Sep 19 1965
From The Space Library
Progress report in Pravda on ZOND III: "Soviet automatic space station Zond III launched July 18, 1965, continued its orbital flight gradually moving farther away from the sun, On September 15, the space station was 12.5 million kilometers away from the earth. During this period 75 radio-communication sessions were held with the station, During these sessions, photos of the far side of the moon, comprehensive telemetric data on the physical processes in interplanetary space, and data on the station's instruments and systems were transmitted to earth. To check the systems that make it possible to change flight direction, the flight trajectory of Zond III was successfully corrected on September 16 for experimental purposes. The astro-orientation system, which automatically orients on the sun and the star Canopus, turned the station into the specific position commanded from the earth and has maintained this orientation with great accuracy. Then the correcting engine was switched on and changed the flight speed of the station 50 meters per second at an angle of 45° with respect to the direction to the earth. Radio control sessions with the station confirmed that the correction maneuver had been executed correctly. They also showed that the station's systems continue to function normally. "The space station relayed to the earth comprehensive data on the interplanetary magnetic field, cosmic radio emission, interplanetary ionized plasma, longwave cosmic radio emission, and micrometeorite particles. ... During the flight around the moon, data were also obtained on the spectrum of its infrared and ultraviolet radiation." (Tass, 9/18/65; Pravda, 9/19/65, 2)
Astronauts Leroy Gordon Cooper and Charles Conrad, Jr., received a warm welcome in Ankara, Turkey, in contrast to cool receptions in Izmir and Istanbul, President Cemal Gursel told the astronauts their flight of nearly eight days had demonstrated "great courage . , to your nation and to the whole world." (AP, Balt, Sun, 9/20/65)
Announcement by Soviet Cosmonaut Aleksei Leonov at the 16th International Astronautical Congress in Athens that the U.S.S.R. planned to orbit a permanent manned space station as the next major project in its space program received editorial comment in the Philadelphia Inquirer: "To be sure, Cosmonaut Leonov adds that after 'many space laboratories' have been established, 'with crews being periodically changed,' his country expects to give attention to 'a spaceship for the moon, and a landing on the moon,' It has been understood all along, of course, that this was the method Russia would use in sending men to the moon. The emphasis on many permanent manned space stations orbiting close to earth, however, shows all too plainly that the real concern of the generals running the Communist space program is in the military advantages that lie in control of the space immediately beyond the atmosphere and over the heads of free nations around the world." (Phil. Inq., 9/19/65)
According to Dr. Colin Pittendrigh, Dean of the Graduate School and biology professor at Princeton Univ., MARINER IV photographs of Mars did not provide any new evidence that life could not exist on that planet. Even though Mars appeared virtually waterless in the photographs, he pointed out, the area photographed was only a small fraction of the planet's total area, "A scan across our Atlantic Ocean might lead some to say there is no land on earth." (AP, Miami Her., 9/19/65)
S-IVB second stage for the first Saturn IB launch vehicle to be launched arrived at Kennedy Space Center, NASA, aboard the cargo vessel Steel Executive. (Orl. Sent, 9/20/65)
Parallel problems facing astronauts and aquanauts were noted by Assistant Manager of Lockheed Missiles & Space Co, Bioastronautics Div, Dr. J. A. Kraft, "These problems are both biomedical and mechanical, Because of their similarity, we have in the ocean a readily available laboratory environment, In it we can investigate the more significant problems common to both... " One parallel is the changed pressure of the environment: for the aquanaut, pressure problems involve return from extremely heavy pressure to normal pressure at earth's surface; for the astronaut, pressure problems involve functioning in lower pressure of spacecraft and vacuum of space itself. Other shared biomedical problems: dysbarism, oxygen toxicity, trace contamination, and anoxia. (Macomber, CNS, San Diego Union, 9/19/65)
During week of September 19: Medical checkup indicated that Astronaut Alan B. Shepard (Capt, USN) still suffered from labyrinthitis-an inner ear infection. Because of the illness, Shepard had not been selected for any of six Gemini flight crews, He also could not fly aircraft alone. (AP, Wash, Eve, Star, 9/28/65, A10)
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