Oct 27 1968
From The Space Library
Lightweight plastic foam invented by ARC scientists Dr. John A. Parker and Salvatore Riccitiello showed promise for industrial fire protection, particularly fuel fires. Extremely light polyurethane with additives formed tough, protective char layer when exposed to flame, while simultaneously releasing fire-extinguishing gases which helped to quench flame. Used to fill airspaces within structures, foam would prevent oxygen from reaching and feeding a fire. Demonstrations had shown it suitable for fire protection in aircraft, spacecraft, homes, and other structures. Other possible uses included automobiles, boats, trains, oil refineries, paint and chemical processing, and laboratories. Foam was resistant to heat flow, making it an excellent insulator. (NASA Release 68-187)
In New York Times John N. Wilford said some NASA Hq. officials were "hesitant to approve a lunar orbit mission out of fear of being criticized for taking undue risks by skipping preliminary test flights. They are worried about the spacecraft's electrical system, which developed some minor 'bugs' during Apollo 7, and the propulsion system, even though the on-board rocket apparently performed well in eight firings during Apollo 7." If lunar mission was decided on, it would probably be launched Dec. 21 when moon's position to earth would require minimum midcourse rocket firing maneuvers for landing and light conditions would give good view of potential lunar landing site. First astronauts on moon were expected to stay less than 24 hr, to demonstrate it could be done. In time astronauts would make many return trips and would roam moon's surface in "moon buggies." Day might come when people would establish lunar colonies. (NYT, 10/28/68, 12E)
Dr. Lise Meitner, nuclear physicist who was for 30 yr scientific partner of Dr. Otto Hahn, Nobel Prize winning discoverer of nuclear fission, died in Cambridge, England, at age 89. She had been forced to leave her work with Dr. Hahn and flee Nazi Germany's antisemitism in March 1938, nine months before he announced results of experiments which indicated atom could be split. Dr. Meitner was credited with having laid much of theoretical groundwork for atomic bomb. Though it was she who named the phenomenon "nuclear fission," she took pains to disassociate her work from the bomb itself. (NYT, 10/28/68, 1)
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