Dec 21 1963
From The Space Library
TIROS VIII (A-53) meteorological satellite was placed in orbit by NASA, using a Thor-Delta booster at AMR. Initial orbital data : apogee, 474 mi.; perigee, 431 mi.; period, 99.3 min. ; inclination, 58.49°. TIROS VIII, in addition to the usual wide-angle TV camera transmitting cloud-cover pictures once an orbit to a rather sophisticated ground station, featured the first orbiting of the automatic picture transmission system (APT) , designed to provide real-time local weather information to any area in the world by means of a simple, inexpensive ($32,000) ground station. APT equipment in the satellite was a 24-lb. package including a new wide-angle (108°) Tegea-lens TV camera, with its storage and slow-scan transmission system. Preliminary results from the new system were excellent. ( NASA Release 63-269; GSFC Tracking Off.)
President Johnson ordered establishment of nine-member Committee of Defense and Economic Agencies in the Executive Branch, to study problems arising out of shifts and reductions in defense spending, or possible disarmament, and to assure they are accomplished with as little economic dislocation as possible. (NASA Leg. Act. Rpt. 11/215)
USAF launched Thor-Agena D booster rocket with unidentified satellite from Vandenberg AFB, Calif. (UPI, Wash. Post, 12/22/63; Pres. Rpt. on Space, 1963, 1/27/64)
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