Nov 7 1967
From The Space Library
NASA's Surveyor VI (Surveyor-F) was successfully launched from ETR by Atlas-Centaur (AC-14) booster on 64-hr lunar intercept trajectory. Primary mission for the 2,223-12, (at launch) spacecraft was to perform a soft-landing on moon and obtain post-landing TV pictures of the lunar surface. As secondary mission spacecraft would determine relative abundance of chemical elements in lunar soil with alpha scattering instrument; obtain touchdown-dynamics, thermal, and radar-reflectivity data; and conduct vernier engine erosion experiment. NASA's Explorer XXXIV, in orbit since May 24, would serve as a "solar watch-dog," furnishing information on solar radiation for correct interpretation of Surveyor VI's soil analyses. At 00:04:06 GET Surveyor VI with two-burn Centaur separated from Atlas and ignited to reach 100-mi-altitude circular parking orbit where it coasted for 12 min; Centaur then reignited to escape earth orbit and boost spacecraft toward moon. Spacecraft separated from Centaur, deployed its solar panels, and locked on the sun and the star Canopus. Based on a 56-mi target miss estimate, a 1.2-m midcourse maneuver was conducted at 00:18:41 GET to assure precise landing on target in Sinus Medii in center of moon's front face. Surveyor VI was sixth in series of seven spacecraft designed to prove out design, develop technology of lunar soft-landing, obtain post-landing TV pictures of lunar surface, and provide basic scientific and engineering data in support of Project Apollo. Surveyor program was directed by OSSA Lunar and Planetary Programs Div.; project management was assigned to JPL; Atlas-Centaur launch vehicle was managed to LeRC; and prime contractor for spacecraft development and design was Hughes Aircraft Co. (NASA Proj Off; NASA Releases 67-278, 67-287)
USAF successfully launched an Advanced Ballistic Re-Entry System (ABRES) module from Vandenberg AFB by Atlas-D booster. (UPI, W Post, 11/8/67, A21)
Explorer XXVII and Vanguard II had been among the 30-40 artificial satellites to be photographed on a typical night by the three-ton light-gatherer camera at Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory's Debre Zeit tracking station in Ethiopia. Robert Citron, station manager, described the operation as an "extremely accurate way of measuring distances with the use of geodetic satellites," in a planned program extending into 1972. Debre Zeit, functioning as hub of 12 similar stations in India, Japan, Patagonia, Spain, Brazil, and South Africa, measured earth's size and shape, gravitational pull variations, and atmospheric density changes. Planned progress would include measuring shape of world "down to 33 feet," according to Citron. He explained: "There is a widely accepted theory that the earth's land masses are drifting. In particular, the African continent is said to be drifting away from the Asian land masses." By using planned measuring methods with geodetic satellites, Citron hoped to explore the truth of the theory and measure the drift should the theory be true. (Reuters, NYT, 11/7/67, 36)
President Johnson signed Public Broadcasting Act of 1967 (P.L. 90-129) which would provide new funds for broadcast facilities to give "a wider and . . . stronger voice to educational radio and TV; launch major study of TV's use in Nation's classrooms and potential use throughout the world; and create Corporation of Public Broadcasting to assist stations and producers who aim for the best in broadcasting good music, . . . exciting plays, and . . . reports on the whole fascinating range of human activity." He indicated that he had asked Dr. Milton Eisenhower, Johns Hopkins Univ., and Dr. James Killian, MIT, to serve as members of Corporation's board of directors. He explained that the Corporation would get partial support from Government but "it will be carefully guarded from . . . control." The President said: "I believe the time has come to stake another claim in the name of all the people, stake a claim based upon the combined resources of communications. I believe the time Bas come to enlist the computer and the satellite, as well as television and radio and to enlist them in the cause of education. So I think we must consider new ways to build a great network for knowledge-not just a broadcast system, but one that employs every means of sending and of storing information that the individual can use." (PD, 11/13/67,1530-2)
Joint Committee on Atomic Energy's Military Applications Subcommittee heard testimony on missile defense from Columbia Univ.'s Professor Philip E. Mosely and RAND Corp's senior staff member Thomas W. Wolfe. Mosely stated, on subject of nuclear weapons, this philosophy: "In any future period [of U.S.S.R. nuclear equality or superiority over US.] . . . we would be prudent to assume that Soviet policy would be tempted to undertake a more extensive, more acute, and more dangerous range of risks [in pursuing] its declared long-range ambition to reshape the world according to its own dogma." Wolfe discussed Soviet ABM program, Soviet attitude toward ABM limitation, Soviet ABM activities which relate to overall strategic posture, and political implications of a changing US.-Soviet military balance. He saw Soviet leadership seeking "wider options for global intervention," and, for this goal, he looked for a buildup of defensive and offensive nuclear power and extension of the reach of their conventional military power. (Testimony)
At MSC the TRW Systems Group had received $10.7-million NASA contract extension to perform spacecraft analysis for Apollo, including studies, technical fact-finding, and investigations for systems in Command, Service, and Lunar Modules. Contract extension would carry through June 1968 and increased total cost of contract to $65.5 million. (MSC Release 67-66)
The 50th anniversary celebrations of the Bolshevik Revolution had included Moscow display of five new missiles, Bruce Winters reported in Baltimore Sun. Two years ago, the Moscow display included three new missiles, one with warhead for "surprise blow on the first or any other orbit around the earth." The 1967 display had included new three-stage ICBM, two-stage IRBM, submarine missile, tactical missile, and antiaircraft missile. (Winters, B Sun, 11/8/67,1)
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