May 5 1967
From The Space Library
U.K.'s Ariel III (UK-E) scientific satellite was successfully launched from WTR by NASA four-stage Scout booster into orbit with 373-mi (600-km) apogee, 306-mi (492-km) perigee, 95.6-min period, and 80° inclination. The 198-lb satellite, which had a one-year design lifetime, carried five experiments for the investigation of earth's atmosphere; four were operating at liftoff and the fifth was turned on after third orbit. All five were functioning normally. Third in a series of US.-U.K. cooperative space projects, Ariel III was designed to supplement and extend atmospheric and ionospheric investigations conducted by Ariel I (launched April 26, 1962) and Ariel II (launched March 27, 1964). Primary NASA mission objectives were to place satellite into planned orbit and provide tracking and telemetry support. NASA supplied Scout booster, conducted launch, and provided tracking and data acquisition services with STADAN facilities, under overall management of GSFC. Major portion of the technical effort on Ariel III, including design and fabrication of spacecraft and five experiments, was accomplished in U.K. under management of Science Research Council's Space Research Management Unit (SRMU) . (NASA Proj Off; NASA Releases 67-96,67-115)
US. should measure its return on space technology in terms of such things as the development of communications, meteorological, and simulation systems, rather than in dollars, NASA Administrator James E. Webb said in the Second Annual Cortez A. M. Ewing Lecture at the Oklahoma Center for Continuing Education in Norman. "The marginal return on the investment in the space program is greater than in any other area. . . . One must take into account the value of the services rendered." Asserting that US. investment in the space program served as "a message to the world that we do not expect to be behind the world in the area of effective use of energy," Webb noted the success of US. space efforts. "We have accomplished in a decade what most informed sources in 1957 thought would take several decades." Webb presented the Cortez A. M. Ewing Foundation with several photographs of the moon taken by Surveyor spacecraft, two atlases of the moon made from photos taken by Rangers VIII and IX, and color photos of India and Saudi Arabia taken by Gemini astronauts. (Norman Transcript, 5/7/67, 3; Howard, Oklahoma Daily, 5/9/67)
NASA Aerobee 150 sounding rocket launched from WSMR carried GSFC-instrumented payload to 98-mi (159-km) altitude to measure spectral irradiance of Venus. Rocket and instrumentation performed satisfactorily, but telescope and camera separated from recovery body during reentry and were damaged at impact. (NASA Rpt SRL)
NASA Nike-Apache sounding rocket launched from Churchill Research Range, Canada, carried Southwest Center for Advanced Studies experiment to 85-mi (136-km) altitude to: provide test of instrumentation; prove out feasibility of payload recovery and reuse; and provide geophysical observations of auroral zone under either quiet or disturbed conditions. All experimental objectives were met except payload recovery. (NASA Rpt SRL)
Dr. Heinz von Diringshofen, a German pioneer in flight and space medicine, died in Frankfurt, Germany, at age 67. Among the first to study the effects of weightlessness in vertical flight, Dr. Diringshofen recorded reactions of humans in weightless periods of up to eight seconds. He also developed systems currently used in the training of US. astronauts: including a centrifuge that produced 17 g's pressure. (NYT, 5/9/67,43)
MSC awarded Rocket Research Corp. a $405,000 contract to deliver by February 1968 two hand-held Eva maneuvering units and two extra propellant tanks for future manned spaceflight missions. (MSC Release 67-20)
Highest known temperature at which a material becomes superconducting losing all resistance to electric current-was reported in Science by Bell Telephone Laboratories scientist Dr. Bernd T. Matthias. Conducting experiments under USAF contract, Dr. Matthias and six colleagues discovered a composition of niobium, germanium, and aluminum that became superconductive at -434° F. Discovery was expected to lead to construction of "super magnets" which could be used to shield manned spacecraft from high-energy particles in space and development of super-efficient" electric motors and electronic computers requiring virtually no power. (Science, 515167,645-6; NYT, 5/6/67,62; AP, W Star, 5 15 167, A9)
Wilbur L. Pritchard, Group Director, Communications Satellite Systems, Aerospace Corp., was appointed director of ComSatCorp's new laboratories, scheduled for completion in Montgomery County, Md., by 1969. (ComSatCorp Release 67-35)
NASA had funded 1st flight unit of new $9-million Small Astronomy Satellite-A (SASA) project to map stellar x-ray sources. Spacecraft, scheduled to be launched in 1969 by four-stage Scout launch vehicle, would be placed into 330-mi-altitude circular orbit where it would measure position, strength, and time variation of all detectable x-ray sources. Project was under GSFC management. (NASA Release 67-111)
Alumni Assn. of Western High School, Washington, D.C., would honor alumnus Edward H. White II, one of three Apollo astronauts who died in Jan. 27 accident, with a memorial, which would include furnishings. decorations, and possibly a space exhibit for school's guidance library and counseling rooms. (W Star, 5/7/67, B1)
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