Feb 3 1965
From The Space Library
OSO II (OSO B2), NASA's Orbiting Solar Observatory, was successfully launched into orbit from Cape Kennedy by a three-stage Delta rocket Preliminary orbital elements: apogee. 393 mi.; perigee, 343 Mi.; period, 97 min.; 33°. The 545 lb spacecraft included parts: salvaged from the OSO B., damaged last April prior to launch, and Components of a spacecraft built for prototype testing. The second of eight spacecraft planned by NASA for direct observation of the min; OSO II tarried eight scientific experiments and had two main sections: the wheel (lower) section provided stability by gyroscopic spinning and housed the telemetry, command, batteries, control electronics and gas :spin-control arms, and five experiment packages; the sail (upper ) section was oriented toward the sun and contained solar cells and solar pointing experiments, For the first time, the instruments. controlled by ground command; would scan the entire solar surface. Each scan required four minutes. OSO II experiments were intended to map the frequency and energy of solar emissions and represented a joint Government-university-industry effort NASA Goddard Space Flight Center managed the project. (NASA Press Kit Release 65-14; AS4 Release 65424 Goddard News, 2/8/65. 1-2)
Nike-Apache: sounding rocket was launched from Wallops Island to altitude of 87.7 mi. (141.1 km) with experiments to measure the electron intensity above the earth's atmosphere; the flux of solar x-rays, and Lyman-alpha radiation, aid to determine ionospheric electron densities. All instruments functioned as predicted. (NASA Rpt SRL)
NASA Administrator James E. Webb said during a panel discussion at the Military Electronics Convention in Los Angeles: "I think I can report that our ten-year aeronautical and space effort [beginning in 1961] has been well organized, it has stabilized at the 51/4 billion level, and has retained a well-worked-out balance among its various components. At the end of this ten-year period, we will have received back from our operating spacecraft the basic measurements of the space environment which will give us a much better scientific understanding of this environment and our engineers will have proved out the developmental concepts and engineering designs for effective operations of all kinds in space, Further, we will have a launch capability of six Saturn IB's and six Saturn V's per year, meaning that we could put almost two million pounds into orbit per year, if required. We will have logged more than five thousand hours of astronaut spaceflight time and learned a great deal about the relationship between man, equipment, the task assigned, and performance in the space environment. . . ." (Text)
NASA Manned Spacecraft Center reported it had saved $12 million toward a $35 million cost reduction goal for FY 1965. Major portion of this saving was made possible by a suggestion from Dr. Robert R. Gilruth, MSC Director, that instead of spending the budgeted $7,873,000 for a static test stand for the Apollo spacecraft at Cape Kennedy, the reserve Titan Launch Complex 16 be modified for static test use. Cost of modifying the Titan launch complex would be $3,982,900, with a net saving of $3,890,100. (MSC Roundup, 2/3/65, 8)
NASA Marshall Space Flight Center was readying its first Saturn V S-IC stage, designated S-IC-T, for static firing late this spring, NASA reported. The S-IC-T, a static test stage, would be hot-fired on a captive test stand in MSFC's West Test Area and would be ground tested repeatedly over a period of many months to prove out the propulsion system. (NASA Release 65-27)
FCC vetoed a proposed Communications Satellite Corp. contract with Hughes Aircraft Co. for the design of satellites to be used by DOD. In a letter to ComSatCorp, the FCC took note of a protest by Philco Corp. (see Feb. 2), that it was as qualified as Hughes to bid on the proposed contract and said ComSatCorp must award the contract only after competitive bidding. ComSatCorp had asked the FCC to approve the proposed contract, waiving requirements for competitive bidding. (FCC Public Notice-C)
USAF "ripple-launched" two Minutemen ICBM's from Vandenberg AFB. Both were launched from silos, the second within minutes of the first. (M&R, 2/15/65, 12)
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