May 18 1965
From The Space Library
X-15 No. 2 flown by pilot John B. McKay (NASA) to 102,100 ft, altitude at maximum speed of 3,541 mph (mach 5,17) to obtain data for stability and control evaluation, star tracker checkout, advanced X-15 landing dynamics, and landing gear modification checkout. (NASA X-15 Proj, Off,; X-15 Flight Log)
USAF launched an unidentified satellite from Vandenberg AFB with a Thor-Agena D booster combination. (PI, NYT, 5/19/65, 2)
TELSTAR II had successfully turned off its tracking beacon as scheduled after two years and nine days of service and 4,736 orbits of the earth, Bell Telephone System engineers announced. This would not affect the comsat's usefulness, but would conserve energy and permit other satellites to use the channel that was cut off. TELSTAR II was expected to remain usable for at least three more years. (, NYT, 5/20/65, 18)
Memorandum of Understanding for a cooperative Argentina-U.S. program of meteorological sounding rocket research was signed by Teofilo Tabanera for the Comision Nacional de Investigaciones Espaciales (CNIE ) and Hugh L. Dryden for NASA. Specific purpose of this experimental program was to obtain high-altitude meteorological data in the vicinity of Chamical, Argentina, by Boosted-Dart and Arcas sounding rockets and to evaluate Argentine ground support equipment in conjunction with the payloads. General purpose of the experimental program was "to develop a basis for future meteorological rocket soundings on an operational basis." The program was contemplated as "one element in a projected inter-American, experimental, meterological sounding rocket research network (EXAMETNET) ." (Memo of Understanding)
3C-9, a quasar (quasi-stellar radio source) receding from the earth at 149,000 mps or 80% of the speed of light, had been discovered with the 200-in. telescope at Mt. Palomar Observatory, Walter Sullivan reported in the New York Times. It was the most distant of a new generation of five quasars which included CTA-102, the object Soviet astronomers had suggested might be transmitting signals under intelligent control. All appeared to be so distant that their life had probably ended during the billions of years required for their light to reach earth, Dr. Allan R. Sandage of Mt. Palomar Observatory said his studies of brightness and velocities of these five quasars and four others previously calculated resulted in evidence supporting the "oscillating universe" theory. Data on the nine quasars' velocities largely was the work of Dr. Maarten Schmidt, Mt. Palomar Observatory. (Sullivan, NYT, 5/18/65, 1, 2; 5/23/65, 6E)
Stanley R. Reinartz, previously deputy manager of NASA Marshall Space Flight Center's Saturn OB Program Office, had been named program manager of the newly established Saturn IB/Centaur office, MSFC announced. The office would manage the program definition and design phase of the three-stage Saturn IB/Centaur space vehicle system. ( MSFC Release 65-124; Marshall Star, 5/26/65, 1)
NASA Lewis Research Center planned to buy enough 1/8-in,-dia, ping pong balls to fill a bucket-like device 12 ft, in dia, and 19 ft, deep. The miniature ping pong balls would be used to cushion experiments in LRC's 500-ft,-deep zero-gravity shaft. Experiments would be recovered intact for evaluation and later reuse. The ping-pong balls, it was hoped, could cushion up to 6,000 lbs. (LRC Release 65-34)
Four Ohio college students ended a six-week isolation test at Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, to study diets, effect of continuous wearing of a spacesuit, and microbiology of the human body. The four, comprising the eighth group to take part in space tests conducted by the Aerospace Research Labs, spent the first three weeks on a balanced but monotonous diet and the last three weeks on a liquid diet with the same nutrients as their earlier meals. All agreed that astronauts would probably be able to wear spacesuits for long missions but that "something would have to be done" about the proposed liquid diet. (AP, NYT, 5/19/65; AP, Cleveland Plain Dealer, 5/19/65)
Najeeb E. Halaby, retiring FAA Administrator, speaking at the annual news conference of the Aviation-Space Writers Association in Albuquerque, urged President Johnson to make the "tough decision" to develop 2,000 mph airliners to handle expanding travel in the 1970s, He said opponents of the supersonic transport project had "seriously overstated" the safety and other problems involved. Mr. Halaby received the Monsanto Chemical Co,'s aviation safety award for the "most significant and lasting contribution to aircraft operating safety in 1964," President Johnson sent him a congratulatory telegram hailing his "outstanding performance" as aviation administrator. (UPI, NYT, 5/19/65)
Representatives of companies planning to buy the supersonic Concorde airliner were told in a report prepared by the joint builders, British Aircraft Corp, and Sud Aviation France, that the makers were confident, following extensive wind tunnel tests, that the Concorde represented "the best possible compromise for a supersonic transport" and would be "safe and easy to fly." A special report on the problem of sonic boom said tests had shown that the calculated extent of these sharp detonations had been "generally pessimistic." It said that climb and acceleration techniques were being developed that would keep the shock waves of air causing these booms as slight as possible. The experts present for the three-day talks on the airliner's progress were from Air France, British Overseas Airways Corp., Pan American World Airways, American Airlines, Continental Airlines, Qantas, Air India, and Middle East Airlines, which had together ordered or taken options on 45 of the aircraft, valued at $560 million. (Reuters, NYT, 5/19/65, 94C)
Sen, Margaret Chase Smith (R-Me.), interviewed by a group of women correspondents, was critical of the Administration's failure to "pinpoint" objectives beyond its 1970 goal to put a man on the moon, She said she found it "hard to believe" the Administration wasn't thinking beyond the moon to Mars and Venus but that "it's difficult to get the answers." (Dean, Wash. Eve, Star, 5/19/65)
A fuel cell system had successfully operated for more than 1,300 hrs,-the time it would take a spacecraft to make nine trips to the moon and back-producing electricity and drinking water from hydrogen and oxygen. John L. Platner of the Allis-Chalmers Research Div, told the 19th annual Power Source Conference in Atlantic City. Platner gave details of the cell's performance in reporting on an advanced 2,000-watt fuel system being built by Allis-Chambers for NASA. (UPI, Wash. Post, 5/19/65, A21)
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