US. earth satellite. (NASA Historian)
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 31
