May 28 1964
From The Space Library
Saturn I SA-6 flight was conducted successfully from Cape Kennedy, the huge two-stage launch vehicle boosting into orbit an Apollo boilerplate spacecraft attached to the S-IV second stage. The one malfunction in the flight was premature shutdown of one of the eight first-stage engines, cutting off 24 sec. early. Preliminary analysis of telemetry data indicated that the remaining seven H-1 engines burned additional two sec. to compensate for lost thrust of the eighth engine, and the Saturn I's guidance system corrected course deviations caused by the shut-off engine, so that orbital parameters (140-mi. apogee, 123.9-mi. perigee, 88.5-min. period, and 31.8° inclination to the equator) came very close to those predicted. This was first Saturn I flight test of active guidance system to inject upper stage and attached Apollo spacecraft into orbit. Eight movie cameras mounted on the Saturn I to photograph propulsion and fuel operations were ejected and recovered. Main purpose of the flight was further qualification of the Saturn I launch vehicle and continued development of technology necessary to build the more powerful Saturn IB and V launch vehicles. (Marshall Star, 6/3/64, 1; NASA Releases 64-113 and 64-130; M&R, 6/8/64,10)
Seventh test in paraglider series was conducted by NASA Manned Spacecraft Center at Edwards AFB, Calif. Simulated Gemini spacecraft was dropped from 33,000-ft. altitude and paraglider deployed according to plan and lowered the spacecraft to 15,000 ft., where parachute opened for remaining portion of descent. ( AP, Phil. Eve. Bull., 5/29/64)
Plans for first operational weather satellite system, to be called Tiros Operational Satellite (TOS) system, were announced. NASA had selected RCA's Astro Electronics Div. for negotiations leading to manufacture of five Tiros operational weather satellites, at cost expected to exceed $9 million. Dept: of Commerce/Weather Bureau would finance TOS system, provide overall management, and be responsible for its operation. NASA was responsible for spacecraft procurement, launch, and initial checkout after satellite is in orbit. After system begins in late 1965, two meteorological satellites would be in orbit at all times, photographing cloud-cover of the entire earth every day. (NASA Release 61. 125; Commerce Dept. Release WB 64-9)
Successful static firing of 156-in. solid propellant rocket motor was conducted at Lockheed Propulsion Co., Potrero, Calif. The 110-sec. firing was considered successful in all respects. Brig. Gen. Joseph Bleymaier, Deputy Commander for Manned Systems, AFSSD, said the test signified " a completely new era with regard to the size of solid motors for ballistic missiles, and in particular, for space boosters." (M&R, 6/8/64, 25)
USAF destroyed Athena missile about 70 sec. after launch from Green River, Utah, when "it appeared to be progressing out of the flight corridor." (M&R, 6/8/64, 10)
NASA signed $237 million contract with General Dynamics/Astronautics for development of Centaur launch vehicle stages. The contract, a confirmation of letter contract issued January 1963, called for delivery of 14 flight stages, exclusive of inertial guidance system being developed by Honeywell Co., and liquid hydrogen-fueled RL-l0 engine being built by Pratt & Whitney Div. of United Aircraft Corp. (NASA Release 64 127)
NASA announced it would negotiate with Douglas Aircraft Co. for purchase of eight additional S-IVB stages for Saturn IB launch vehicle. The eight stages would be flown on vehicles number 5 through 12. Estimated at more than $110 million, the contract would call for building the eight stages, supplying automated ground support equipment for Sacramento test site, providing launch support services at Cape Kennedy, and furnishing spare parts for entire Saturn S-IVB program. (NASA Release 64-126)
NASA awarded $100,000 contract to North Carolina Science and Technology Research Center for establishment of experimental program for transfer of technology developed in U.S. space effort to civilian industry. Other participants in the program would be Univ. of North Carolina, Duke Univ., North Carolina State College, and Research Triangle Institute. (NASA Release 64-124)
Republican Critical Issues Council of the Republican Citizens Committee, chaired by Dr. Milton Eisenhower, issued statement calling upon U.S. to abandon the 1970 goal of a manned lunar landing. It also called for increased international cooperation in space exploration: ". . . The exploration of our universe is a goal too vast, too hazardous, too costly, and too important to all mankind to be financed and conducted by one country alone, and least of all in an atmosphere of unfriendly competition." Council also deplored claims for military value of space exploration: "We are aware of no compelling argument thus far for the development and deploying of weapons in space. . . ." (Text, CR, 5/28/ 64, 11775-77)
NASA Associate Administrator for Manned Space Flight, Dr. George E. Mueller, addressed banquet of Aviation/Space Writers' Association in Miami. Discussing possible hazards to Apollo astronauts, he said that based on data from EXPLORER XVI satellite it was "not anticipated at this time that meteoroids will constitute a major problem in the planning or scheduling of the first manned lunar exploration." Radiation did not present a hazard either: ". . . In the case of solar flares, we compared the allowable safe dose with what would have been produced within the Apollo command module by the worst flares on record, that of July 1959. If an Apollo spacecraft had been in flight on a lunar mission at this time, the astronauts would have received only 15 percent of the safe dose, calculated on the basis of a report by a group established by the Space Science Board of the National Academy of Sciences. . . . "Very recently there have been suggestions that space flight-even relatively short duration flight-is harmful to man. There is no evidence from Project Mercury to support these fears. Based on our experience in Mercury, which included a flight of 34 hours by Leroy Gordon Cooper, there is no reason to believe that flights of two weeks or less will be harmful.. ." Dr. Mueller then outlined nine medical experiments to be conducted during the two-man orbital space flights of Project Gemini. (Text; NASA Release 64-128)
Three researchers from North American Aviation, Inc., stepped out of a rotating capsule after three days of rotation and one with the capsule at rest. The capsule, about twice the size of an Apollo capsule, was on the end of a 23-ft.-radius arm which traveled at a rate of five rotations per minute, producing a g force of 1.08. The test was preliminary to more extensive ones intended to study living and working conditions in a manned orbital laboratory. While in rotation, the researchers shot darts, maneuvered on a teeter-totter, worked puzzles and mathematical problems. Conclusion was that by end of second day, performance was back to normal. (NAA S&ID Skywriter, 6/12/64, 2)
B. K. O. Lundberg, Director General of the Aeronautical Research Institute of Sweden, predicted at Aviation/Space Writers Association in Miami that more than 15,000 passengers would be killed each year by the year 1990 unless aviation safety was improved. Deploring the aviation industry's emphasis on supersonic transport development ("we are now apparently on the verge of plunging ourselves into a supersonic adventure"), he stressed that the "No. 1 challenge to aviation and the aeronautical scientists" was aviation safety, and urged the world to adopt "new, radical and long-term aviation safety policy." (Morrow, NYT, 5/31/ 64,78)
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