Sep 14 1965
From The Space Library
At the XVI International Astronautical Congress in Athens Greece, George E. Mueller delivers paper entitled "Some Applications of Apollo" describing LM Laboratory, LM Taxi, LM Shelter and other advanced uses for the Apollo system.
In a White House ceremony, President Johnson conferred Exceptional Service Medals on GEMINI V Astronauts Leroy Gordon Cooper and Charles Conrad, Jr, and Dr. Charles A. Berry, chief surgeon for the astronauts. The President announced that military promotions for the astronauts would be submitted to the. Senate immediately. (Richard, Wash. Post, 9/15/65, A3)
Following the ceremony, Vice President Hubert Humphrey accompanied the astronauts, their families, and Dr. Berry to the National Academy of Sciences. Humphrey told the Academy: "The achievements of our astronauts are not just the achievements of two men. They are the achievements of family, country and of a society. . . "This is the best example of cooperation between Government and industry, between public and private, that I know in this nation, and might I add, that it is an example that should be emulated by many others in many other endeavors in this country, "But our space program is more than national. It would be well enough if it were only national, but it is more than that. It is truly international. And I want ... to stress our space program's potential as an arm of our foreign policy, of our international relations, and particularly of our peace policy, because this Government has but one objective in the world: a just, honorable and enduring peace. " Astronaut Cooper summarized some of the things that man could do in space: , we again showed that man can do a great deal of geological observations while in space. I think it is very significant that although you pass across some [geological formations] rather rapidly you still are able to observe them and you are very capable of photographing them in great detail, "Man is very capable of doing oceanographic observations, We have noted that you can detect a great deal of detail as to the depths of water, as to the currents of running water, and even to wind patterns that run on the waters, the wave patterns caused by the wind. "... man could do a great deal of weather observations, both in real time and photographically. And we . . . were able to pinpoint one tropical storm in between some of the planned observations, and apparently that was very accurate pinpointing of its position. "We determined in our discussions later with the Weather Bureau people, that for future use , . we could get much greater accuracy even on pinpointing these by the use of our platform combination and taking angles to a great deal more accuracy, rather than just estimations of the angular distance and locations, "We found that you could do a great deal of visual observations of the phenomena around the earth ... we picked up ship wakes, several hundred miles away of the contrast of the white wake against the blue background in very clear weather areas. . ." Conrad revealed that photographs taken during the Gemini V mission at the request of the Mexican government, had located volcanoes in Mexico that "the Mexicans didn't know they had..." He also said: "I think a system that has been left out and nobody has talked about is our environmental control system, which performed in a most outstanding manner for eight days, We had probably the nicest, freshest air that anybody could want to breathe, and we had an unusual first in the space business: most environmental control systems had been loaded down and pilot after pilot came back and said they were too warm, and we fought and fought it, and at McDonnell, to have a little change made because of some of the problems of heat exchange between the inlet and outlet pipes. It turned out that we were too cold. "With two tubes running, we were probably the first ones to shut the cabin heat exchanger down and run everything as hot as we could get it in there, We were just right. And the thing that most surprised us on opening the hatch on landing, we couldn't tell the difference between inside and out, and that is a monumental job for that small system." Dr. Berry concluded the program by presenting a review of the medical data received from the GEMINI V mission. The astronauts' party then proceeded to the Capitol where Vice President Humphrey presented them to the Senate and then to the House. Cooper told the House: "We set out with our prime objective on Gemini V to fly 8 days. We were to fly this 8 days primarily to show that man, with all the various equipment on board, and the machines, could safely and very functionally do this 8-day mission with no adverse effects. We were entirely successful in this... ." Conrad explained: "Gemini V was a significant advance in the whole program in that we flew the first all-out spacecraft. We would not have been able to go without the fuel cells for 8 days. This was the first time they were flown, We had the first radars from which we got some very excellent data to enable the GT-6 to continue with their present rendezvous plans. It was the first time that the cryogenic storage of liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen had been run that long in space... ' Dr. Berry told the Senate: "We are conducting a program such as this [Gemini program]. to make man a vital part of such a research effort and to show the facility that man has to gain scientific information using vehicles such as we are able to build in this country... "I think I can report, so far as information has been obtained in this country to date and at the moment, that we are the only ones who have that sort of information for the duration of which we are speaking, We can confidently say that man has been able to perform very well up to 4 days in a weightless state earlier, and on this mission 8 days in a weightless state. He has then been able to re-adapt back to a 1-G environment, We have living proof of that." (Texts; CR, 9/14/65, 22924-22927; NAS-NRC News Report, 9/65, 1-2)
Commenting on the visit to Washington, D.C., by Gemini V Astronauts Leroy Gordon Cooper and Charles Conrad Jr., the Washington Post wrote: "Colonel Cooper has been through all this before following his 22-orbit flight in May, 1963. The reception this time will be less spectacular, But this does not mean that the astronauts have become passé or that the American people are indifferent to their achievements. Rather it is a reflection of the public's trust in the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's space program. For if the people no longer gawk and shout, they still applaud vigorously, with their hearts as well as their hands, each monumental step in the great venture into space." (Wash. Post, 9/14/65)
Pilot John B. McKay (NASA) flew X-15 No. 3 to maximum altitude of 239,000 ft, at maximum speed of 3,545 mph (mach 5.03) to obtain data on pilot altitude buildup. (NASA X-15 Proj, Off,; X-15 Flight Log)
Nine aquanauts who emerged from a decompression chamber after spending 15 days in USN Sealab II reported it took longer than expected to accomplish tasks; the helium atmosphere in the lab made their voices sound squeaky; the men's efficiency began to fall off after two weeks. (UPI, NYT, 9/15/65, C20; Wash, Post, 9/15/65, A9)
The House Ways and Means Committee considered H.R. 8210 to exempt the European Space Research Organization from U.S. taxation. ESRO would operate a tracking station in Alaska. ( NASA LAR IV/167-68)
Soviet scientist Dr. V. S. Troitsky, of the Scientific Research Radiophysics Institute in Gorky, said that radio emissions from the moon indicated that its interior was so hot that it must be four times as radioactive as the inside of the earth. He also said that radio observations indicated a surface layer of light material about 20-ft, thick, overlying denser rock. Dr. Troitsky made these statements at an international conference on the solar system, being held at Cal Tech. (NYT, 9/15/65)
Participants in the World Peace through Law Conference in Washington, D.C, agreed that advances in international communications, including EARLY BIRD I communications satellite, were important milestones on the road to world peace. John A. Johnson, vice president of ComSatCorp, told the international communications panel that EARLY BIRD I had provided a case study of progress in "the development of legal principles and institutions which further international cooperation." He said global coverage in the satellite communications system was planned for 1967, Prof. Ivan A. Vlasic, McGill Univ. warned we may be facing "a proliferation of competing, possibly even antagonistic communications systems. Given the present state of international relations the chances of conflict are considerable." Jean Evensen, Norway's government broadcasting system adviser, felt "a pressing need for ways of enforcing international communications rules. One rebel, one nonconformist can create havoc ... to the damage of the rest of the world," he said. (Bullen, Wash, Eve. Star, 9/15/65)
NASA had selected Perkin-Elmer Corp, and Chrysler Corp, for contracts to study feasibility of including optical-technology experiments-particularly lasers and large telescopes-in future extended Apollo flights, NASA was also interested in optical communication in deep space, the effects of space environment on optical systems, and related secondary experiments. The program would be directed by MSFC. ( MSFC Release 65-223)
Secretary of Commerce John T. Connor told a White House Cabinet meeting that Government scientists wanted to undertake a national weather-control program to determine whether fog could be dispelled, hail suppressed, hurricanes diverted, and rain made, reported Howard Simons in the Washington Post. Connor's report represented a change of view in the scientific community, heretofore reticent about weather modification. (Simons, Wash. Post, 9/14/65, A9)
Former FAA Administrator Najeeb E. Halaby was appointed senior vice president of Pan American World Airways and elected to its board of directors, Halaby's initial responsibilities would embrace the airline's defense activities, its services for USAF at the Eastern Test Range, and its business-jets division. (NYT, 9/15/65, 77M; Wash. Post, 9/15/65, B9)
Dr. William W. Hagerty, president of Drexel Institute of Technology, was sworn in as consultant to NASA Administrator James E. Webb, in university/industry relations. (NASA Release 65-291)
At a meeting of the American Chemical Society in Atlantic City, Dr. Emmanuel Roth of the Lovelace Foundation proposed neon as a gas that astronauts might breathe during spaceflights: "Its permeation coefficient is lowest. That is, neon does not go into solution or diffuse through tissue as readily as other gases do. As a result, the deadly bubbles form at a much slower rate." No tests of neon with human subjects had been run. (Newsweek, 9/27/65)
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