Apr 19 1967
From The Space Library
First manned Apollo flight had been delayed at least one year by Jan. 27 fire at KSC, Dr. George E. Mueller, NASA Associate Administrator for Manned Space Flight, told Senate Committee on Aeronautical and Space Sciences. He said he believed men could still land on the moon by the original 1970 deadline "although the probability is lowered." Dr. Mueller told the Committee that the replacement spacecraft for the first manned Apollo mission, which incorporated "all changes resulting from the findings of the Apollo accident investigation," was on the assembly line at North American Aviation, Inc.'s plant in Downey, Calif. (AP, B Sun, 4/20/67)
USAF SV-5D lifting body vehicle was successfully launched from WTR by Atlas booster on reentry mission and telemetered excellent performance data. Vehicle-third of four in USAF's Precision Recovery Including Maneuvering Entry (Prime) program-was second to perform preprogrammed crossrange maneuvers and first to be successfully recovered. First SV-5D vehicle was launched Dec. 21, 1966, and lost when parachute malfunctioned during reentry; second, launched March 5, sank in Pacific after losing its flotation gear. (Tech Wk, 4/24/67,13; Av Wk, 4/24/67,35)
NASA Nike-Cajun sounding rocket launched from Wallops Station carried GSFC-instrumented grenade payload to 67-mi (108-km) altitude to obtain data on temperature, pressure, density, and wind between 22-59 mi (35-95 km) at transition from winter-time westerly to summer-time easterly circulation. Rocket and instrumentation performance were only partly successful due to low apogee of rocket, which placed the highest grenade burst at only 42-mi altitude. (NASA Rpt SRL)
NASA Administrator James E. Webb addressed Edison Electric Institute's 35th Annual Convention in New Orleans: "Our flight projects, both manned and unmanned, depend upon electronic links back to earth where their data are recorded and analyzed, where their actions are controlled, and where the new knowledge is put to use. We must therefore continue to provide and operate the tracking and data acquisition networks and their associated communications. Our technology utilization program will continue to provide effective means for making available the fruits of our technological progress to the scientific and industrial community at large. And, in every area of our program effort, we are continuing the underlying supporting research and technology which make possible the development of experiments, the implementation of ideas, and the advances in technology which culminate in meaningful aeronautical and space projects. . . . Research and development, scientific inquiry and technological advance, are the province of men working here on earth. New knowledge and new tools for its application are major elements of our total national power-political, military, and economic." (Transcript)
Edgar M. Cortright, NASA Deputy Associate Administrator for Space Science and Applications, testifying on NASA FY 1968 authorization bill (H.R. 6470) before House Committee on Science and Astronautics' Subcommittee on Space Science and Applications, said he had "high confidence that we can sterilize the Voyager system by 1973 to the satisfaction of the biologists." He disagreed with the opinion of Dr. N. H. Horowitz (Cal Tech) that US. was adhering to sterilization standards which were exceedingly severe and represented an obstacle to US. plans for planetary exploration [see March 24]. To support his view, Cortright presented a summary of the findings of Spacecraft Sterilization Advisory Board, chaired by Dr. Richard Bond, Univ. of Minnesota, which was "examining the statements" made by Dr. Horowitz. Cortright said it was felt that "probably Prof. Horowitz has overestimated the difficulty posed by the current sterilization requirements and underestimated the ability of aerospace companies and government laboratories to cope with it." Most of the components and parts NASA planned to use in Voyager and sterilize were already "demonstrably sterilizable," so there seemed to be no justification in abandoning a goal which the majority of the scientific community feels is legitimate." (Transcript)
The "Phillips Report"-report by NASA's Apollo Program Director M/G Samuel C. Phillips which "found insufficient competence in key management and technical positions" at North American Aviation, Inc., 16 mo before Apollo accident -was being suppressed by NASA, Rep. William F. Ryan (D.N.Y.) charged in an AP interview. Representative Ryan said he would ask Chairman of House Committee on Science and Astronautics' Subcommittee on NASA Oversight Rep. Olin E. Teague (D-Tex.) to demand NASA's submission of the full report for examination by the subcommittee. (AP, W Star, 4/19/67, A6)
Letter to editor of Space Business Daily by unidentified leader in U.S. space program attacked NASA's use of pure oxygen in life-support systems: . . . most engineering people in industry, most reputable bio-engineering people in USAF and NASA felt two gas was the way to go. In addition, there has never been an overwhelming engineering reason for a pure oxygen system. . . . The argument of reliability and complexity is ludicrous when you examine the complexity of other systems in the spacecraft and booster. Now it is even more ironic in that, if pure oxygen is kept, all sorts of complicating compensations must be made. The truth is that a few key people in NASA flew in the face of strong industry technical advice against pure oxygen. To add to the problem, Gemini made them cocky and they forgot completely the sleeping monster they had created. Take anyone, regardless of skill and training, show him a fire in pure oxygen, and ask him if he'd agree to live in pure oxygen with that danger in the complex environment of a spacecraft. The answer is painfully obvious. Now we'll make a bad situation worse by jury rigging a system to avoid pure oxygen on the pad-but-we'll still have it in space. "NASA and everyone must face it. It was a bad decision compounded by complacency, for example, the hatch design. If the atmosphere were two gas, chances are, survival would have occurred. Let's get guts, fix the basic deficiency and take the delay. That is the only answer and sooner or later it must be faced." (SBD, 4/19/67, 282)
Five communications companies filed joint application with FCC for construction of new comsat earth station near Rowlesburg, W. Va. Companies: ComSatCorp; AT&T; ITT WorldCom; RCA; and WUI. Proposed station, to be completed in 1968, would handle all types of high-quality communications. (ComSatCorp Release 67-31)
M/G Holger Nelson Toftoy (USA, Ret.) , a leading Army ordnance expert who recommended that former German V-2 development team under the leadership of Dr. Wernher von Braun be brought to US. at end of World War II, died at Walter Reed Army Medical Center after a long illness. General Toftoy became commander of White Sands Proving Grounds immediately following World War II. In 1952 he became Director of the Ordnance Missiles Laboratory at Redstone Arsenal, Huntsville, Ala., and in 1958, when Redstone was reorganized as the Army Ordnance Missile Command, he was named Deputy Commander under M/G John B. Medaris. General Toftoy subsequently became commander of Aberdeen (Md.) Proving Ground until his retirement in 1960. (UPI, NYT, 4/20/67)
April 19-20: NASA's SURVEYOR III became second U.S. spacecraft to soft-land on the moon when it touched down in the Ocean of Storms after 64 hr 59 min flight and began transmitting the first of 5,487 detailed television pictures to JPL Deep Space Facilities, Goldstone, Calif. Landing sequence began when SURVEYOR III shifted its normal cruising attitude to position main retrorocket. Triggered by radar (later ejected), main retromotor burned and slowed spacecraft to about 250 mph. Vernier engines, which were to have slowed spacecraft to about 3 mph, failed to cut off at 14 ft above lunar surface as planned, and the 620-lb spacecraft made three separate landings-covering distance of 33 ft-before engines shut off 37 sec after initial touchdown.
First pictures transmitted were unclear because of sun's brightness, but later photos were excellent. They revealed that spacecraft was resting in a depression or small crater with 5° slope-which was expected to hinder photography of lunar horizon-and showed impressions made by footpads during multiple landing. Shortly after touchdown a telemetry malfunction falsely indicated major drain on power system, but photos confirmed that spacecraft's batteries were intact and undamaged. In addition to photographic equipment, including two additional mirrors to expand camera's field of view, spacecraft also carried a shovel-like surface sampler which would scoop soil, move debris, and strike lunar rock with an expandable arm operated by radio signals from earth. On April 21-22 sampler began bearing strength tests and excavation of trenches up to six inches deep. On April 23-24, cooled by two-hour lunar eclipse, SURVEYOR III took 118 excellent color photos of Venus, a star cluster, and earth as it passed between the moon and the sun. On basis of preliminary digging operations and photos, project scientists concluded that lunar soil had consistency similar to wet sand and a bearing strength of about six pounds per square inch-firm enough to support Apollo spacecraft. Cal Tech professor and advisor to JPL on soil mechanics Dr. Ronald F. Scott explained: "The surface is like ordinary soil . . . a lot like fine grained sod or damp beach sand, and it behaves in perhaps a disappointingly ordinary way. The area presents no hazardous conditions and looks good for a landing site. An astronaut waking across the surface would not need snowshoes." On May 3 communications with spacecraft were halted temporarily to conserve battery strength throughout two-week lunar night. Performance of SURVEYOR III, with equipment identical to SURVEYOR I and SURVEYOR II except for soil sampler and two additional mirrors, was near flawless, and expected lifetime was indefinite. SURVEYOR I was launched May 30, 1966, successfully soft-landed on moon June 2, 1966, in Ocean of Storms, and transmitted 10,338 pictures to earth. SURVEYOR II was successfully launched Sept. 20, 1966, but failed to soft-land because of an ignition failure. (NASA Proj. Off; NASA Release 67-85; UPI, W Star, 4/23/67, A10; O'Toole, W Post, 4/22/67, A4; 4/23/67, A1)
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
