May 22 1965
From The Space Library
NASA's 200-lb, Project Fire II spacecraft-similar in shape to an Apollo command module-was launched into a ballistic trajectory from ETR by an Atlas D booster that sent it over 500 mi. into space in test of reentry heating of spacecraft returning from the moon. Some 26 min. later, when the ballistic path of the payload turned it toward earth, a solid-fueled Antares rocket fired for 30 sec., accelerating the payload into the atmosphere at 25,400 mph. As a fireball estimated at 20,000°F formed a shock wave in front of the spacecraft, instruments in its interior radioed information to tracking stations. Tracking reports indicated that the heat probe impacted 32 min. after launch in the south Atlantic about 5,130 mi. southeast of Cape Kennedy. The spacecraft had been dubbed a "flying thermometer" because it was to radio more than 100,000 temperature readings, First Project Fire flight took place from Cape Kennedy April 14, 1964, and was the fastest controlled in-flight reentry experiment ever conducted. The spacecraft reached a speed of more than 25,800 mph and telemetered many important direct measurements of reentry heating. (NASA Release 65-131; AP, Wash. Sun. Star, 5/23/65)
Jack N. James of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, responsible for MARINER IV's cameras during the July 14 Mars flyby, told the Aviation-Space Writers' Association Conference that photographs taken by the probe were not expected to show signs of life that might exist on the planet since surface detail in the photographs would not be great, James said MARINER IV's cameras probably would be fixed on the planet by command from earth; previous plans had called for this to be done automatically by equipment in the spacecraft. (AP, Wash. Sun. Star, 5/23/65; Wash, Eve, Star, 5/24/65)
The Gemini IV manned spaceflight had been scheduled for June 3, NASA announced. The four-day flight would last about 97 hrs, 50 min, and would increase the U.S.'s hours of manned space flight to about 257 hrs, No decision had been made about opening the two-man spacecraft and letting one astronaut stand exposed to space. (Clark, NYT, 5/22/65, 8)
President Chung Hee Park of the Republic of Korea, his wife, and members of his official party visited Kennedy Space Center where they were briefed on NASA programs and toured facilities at Cape Kennedy and on Merritt Island. In a luncheon statement, President Park said: "You are now engaged in a breath-taking race with Moscow for the conquest of space. . . . I should like to invite your attention to the stark reality that there are some fools engaged in utilizing space power politically, psychologically and militarily for sinister and dangerous purposes, "They are absorbed in developing space power not for the true purpose envisaged by mankind but for making it an instrument with which to conquer the world. "Needless to say, they are Communists. I believe you [Americans] have the responsibility of causing the Communists to desist from this dangerous play and of well preparing yourselves to douse a fire if it breaks out of that play. . ." (NASA Off, Int, Aff,; KSC Spaceport News, 5/20/65, 1, 5; AP, Miami Her., 5/23/65)
In an interview at Reed College, Dr. John A. Simpson, professor of physics at Univ. of Chicago's Enrico Fermi Institute for Nuclear Studies, said that the U.S.'s present space policy was based on scientific achievement "and this has been diverse, thorough and deep and has led to wondrous discoveries," He lauded U.S. developments in weather and communications satellites which he termed an "outstanding example" of peaceful developments in space exploration, "Russia is mainly concerned with putting a man on the moon and has ignored, for the most part, the U.S. goals of achieving a better physical understanding of our solar system-and contributing to civilization's use of it." (Sun, Oregonian, 5/23/65)
European Broadcasting Union's administrative council issued a statement saying it was concerned by the possibility that "prohibitive" charges might make it impossible to transmit television programs over EARLY BIRD I communications satellite. The council expressed the hope that the first three experimental years of intercontinental satellite television would not be "cut off at the start of commercial satellite operation." (Reuters, NYT, 5/23/65, 19)
Soviet pilot Natasha Prokhanova, flying an E-22 supersonic jet trainer, climbed to 79,000-ft, altitude, exceeding the world altitude record for women of 56,073 ft, set by U.S. pilot Jacqueline Cochran in 1961 at Edwards AFB in a Northrop T-38 Talon supersonic jet trainer. (NYT, 5/31/65, 24)
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