Oct 13 1965
From The Space Library
NASA Administrator James E. Webb, speaking at the dedication of the Space Science Laboratory at Univ. of Chicago, said: "The space effort is really a research and development competition-a competition for technological pre-eminence, which demands and creates the quest for excellence... . Should we fall behind in the area of space technology, we would jeopardize our ability to progress, on earth as well as in space. At stake is the technological balance of power in the world... "The influence of our technological progress and prowess is and has been the deciding factor in keeping the peace; technological and scientific capabilities constitute a basic source of national power, Preeminence in the field is an instrument in international relations, and influences our dealings with other nations involving peace and freedom in the world. ... "By mastering the restrained but decisive use of the power that modern science and technology give us, we are providing the Nation with the capability to achieve greater cooperation toward a world consistent with the ideals we seek for others as well as ourselves..." (Text)
NASA still assumed that life on Mars was possible, Dr. Norman H. Horowitz, JPL, said at the dedication. Although photographs relayed by MARINER IV had indicated Mars was extremely cold and lacked oxygen and water vapor, some terrestrial organisms might live comfortably in this environment, he said, Horowitz felt that the unexplained seasonal color changes in the dark regions of Mars might indicate plant growth. (Kotulak, Chic. Trib., 10/14/65)
Aerobee 150 sounding rocket, launched by NASA from White Sands Missile Range to study the ultraviolet radiation of Orion and a group of stars, reached 114-mi. (183.5-km.) altitude and performed successfully. (NASA Rpt. SRL)
NASA had awarded Thiokol Chemical Corp, approximate $16-million, multiple-incentive-development contract to develop a 100-lb.-thrust rocket engine for use in spacecraft attitude control and maneuvering systems and for launch vehicle ullage and attitude control systems. Designated C-1, the engine would be powered by storable hypergolic liquid propellants. (NASA Release 65-322; MSFC Release 65-262)
NASA selected Lockheed Electronics Co. to negotiate cost-plus-award contract to provide computer, programing, and operational support services to Manned Spacecraft Center. The approximate $3,000,000 contract would be for one year with provisions for two one-year renewals. (NASA Release 65-323)
Telecomputing Services, Inc, was selected by NASA for negotiations leading to two-year, cost-plus-award-fee contract for computer operations and data processing services at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. The contract, expected to exceed $4 million, would include an option for an additional year increasing the value by $2 million. (NASA Release 65-324)
Former Astronaut John H. Glenn, Jr. (Col. USMC, Ret.), visited Pope Paul VI at Vatican City and accepted a medal commemorating the Pontiff's October 4 visit to the United Nations. (Reuters, NYT, 10/14/65, 32; AP, Wash. Eve, Star, 10/14/65, A-2)
The problem of the moon's origin should be solved when Surveyor spacecraft had sent samples of the lunar surface to earth, predicted Dr. Harold C. Urey, Nobel prize-winning chemist, at a news conference during the meeting of the National Academy of Sciences in Seattle. Absence of terrestrial matter in lunar soil would indicate that the moon originated elsewhere in the solar system, Urey said. (AP, Wash, Eve, Star, 10/13/65)
Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara, addressing 4,000 employees and officials of Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corp, warned Grumman to reduce contract proposals sharply if it expected to gain a share of future defense contracts. McNamara said Grumman's proposals for construction of a portion of the F-111 fighter's tail assembly were "higher than other competitive sources. "There is no question in my mind that you can reduce costs on this $1 billion contract. They've got to come down," he said. The contract he was referring to had not yet been awarded. McNamara, accompanied by Senator Robert F. Kennedy (D-N.Y,) and Asst, Secretary of Defense Arthur Sylvester, was making a brief tour of defense plants on Long Island. (Maiorana, NYT, 10/14/65, 41)
Pre-Continent III, 30-ton sphere in which six men lived and worked 330 ft, beneath the sea off the French Riviera for three weeks, surfaced after its inhabitants had erected and maintained a mock sea-bottom petroleum drilling rig without ever surfacing for air. The men would remain in the sphere until Oct. 16 when the atmospheric pressure in the capsule was expected to be low enough to permit emergence without danger. Object of this experiment, conceived by Jacques-Yves Cousteau, was to avoid need for frequent decompressions by placing workers' dormitories on the ocean's floor to allow more working time and less transition time per diver. Such a technique would permit man to mine minerals and cultivate underwater plants to ease the world's food shortage problem, Cousteau said. Sealab II, a similar experiment by U.S. Navy, was completed Oct. 10. (Reuters, NYT, 10/15/65, 12; UPI, Wash, Post, 10/14/65, A27)
$13-million, 140-ft.-wide radiotelescope, one of the largest in the world, was dedicated at Green Bank, W. 'Va., by the National Radio Astronomy Observatory. It would be able to amplify radio emissions from deep space. (Wash, Post, 10/14/65, A15)
Increase in private flying was reported by FAA, with prediction that pilot certificates issued during 1965 would exceed the previous high of 117,902 certificates issued in 1957. During the first six months of 1965, FAA issued 61,744 pilot certificates, an increase of 22% over the same period in 1964. (FAA Release 65-92)
In answer to the query "Is a permanent role waiting in space for military astronauts," Robert Brunn in the Christian Science Monitor quoted an Air Force official as saying: "No strategy is known for space as yet. We can't use space the way the cowboys and Indians used high ground for advantage, nor the way the Air Force in World War II climbed to altitude and dove out of the sun, "Something with military importance may turn up in the next five years. The Air Force doesn't know what the usefulness of space will be..." (Brunn, CSM, 10/13/65, 14)
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31
