May 4 1965
From The Space Library
Aerobee sounding rocket successfully launched from NASA Wallops Station, Va, carried 317-lb, payload to 90-mi, altitude and impacted about 54 mi. downrange in the Atlantic. Conducted by NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, the stellar spectroscopy experiment measured special radiation of two stars, Spica and Alkaid, utilizing an ultraviolet stellar spectrometer and an input telescope with a 13-in. aperture. Performance of a gimbaled star tracker and modified attitude control (Strap) was also tested. Data were telemetered to ground station during flight. (Wallops Release 65-26)
Sen, Russell B. Long (D-La,) introduced a bill (S. 1899) in the Senate "to prescribe a national policy with respect to the acquisition, disposition, and use of proprietary rights in inventions made, and in scientific and technical information obtained, through the expenditure of public funds," Senator Long said in introducing the bill: "New discoveries derived from research supported by public funds belong to the people and constitute a part of the public domain to which all citizens should have access on terms of equality." (CR, 5/4/65, 9023-9027)
Aerospace Corp.'s $22 million expenditure to construct buildings in California when space was available in nearby U.S. facilities was criticized by Comptroller General Joseph Campbell in his testimony before the House Armed Services Special Investigations Subcommittee investigating Aerospace, Campbell said that Aerospace had also incurred "certain questionable costs which appear to be of interest." (AP, NYT, 5 /5 /65 )
Dr. Eugene B. Konecci of the National Aeronautics and Space Council staff discussed future manned aerospace flight before the American Astronautical Society meeting Chicago: "A great deal of lifting-body research is being performed by NASA and the USAF, In the not too distant future we will enter into the truly second generation manned spacecraft era by relying more on a higher L/D (lift-drag ratio) such as a hypersonic L/D of about 1 3 The lifting body second generation manned spacecraft gives operational versatility for reentry from a number of orbit planes and gives a recovery capability at a number of landing sites within the United States. This versatility also increases the margin of safety for the astronauts... " (Text)
Orbit of MOLNIYA I Soviet communications satellite was slightly corrected to increase its usefulness for relaying telecasts between Moscow and Vladivostok. Soviet Communications Minister Nikolai D. Psurtsev told Izvestia that the firing of a special rocket motor aboard the satellite had raised the apogee to 40,045.2 km. (24,872.8 mi,) ; perigee to 548.4 km. (340.6 mi.) ; and the period to 12 hrs, Previous orbital parameters: apogee, 39,467.7 km. (24,514.1 mi,) ; perigee, 498.4 km. (309.5 mi,) ; period, 11 hrs, 48 min. The corrected high elliptical orbit put MOLNIYA I within the visibility of Russia's ground stations for the greater part of its period. (NYT, 5/5/65, 6)
May 4-6: U.S.S.R, Mars probe ZOND II had stopped transmitting data to earth, Russian physicist, Gennadii Skuridin, told the AAS-IIT Research Institute Symposium on Post-Apollo Space Exploration in Chicago, Cutoff apparently resulted from a failure in the probe's solar panels caused by meteoroid impact or solar radiation, he said, Other facts about the Soviet space program made public for the first time: (1) pressure in Cosmonaut Aleksei Leonov's spacesuit during his walk in space on March 18, was about 5.9 lbs, psi; (2) Leonov had trouble with his vision and in orienting himself while in space, but was capable of performing useful work; (3) Soviet scientists have the technological know-how to perform orbit-changing spacecraft maneuvers. A thirty-minute movie of Leonov's walk in space gave closeup views of construction of VOSKHOD II's airlock, Leonov's spacesuit, gloves, footwear, and life-support equipment back pack, Discussing investigation of space by the U.S.S.R. Skuridin said that from 1962, the problem of going to the moon had been studied with the Cosmos series of spacecraft, He said COSMOS III and COSMOS IV had studied solor plasma, its energy and location in earth areas, and during the period
April 24 to May 2, 1962, had transmitted to earth more than 50 million measurements; 20 million more had been stored in a data-storage system, COSMOS XLI had investigated charged particles at 40,000 mi, altitude. The Elektron series, he continued, had made important measurements of the atmosphere up to an altitude of 3,000 km. The ions of hydrogen, carbon, and oxygen had also been measured. Discussing future flights, Skuridin said the Soviet Union would like to study Saturn, Pluto, and the sun, but added that a satellite was needed that could be launched to far-off planets and the sun and return to earth. (UPI, NYT, 5/6/65, 2; Kotulak, Chic, Trib., 5/7/65; M&R, 5/10/65, 12, 13)
May 4-6: Preliminary plans for Apollo Extension System (AES) development required selection of three major spacecraft contractors, NASA official told Missiles and Rockets during Symposium on Post-Apollo Space Exploration in Chicago: one to devise single payload plan, one to cover physical installation of experimental payloads and checkout systems, and one to translate Apollo spacecraft into Apollo extension vehicle with a six-week manned orbiting capability, NASA official attributed this decision to a reluctance to depend on a single contractor and a desire for broad-based readily available industrial capability. (M&R, 5/10/65, 13)
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