Oct 7 1963
From The Space Library
House Appropriations Committee voted $5.1 billion appropriation for NASA in FY 1964, $612 million less than the Administration request and $250 million less than previously authorized by Congress. NASA Administrator James E. Webb said the 1970 target date for landing a man On the moon could not be met unless Congress restored the $250 million cut, either by putting it back now or by approving a supplemental request in Jan. 1964. Furthermore, Webb said, the FY 1965 budget would have to make up the "shortfall" from the Original Administration request for $5.7 billion. Rep. Clarence Cannon (D.-Mo.), Chairman of the Appropriations Committee, said he had wanted the NASA budget cut further to $4.9 billion, that the Subcommittee on Independent Offices had wanted $5.3 billion, and that the $5.1 billion represented a compromise. He predicted House approval, said: "Although it's Only a token cut, it shows the attitude Of the Committee and the House towards the space budget." Rep. Albert Thomas (D.Tex.), Chairman Of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Independent Offices, said the cut had nothing to do with President Kennedy's proposal for a joint U.S.-U.S.S.R. manned lunar landing program. "There was simply One big thing. Everybody wants a tax cut, and many people want a reduction in spending. Of all the spots, this was a good one to cut." (NYT,10/8/63,1)
NASA testimony before a subcommittee Of the House Committee On Appropriations On Aug. 19,1963, indicated that at that time NASA Officials saw little prospect for U.S.-U.S.S.R. cooperation in manned lunar exploration, William Hines, of the Washington Evening Star, quoted from testimony released today. Dr. Hugh L. Dryden, NASA Deputy Administrator and chief U.S. space negotiator, said: "In my discussions with Blagonravov, the question Of cooperation in manned space flights was mentioned in the early part, but was pretty well dropped as something that was not practical . . ." because among Other reasons, of "t e very high degree Of classification the Russians attached to their space program. . . ." Summing up, Dr. Dryden said: "I do not foresee in the near future any prospects that the Russians, any more than ourselves, will see a clear way to co-operate in a manned lunar landing." NASA Administrator James E. Webb agreed: "Up to now, there has been no evidence whatever that we will gain anything significant from it." (Hines, Wash. Eve. Star, 10/7/63)
In OAR Research Review, Louis Block of AFCRL described instrumentation pods used on Titan II missile launched from Cape Canaveral on Aug. 21, 1963. Two 3-ft. by 1-ft. cylindrical pods were released into the missile exhaust plume, one at 300,000 ft., the second at 600,000 ft. Both carried four infrared spectrometers to scan the spectral region of the plume and a 3-axis magnetometer to record the orientation of the pod as it fell through the flame. On the Titan II were mounted two radiometers and a spectrometer looking dawn the plume from outside the flame. Purpose of the experiment was to learn characteristics of infrared spectral plume of particular missiles, to learn more about Titan II performance in terms of fuel combustion mixture ratios and engine efficiency, and to gain data helpful in evaluating effect of telemetry blackout occurring during missile launch. (OAR Research. Review, 10/7/63, 10)
National Science Foundation appropriations of $323 million were voted by the House Appropriations Committee, a cut of $265 million from the $589 million requested by the Administration. No funds were approved for new programs. Specifically eliminated were two new programs to improve the Nation's scientific manpower by (1) encouraging new "centers of scientific excellence" in universities that had unrealized potential, and (2) encouraging more students to go into engineering, mathematics, and physical science. (NYT,10/8/63, 26)
Rep. George P. Miller (D: Calif.), Chairman of the House Committee on Science and Astronautics, inserted the Goddard Historical Prize Essay for 1962--"Early U.S. Satellite Proposals," by R. Cargill Hall-into the Congressional Record. Chairman Miller pointed out that "in space affairs we cannot afford to be shortsighted or wrong" and asked that proposals of 1946-49 be considered in the light of the current discussion on the U.S. space program: "What if the United States had launched a satellite in 1952 or even 1954? Would history have been different? . . . Would not the image of the U.S. in the eyes of the rest of the world have been spared the historical blemish of Sputnik, the appearance that we were not the scientific and technological leader in the world? . . . If we would remain free and maintain peace on a small and troubled planet, America had better make sure that superior space science and technology are on our side." Prize historical essay reviewed proposals by the U.S. Navy's Bureau of Aeronautics and the U.S. Air Force's RAND Corp. for the launching of earth satellites, proposals turned down by Department of Defense officials as not having "scientific or military utility." Goddard Historical Essay Competition is sponsored annually by the National Rocket Club, Washington, D.C. (CR, 10/7/63, A6277-6284)
FAA announced that its air traffic control system would be expanded to cover most of Continental Air Defense Command (CONAD) airborne interceptor operations that are made under instrument flight rules (IFR). Improvements were expected in air safety 741-823 from having the same traffic control system in charge of both air defense operations and civil air traffic. (FAA Release 63-85)
Missiles and Rockets quoted Harrison Storms, president of North American Aviation's Space and Information Systems Div., prime contractor for Apollo program, on proposals that a joint U.S.-U.S.S.R. lunar program would enable U.S. to proceed at more leisurely pace and less expensively: "When is soon enough? I don't see anything blocking us now.... If you put it off it will cost more money. You must have the level of effort capable of developing the systems to do the job. If you go below that level, it costs money.... When you begin to lower your effort it's not the least capable man who leaves first, it's the most capable. You lose critical talent and you may actually need the same or more manpower to reach the same goal at a later date." (M&R, 10/7/63, 86)
Sen. Joseph S. Clark (D.-Pa.), speaking on the Senate floor with regard to various aid-to-education bills before the Senate, asserted a connection between excellence of education and loss of jobs to automation. As a case in point he inserted in the Congressional Record two New York Times articles on NASA's findings of careless or inadequate workmanship in Project Mercury. "In both articles," the Senator said, "the point is made that workmen on the projects do not have the necessary technical skill to complete them, in many instances, without the defects which resulted not only in serious failures of the end product but also in running up a substantial expense to the Government." (CR, 10/7/63, 847)
Many U.S. airline officials have grave doubts about the economic feasibility of supersonic transport aircraft, the Wall Street Journal reported. Costing up to four times as much as today's $6 million subsonic jets and carrying no more and probably fewer passengers with high fuel costs and crew costs, the aircraft are supposed to be able to do more work in less time thanks to their high speed. But many doubt that. the one will balance the other. (Wall Street Journal, 10/7/63)
X-15 No. 1 flew to an altitude of 77,800 ft. and a speed of 2,834 mph (mach 4.21), as Capt. Joe H. Engle (USAF) made his first flight in the research rocket aircraft. (NASA Release 63-224; Chic. Trib., 10/8/63)
It would be two or three years before the U.S.S.R. tried to land a man on the moon, according to Soviet scientist Prof. Leonid Sedov in an interview with the Brussels newspaper Le Soir. He said the Russians do not yet have a definite system for landing a man on the moon but did have the technical ability to do it. (UPI, Wash. Post, 10/8/63)
British enthusiasts are still actively pursuing attempts to develop a man-powered aircraft, the National Geographic Society reported. A British industrialist has offered a $14,000 prize to the first man to propel himself in the air over a mile-long, figure-8 course, keeping at least 10 ft. above the ground. Some 25 teams, including some of Britain's top aeronautical engineers, are competing. Best effort to date is over one half mile at 19 mph, flown by a young man whose furious pedaling turned a propeller on a slender-winged, featherweight craft. (NYT, 10/7/63)
The aerospace industry "could better be defined as the national survival industry," Stuart H. Clement, Jr., of Hayden, Stone & Co., Inc., investment bankers, told the New York Society of Security Analysts in New York. "It provides national defense but, through space exploration, it may also provide a substitute for mutually suicidal nuclear war." The aerospace industry is the fastest wing in the economy and has the broadest future, he said. (NY T, 10/8/63)
NASA announced it would negotiate with Lear-Siegler, Inc., of Anaheim, Calif., for an extension of the company's present $3,753,059 contract for design, manufacture, and installation of equipment for testing subsystems of the Saturn V launch vehicle at MSFC. The additional work would include design, manufacture, and installation of instrumentation for a dual liquid-hydrogen test position and an acoustical-model test position at MSFC. (NASA Release 63-222)
World Conference on Space Communications opened in Geneva with delegates from 70 countries present. U.N. Secretary General U Thant was to have addressed the delegates via Telstar communications satellite, but a technical problem prevented the broadcast. Principal purpose of the conference was to reallocate radio frequencies to provide growth room for future satellite communications needs. (NY T, 10/8/63, 16)
Dr. Hugh L. Dryden, NASA Deputy Administrator, received Harry E. Salzberg Memorial Medal for his "distinguished contribution to the field of transportation" and became the 1963 Salzberg Lecturer at Syracuse Univ. (Ltr. of Invitation, 4/18/63)
Astronaut John H. Glenn, Jr., would decide during the week whether he would seek the Senate seat now occupied by Sen. Stephen Young (D-Ohio), according to George Clifford of the Washington Daily News after an interview with C. Leo DeOrsey, adviser to the astronauts. (Clifford, Wash. Daily News,10/7/63) )
NANA reported Lufthansa sources in Germany claim that U.S.S.R. is farther along on supersonic transport development than either Britain-France or the U.S. Being designed and built by the famous Ilyushin and Tupolev teams, the Russian entry is reported to be in the same speed class as the British-French Concorde mach 2.2 (1,500 mph) -and carry about the same passenger load of 100, and to land at quite low speeds, probably through the use of variable-sweep wings. First version of the supersonic transport would be a freight carrier, not only because it can be introduced with a lower safety factor than a passenger version but because the increased friction between Soviet Russia and Communist China dictates a fast priority freight system to eastern Russia. (NANA, Wash. Eve. Star, 10/7/63)
Atlas D ICBM was launched from Vandenberg AFB, Calif., but exploded shortly after launch. (UPI, NYT, 10/8/63, 28)
Lewis awarded study contracts totaling $576,000 to General Dynamics/Astronautics and Rocketdyne Division of North American Aviation to investigate the possibilities of using "flox"-a mixture of liquid fluorine and liquid oxygen-as the oxidizer in the Atlas space launch vehicle. Preliminary studies indicate the combination could result in an 88 per cent increase in payloads for 100-mile high orbits. (LRC Release 63-78, Lewis Chronology Oct)
FAA Deputy Administrator Gordon M. Bain said that NASA's studies of a supersonic commercial air transport (SCAT) were not in accord with FAA thinking-that they derived too much from the B-70 work of some years ago and that they recommended the technical desirability of a mach 3 aircraft, while FAA leaned toward a mach 2.5 aircraft as the one economically feasible for airline operation. (Av. Wk., 10/14/63, 38)
Army announced $213,385,000 contract for continued development of the Nike-X antimissile system, awarded to Western Electric Corp. Largest single missile contract in Army history, the award calls for development and testing but does not provide for production or deployment. (M&R,10/7/63,18)
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31
