May 20 1963
From The Space Library
Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson said at Jefferson-Jackson Day Dinner, Oklahoma City: "Space ... has gained the lion's share of publicity-and justifiably so. "When we talk of space and space research, there are those who raise the question that our efforts cost too much. Certainly American leadership in space is not cheap. We are now spending 20 cents per week per capita on our national space program. "Other Americans ask if our space efforts are worthwhile. "I can answer in terms we can all understand. While the space age is not yet 5 years old, more than 5,000 companies and research organizations have been or are now involved in our space effort. We have produced more than 3,200 space-related products, many of which are already being put to use. "But, many prominent Republicans are questioning the value of the program. A former Republican President has referred to our moon project as a 'stunt,' "I can answer that simply: I do not believe that this generation of Americans is willing to resign itself to going to bed each night by the light of a Communist moon . . . " (Text, CR, 5/23/63, A3243-44)
DOD announced first. flight. test of X-21A "slitwing" aircraft, built by Northrop Corp. for USAF, was successfully conducted at Edwards AFB. Inhalation of air through hundreds of tiny slits in aircraft wings showed marked reduction of drag on the plane. This was first time such laminar flow control has been attempted on aircraft wing approximating size of those of jet transports. (DOD Release 628-63)
Two-stage sounding rocket instrumented to observe ionosphere was successfully launched to 215-mi. altitude by Japanese scientists near Kagoshima, Japan. (Reuters, Wash. Post, 5/21/63)
Italy launched Nike-Apache sounding rocket to 126-mi. altitude for atmospheric studies. Launching was first from island of Sardinia. (UPI, NYT, 5/22/63, 34)
NASA Ames Research Center announced award of contract to Westinghouse Electric Corp. Astronuclear Laboratory to study potential physiological radiation damage in space. One-year study would "attempt to understand the basic phenomena of biological response to cosmic radiation, and to develop the means of preserving man's well-being and insure his survival during long periods of exploration in deep space. . . ." (Ames Release 6322; NASA Release 63-107)
A. M. Nowitzky, Head of Spacecraft Sterilization Systems, Lockheed Missiles and Space Co., said in letter to Aviation Week and Space Technology: `Since all known tests indicate that gaseous surface sterilization does not affect reliability, Ranger problems were definitely not due to sterilization but, instead, were ordinary design problems unrelated to the inclusion of this requirement. It is, therefore, grossly unrealistic to blame sterilization for the Ranger failures. . . ' (Av. Wk., 5/20/63, 150)
Dr. John R. Dunning, Dean of Columbia Univ. Faculty of Engineering, said in address before Design Engineering Conference. of American Society of Mechanical Engineers, NYC, that "if he engineers do not aggressively claim the positions of leadership" in space effort and in exploitation of atomic energy, "this nation will pay an intolerable price for amateur improvisation." Today's engineers need knowledge of conventional engineering techniques as well as current developments in science, and some engineering schools are graduating "imitation physicists" and "disguised mathematicians" instead of men trained in the "great art" of systems design. (Sullivan, NYT, 5/21/63, 35)
Robert Hotz wrote in Aviation Week and Space Technology editorial "It is an inevitable historic trend that as new technology is transformed from the spectacular experimental stage to reliable operational use, peripheral public interest lags almost in proportion to the increase in technical significance. For example, the world press could write about little else for months after Charles Lindbergh made the first solo transatlantic aircraft flight from New York to Paris just 36 years ago this month. Last year more than two million people followed his trail across the transatlantic airway-most of them in jet transports taking about one-fourth the time of Lindbergh's flight. Yet only a few obscure statistical paragraphs in the daily press recorded this tremendously significant perspective on the trail Lindbergh blazed. "And so it is likely to be with manned space flight, as it passes from the experimental flight-test phase into reliable operational performance. . . . [MA-9] is less exciting than the first breathless attempt of man simply to survive short-duration space flight. But it is the type of foundation on which future capability can be built solidly. . . . "Mercury must go down in history as one of the most successful technical programs this nation has ever had. . . ." (Av. Wk., 5/20/63, 21)
May 20-21: NASA Hq. conducted two one-day training courses dealing with conflict of interest and standards of conduct for selected Hq. personnel. (NASA Announcement 63-108)
May 20-24: Third European Spaceflight Symposium in Stuttgart, sponsored by British Interplanetary Society, French Astronautics Society, and German Society for Rocket Technology and Spaceflight. (MICR, 5/27/63,14-15)
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