Mar 19 1965
From The Space Library
After 26 hrs. of flight, Col. Pavel I. Belyayev landed VOSKHOD II manually near Perm, Russia, Tass announced. The two-man spacecraft had completed 17 orbits of the earth, one more orbit than planned, and had traveled 447,000 mi. This was the first time landing of a Soviet spacecraft had been described as manual. Impact of VOSKHOD II on the ground, later revealed as snow bank, was described as "soft." (Tanner, NYT, 3 /20/65, 1, 3; Shabad, NYT, 3/21/65, 3)
NASA plan for use of SYNCOM II in the communications link between the Gemini 3 spacecraft and Cape Kennedy was successfully tested in a GT-3 mission simulation. Telemetry signals and voice messages would come from the spacecraft to a surface ship, the USNS Coastal Sentry, in the Indian Ocean. The Coastal Sentry would transmit the signals to the Syncom surface station, USNS Kingsport, which would then be a few miles away. From there the signals would be transmitted to SYNCOM 22,300 mi. above the Indian Ocean, down to a ground station at Clark AFB in the Philippines, and by cable to a Nascom ( NASA Communications Network ) station near Honolulu. From Honolulu the transmission would go by cable to the U.S. and then by landline to NASA Goddard Space Flight Center and on down to Cape Kennedy. Simultaneously the signals would be transmitted from the Coastal Sentry via high frequency radio to a Nascom station near Perth, Australia, Cable would carry it to the Nascom station at Honolulu. There, the better reception of the two transmissions would be sent to the Cape. (NASA Release 65-93)
NASA launched a scientific payload for the Univ. of Michigan from Wallops Station using a two-stage Nike-Tomahawk. The 122-lb. payload, consisting primarily of a. thermosphere probe in the form of a 32-in. ejectable cylinder, was boosted to a peak altitude of 315 km. (196 mi.). Purpose of the experiment, a joint project of the Univ. of Michigan and Goddard Space Flight Center, was to measure density and temperature of electrons and neutral particles at 75-200 mi. altitude and to test a solar aspect sensor. This was the first firing of Nike-Tomahawk configuration from Wallops Island. (NASA Rpt. SRL; Wallops Release 65-16)
President Lyndon B. Johnson sent a message of congratulations to Australian Prime Minister Sir Robert Menzies, on the occasion of the dedication of a new NASA lunar and planetary spacecraft tracking station at Tidbinbilla near Canberra, Australia. The station would be operated entirely by Australians, as are the two other NASA facilities in Australia. (NASA Release 65-89)
Vice President Hubert H. Humphrey, Chairman of the National Aeronautics and Space Council, made his first address on the U.S. space program at the Goddard Memorial Dinner sponsored by the National Space Club in Washington, D.C. He said: "I intend to be an advocate of a dynamic space program-a program which will succeed in reaching to goals we have set-and one which will see new goals-one that can see beyond the moon and into fields where we can only speculate about the knowledge awaiting us." The Vice President spoke briefly about the Soviet Union's VOSKHOD II flight: "It is well for us from time to time to take stock-to take a careful look-in order to see how we are making out in comparison with our main competitor. The facts are that we do have very strong competition and hence we have another big reason for a major space effort-namely, prudence. Our national security alone would suggest reason enough for us to strive for absolute leadership in space exploration." Humphrey pointed out that the Soviets remained ahead in propulsion for their rockets, while the U.S. continued to lead "in the directly useful fields of weather reporting, navigation, and communications." He continued: "The Soviets clearly have an advantage in studying the effects of space environment on human beings. . . . We can salute the Russian achievements . . . but we would be foolish if we did not understand the military implications of Soviet space science as well as our own. "Each Russian shock has produced action here. But a mature nation should not need shock treatment. We are a peaceful nation . . . but we would ignore the real interests of the free world if we diminished our military efforts in space." In the principal presentation, the widow of the scientist presented the Robert Hutchings Goddard Memorial Trophy to Dr. William H. Pickering, Director of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and leader of the RANGER VII team that obtained the first close-up pictures of the moon's surface. The National Space Club Press Award for "an outstanding role in adding significantly to public understanding and appreciation of astronautics" went to Aviation Week and Space Technology; Nelson P. Jackson Aerospace Award for "an outstanding contribution to the missile, aircraft, and space field" was presented to Florida Research and Development Center, Pratt & Whitney Aircraft Div. of United Aircraft; Robert Hutchings Goddard Historical Essay Award was made to John Tascher, Case Institute of Technology, for U.S. Rocket Society Number Two: the Story of the Cleveland Rocket Society; Robert Hutchings Goddard Scholarship ($1,500 to the university of the recipient's choice) for "the purpose of stimulating the interest of talented students in space research and exploration" was awarded Willard M. Cronyn, a graduate student in Maryland Univ.'s Dept, of Physics and Astronomy. (Text; Program; Carmody, Wash. Post, 3/20/65)
"Present-day Americans are thinking, working, and risking to find ways, first to explore, and then to use, the new environment of outer space," said NASA Administrator James E. Webb in an address to the New Mexico Chapter of the American Institute of Industrial Engineers in Albuquerque, He continued: ". . . the exploration of space has brought a new force into the affairs and life of this Nation, Once more the American people confront a new environment-harsher, more demanding, more inspiring than any man has ever tried to enter before. . . . We cannot yet foresee all the consequences of man's entry into space. But the record of history is clear, that the mastery by one nation of a new environment, or of a major new technology, or the combination of the two as we now see in space, has always in the past had the most profound effects on all nations and on all the peoples of the earth." (Text)
In an interview with Izvestia, one of the two directors of the Soviet space program, the "chief designer," whose identity had never been revealed, said the VOSKHOD II program had called for Lt. Col. Leonov to spend "10 minutes outside the cabin" but that he could have stayed much longer. He said the weight and space saved by having two men aboard VOSKHOD II instead of three men, as on VOSKHOD I, had been used to install a decompression chamber and related equipment. The designer said Leonov's spacesuit was equipped with "duplicate systems" to ensure a high degree of reliability and that a bellows had been installed to allow bending of the torso, arms, and legs, Izvestia said in another article that Leonov's spacesuit consisted of five layers: a heat reflecting layer outside; material for strength; airtight material; heat insulating material; and an inside layer containing a ventilation system. The "chief theoretician," joint director of the Soviet space program, told Izvestia that Col. Leonov's venture into space had shown that future astronauts might find it easier to work in space than on earth. He said that "we shall yet live to see the day when orbiting platforms appear in space-resembling scientific research institutes in the earth's upper atmosphere," The theoretician was also quoted as saying that Leonov's principal assignment had been to determine man's reaction to "weightlessness in free space." He told Tass: "We obtained in practice what we had visualized theoretically before." (Tanner, NYT, 3/20/65, 1, 3)
President Johnson sent congratulations on the Mar. 18 VOSKHOD II space achievement to Anastas Mikoyan, Chairman of the Praesidium of the Soviet Union. The message said: "All of us have been deeply impressed by Lt. Col. Aleksei Leonov's feat in becoming the first man to leave a space ship in outer space and return safely. I take pleasure ... in offering on behalf of the people of the United States sincere congratulations and best wishes to the cosmonauts and the scientists and all the others responsible for this outstanding accomplishment." (NYT, 3/20/65, 3 )
Pope Paul VI, speaking to the "workers of the world" on St. Joseph's Day, expressed the hope that the "great and marvelous" Soviet space achievement would "serve to render men better, more united and intent to serve ideals of peace and common good." (NYT, 3/20/65, 3)
Charles A. Wilson, an expert in management and development of space and other advanced systems, had been named Project Manager for NASA's Project Biosatellite at the Ames Research Center. He succeeded Carlton Bioletti, who had retired. (ARC Release 65-9)
NASA signed a five-year S235-million incentive contract with the AC Spark Plug Div. of General Motors Corp. for manufacture, testing, and delivery of primary navigation and guidance systems for Apollo's three-man command module and the two-man lunar excursion module ( LEM ). The systems were being designed by MIT. (MSC Roundup, 3/19/65, 8)
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