Oct 26 1965
From The Space Library
A "catastrophic failure" had occurred some 10 min, after launch of the Atlas-Agena for the Oct. 25 Gemini VI mission, M/Gen. Ben I. Funk, commander of the Air Force Space Systems Div., revealed. M/Gen. Vincent Huston, commander of the Eastern Test Range, said radar at Patrick AFB had "picked up five pieces" of debris at the point in space where the Agena was supposed to be. G. Merritt Preston, NASA, remarked that just before ground stations lost contact with the Agena, telemetry records from the spacecraft showed a marked rise in pressure in both propellant tanks. Despite the inferred explosion of Agena, no fragments were recovered from the Atlantic Ocean where tracking radar screens had indicated the rocket should have fallen. None was seen by planes alerted to watch for their reentry, Lockheed Missiles and Space Co, manufacturer of the Agena, had scheduled a news conference to try to explain the problem, the Washington Evening Star reported. Conference was canceled, reportedly on instructions from the Air Force, and a secrecy lid imposed. (Wash. Eve, Star, 10/26/65, A6)
S-IB-3, Saturn IB launch vehicle's first stage, was successfully captive fired for 2½ min., its full flight duration, at MSFC. The stage was powered by eight Rocketdyne H-1 engines, developing a total of 1,6-million pounds thrust. (SFC Release 65-267)
NASA reported that efforts to regain control of OGO II -the nation's second orbiting geophysical observatory-had failed: "OGO II is assumed to be tumbling in orbit. The prospect of ever achieving useful operation of spacecraft under present conditions is slim." The electrical power supply of the 1,150-lb, spacecraft had been practically depleted. (AP, NYT, 10/27/65, 19)
U.S.S.R. believed it was possible to land men on the moon and bring them back to earth with the same rocket, Soviet cosmonaut Lt. Col. Andrian G. Nikolayev said in Tokyo, Colonel Nikolayev and his wife, Valentina Nikolayeva-Tereshkova, also a cosmonaut, were on a two-week visit to Japan. (Reuters, NYT, 10/27/65, 19)
Commenting on cancellation of the Gemini VI mission, an editorial in the New York Times said: "The Atlas-Agena rocket has performed so well on so many different missions in the past that its failure to achieve orbit-and the consequent impossibility of the planned rendezvous and docking experiment-comes as a sharp disappointment. But it will be worth while if it destroys the tendency toward complacency that has been increasingly visible recently. The difficulties that still lie ahead of the effort to land a man on the moon are far greater than those that have been surmounted to date." (NYT, 10/26/65, 42M)
U.S. would put a supersonic airliner into the skies no later than 1974, William F. McKee, Federal Aviation Administrator, told the Aero Club of Washington. He said FAA had a target date of no later than 1974 for finishing all tests before regular passenger flights. (UPI, NYT, 10/27/65, 95)
Describing the size, capacity, and productivity of the C-5A aircraft, recently approved and funded by DOD and ordered by the Air Force from Lockheed Aircraft Co, Ira C. Eaker said in the San Diego Express: "A fleet of 130 C-54 aircraft, the best then available, were required for the Berlin airlift. Five C-5As could have done that job more efficiently and with a saving of 5,000 crew and support personnel." (Eaker, San Diego Express, 10/26/65, 29)
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