Aug 21 1965
From The Space Library
NASA Administrator James E. Webb told newsmen at Manned Spacecraft Center that the U.S. might land a man on the moon as early as late 1968. He expressed great confidence in the space program, but cautioned: "I'm not going to say we're ahead of schedule, We've had a remarkable set of flights, and we're now entering a period of intensive testing." (Freelander, Houston Post, 8/22/65)
The first stage of the Titan II booster which orbited Gemini V was recovered intact in the Atlantic about 450 mi. northeast of Cape Kennedy. An Air Rescue Service plane reported that the 71-ft, stage was in the water 25% submerged. (AP, Wash, Post, 8/22/65, A34; UPI, NYT, 8/22/65, 13)
President Johnson watched the GEMINI V launching on color television for seven minutes at the White House in a direct broadcast from Kennedy Space Center, NASA. (AP, NYT, 8/22/65, 72)
PROTON I space station, launched July 16 by the U.S.S.R., had, for the first time, trapped particles with energy of 100 trillion electron volts and a measured energy spectrum of cosmic rays containing such particles, Nikolai I, Grigorov, head of Cosmic Ray Laboratory at Moscow Univ. Institute of Nuclear Physics, told Pravda. He said that precise measurements of high-energy particles required the use of a heavy ionizing calorimeter which could not have been orbited without the lifting capacity of Russia's new large rockets. Prof. Grigorov explained that high-energy particles never reached earthbound registering devices because they were absorbed and transformed as they collided with atoms of earth's atmosphere. (Pravda, 8/20/65, ATSS-T Trans,; Shabad, NYT, 8/22/65, 72)
The Guggenheim International Astronautics Award for 1965 had been conferred upon Professor Mstislav V. Keldysh, President of the Soviet Academy of Sciences, announced Dr. C. Stark Draper, President of the International Academy of Astronautics. The award, which carried with it a $1,000 honorarium, would be presented during the XVIth International Astronautical Congress to be held in Athens September 12-18, 1965. (IAA Release 26)
An article in Human Events expressed fear that Russian military space capability surpassed that of the U.S.: ". , Four times in the past 2 months, Red Star (a newspaper published by the Defense Ministry) has trumpeted the claim that Russia now has orbital space rockets with the capacity of wiping any aggressor off the face of the earth. "There is no doubt at all about the intended identity of the aggressor and among American scientists back home there is little doubt about the weapon. "There is little doubt because the United States spent 7 years and $10 million between 1958-65 to plan the nuclear-powered space orbiting system called Project Orion, We have high-ranking scientists who believe the Russians have copied or adapted Orion, which has been declassified since October, 1964. The Russians might easily have cracked the secrecy before that, "It is a first generation vehicular system that is capable of carrying 8 men and 100 tons of payload to Mars and back. It is a jet-propelled engine or engines powered by a nuclear reactor which, in effect, bombs a shield at the rear of the vehicle and drives it forward. The usual limitations of temperature do not affect this vehicle because the hot debris of the explosions makes only a momentary contact with the shield. The limitations of using full nuclear power are also absent because the reactor is outside the vehicle. "Guidance, mobility, range, the exchange of crew-members, and the restocking of the payload are all within this space cruiser's capability. Its potentials as a raider of earth targets, and as an interceptor of our space satellites, are almost limitless. It may not be the never-never ultimate weapon, but it will do until another comes along." (CR, 8/25/65, A4807-08)
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