Mar 24 1965
From The Space Library
After transmitting 5,814 pictures to earth, RANGER traveling at 5,977 mph impacted the moon 9:08 a.m. EST at 12.9° south latitude and 24° west longitude in the crater Alphonsus. The 10 ft., 800 lb. Spacecraft, last in the Ranger series, was only four miles off target, NASA had made real-time TV coverage available and the three major networks broadcast "live" pictures during the last ten minutes of RANGER IX's flight first pictures, taken as the photographic probe was 1,300 Mi. from the moon, had about the same degree of detail as telescopic views from earth. Those taken a few seconds before impact defined objects as small as 10 in. across, including close ups of canal-like rilles on the floor of the crater and dimple-like depressions at points along the rilles. Photographs shown on television were taken by the "B" camera, one of two wide-angle cameras used. Four narrow -angle cameras took other shots. Pictures were received on 85-ft. antennas at Jet Propulsion Laboratory's Goldstone Tracking Station in the Mojave Desert and recorded on both 35mm film and magnetic tape for detailed analysis. Simultaneously signals were relayed by microwave to the JPL laboratory in Pasadena where an electronic scan converter "translated" electronic impulses from the 1,152-lines-per-picture of the RANGER IX signal system to the standard 500 lines of commercial television. The Ranger program had begun inauspiciously in 1961 with a series of failures and near-misses. Rangers 1 and 2 had been designed to test the spacecraft and launch vehicle but were not injected into the desired orbit. RANGER III, IV, and V were to rough-land a seismometer package on the moon to record moon quakes, and to transmit closeup photos of the moon to earth by radio. None of the missions was successful. RANGER VI, first of the reworked and redesigned spacecraft, impacted within 17 mi. of its point of aim-but its television system failed. On July 31, 1964, RANGER VII successfully relayed to earth 4,316 high-quality close-up photos of the lunar surface. RANGER VIII, launched on Feb. 20, 1965, transmitted 7,137 pictures. Total number of photographs from RANGER VII, VIII, and IX was 17,267. (NASA Release 65-96; Sullivan, NYT, 3/22/65, 1; AP, Dighton, Wash. Post, 3/25/65, Al, Al2. A16; Hill, NYT, 3/25/65, 1, 23; NASA Proj. Off.)
A panel of scientists analyzed slides of the RANGER IX lunar pictures at a post-impact press conference and noted that crater rims-some with level areas-and ridges inside the walls seemed harder than the plains but that floors of the craters appeared to be solidified volcanic froth that would not support a landing vehicle. Volcanic activity was inferred from indications that the moon had at least three types of craters not caused by meteorite impact. Dr. Ewan A. Whitaker of the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory of the Univ. of Arizona said parts of the highlands around the crater Alphonsus and ridges within it seemed harder and smoother than the dusty lunar plains. Dr. Gerard P. Kuiper of the same laboratory said of the crater: "It might well be better to make landings there." Most significant finding of RANGER IX's photographs, according to Dr. Eugene Shoemaker of the U.S. Geological Survey, was the smoothness of the crater walls and of the long ridges on the floor of the crater. Dr. Harold Urey of the Univ. of California referred to black patches in the pictures which he said might be composed of graphite: ". . these dark halo craters are due to some sort of plutonic activity beneath the surface of the moon. They do not look to me like terrestrial volcanoes. . . . They look like a unique lunar type of object." Dr. Urey said a Soviet scientist had reported a red flare near a peak in Alphonsus and that analysis had indicated presence of a molecule with two carbon atoms. He said this was "a very curious situation because this molecule . . . does not escape from any known volcano" on earth. (NASA Transcript)
After watching televised pictures of the moon's surface transmitted by RANGER IX, President Johnson issued a congratulatory statement that said: "Ranger 9 showed the world further evidence of the dramatic accomplishments of the United States space team. Coming so close after yesterday's Gemini success, this far-out photography reveals the balance of the United States space program. "Steps toward the manned flight to the moon have become rapid and coordinated strides, as manned space maneuvers of one day are followed by detailed pictures of the moon on the next. "I congratulate the scientists, the engineers, the managers-private contractors as well as Government-all who made this Ranger shot and the successes of its predecessors the great space advances that they have been." (Text, NYT, 3/25/65)
First Biosatellite nose-cone test was conducted at White Sands Missile Range to evaluate aerodynamic and reentry characteristics of the spacecraft designed to carry biological specimens into-and back from -space. AFCRL's balloon-launch group was assisting NASA in conducting the tests, which involved carrying the nose cones by balloons to 88,000-100,000-ft. altitudes, releasing them, then studying their behavior during descent. Evaluated were the drogue ejection mechanism, deployment of parachute systems, descent rate, and vehicle oscillation and impact velocity. A second successful test was conducted April 29. (OAR Research Review, 7/65, 30)
An editorial in the Baltimore Sun said: "Yesterday's Gemini flight is described as 'historic' and so it was. So too is each successful new space exploration, launched by whatever country, manned or unmanned. . . . What is happening is that a body of knowledge is being accumulated through increasingly accurate photographs and increasingly sophisticated exercises and experiences on the part of the adventurers of our age, the astronauts. ..." (Balt. Sun, 3/24/65)
XB-70A experimental supersonic bomber broke world aviation weight and speed endurance records during a one-hour 40 min. flight. It took off weighing 500,000 lbs., the heaviest at which any aircraft had been flown, and flew at continuous supersonic speeds for 80 min., longer than any other aircraft had. It cruised at a top speed of 1,400 mph and was piloted by Al White and Van Shepard. (AP, Wash. Post, 3/25/65; NYT, 3/25/65; AP, Wash. Eve. Star, 3/26/65)
An editorial in the Washington Evening Star said: ". . . judging from Soviet cosmonaut Leonov's spectacular 'walk' in the high heavens last week, the Russians seem to be well ahead of us at the moment. Interestingly enough, however, in marked contrast to the wide-open American procedure, they do not let the outside world have any look at either the launching or the landing of their spacemen. This furtiveness makes one wonder about the nature of their program and whether they're really accomplishing as much as they claim to be. "In any case, regardless of what the Russians are hiding, there can be no doubt that the Grissom-Young flight represents an important advance for the United States in the race to the moon. Technically, we are ahead of the Reds in many respects, and it is entirely possible that we'll make lunar landings before them." (Wash. Eve. Star, 3/24/65)
An editorial in the New York Herald Tribune referred to the U.S.-U.S.S.R. race for the moon: "The moon remains an elusive target, but it gets closer all the time. ... "Ideally, this should be a cooperative venture, enlisting the common efforts of the peoples of all nations; instead, so far at least, it is a race between the United States and the Soviet Union. Because it is a race; because space technology is, in major part, inseparable from military technology; because space prestige is, however illogically, a factor in the struggle to keep the earth free, we have to compete. NASA’s ambitious program of a manned Gemini flight every three months promises a vigorous competitive effort. But the American effort does not parallel that of the Soviets; each is giving priority to different techniques, and the comparative standings in the race are hard to measure. What is clear, however, is that the Grissom-Young flight has carried the American program a long way forward-and beyond that, and more importantly in the long perspective of history, it has brought closer the day when man, not American man or Soviet man, finally breaks the terrestrial bonds that hold him to his native planet." (N.Y. Her. Trib., 3/24/65)
"The three-orbit flight by Virgil I. Grissom and John W. Young was in some ways the most remarkable space trip yet accomplished by this country's astronauts," said an editorial in the New York Times. "Particularly impressive was the apparent success of a series of maneuvers to change the Gemini's orbit-maneuvers that will be required to join two spacecraft in orbit, notably on the return leg of the projected manned flight to the moon." (NYT, 3/24/65, 44)
In a speech before the National Association of Broadcasters in Washington, D.C., Gen. Bernard A. Schriever (USAF) remarked that the Soviet's space science timetable "always seems to put them one step ahead of us," He said: "It is still true that we lead in some aspects of space exploration, such as the total number of space shots, number of scientific probes, and practical applications of space satellites for such purposes as communications and weather observation, On the other hand, the Soviets lead in a number of areas with both propaganda and practical implications, ". . . Thus, they have put into space the first satellite, the first living creature, the first man, the first woman, the first multi-man space ship and now the first man to step out of the capsule and into space itself. They also hold the world record for time in orbit, orbital distance, orbital weight lifted, and highest orbital altitude. . . . "How will the Soviets use their space capabilities? . . . we are interested. . . ." Gen. Schriever said ground tests would begin shortly for a collapsible and expandable space laboratory for possible use as a space station: "The structure can be compressed into a small package and expanded to a cylinder 10 ft. in dia. and 25 ft. long." (Text)
U.S.S.R. announced that Cosmonaut Valentina Nikolayeva-Tereshkova would arrive in Algiers Mar. 26 at the invitation of Algerian President Ahmed Ben Bella. (I, Wash. Post, 3/25/65, D10)
Both U.S. and U.S.S.R. space research were criticized by a Vatican weekly magazine, L'Osservatore della Domenica, which said they were using it as a "political instrument." In an editorial, the publication's deputy director, Federico Alessandrini, said space competition was "beneficial because it widens man's understanding and offers new methods of observations which tomorrow will allow man to attain other goals. "But, as one can see, the political instrument made of it limits its results and reveals . . . an obstacle to progress." (AP, NYT, 3/25/65)
Aircraft operations in the U.S. increased 10% for the second consecutive year, according to statistics reported in FAA Air Traffic Activity, Calendar Year 1964. Ten percent gains were made in each of three major categories: total aircraft operations (takeoffs and landings at 278 airports with FAA airport traffic control towers)-34.2 million; instrument approaches at Air Route Traffic Control Center (ARTCC) areas-1005 million; and IFR I Instrument Flight Rule) aircraft handled at ARTCCS -11.7 million. ( FAA Release 65-22)
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