Jan 5 1967
From The Space Library
NASA Administrator James E. Webb addressed Armed Forces Reserves Joint Assembly at NASA Hq. "It is a mistake to think of the space program only in terms of the rockets and spacecraft we launch. These are the focal points of our attention, but we are also developing the ability to organize and manage vast scientific and technical enterprises that involve large segments of our economic, social, and political decision-making process. This complex interdevelopment of technological power and of the social organization necessary to control, direct, and exploit it . . . is a central element of the space age." (Text)
Press briefing on future OSSA programs was held at NASA Hq. Edgar M. Cortright, Deputy Administrator for Space Science and Applications, served as moderator. Associate Administrator for Space Science and Applications Dr. Homer E. Newell stressed the importance of basic research to all national scientific programs. ". . . the results of basic research are vital to the realization of practical applications. When we began the NASA program, we had the sounding rocket, we had the capability of putting together small satellite launchers and to apply those techniques, and we built the best program on those techniques that we could. Now we have manned flight capabilities; we have large boosters, the ability to get out further into the solar system than ever before. . . . Now is the time to profit by those capabilities, to continue the basic research." Sunblazer probe that could be launched into orbit around the sun and transmit radio signals back to earth was discussed by Jesse L. Mitchell, Director of Physics and Astronomy Programs. Spacecraft would determine electron density in solar atmosphere by measuring time it took signals to travel from spacecraft back to earth. NASA was also considering a plan to launch a satellite toward Jupiter, then use Jupiter's magnetic field to push the spacecraft toward other planets and eventually hurl it into space 1-10 trillion miles away. Oran W. Nicks, Director of Lunar and Planetary Programs, outlined plans for unmanned missions to Mars and Venus, beginning with a small instrumented probe scheduled for launch in June 1967. In the 1971 Mars and 1972 Venus missions, teams of two spacecraft would be launched by a modified Saturn V booster. One spacecraft would penetrate planet's atmosphere ; take measurements as it sped toward planet's surface; and flash data to the second spacecraft- programed to fly past the planet-before crashlanding. Data would be transmitted to earth by the flyby spacecraft. Missions would pave the way for later spacecraft with improved equipment-possibly including TV cameras-to softland on the planets. Thumb-sized desert mice fitted with tiny radio transmitters and telemetry equipment which could broadcast mouse's temperature up to six months were being conditioned for future space flight, Dr. Orr E. Reynolds, Director of Bioscience Programs, disclosed. "Astromouse"-which ate only sunflower seeds and never drank water-might be orbited with three astronauts in Apollo spacecraft. Others might be launched into interplanetary space in a Pioneer study of biological specimens outside earth`s gravitational field. Plans for a multi-purpose satellite that would combine the functions of many unmanned spacecraft currently in orbit were revealed by Dr. Morris Tepper, Deputy Director of Space Applications and Director of Meteorology. Developed under unified space applications program, satellite would carry equipment to observe weather conditions ; relay communications to distant earth stations ; provide navigation traffic control for ships and aircraft; and compile data on earth`s natural resources. No mention of unmanned scientific lunar probes was made during the briefing. When asked later in an interview whether he thought interest in unmanned exploration of the moon would diminish after astronauts landed, Dr. Newell replied: "Not at all." Although astronauts would dominate lunar exploration, unmanned Surveyor spacecraft would probably land in unsafe areas, and Lunar Orbiter photography missions would continue for mapping. Discussion of unmanned lunar missions had been omitted because "we wanted to tell about the newer of new things in our thinking." (Transcript; Hines, W Star, 1/8/67, A16)
U.S. must "answer the post-Apollo question . . . very soon,' Douglas Aircraft Co. Vice President and General Manager J. P. Rogan told AIAA/AAS Space Forum in Washington, D.C. He suggested that U S . develop five "building blocks" which would maintain options for any future course of action chosen: (1) long-duration orbital experience; (2) reusable spacecraft ; (3) reusable launch vehicles ; (4) nuclear- powered stages; and (5) improved secondary power systems. (Text)
U.S.S.R. had developed a device that enabled jet aircraft to take off almost straight up, reaching the stratosphere "in a matter of minutes," Komsomolskaya Pravda reported. Article did not include detailed description of device but indicated it consisted of rocket engines that provided sudden thrust of tremendous force. (AP, NYT, 1/7/67, 10)
At least 200 Anglo-French Concorde supersonic aircraft would have already been sold by 1974 when the U.S. supersonic transport was scheduled to go into operation, Concorde sales manager E. H. Burgess speculated at a London news conference. Construction of first prototype, which would make its maiden flight Feb. 28, 1968, was two or three weeks ahead of schedule, he said. (AP, NYT, 1/6/67, 62M)
Refunds totaling $35 million "probably will be paid" by FAA to Lockheed Aircraft Corp. and Pratt & Whitney Div., United Aircraft Corp. for their losses in SST design competition, the Wall Street Journal speculated. Boeing Co. and General Electric Co. had been selected Dec. 31, 1966, to continue development and refinement of their SST designs. (WSI, 1/5/67)
Object, believed to be "probable" 10th moon of Saturn discovered by French astronomer Dr. Audouin Dollfus of Meudon Observatory in December 1966, had been sighted by Richard L. Walker of the US. Naval Observatory, Walter Sullivan reported in the New York Times. New moon, believed to be a 150-mi dia "snowball" of very light, frozen material, was in orbit 52,000 mi from Saturn with a period of 18 hrs. Confirmation was uncertain, however ; Walker, in a telephone interview, said the object was so close to the rings of Saturn that it could be a lump in the rings, rather than a moon. (Sullivan, NYT, 1/5/67, C17)
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