Jan 28 1965
From The Space Library
MARINER IV, launched two months ago, was 11,873,789 mi. from earth and moving toward Mars at a speed of 12,291 mph relative to the earth at 9 a.m. EST. Velocity relative to the sun was 67,086 mph. (NASA Release 65-21)
The first major Saturn V flight component, a 33-ft.-dia., 60,000-lb. corrugated tail section which would support the booster's five 1.5-million-lb.thrust engines, arrived at NASA Marshall Space Flight Center from NASA Michoud Operations, near New Orleans. The section was one of five major structural units comprising Saturn V's first stage. (Marshall Star, 1/27/65, 1)
USAF announced a four-stage Blue Scout Jr. rocket combination with a scientific payload had failed after launch from Cape Kennedy. The second stage developed trouble about 100 sec. after launching, causing the range safety officer to send destruct signal. The stage broke apart on its own. The third stage, meanwhile, separated from the second stage, ignited, and followed approximately its preplanned path. The fourth stage failed to ignite; it and the payload plummeted harmlessly into the Atlantic Ocean southwest of Ascension Island. The probe was to have sent its instrumented payload 24,500 mi, into space to study earth's magnetic field. (NYT, 1/29/65; U.S. Aeron. & Space Act., 1965, 132)
Construction work at Cape Kennedy halted as 3,700 building trade workers stayed off the job in a two-year-old contract dispute with NASA. The present dispute was between building trades unions and the Marion Power Shovel Co., a NASA contractor, over pay scales. Work on 44 projects involving contracts totaling $192 million had been brought to a standstill. The biggest project affected was the 52-story Saturn V moon rocket assembly building that was to be ready for the first of these rockets within two years. (UPI, NYT, 1/29/65, 6; AP, Houston Post, 1/29/65)
President Johnson, on the advice of Defense Secretary McNamara, and contrary to the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, had decided to postpone the production order for the Nike-X missile defense system, Neal Stanford of the Christian Science Monitor asserted. $2 billion had already been spent on the R&D phase of the Nike-X and an additional $20 billion would be required to produce and deploy it. The FY 1966 budget provided approximately $400 million for continued research and development on the Nike-X system pending the decision on whether to put Nike-X into production. (Stanford, CSM, 1/28/65)
Army XV-9A experimental pressure jet helicopter, which was first flown on November 5, 1964, gave its first public demonstration in Culver City, Calif. It was designed and developed under a U.S. Army Transportation Research Command contract with the Hughes Tool Company to evaluate the hot-cycle pressure jet system which would eliminate the requirement for heavy gear boxes, complex mechanical drive components, and an anti-torque tail rotor. Aircraft based on this concept could carry payloads greater than the empty weight of the aircraft itself. (DOD Release 55-65)
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