Mar 28 1963

From The Space Library

NASA launched Saturn SA-4 in successful flight test from Cape Canaveral, the 1.3-million-lb.-thrust rocket reaching 77-mi. altitude in last of four successful tests of first stage alone. After 100 sec. of flight, one of the booster's clustered eight engines was cut off by pre-set timer, and that engine's propellants were re­routed to the other seven, which continued to burn. Experiment confirmed engine-out capability designed into the Saturn I vehicle system by NASA Marshall Space Flight Center engineers. (NASA Release 63-61)

Launch of NASA atmospheric structure satellite (S-6) from AMR was postponed because of difficulties in payload checkout. (AP, Wash,. Post, 1/29/63, 1)

NASA launched a two-stage Nike-Apache from Wallops Island, Va., with an experiment designed to measure nighttime air density and composition at altitudes of about 60 to 120 mi. The 70-lb. payload reached an apogee of approximately 118 mi. and impact occurred in the Atlantic Ocean 114 mi. from the launch site. (NASA Release 63-30)

In speech to the North Carolina Citizens Association at Raleigh, GSFC Director Harry J. Goett reviewed the scientific exploration of space, its meaning, and future. He concluded: "From a scientific point of view it may matter little how quickly we come to understand sun-earth relationships, whether Nimbus [weather satellite] gets launched this year or next or whether we land a man on the moon during this decade or not. But there is no doubt. that our national prestige demands that the United States lead the world in the hard-won knowledge and technology in the important areas of geophysics, solar physics and interplanetary science that have been opened by the ad­vent of the space age. We must continue an aggressive pro­gram to assure that the United States retains its leadership. . . . "Our future in the exploration of space does not hold any simple panaceas, scientifically, technologically, and financially. But neither did the development, of the United States come easy nor has the future ever been an easy one for a free people seeking truth and knowledge, and the preservation of freedom." (Text)

Nike-Apache sounding rocket launched from NASA Wallops Station carried 65-lb. instrumented payload to altitude of 100 mi., in experiment to measure electron density profile, electron tempera­tures, and solar radiation in the ionosphere. Secondary objective of the flight was to check out hardware to be flown from Ft. Churchill, Can., during solar eclipse in July. (Wallops Release 63-31)

Dr. Homer E. Newell, NASA Director of Space Sciences, addressed Space, Science, and Urban Life Conference in Oakland, Cali­fornia: "The budget of $3.7 billion for the current fiscal year and the requested $5.7 billion for file next fiscal year are sizable sums of money, approaching one per cent of the gross national product in magnitude. But, perhaps even more important than the abso­lute magnitude of these sums, is the leverage they exert or can be made to exert on other more general activities and associated resources. Although the effect of the space program on the total national scene may be quite modest, in certain localized regions it can be quite large. For example, . . . it appears at, the present. time that in Fiscal Year 1963 about 47 per cent of all NASA prime contracts will go to California firms . . . ." (Text)

Defense Department announced deployment of first of three Fleet Ballistic Missile (FBM) submarines in the Mediterranean and that these three would come from those operating from Holy Loch, Scotland. (Polaris Chronology, 1955-63)

Promotion of Marshal Sergei S. Biryuzov, commander of Soviet rocket forces, to Chief of the General Staff was reported in Soviet military newspaper Krasnaya Zvezda. (AP, Wash. Post, 3/29/63)

March, 28-30: First national Space, Science, and Urban Life Con­ference at Dunsmuir House, Oakland, Calif. 150 U.S. leaders­ prominent Government figures, distinguished aerospace indus­trialists, eminent scholars, and leading research scientists gathered to discuss political, sociological, physical, and economic effect of space scientific R&D on the average American and his community. (NASA Release 63-62)

Mar 29 1963