Oct 29 1969
From The Space Library
Apollo 12 Astronauts Charles P. Conrad, Jr., Richard F. Gordon, Jr., and Alan L. Bean achieved mock liftoff at 11:22 am EDT-exact minute planned-completing final phase of initial countdown demonstration test (CDDT ) for Nov. 14 launch to moon. No major problems arose in spite of gusty winds and rain that would have delayed actual launch. (W Post, 10/30/69, A8)
Second official public display of lunar rock fragment retrieved from moon by Apollo 11 astronauts was unveiled at MSC by Dr. Robert R. Gilruth, MSC Director. Exhibit included 12 photograph and text panels and four-foot-diameter opaque sphere with 20-in viewing port. (MSC Release 69-73)
NASA launched Arcas sounding rocket from Wallops Station carrying Pennsylvania State Univ. payload to study ion composition. Mission did not meet minimum scientific requirements. (NASA Proj Off)
Space shuttle was "first step or keystone to the success and growth of future space flight developments for the exploration and exploitation of space," LeRoy E. Day and B. G. Noblitt of Space Shuttle Task Group, NASA OMSF, said in paper presented at IEEE EASCON Session on. Earth Orbiting Manned Space Station in Washington, D.C. "Large experiment modules and unmanned satellites can be placed into low earth orbit and retrieved as desired. Propulsive stages and payloads . . . destined for higher energy orbits can be placed into low earth orbits." On-orbit reusable shuttles like space tugs and nuclear stages "become economically advantageous once propellants can be inexpensively delivered to earth orbit. . . . On-orbit maintenance services can be provided for malfunctioning or inoperative satellites.. . . short duration special purpose orbital missions can be conducted by the space shuttle itself to augment or complement space station activities. The design and operational characteristics of the space shuttle will also provide a potential capability to conduct space rescue missions-a capability that is not practical with conventional expendable launch systems." (Text)
DOD announced it would scrap B-58 supersonic bomber and cut back continental air defenses in economy drive necessitated by congressional reductions in defense budget. (DOD Release 927-69; Homan, W Post, 10/30/69, A9)
Dr. Glenn T. Seaborg, AEC Chairman, testified before Senate Joint Committee on Atomic Energy during hearings on environmental effects of producing electric power: "In the years ahead today's outcries about the environment will be nothing compared to cries of angry citizens who find that power failures due to a lack of sufficient generating capacity to meet peak loads have plunged them into prolonged blackouts . . . when their health and well being ... may be seriously endangered. The environment of a city whose life's energy has been cut -whose transportation and communications are dead, in which medical and police help cannot be had, and where food spoils and people stifle or shiver while imprisoned in stalled subways or darkened skyscrapers-all this also represents a dangerous environment that we must anticipate and work to avoid. . . I believe that the judicial development of nuclear power as a major source of energy for the future is in the public interest and that five, ten and a hundred years hence, men will look back with favor on the course we are taking today." (Text)
Former astronaut and aquanaut M. Scott Carpenter announced he would become President and Chief Executive of Sea Sciences Corp." private enterprise formed to develop underwater projects. Prince Bernhard of The Netherlands would be board chairman. (UPI, W Star, 10/30/69, A16)
Cosmonauts Georgy T. Beregovoy and Konstantin P. Feoktistov spent half hour riding into Grand Canyon on mules after arriving in Arizona from San Francisco during two-week U.S. tour. (UPI, W Star, 10/30/69, A3)
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