October 1963

From The Space Library

Project Stabilization Agreement was ratified for NASA Mississippi Test Operations facilities by representatives of business, labor, and Government. Worked out by the President's Missile Sites Labor Commission, the unusual agreement estab­lished a standard for working conditions, hours, hiring practices, grievance procedures, etc., in return for the promise of no strikes or work stoppages. Agreement would run to July 1, 1966. (Space Bu.,?. Daily, 10/11/63, 65)

NASA was about to enter the prolonged-flight phase of its bioscience program, according to Dr. Homer E. Newell, NASA Director of Space Sciences. He cited negotiations now underway with GE to provide six 1,000-lb. recoverable biosatellites. These would be used for such flights as three-to-five day flights to study effects of weightlessness and radiation on plants and animals; 21-day orbital flights to study effects of weightlessness and absence of earth's rotation on biological rhythms m plants and animals; and 14-to-30 day flights by small monkeys to study effects of prolonged weightlessness on the cardiovascular system, central nervous sys­tem, and general physiology and behavior. All studies would have importance for prolonged manned space flight. (Macomber, San Diego Union, 10/12/63)

USAF was reported by Aviation Week and Space Technology to be planning an expansion of its ballistic missile early warning (BMEWS) to cover the southern approaches to the U.S. and possibly also to detect launches from submarines. Named Project Red Mill the proposed system being developed by Raytheon Co. under USAF contract would use high-frequency ionospheric radar bounce techniques to detect changes m the ionospheric critical fre­quency made by rocket exhaust. (Av. Wk.. 10/14/63, 23)

Harvard Business Review conducted poll of corporation executives on the space program, found that. seven out. of ten believe U.S.S.R. is ahead in race to send a man to the moon, six out of ten that the U.S.S.R. will beat the U.S. to the moon by a year and a half; only four out of ten would speed up the space program. (Har­vard Business Review, Sept.-Oct. 1963)

Dr. Henry J. E. Reid, who was Director of NACA's Langley Research Center for 34 years prior to his retirement, was named "Elder Statesman of Aviation" by the National Aeronautic Association. (Langley Release)

AFOAR proposed a five-year plan for its support of basic research, in­cluding a 40% increase m support of geophysics and a 307o in­crease for the other physical sciences. (M&R. 10/21/63, 21)

U.S.S.R. MARS I probe lost. contact with tracking stations when 65 million miles out because of malfunction in the spacecraft attitude control system, according to Alexandre A. Mironov, Soviet Em­bassy scientific adviser in Washington. (Av. Wk., 10/21/637 28)

H. H. Koelle, Director of Future Projects Office, MSFC, in "Trends in Earth-to-Orbit Transportation Systems," in Aeronautics and Aerospace Engineering, noted that the next year would be interesting in that both the U.S. and U.S.S.R. were expected to come up with big increase in payload in orbit. The U.S. Saturn I was expected to put 10 tons in orbit. "Also, I would not be a bit surprised if the U.S.S.R. launched a payload in the 40- to 50-ton class before this [next] year is over. The next step increase will be provided by the Saturn V in about 1967, when a 100-ton capability will be reached by the U.S. Many people hope that at least by that time the A.S.R. single-flight capabilities will have been equaled or exceeded." pace transportation was developing fast, Koelle concluded "While air transportation needed two generations to improve the efficiency of passenger transport by three orders of magnitude, we expect to improve the economy of Earth-to-orbit cargo trans­portation by four orders of magnitude in one generation." (A&AE. Nov. 63,25-30)

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