Nov 28 1965
From The Space Library
Canadian ALOUETTE II and American EXPLORER XXXI (Direct Measurement Explorer) were launched in a pick-a-back configuration by NASA from the Western Test Range with a single Thor-Agena B booster. Their orbital parameters were nearly identical: apogee, 1,837 mi. (2,958 km,) ; perigee, 329 mi. (516.8 km,) ; period, 121 min.; inclinations, 80°. The two satellites would make related studies of the earth's ionosphere as they orbited in close proximity, Both the 323-lb. ALOUETTE II and the 218-lb. EXPLORER XXXI were performing well. Called Isis-X, the double-launch project was first in a new NASA-DRB (Canadian Defense Research Board) program for International Satellites for Ionospheric Studies (Isis). ( NASA Release 65-355; GSFC)
Lights flashing earthward from 1,000 mi, in space were giving scientists their first operational workout with geodetic satellite EXPLORER XXIX launched by NASA Nov. 6 from Eastern Test Range, From a site about 100 mi. south of Cape Kennedy, five different types of camera systems were set to record on each clear night the one millisecond bursts of light from EXPLORER XXIX's four lamps, In this first programed exercise, the Jupiter Calibration Experiment, the cameras were positioned side-by-side at the Jupiter, Fla, Baker-Nunn Camera Station of the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, Simultaneous use of the different camera systems would permit validation of data and procedures required for later phases of the NASA EXPLORER XXIX project that called for mutual visibility by ground stations equipped with optical and electronic tracking equipment. Calibration of the camera systems would be an important step in realizing maximum utilization of the NASA satellite and participating ground stations in the National Geodetic Satellite Program. (NASA Release 65-365)
Jane's All the World's Aircraft carried a description of how Soviet cosmonauts were ejected from their space capsules at 23,000 ft, after reentry into earth's atmosphere. The yearbook also published detailed descriptions of the Soviet spaceship VOSTOK I, the world's first manned earth satellite. It showed a picture of the 120-ft, ballistic missile that was displayed last May in a Moscow parade and reported that the missile was a sister vehicle to the "mighty booster" that launched the Vostok in 196I Jane's also obtained information on a large Soviet hovercraft still under construction and published a photograph taken at the shipyard. (AP, NYT, 11/29/65)
The growing debate about what the next step in manned spaceflight should be was roughly divided into three schools, according to Howard Simons in the Washington Post: (1) a negative "Let's do nothing at all after landing men on the moon" school; (2) a "wild-space-yonder" school wanting to try everything; and (3) a "school of thought that would make do with what we are now developing through modification and imagination before taking expensive new steps into the heavens." He said the latter view would mean using Saturn IBs and Vs to launch modified Apollo spacecraft on largely scientific space ventures, possibly as early as 1968. (Simons, Wash. Post, 11/28/65)
November 28-December 1: The Committee on Space of the National Citizens' Commission on International Cooperation recommended nine possible areas of international space cooperation at the White House Conference on International Cooperation: (1) new launching sites for satellites; (2) multipurpose navigation satellite systems; (3) experimental data-gathering satellite system; (4) synoptic sounding rocket investigations; (5) applications of communications satellites; (6) mutual assistance between national and international tracking and data acquisition networks; (7) exploration of the distant planets; (8) remote sensing; and (9) international convention to govern human activity on the moon. (Text)
Vice President Hubert H. Humphrey, in opening remarks at the session on international space cooperation, said: "I want to support what I understand to be the central argument of the report. "We have done well so far in pursuing our objective of international cooperation, "Our cooperative projects have borne witness to our peaceful aims in space ... involved foreign intellectual and material resources in our programs ., and established patterns of cooperation that further our goal of a stable world. "But the future demands a new level of effort." (Text)
The Honorable Earl Warren, Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, speaking at the White House Conference, said: "We live at a time when the whole world is being made over socially, economically, scientifically and even intellectually. Our era has witnessed such dramatic achievements as flight faster than sound, the splitting of the atom, miracle drugs, and manned satellites hurling through space. Rapid and turbulent changes in the scientific, economic, and social fields, almost too numerous to name, daily defy evaluation on the basis of prior standards and experience. Vistas of endless space have opened as man's horizons have widened to encompass the universe. At a pace beyond dreaming the whole pattern of our existence is being reshaped. To ensure that these changes work for the benefit of mankind, law must be developed rapidly enough in the world community to cope with the problems they raise and to harness their potential for peaceful and productive ends." (Text)
The Committee on Science and Technology of the National Citizens' Commission on International Cooperation said at the Conference that cooperation in science already "is an extensive and integral part of life" but that the same thing was not true in the development and application of technology. The Committee urged an international earthquake prediction program, a world oceanography organization, and a "greatly accelerated" program to disseminate technology "for improving the basic needs of man-such as nutrition, sanitation, health, shelter, and communications." (Text)
An Inter-American Skyway, linking cities in Latin America with each other and to North American centers, was suggested by the Committee on Aviation. The Skyway was needed, the Committee said, because airports, controlled airways, navigation aids, safety rules, and other services "lag behind the speed, number and variety" of aircraft on Latin American routes, as they do throughout the world. (Text)
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