1965

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Johnson Space Center Press Releases. (8MB PDF)

In 1965, NASA attempted 28 missions with 23 successes, a score of 82% mission success. Two spacecraft were launched on a single booster. NASA attempted 30 launches of space boosters and had 26 successes, a score of 87% launch vehicle success, Of the 92 payloads orbited by the U.S., NASA orbited 25-five of which were two-manned spacecraft and four were escape-mission probes. U.S.S.R. orbited 64 payloads, of which one was a manned spacecraft and seven were escape-mission probes. France entered the space age with two satellites, one orbited by France herself (A-I ) and one by the U.S. (FR-I ) . Most spectacular of NASA's space missions were the real-time reception of close-up lunar photographs by RANGER IX, first U.S. extravehicular activity by GEMINI IV Astronaut White, man's first close look at Mars (including 21 photographs) by MARINER IV, and manned rendezvous to within one foot by Gemini VI and VII. The Gemini program began 1965 with GT-2 unmanned suborbital flight; this was followed by four two-man orbital flights which logged more than 1,300 manhours in space, GEMINI V and long-duration missions (8 and 14 days respectively) proved man can withstand extended conditions of spaceflight and validated plans for manned Apollo lunar flights. At the year's end Gemini spaceflights had set for the U.S. more than 10 records, among them the record for total manhours in space: 1,354 hrs, 38 min, vs, U.S.S.R.'s 507 hrs, 16 min, 1965 was a year of extensive ground tests of the Apollo spacecraft and the Saturn launch vehicles. There were static firings of engines for the various Saturn IB and Saturn V stages, highlighted by full-duration firing of all three Saturn V stages, Saturn I program ended with a record of 10 successes out of 10 attempts, its three 1965 launches orbiting Pegasus meteoroid detection satellites, Fire II provided valuable data for Apollo on reentry from simulated lunar trajectory, In lunar and planetary achievement, RANGERS VIII and IX provided more than 13,000 lunar surface photographs and brought that project to a close. Atlas-Centaur AC-6 launched a dummy Surveyor on a simulated lunar transfer orbit and proved itself capable of operational Surveyor missions. NASA stepped up its interplanetary research with PIONEER VI, first of four projected interplanetary satellites, TIROS IX became the first weather satellite to provide close to 100% coverage of the earth daily, and TIROS X was the first in a series of interim operational satellites for the. U.S. Weather Bureau. Five Explorer scientific satellites, II, Canada's ALOUETTE II, and France's FR-I were orbited. NASA orbited SECOR V for the U.S. Army, SOLRAD IX (EXPLORER XXX) for the U.S. Navy, and EARLY BIRD I communications satellite for the Communications Satellite Corporation. NASA turned over SYNCOMs II and III to DOD for operational use at the completion of their R&D function. The five NASA mission failures: vehicle test of Atlas-Centaur AC-5; test of Apollo launch escape system on a Little Joe II booster; failure of OGO II, which did return good (but incomplete) experiment data; failure to orbit a third Orbiting Solar Observatory; and failure of GEMINI VI because Agena Target Vehicle did not achieve orbit, In 39 successful launches, DOD orbited 67 satellites. In addition, there were four unsuccessful DOD space launches, losing five payloads, Decision was made that DOD proceed with the Manned Orbiting Laboratory, and launches were begun of the powerful Titan III-C which would eventually orbit the MOL, Highlighting the U.S.S.R.'s busy space year was man's first extra-vehicular space activity, by VOSKHOD II's Cosmonaut Leonov, Soviet lunar exploration intensified, with apparent soft-landing attempts by LUNAs V through VIII, as well as photographs of the moon's hidden side by interplanetary probe ZOND III, U.S.S.R. launched VENUS II and III on the long flight toward the planet Venus. (Western experts speculated that COSMOS LX was an unsuccessful lunar soft-landing attempt and COSMOS XCVI an unsuccessful Venus probe.) U.S.S.R. orbited 52 Cosmos satellites, two heavyweight PROTON spacecraft, and her first communications satellites-two Molniyas I. (NASA Release 65-368; MSFC Release 65-312; NASA HHR-8; NASC Staff; NASA A&A 1965; Simons, Wash. Post, 12/12/65)

Some NASA research highlights of 1965: NASA launched 191 scientific sounding rockets to obtain a variety of scientific data and about 10 for advanced research and technology, By the end of the year, the three X-15 research aircraft had made 156 flights, 32 of them in 1965. Tests proceeded of the modified X-15 (No. 2), expected to exceed 5,000-mph flight speed. NASA supported the National supersonic transport program and evaluated wind tunnel models of the two proposed SST designs. NASA continued using USAF XB-70 aircraft for research in flight problems of SST and large supersonic aircraft in general, Feasibility studies of adapting V/Stol concepts to commercial transportation and wind-tunnel studies of several V/Stol designs continued. As part of research toward efficient design of hypersonic aircraft, comparative performance and heat transfer measurements were obtained on a variety of aircraft wings, bodies, and wing-body combinations. Ramjet engine research was in the engine design concept phase, NASA developed and tested a new near-field theory useful in predicting sonic boom characteristics of SST configurations during transonic climb-out, Flight research of M-1 lifting body was advanced, and construction of HL-10 lifting body was being completed. Solid propulsion technology was advanced with static-firing of the 260-in, solid-fuel rocket motor, In nuclear rocket technology, three Nerva reactor experiments were completed and the new Phoebus advanced graphite reactor test program was begun. The success of a 2,600-hr. ion engine test provided evidence that life-times of 10,000 hrs, for electric rocket thrusters may be within reach. Among highlights in electronics and control was reentry communications experiment on GEMINI III demonstrating feasibility of water injection to overcome communications blackout during reentry. (U.S. Aeron, & Space Act, 1965, 25-38; OSSA & OART S.Rkt. Proj, Off.; NASA Release 65-368)

About 90% of NASA's budget was going to contractors to pay for work being done by nearly 400,000 people of about 20,000 prime and subcontractors, In the university program, NASA. was doing business with about 200 universities in every state on space-related projects at the year's end. NASA's requirement to transfer its technology to other sectors of the economy had developed into an information system with more than 200,000 technical documents abstracted, indexed, and filed in a computer-based nationwide system. (NASA Release 65-368)

NASA's FY '65 top 100 contractors, according to the net value of direct awards, were headed by North American-Downey ($1,099,448,000), Boeing-New Orleans ($305,988,000), Grumman-Bethpage ($267,226,000), Douglas-Santa Monica ($251,668,000), CE-Huntsville ($181,472,000), McDonnell-St. Louis ($166,670,000), IBM-Huntsville ($128,312,000), Aerojet-Sacramento ($123,186,000), General Dynamics/Convair ($111,148,000), and RCA-Princeton ($106,552,000). Total NASA procurements for the year totaled $5,187,000,000 with the top 100 firms accounting for $4,141,434,000 of that amount. (NASA Ann, Procurement Rpt, FY 1965)

Some highlights of the year in physics: Planet Mars has no substantial magnetic field, according to scientific experiments by MARINER IV Mars probe. Because of this, Martian life-forms would have to be able to withstand intense radiation, but possibility of Martian life was not ruled out. MARINER IV also reported Mars' atmosphere was too thin to readily support parachute or glider-type descents for soft landings on the planet. Comet Ikeya-Seki, the brightest comet to enter the solar system this century, was discovered Sept, 18 and subsequently studied from the ground, airplanes, and rockets. The comet passed within 300,000 mi, of the sun and made a hairpin turn Oct. 21, when it broke into three pieces. Results of NASA's testing of public reaction to sonic booms, begun in 1961, showed that no serious psychological or physiological effects result from sonic booms. Commercial use of the supersonic transport, to begin in early 1970's, was expected to create sonic booms that, when SST's come into full use in the U.S., would be heard by everyone about once a day. On the subject of antimatter, two items: Swedish physicist Hannes Alfven theorized such cosmic phenomena as quasi-stellar radio sources ("quasars"), radio stars, and supernovae may be powered by matter-antimatter annihilations; and, antideutrons were produced in the laboratory by scientists of Columbia Univ. Unwanted noise from a BTL horn-reflector antenna being used in comsat research may have been radiation from the birth of the universe. This interpretation was based on the "big bang" theory of the universe's formation and was propounded by a group of Princeton Univ. scientists. Decision was believed near on which of the three principal models of the universe was correct-the steady-state, expanding, or oscillating universe theory. Results in astronomy based on red-shifts of "blue-galaxies" (discovered in 1965) and quasars hinted at an oscillating universe. (Alp News, 12/22/65)

Among highlights in the U.S. communications satellite program were: initiation of commercial comsat operations, with EARLY BIRD I in synchronous orbit over the Atlantic; initiation of a synchronous-orbit comsat program to furnish communications for Project Apollo and for expanded commercial service; and growth of the International Telecommunications Satellite Consortium to 48 member nations, representing every continent, Communications Satellite Corp, represented the U.S. and served as manager for the consortium. (ComSatCorp Release)

LRC completed 10 experiments to explore nuclear engine chilldown (cooling by liquid hydrogen propellant) and to determine the range of conditions for which flow oscillations would occur in an engine system. An additional 16 runs were conducted to obtain data on the "bootstrap" starting of a nuclear engine, Results of these tests indicated that nuclear rocket engines should be able to start smoothly and stably over a wide range of startup conditions. (Atomic Energy Programs, 1965, 148-49)

Nearly 390,000 visitors toured NASA Kennedy Space Center and Cape Kennedy. The Space Center's doors were first opened to visitors Jan. 3, 1965. In its first year, the Center was host to visitors from all 50 states and 57 countries. (NASA Space Sheet, 3/31/66)

Visitor attendance at the MSFC Space Orientation Center was 202,445 an increase of about 37% over 1964. (MSFC Historian)

In the last half of the year, USAF doubled its airlift to Southeast Asia, mainly Vietnam. In the first six months of 1965 the Military Air Transport Service (MATS) airlifted 37,684 tons of cargo and 91,994 passengers to the area. In the last half, it flew in 58,858 tons of cargo and 183,132 passengers. USAF flew 10,570 tactical sorties over North Vietnam and 37,940 over South Vietnam (compared to 764 for 1964) ; VNAF flew an additional 23,700 sorties during 1965, mostly over South Vietnam. (Watson, Balt. Sun, 1/6/66; Brownlow, Av, Wk., 1/10/66)