May 24 1967
From The Space Library
NASA successfully launched Explorer XXXIV Interplanetary Monitoring Platform (IMP-F) from WTR by three-stage Thrust-Augmented Improved Delta booster into near-perfect polar orbit. Orbital parameters: apogee, 133,131 mi (214,348 km); perigee, 150 mi (241 km); period, 106 hrs; inclination, 67.2". Preliminary data indicated that all spacecraft systems and the 10 of its 11 experiments which had been turned on were operating normally. Final experiment would she turned on by ground command June 1. Explorer XXXIV would make measurements of solar and galactic cosmic rays within and at the boundary of earth's atmosphere and interplanetary space during period of maximum solar activity. Primary mission objectives were to: (1) place spacecraft into orbit with an apogee of approximately 92,000 mi, or greater, to investigate the region between the magnetosheath and the shock front; and (2) to obtain scientific data on the cislunar environment from a number of its experiments. Explorer XXXIV was ten times more complex than any of four previous satellites launched in NASA's Interplanetary Monitoring Platform (IMP) series, two of which- Explorer XXVIII (launched May 29, 1965) and Explorer XXXIII (launched July 1, 1966)-were still operating and providing scientific data. IMP series was managed by GSFC under OSSA direction. (NASA Proj Off; NASA Release 67-21; UPI, NYT, 5/26/67,9; WSJ, 5/25/67,1)
President Johnson, in a White House ceremony, presented M/G James W. Humphreys, Jr., of the Air Force Medical Corps, the Distinguished Service Medal for helping to develop "a national medical program for the Vietnamese people." General Humphreys would become Director of Space Medicine, OMSF, June 1. (PD, 5/29/67, 778: W Post, 5/25/67)
NASA announced that 2nd stage of the first Saturn V booster would be dismantled at KSC to check for any "hairline" cracks. Decision was made after similar cracks had been found in an identical stage of the vehicle at North American Aviation, Inc.'s Seal Beach, Calif., plant. Additional checks were not expected to delay first Saturn V flight-an unmanned mission scheduled for mid-August-by "more than a week or so." (NASA Release 67-132)
Ronnie J. Lagoe, 17-yr-old high school senior whose %-scale model of NASA's Surveyor spacecraft had made five successful soft-landings on earth from varying heights, was introduced at a New York news conference by Dr. Allen E. Puckett, Executive Vice President of Hughes Aircraft Co., manufacturer of Surveyor spacecraft. Lagoe built his 2-lb model-designated Surveyor-R ("for revised") -with wood strips, foam rubber, bathtub calk, glue, ping-pong balls, cork fishing floats, a battery, and four tiny rockets. Total cost: $28.95. He described the 85-ft flight sequence following Surveyor-R's launch from the top of a water tower: "After retro-fire, a marked decrease in spacecraft velocity was noted until retro-burnout occurred at 20 feet and the verniers burned alone. Complete counteraction of gravity was achieved at two feet, after which vernier shut-off occurred and the craft dropped to the surface." Hughes presented Lagoe with a summer job at KSC, a free trip to its Culver City, Calif., plant, and a $5,000 college scholarship. (Wilford, NYT, 5/25/67,43)
1967 Robert J. Collier Trophy was presented to James S. McDonnell, founder of McDonnell Aircraft Corp., by Vice President Humphrey in ceremony at Smithsonian Institution. Making the award on behalf of President Johnson, Mr. Humphrey said McDonnell had been selected because of his leadership in aeronautics and astronautics as demonstrated by the performance of the McDonnell Gemini spacecraft and the F4 Phantom II jet fighter. Trophy was presented annually by Look and National Aeronautic Assn. "for the greatest achievement in aeronautics or astronautics in America, with respect to improving the performance, efficiency, or safety of air or space vehicles." (NAA News; AP, NYT, 5/25/67,81)
The creation of a European Institute of Science and Technology to help narrow the technological gap between US. and Western Europe was proposed at a Deauville, France, conference of 70 US. and European businessmen, scientists, academicians, and public officials. Institute, which would be supported initially by private funds, would offer one-year postgraduate course. Faculty and student body would be international. Conference concluded that such an institute would be "a considerable stimulant for the various European educational systems and a rich source of trained engineers." Meeting was sponsored by North Atlantic Assembly's Science and Technology Committee and Univ. of Pennsylvania's `Foreign Policy Research Institute. (Mooney, NYT, 5/30/67,25)
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