Apr 27 1964
From The Space Library
NASA announced Langley Research Center would conduct tests with Boeing 707 air transport prototype to find ways to lower landing and takeoff distances required for large jet transports. NASA pilots and engineers would study performance and handling characteristics of the aircraft in three-month program. (NASA Release 64-100)
House Committee on Science and Astronautics" Subcommittee on NASA Oversight began hearings on Project Ranger. Subcommittee Chairman Rep. Joseph E. Karth (D.-Minn.) remarked that "the action that precipitated these hearings are letters which Mr. Webb addressed to the chairman of the two space committees" (March 31 letters to Senator Anderson and Representative Miller outlining problems with Ranger spacecraft). (Wash. Eve. Star, 4/27/64)
Dr. Homer E. Newell, NASA Associate Administrator for Space Sciences and Applications, said before House Subcommittee on NASA Oversight about Project Ranger: .. From the outset, the concept was advanced. It was conceived to seize the initiative in space exploration from the Soviet as well as to obtain important information about the moon. Had it succeeded, it certainly would have been a major first for this country, and it may still obtain that objective. The spacecraft itself is quite complex. . . . It is comparable to the most sophisticated launch vehicles in terms of electromechanical system complexity. Launch vehicles developed in this country have typically taken 20 or more flights to achieve 50% reliability. Some have not done much better than this after many more firings. Indeed, we have read recently that last year there were 13 consecutive failures of the Atlas. In addition, the Discoverer project took 13 at-tempts to recover its first payload from orbit. Polaris experienced 5 initial failures before its first success. Skybolt experienced 5 flights without achieving complete mission success. In each of these projects, partial success in early flights helped improve later flights. Although I believe Skybolt was dropped for other reasons, Atlas, Discoverer, and Polaris all went on to become vital elements in the defense posture of this country. "Ranger is going through this same process. We have solved some of our launch vehicle problems to the point where the reliability is improving appreciably. The basic spacecraft bus has been retained and has now demonstrated its capability to deliver a payload to a precise spot on the lunar surface. We now must make the payload work. The payload also is pushing the state of the art in high power television telemetry'. This was necessary to obtain high resolution photographs. . . "Our reviews of the Ranger system continue to convince us of its capability of performing the mission. While we know we cannot have 100% reliability with launch vehicle, spacecraft, or payload, we expect to achieve at least one complete success with the remaining three flights.. . . "Ranger is a tough job. Although success has eluded us, it is within our grasp. We must have the fortitude to proceed. Space will only be conquered by those who do have such fortitude. It might 'be well to point out that our competitors in this area of exploration are not lacking in this respect. It is reported that the Soviet Union has failed in from 15 to 20 consecutive lunar and planetary mission attempts since Lunik III photographed the back side of the moon in 1959. "Even should subsequent Rangers fail through unforeseen causes, we must move ahead. We must look at the totality of the space program. . . . The over-all picture is very good and is most convincing of this country's capability to successfully complete these undertakings. The trends are all in our favor. . . ." (Testimony)
Oran W. Nicks, Director of NASA Lunar and Planetary Programs, presented history and status of the Ranger project to the Subcommittee on NASA Oversight, detailing in particular the recommendations of NASA Board of Inquiry (Kelley Board) prior to RANGER VI and the Hilburn Board following RANGER VI. Hilburn report outlined: (1) design changes effected after analyses of RANGER VI flight Bata; (2) changes agreed to be desirable "if properly evaluated and qualifier"; and (3) board recommendations "not entirely resolved by OSSA and JPL." Notable change in the first category: NASA would closely monitor Ranger test program at JPL, would have to concur in spacecraft's flightworthiness before it could be shipped. (Testimony)
USAF launched Thor-Agena D booster combination from Vandenberg AFB, Calif., with unidentified satellite payload. (UPI, Wash. Post, 4/28/64)
Four-day Conference on Space Nutrition and Related Waste Problems, sponsored by NASA and organized with assistance of National Academy of Sciences" Space Science Board, opened in Tampa, Fla., with some 200 engineers and scientists attending. In introductory remarks at Conference, NASA Associate Administrator 'or Advanced Research and Technology Dr. Raymond Bisplinghoff said that in both the life sciences and the physical sciences, "when we strip away the unessentials, we are really dealing with the conversion and control of energy. There is the muscle with its tiny fibrils on the one hand and the chemical fuel energy converters on the other. There are the electrical activities of the brain and nerve impulses on the one hand and the computer and feedback loop on the other. "The state of man's technology in every age has depended on his ability to convert and control energy. The Industrial Revolution brought on an economic structure that could not be operated without knowledge of the equivalence of different forms of energy. . . . "The opportunities that are now presented for advancements in energy conversion and control are breathtaking. New methods of energy con-version from solar, chemical, and nuclear energy sources which will be useful to all of mankind are being pioneered in the space program.. . Perhaps the most dramatic energy conversion devices in the NASA program are the propulsion devices that convert chemical or nuclear energy to kinetic energy. The Nerva rocket engine converts nuclear energy to kinetic vehicle energy by passing liquid hydrogen through a graphite reactor at 6000° R and ejects it through a nozzle. In these devices we Will convert as much energy as is converted by the Grand Coulee Dam in a device about the size of an American motor car. . . ." (Text)
Dr. Charles S. Sheldon of NASC staff said in address at the Conference: . . As of April 24, the United States had orbited 203 payloads, and the Soviet Union 65 since 1957. But weight comparisons are quite different. They have put up about three times as much net payload as we have. What is more discouraging, every year for the last five years, the lead of the Soviet Union in that year has grown larger than it was for the year before. . . "My best assessment is that the Soviet [space] program has close to the same variety of goals as our own, including undertaking very complex missions. Let us look at just the main outlines. "Scientific Exploration in Earth Orbit: The Soviet Union is clearly interested in more than spectaculars. In the Earth-orbital regime. it has put up 28 Kosmos class scientific and engineering-test satellites With a minimum of fanfare, and these have included a range of experiments. . . . Additionally the pair of Elektron satellites are providing synoptic measurements of the radiation belts out to 40,000 miles. "Space Applications: When it comes to practical applications of unmanned satellites, the United States has the lead in demonstrated accomplishments.... But similar flight operations are not beyond Soviet capabilities. . "Lunar and Planetary Probes: . . . In absolute number of launchings the Soviet Union has made a larger commitment to such flights than we have. As a percentage of total flight effort, their commitment for that purpose is running about five-fold our own. And they use larger vehicles by far. Take a part of the comparative planetary effort for example. Of our two launch attempts to date, the 447-pound Mariner II carried about 40 pounds of instruments near Venus and returned some data. We are rightfully proud of this accomplishment. "The Soviet pattern has been to orbit 14,300-pound platforms from which a probe weighing up to 2,000 exclusive of the rocket casing can be launched on the interplanetary trajectory. Between 1960 and 1962, ten such launchings Were made. Typically, the comparison is a difficult one to make. We met with a great success in Mariner II. Not one of the Soviet craft attained its full objective. . . . "While neither country should be overly proud of its lunar probe record, the pictures taken by Lunik III back in 1959 are still a high-water mark. "Manned Space Flight: . . . Through the 1963 season each country had made six manned launchings, and neither side had killed an astronaut or cosmonaut. Stories to the contrary are fabrications. . "Human Safety: . . . The Russians sent up without recovery Laika, four years before Gagarin. The Vostok ship itself completed 100 orbits of fully controlled flight, including successful recovery of four dogs, before the first man was sent. . . . "Future Manned Missions: . . To the best of our knowledge, the Russians have not yet demonstrated a launch system capable of convenient manned flight to the Moon for a landing and return. But then, if we chose to practice Soviet-style security around our launch sites and factories, there would be no hard evidence available to foreigners that the United States is building a lunar capability either. . . . "Because we are not permitted to inspect their facilities, we have to do our best by inference to judge the truth of their repeated statements that they intend to be first in ambitious manned flights. . . . With all this circumstantial evidence I feel it is entirely possible and even prob-able that they are planning officially to make long-duration and distant manned flights. . . . "I feel we have the knowledge, the manpower, the resources, and the facilities, to mount the finest space program in the world. I feel it is worth undertaking on its own merits. I am also aware that we are in a race with a competent and tough-minded competitor. We must recognize the nature of this race and organize to meet it, not by year-by-year reactions, but with sound, consistent planning. . . ." (Text)
At American Physical Society Meeting, the planet Jupiter was reported to be rotating slower. Prof. Alex G. Smith said in 1961 radio sources showed an abrupt change in rotational rate; observations made by radio observatories in Florida and Chile showed that the rotation had slowed by 13 sec. Dr. Smith said this was "almost as surprising as if the city of Washington bad begun to drift across the surface of the earth at a rate of 10 degrees longitude a year." Studies were continuing to determine whether Jupiter itself had changed its rotation or whether the change was limited to radio sources. (Finney, NYT, 4/28/64,19)
The "complete success" of Project Vela high-altitude nuclear-detection satellites led DOD's Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) to expand and revise the project. Future launchings had been rescheduled farther apart so that subsequent satellites could incorporate any major improvements between launchings, according to ARPA Director Dr. R. L. Sproull. (M&R, 4/27/64, 11)
Neutron star, detected by x-ray instruments aboard sounding rocket launched last year from White Sands Missile Range, was discussed in paper delivered to National Academy of Sciences by NRL astrophysicist Dr. Herbert Friedman. The invisible star, located in constellation Scorpio, emits about 10 billion times more x-ray intensity than visible light, he said, and density of the star was probably about one billion tons to the cubic inch. Star's surface was "so hot that practically all its luminosity is in the form of X-ray." Another experiment to detect a suspected neutron star in the Crab Nebula was being planned for July 7. (Hines, Wash. Eve. Star, 4/27/64; Haseltine, Wash. Post, 4/28/64; Sullivan, NYT, 4/28/64,19)
AFSC announced new graphite refractory coatings for use in aerospace vehicles had been developed by Research and Technology Division's Air Force Materials Laboratory. Materials research engineer Khodabakhsh S. Mazdiyasni applied for patent on the process of coating graphite with zirconium oxide. (AFSC Release 43-13-64)
Nine-member Republican study group on space and aeronautics, chaired by Rep. Charles S. Gubser (Calif.), said President Johnson had shown a "shocking lack of confidence in United States aircraft manufacturers" with his decision to re-examine the U.S. supersonic transport program. Rep. Gubser charged the decision would "doom the United States to second place in the high-performance transport field." (AP, NYT, 5/3/64, 68)
Remarks of Dr. James R. Killian, Jr., president of MIT, to an MIT alumni group, appeared in Aviation Week: "The growth of our innovation industry-shorthand for 'research, development, test and evaluation"-is a measure of the progress of the U.S. toward becoming a research-based society. From the very earliest days of the Republic, it has been recognized that knowledge is power and that the nation grew stronger by taming nature than it could by framing ideologies. So today we have the research society, affluent in the production of knowledge as well as dollars, with planned discovery, innovation, and experiment constantly renewing its vitality and harnessing the future for the benefit of the present. . . ." (Av. Wk., 4/27/64, 21)
Prospect that U.S. supersonic transport development program management would be transferred from FAA to DOD reported in Aviation Week. "It now appears that Defense Dept. will be assigned over-all management responsibility for development, with FAA acting as a contracting agency. . . ." (Av. Wk., 4/27/64, 38)
Plans for formation of National Academy of Engineering were drawn up by committee of 25 leading engineers appointed by NAS president Dr. Frederick Seitz. The committee, which would seek Congressional charter for the proposed academy, elected Dr. Augustus B. Kinzel, Union Carbide Corp.'s Vice President for Research, as chairman. (NAS-NRC Release)
Ray Romatowski, NASA Deputy Assistant Administrator for Legislative Affairs, was among the 12 Federal employees selected by Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs to study at Princeton Univ. during 1964-65 academic year. ( Wash. Post, 4/27/64)
Astronomer Dr. Willem J. Luyten of the Univ. of Minnesota received the James Craig Watson Medal of the National Academy of Sciences at NAS Annual Meeting in Washington. The medal, the Academy's oldest, recognized Dr. Luyten's contributions to understanding of white-dwarf stars. (NAS-NRC Release)
DOD renamed the A-11 supersonic aircraft the YF12A. A-11 had been the code-designation by manufacturer Lockheed Aircraft Corp., while YF12A would be a military designation. DOD called it an "interceptor aircraft" (UPI, Wash. Post, 4/28/64)
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