Aug 20 1965
From The Space Library
MARINER IV spacecraft, which relayed to earth the first closeup pictures of Mars July 14, was still transmitting engineering and scientific data, On its 265th day of travel, the spacecraft was 163,162,460 mi, from earth, 8,622,011 mi, from Mars, and had traveled 365,000,000 mi, since its November 28 launch from Kennedy Space Center, NASA. (NASA Release 65-278)
NASA announced that Gemini V would be launched from Kennedy Space Center, NASA, Aug. 21, at 10:00 a.m. EDT. Problems which had collectively postponed the launch on August 19, had been resolved: (1) the malfunctioning telemetry programer had been replaced; (2) the underground communications cable had been repaired; (3) the technique for loading the fuel cells with liquid hydrogen had been perfected; (4) security police would take extra precautions to prevent trespassing onto the launch area; and (5) the Gemini V computer, which officials feared had been damaged by the lightning-induced power surge, was functioning normally. (Clark, NYT, 8/21/65; Wash, Post, 8/21/65, Al; WSJ, 8/16/65, 1)
S-IVB stage for the Saturn V booster was successfully test-fired for full duration at Douglas Aircraft Co,'s Sacramento Test Center. In a test simulating a lunar flight, the stage ran for three minutes, was cut off for 30-min. orbital coast period, and then re-ignited for 355-sec, run. (Marshall Star, 8/25/65, 1)
Two USAF Athena missiles were fired from Green River, Utah, to White Sands Missile Range, N. Mex. Although one of the flights was terminated because of a malfunctioning computer, both missiles landed within WSMR. (AP, NYT, 8/22/65, 72)
Dr. Mac C. Adams, vice president and assistant general manager for space systems at Avco Corp., would succeed Dr. Raymond L. Bisplinghoff as NASA's Associate Administrator for Advanced Research and Technology, Dr. Adams, a consultant to NASA and NACA, was expected to assume his new duties in October. Dr. Bisplinghoff would become Special Assistant to NASA Administrator James E. Webb. (NASA Release 65-276)
FAA announced that Gordon Bain, Deputy Administrator for Supersonic Transport Development, had resigned for personal reasons effective Sept. 15, and that M/Gen. M.S. White, Federal Air Surgeon, was returning to the Air Force, B/Gen. Jewell C. Maxwell, commander of the USAF Western Test Range, had been assigned to FAA on active duty to replace Bain and Dr. Peter Siegel, Chief, Aeromedical Certification Div., Office of Aviation Medicine, would replace Dr. White. (FAA Release 65-65)
Several U.S. and foreign scientists would be guests on the 11th Antarctic expedition of the Soviet Union, Tass announced. Leonid Balakshin of the Arctic and Antarctic Institute in Leningrad said that 50 foreign scientists had already spent winters at the Mirny Observatory and other Russian stations near the South Pole, "The exchange of polar scientists is striking evidence of the constructive cooperation between Soviet and foreign explorers on the sixth continent," Balakshin said. (Reuters, NYT, 8/21/65, 21)
Fred W. Friendly, president of the CBS news div, criticized the three national television networks for devoting seven consecutive hours Aug. 19 to the scheduled Gemini V launch which was finally postponed. Friendly told reporters: "We abdicated journalistic responsibility and participated in competitive inanities that are the very opposite of the service that the public expects and demands of us." In the future, Friendly said, CBS would abridge its coverage of space missions. (Adams, NYT, 8/21/65)
A system for the docking and sealing together of two orbiting spacecraft, designed to allow men and tools to be moved back and forth between the two vehicles while they were joined, was granted a patent. Invented by John P. Dunn, Martin Co. engineer, the equipment was being built in full scale for tests in Martin's rendezvous and docking simulator (Jones, NYT, 8/21/65, 25)
USAF named four contractors to participate in a six-month design study effort on an advanced vertical short take-off and landing (V/Stol) tactical fighter program. The firms, which would be funded at approximately $1 million each, were: Lockheed Aircraft Corp,; McDonnell Aircraft Corp.; Republic Aviation Corp,; and the Boeing Co, Studies would cover aircraft configurations for tactical missions. (DOD Release 541-65)
United Airlines announced that fog-dispersal plans involving aerial seeding of clouds were being discussed in nine cities in addition to those where the technique had already been successful, United had conducted successful seeding operations last winter using light planes to drop ice pellets into the top layers of super-cooled fog. The airline estimated that the fog-abatement program had permitted 135 of its flights, carrying 3,200 passengers, to operate at airports that otherwise would have been closed. (AP, NYT, 8/21/65, 48)
August 21-29: NASA's GEMINI V spacecraft, piloted by Astronauts Leroy Gordon Cooper (L/Col., USAF) and Charles Conrad, Jr.. (LCdr., USN), was successfully launched with two-stage Titan II booster from Eastern Test Range on an eight-day mission (190 hr, 55 min.) comprising 120 revolutions of the earth. Flight objectives were: (1) demonstrate and evaluate performance of the Gemini spacecraft; (2) evaluate performance of the rendezvous guidance and navigation system using the Radar Evaluation Pod (Rep) ; and (3) evaluate effects of prolonged exposure to the space environment of the two-man crew. First stage of the booster burned for 156.8 sec. Second stage then separated, burned for 1796 sec. Traveling at 17,605 mph, 7,937-lb. GEMINI V was inserted into orbit: apogee, 215.4 mi. (347A km. perigee, 100 mi. (161.3 km.); period. 89.58 min.; inclination to the equator, 32.60. Fifty-six minutes after liftoff, astronauts fired thruster rockets to raise the perigee to 106 mi. (170.9 km.) in preparation for rendezvous with. Rep. a practice maneuver to prepare for GEMINI VI's rendezvous in orbit with an Agena stage. At beginning of 2nd orbit, astronauts ejected Rep from the adapter section behind the spacecraft. Rep moved away at five miles per hour. About two hours after insertion of GEMINI V into orbit, oxygen pressure for the new fuel cell dropped from 800 to 60 lbs. psi because of a failure in the heater element circuitry. This pressure-drop severely reduced the fuel cell's output of electrical, power. The Rep experiment was abandoned and there was some apprehension as to whether the flight could continue. At 27 hrs. into the flight, Cooper and Conrad successfully locked their spacecraft radar on a spare Rep transponder mounted on a tower at NASA Merritt Island Launch Area during a six-minute pass. Oxygen pressure began building up in the fuel-cell system and hopes of completing the mission were raised. On Aug. 23, as GEMINI made. its 32nd revolution around the earth, the spacecraft began a series of maneuvers to rendezvous with a simulated Agena upper stage in lieu of the Rep experiment. By the. 34th orbit Gemini V was only 16 mi, behind the simulated Agena, very close to the planned 15-mi. separation NASA hoped to have on Gemini VI prior to final closing and docking maneuver. Last maneuver was not attempted because of the need to conserve fuel on GEMINI V. On Aug, 24, Astronauts Cooper and Conrad twice spotted objects on the ground; they observed a Minuteman ICBM launch from Vandenberg AFB, and tracked and photographed it; they sighted a huge checkerboard design laid out on the ground near Laredo, Tex, and reported direction in the which arrows in the center of the blocks were pointed.
August 21-29: On Aug. 25, the astronauts saw, tracked, and photographed another Minuteman ICBM fired from Vandenberg AFB and identified a rocket sled test on Holloman AFB. At request of U.S. Weather Bureau, they attempted to photograph the eye of tropical storm Doreen about 200 mi, south of Hawaii. During the flight, the astronauts both remained in good spirits, Sixteen of the planned seventeen experiments were conducted. Despite the heavy work schedule, Cooper and Conrad each slept about five hours a day. The astronauts ate about 2,000 calories of food a day, less than the 2,900 calories prescribed for the mission, and each drank six pounds of water daily. Aug, 27 saw problems with the steady accumulation of water in the fuel cell, which threatened to exceed water-storage capacity; faulty attitude and maneuvering thrusters; and the boiling off of hydrogen gas which caused the spacecraft to roll, On Aug, 28, the fuel cell and the left thruster were functioning well. Conrad reported seeing "a carrier and a destroyer steaming right into Jacksonville"; it was actually a tug pulling a large barge, On Aug. 29 Cooper and Conrad talked via radio with Astronaut M. Scott Carpenter (Cdr, USN), in Sealab II on the floor of the Pacific off La Jolla, Calif. Approach of Hurricane Betsy from the coast -of South America forced NASA officials to order GEMINI V to land one revolution early. Two more of GEMINI V'S thrusters froze, but there was still sufficient steering power to correct minor variations. To begin reentry, the astronauts fired four braking rockets as the spacecraft passed 700 mi, north of Hawaii, Reentry was normal, GEMINI V splashed down into the Atlantic at 8:56 a.m. EDT, 600 mi. east of Jacksonville-90 mi, off target. A human error in computing the elapsed time of flight caused the target error. Assisted from the capsule by Navy frogmen 45 min, after splashdown, the astronauts were taken by helicopter to U.S.S. Lake Champlain for medical debriefing. (NASA Release 65-262; NASA Proj. Off,; NYT, 8/22/65, 1, 72, 73, El; 8/23/65, 1, 16; 8/24/65, 1, 16; 8/25/65, 1, 24; 8/26/65, 1, 15; 8/27/65, 1, 12; 8/29/65, 1, 68, 69; 8/30/65, 1, 16, 17; Wash, Post, 8/22/65, 1, 34; 8/23/65, 1, 3; 8/24/65, 1, 6; 8/25/65, 1, 10, 24; 8/26/65, 11; 8/27/65, 1, 6, 7; 8/28/65, 1, 7; 8/29/65, 1, 8, 10; 8/30/65, 1, 9, 11; WSJ, 8/23/65, 1; 8/24/65, 1; 8/27/65, 1; 8/30/65, 1; Av. Wk, 8/30/65, 24-28)
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