Oct 22 1969
From The Space Library
Cosmos CCCV was launched by U.S.S.R. from Baikonur. Satellite entered orbit with 340-km (211.3-mi) apogee, 203-km (126.1-mi) perigee, 88.4-min period, and 51.4° inclination and reentered Oct. 24. (GSFC SSR, 10/31/69; SBD, 10/27/69, 254)
Press conference on preliminary science results of Biosatellite (launched June 28) was held at NASA Hq. Spacecraft, carrying male macaque monkey Bonny, had been launched on 30-day mission to investigate physiological problems during space flight but had been deorbited after 81/2 days when monkey's condition deteriorated. John W. Dyer, Manager of Biosatellite Project Operations at ARC, said all of automatically controlled functions performed "beautifully" after launch and spacecraft and instrumentation performed well throughout mission. "The animal was reported to be enthusiastically eating and drinking, and after four or five days, a routine operation capable of going the duration of on-board consumables was projected." Clear data on Bonny and entire flight system were recorded at 16 stations in 180 intervals of 5 to 10 min each and good quality data were returned from onboard tape and film records recovered with capsule. Bonny remained alert until eighth day, providing much new information on cycles of sleep and wakefulness at zero g. Dr. W. Ross Adey of UCLA, principal experimenter, said one important discovery was alterations in circadian rhythms, daily rhythms in physiological functions. "At least it is clear that if there is not an actual prolongation of the rhythms there is a very significant phase shift so that the animal woke later and later each day." Most interesting discovery about sleep patterns was that dream sleep, which constituted 20% of normal night's sleep on earth and was characterized by rapid eye movements (REM) , occurred in space. "It had never been clear in space whether man or animals have this REM sleep, and there is evidence that decreased gravitational inputs, or decreased inputs from the body will seriously disrupt it. So we were very interested to see that REM sleep in the monkey . . . that there was indeed a great deal of sleep of this REM type, and that it occurred in . . . an intermediate stage of sleep." One of first abnormalities noted in Bonny was pendular eye movement, swinging movement that occurred when vestibular mechanism in inner ear was disturbed. Fluid was moving in some fashion that might indicate pressure or cooling if it occurred on earth. "None of these conditions applied here. But the weightlessness would allow movements of the fluid which were probably unusual. . . . This is interesting because the Apollo astronauts who have now much more room to move around than in . . . the Mercury and Gemini spacecraft have . . . almost uniformly reported some degree of vestibular disturbances." By eighth day, brain and body temperature and central venous pressure had dropped dangerously. Fluid loss by sweating and diuresis was high, apparently because of redistribution of blood in visceral pools from weightlessness. On recovery Bonny was semicomatose and his temperature was below 35°C. Immediate resuscitation measures with intravenous fluid were begun and monkey's condition improved substantially. "The temperature came up to about 35.8, the heart rate stabilized, and the blood pressure came up. . . And the animal was lifting his head . . . and making coordinated movements with all four limbs. And then quite suddenly, about twelve hours after recovery, a condition of ventricular fibrillation ensued. It came on very suddenly, and the heartbeat became totally disordered. And there was no recovery. This is a common occurrence in monkeys of this species when recovering from hypothermia ... and death is almost a certainty." Autopsy revealed 20% loss in body weight, Much higher than 3%-8% reported for astronauts in early days of flights. Restraint, weightlessness, and decreased feedback from peripheral structures had decreased shivering response, and monkey had failed to respond to falling temperature with normal thermogenic response. Restraint and, particularly, weightlessness had led to pooling of blood in thorax and abdomen, raising central venous pressures and leading to loss of fluid through kidney and sweating. Dr. Adey said mission was "highly successful in revealing physiological effects of weightlessness in spite of the reduced duration of the experiment" and indicated "great value of carefully designed animal experiments in collection of important biomedical data relevant to manned flight." Virtually every piece of information that could be drawn about manned space flight indicated similar changes in astronauts, though to smaller degree, he said. Scientists still did not know whether gravity was necessary for long-duration space flights. "Therefore, I think it is premature to consider the design of space platforms or the larger space stations until we know more from the biomedical point of view about what is absolutely necessary." President's Science Advisory Committee report to President Nixon, being printed, would say necessary biomedical basis for elaborate space platforms and space stations did not exist in NASA or in scientific community. (Transcript)
Retirement of Dr. Abe Silverstein, LeRC Director, was announced by Dr. Thomas O. Paine, NASA Administrator. He would be succeeded Nov. 1 by OART Acting Administrator Bruce T. Lundin. In requesting retirement, Dr. Silverstein wrote: "As NASA engages in its second ten-year program, it may be important that the men whose decisions initiate the new long-range projects be available to complete them. Since I do not think I can stretch my 40 years of service into 50, it is perhaps best . . . if I bow out now. , Few have made so great a contribution to our national space effort," Dr. Paine said. Dr. Silverstein had been first Director of Space Flight Programs in NASA Hq. in 1958. Under his leadership first U.S. man-in-space program, Project Mercury, had been planned and groundwork laid for Gemini and Apollo Programs. He had joined NASA at Langley Aeronautical Laboratory in 1929 and helped design and later was in charge of Full-Scale Wind Tunnel. Transferring to Lewis Laboratory in 1943, he was responsible for conception, design, and construction of first U.S. supersonic-propulsion wind tunnels. After three years with NASA Hq." 1958-1961, he returned to LeRC as Director. Lundin had served NASA since 1943, when he joined staff at Lewis. In 1961 he was appointed Associate Director for Development. In May 1968 he went to NASA Hq. as Deputy Associate Administrator for OART. (NASA Release 69-145; LeRC Release 69-61; LeRC Biog 4/67)
NASA's X-24 A lifting-body vehicle, piloted by NASA test pilot John A. Manke, reached mach 0.6 after air-launch from B-52 aircraft at 40,000-ft altitude over South Rogers Lake Bed, Calif. Objectives of unpowered flight, sixth in series, were to check out new pilot, evaluate handling characteristics with 30° upper flap, and evaluate handling qualities at various roll gain settings of stability augmentation systems (SAS). (NASA Proj Off)
At Moscow ceremony honoring Soyuz VI, VII, and VIII cosmonauts, Soviet Communist Party General Secretary Leonid L. Brezhnev said U.S.S.R. had "an extensive space program drawn up for many years." Main road lay in orbital space stations. "Our road of space conquest is the road of solving vital fundamental problems, the problems of science and technology. While U.S.S.R. favored international space co- operation, "a major advance in the development of space techniques has been achieved in the flight . . . just completed. Our science approached the setting up of long-term orbital stations and laboratories -the decisive means of extensive exploration of outer space." (Clarity, NYT, 10/23/69, 78)
Discovery of possible planet, in orbit around NPO-532 pulsar about 6,000 light years from solar system, was reported by Cornell Univ. astronomer Dr. Thomas Gold. Discovery, by astronomers at Arecibo Ionospheric Observatory in Puerto Rico, was indicated by wobble in pulsation rate from NPO-532, pulsar or neutron star in Crab Nebula. Planet was same distance from neutron star as Mercury was from sun. (W Post, 10/22/69, A9)
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