May 3 1966
From The Space Library
House passed NASA authorization bill for FY 1967 (H.R. 14324) totaling $4,986,864,150 as follows: $4,248,235,000 for research and development; $94,419,000 for construction of facilities; and $644,210,150 for administrative operations. NASA had requested $5.012 billion. During debate preceding bill’s passage, Rep. James G. Fulton (R-Pa.) offered amendments, subsequently rejected, to eliminate $41.9-million funding for Apollo Applications program and $9.l-million funding for construction of lunar sample receiving laboratory at MSC; to reduce advanced missions by $5 million; and to cancel $10 million of prior authorizations for Facility Planning and Design. Rep. Fulton also offered, but later withdrew, an amendment to establish an Inspector General’s Office in NASA. Commenting on NASA’s $5.012 billion request for FY 1967, Rep. Fulton said: “[It] generally represents a tight program in terms of the. “ allocation of resources to the programs that have been regularly approved by Congress as parts of the Nation’s effort in aeronautics and space. “At a level under $4.9 billion, I do not believe NASA can restructure its Apollo program moon landing in a form that would not cast the most serious doubt as to its ability to meet the objective of the manned lunar landing within this decade. “At $4.8 billion the moon landing objective could not be met. Below this level of the budget, it would become clear that the Nation had abandoned the concept of developing a well-rounded total space capability directed toward achieving space preeminence. . . .” Rep. John Wydler (R.N.Y.), proposing an amendment to earmark $20 million of the total R&D funds for development work on the problem of aircraft noise, suggested: “. . . it is incumbent upon us to bring this [space] program closer to the people and show them some way in which it can benefit them. We often hear there is going to be a fallout as a result of this program-some kind of fallout that will affect the civilian population beneficially. Here is an opportunity to give them some fallout directly that will be of benefit to them. . . .” Rep. Wydler’s amendment was defeated. (CR, 5/3/66, 9189-9223)
Malfunction in Atlas-Centaur launch vehicle’s attitude control system was responsible for Centaur stage’s failure to achieve double ignition in space during April 7 AC-8 mission from ETR, NASA announced. Preliminary analysis indicated that one or more small attitude control jets on Centaur stage apparently used excessive amounts of hydrogen peroxide gas, causing early depletion of system’s fuel supply. Exact cause of excessive use had not yet been determined. Preparations for AC-10 mission, which would launch dummy Surveyor payload on direct ascent to the moon, continued on schedule at ETR. (NASA Release 66-92)
GEMINI IX spacecraft was mechanically mated to top of Titan II booster at ETR in preparation for May 17 launch after 48-hr. delay because of tiny leak in jet-powered maneuvering unit stored behind spacecraft. NASA officials said delay would not change launch date. (AP, Phil. Eve. Bull., 5/4/66; AP, Wash. Eve. Star, 5/3/66, A4)
NASA launched four Nike-Cajun sounding rockets carrying acoustic grenade payloads within four hours from Natal, Brazil; Point Barrow, Alaska; Churchill Research Range; and NASA Wallops Station. GSFC experiment was designed to obtain temperature, pressure, density, and wind data at 22-59-mi. (35-95-km.) altitudes during seasonal wind shift from westerly to easterly circulation. First group of Nike-Cajuns had been launched from same sites May 1 as shift to summertime easterly pattern began. (NASA Rpt. SRL)
Long-range HC-130H cargo aircraft equipped with Fulton Recovery System successfully snatched Capt. Gerald T. LyVere (USAF) from Rogers Dry Lake at AFFTC in first test of new ground-to-air recovery system for rescuing downed fliers and astronauts. At 400-ft. altitude aircraft clamped onto balloon-suspended nylon cable attached to harness dropped earlier by parachute, pulled Captain LyVere up behind aircraft, and reeled him over rear ramp. In later demonstration, Col. Allison Brooks (USAF) and A-3C Ronald Doll (USAF) were recovered simultaneously in side-by-side two-man pickup using double harness. Lockheed-built HC130H, which would become operational June 30, could fly missions to more than 2,000 mi. from its base, loiter at sea level, and rescue up to five persons in multiple pickups from land or sea. For NASA projects, aircraft would carry complex UHF spacecraft reentry tracker equipment to locate reentering spacecraft. (AFFTC Release)
May 3: Rep. Lester L. Wolff (D-N.Y.) put in Congressional Record a telegram from Charles H. Ruby, president of International Air Line Pilots Association, opposing $75,000 absolute liability award to survivors of victims of international air accidents. Proposal, Ruby said, would invite sabotage “. . . and would offer . . . criminals the incentive of an automatic payoff without requiring them to buy insurance.” (CRY 5/5/66, A2474)
Air Transport Assn. (ATA) noted major developments in air transportation in 1966 annual report, “Facts and Figures”: (1) airlines accounted for 59% of all inter-city common carrier services compared to 14% in 1950; (2) sustained growth rate of 16.2% over past three years outdistanced all other major US. industries; (3) improved efficiency and economy of operations enabled airlines to absorb steady advances in wage rates, material, and equipment prices; (4) heavy airline investment in modernization and improvement permitted reduction in average fares and eased inflationary pressures; and (5) more than 85% of record profits were reinvested in expansion and improvement program. (ATA Release 39)
Thailand and Malaysia joined Intelsat-International Telecommunications Satellite Consortium headed by ComSatCorp-bringing total number of member nations to 50. ComSatCorp said it “warmly welcomes this aspect of the development of the consortium and the intention of other countries to increase Intelsat membership even further in the near future.” Yugoslavia and Romania had also shown interest in Intelsat and were considering joining. (ComSatCorp Release; Clark, NYT, 5/3/66, 9)
Criticism of Government research and development programs in Richard J. Barber’s The Politics of Research was cited in a review by Donald Mintz for the Washington Evening Star: (1) DOD, NASA, and AEC contributions -90 per cent of total R&D support-indicated emphasis on defense and space at the expense of social and behavioral sciences; (2) 70 per cent of F&D funds was directed to development; most of remainder was spent on applied, not basic, research; (3) Government agencies had given little attention to consequences of their undertakings. (Mintz, Wash. Eve. Star, 5/3/66, A10)
Former Vice President Richard Nixon told a Republican fund-raising dinner in Houston that US. should divert some of its space exploration funds to the Vietnam war effort. (AP, Wash. Eve. Star, 5/4/66, A36)
Minuteman II had entered operational service with Strategic Air Command, with delivery of first 50-missile squadron at Wing 6, Grand Forks AFB. (M/S Daily, 5/3/66)
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 28 29 30 31
