Apr 12 1967
From The Space Library
U.S.S.R. marked Cosmonautics Day-anniversary of first manned space flight by Cosmonaut Yuri A. Gagarin, in 1961-by launching Cosmos CLV. Orbital parameters apogee, 286 km (178 mi); perigee, 203 km (126 mi); period, 89.2 min; and inclination, 51.8°. Satellite reentered April 20. (UPI, W Star, 4/12/67, 1; GSFC SSR, 4/30/67)
NASA had been concerned about oxygen fire danger prior to Jan. 27 flash fire and had taken steps to curb the danger, NASA Associate Administrator for Manned Space Flight Dr. George E. Mueller told the House Committee on Science and Astronautics' Subcommittee on NASA Oversight. NASA felt it "had control of the sources of ignition . . . [but] underestimated badly . . . the course such a fire would take. If more thorough testing of flammable materials used in the cockpit had been conducted, the accident might not have happened." He denied emphatically April 11 suggestion by NAA Director of Research and Engineering Dr. John F. McCarthy that Astronaut Gus Grissom could have triggered the fire by kicking loose a wire, and said he generally agreed with the Apollo 204 Review Board's criticisms of deficiencies in project operations, conceding: "We were wrong in the standards we applied to the selection of materials for the spacecraft." Efforts were currently being directed toward eliminating flammable cockpit materials such as nylon and replacing them with glass fiber cloth and Teflon plastic. Although a study was also under way to assess the relative merits of pure oxygen and two-gas life-support systems, Dr. Mueller doubted that present system would be abandoned. In answer to specific questions concerning escape and rescue, Dr. Charles A. Berry, Director of Medical Research and Operations at MSC, testified that the astronauts had died from asphyxia before the spacecraft hatch was opened and that their burns alone would not have caused death. Apollo Program Director M/G Samuel C. Phillips told the Committee that his concern "about the load of work on NAA" had prompted an inspection by a NASA team of NAA's Downey, Calif., plant. He had reported to NAA President J. Leland Atwood Dec. 19,1965, "some of things that if done differently would contribute to the progress of the program," and on April 22, 1966, noted that progress was satisfactory: NAA was "completely responsive to the programs we described . . . and a very aggressive effort . . . was applied to these problems." He declined to discuss specifics as requested by Rep. William F. Ryan (D-N.Y.) but indicated that NASA would consider releasing his report to the subcommittee [see April 18]. (Wilford, NYT, 4/13/67,52; Reistrup, W Post, 4/13/67, A2)
LaRC engineers successfully completed first of two planned orbit adjustments to place NASA's LUNAR ORBITER II and III spacecraft in favorable position for major lunar eclipse April 24. Adjustment, made by burning velocity-control engine of Lunar Orbiter III for five seconds, decreased spacecraft's period by 57 sec to shorten length of time it would be in darkness during eclipse to 1 hr 20 min. Scientists speculated that power system of spacecraft-which experienced one hour of darkness per orbit-would not be able to survive four-hour dark period that would have occurred during eclipse without adjustment. Orbit of LUNAR ORBITER II would be adjusted April 14. (NASA Release 67-87)
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Earle G. Wheeler (USA) and Deputy Secretary of Defense Cyrus Vance endorsed the space law treaty at hearings by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. "The treaty," Vance said, "is one of the finest reflections of the people of our time meeting their duty-their duty to themselves and to future importance. It is a treaty of practical importance. We have studied this problem carefully . . . [and] looked at the implications for weapons development programs and at verification consideration, and we have concluded that this treaty will enhance our national security." General Wheeler added that he had "no military objection" to the treaty and believed it could "potentially keep the vast new frontier of space free of obstacles to international peace and order." (W Star, 4/12/67, A B; NYT, 4/13/67, 52)
At NASA request, NAS would conduct Space Applications Summer Study at Woods Hole, Mass., during summer 1967 and 1968 to determine how orbiting satellites could best be used for practical benefits on earth. Participants would review present US. programs and plans for peaceful applications of earth satellites; consider and evaluate probable future uses of satellites in a variety of areas; and provide advice on nature and scope of R&D programs necessary to achieve the possibilities. The 1967 session would "provide first judgment on . . . most immediately useful applications of satellites." The 1968 session would reach final recommendations on future satellite uses. Lehigh Univ. President W. Deming Lewis was named chairman of the Central Review Committee, which would oversee the study. Work would be conducted within NRC's Engineering Div. with Laser Inc., vice-president Eugene T. Booth serving as study's executive director. (NAS-NRC Release)
Many building blocks of life, "and possibly life itself," may exist on Jupiter, ARC scientists Dr. Cyril S. Ponnamperuma and Fritz Woeller suggested at American Chemical Society meeting in Miami. Using electrical discharges as an energy source the scientists had simulated activity of Jupiter's upper atmosphere and produced numerous building blocks common to life on earth. They concluded that energy transfer and resulting chemical processes in Jupiter's turbulent atmosphere--similar to processes believed to have produced life on earth-"may produce organic chemicals such as the forerunner compounds of amino acids and of the living cell nucleus." (NASA Release 67-79; ARC Release 6 7 4 )
Karl G. Harr, Jr., President of Aerospace Industries Assn., speaking before Aerospace Security Analysts in New York City, stated: "The aerospace industry today is the nation's largest industrial employer accounting for in excess of 1,250,000 jobs [and] is the nation's largest manufacturing exporter, in excess of $1.5 billion [and] employs more than one-fifth of the nation's privately employed scientists and engineers." He reported that 1966 sales approached $24 billion. Harr added: ". . . the industry as a whole has never been healthier or sounder." This soundness he attributed to ". . . stability of the government segment of the market [and] recent and projected growth of civil aviation of all kinds [and] the beginnings of successful application of aerospace capabilities to a wide range of non-aerospace activities. . . ." (Text)
Hall of Aerospace Art would become "an integral part" of the new National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution announced. Permanent collection already included paintings and drawings of NASA manned space flight projects by Norman Rockwell and Chesley Bonestell and 18th and 19th century prints illustrating balloon flight. (Smithsonian Institution Release)
Prof. G. A. Tokaty of The City University, London, speaking to Royal Aeronautical Society's Astronautics and Guided Flight Section meeting, in London, said: ". . . the Soviets have been (from about 1962) . . . working on a rocket system of 7 to 9 million lb thrust. Evidence of a general nature suggests that they are making good progress and have now reached an advanced stage in achieving a payload-carrying capability of the order of 400,000 to 550,000 lb. . . ." He added: "In the USSR, space science and technology have become an impressive source of new ideas, theories, industrial methods, especially in electro-radio-electronic instrument design [and] all these revolutionised the Soviet precision industry and accelerated the development of the national economy as a whole." (Text)
MSFC Director Dr. Wernher von Braun presented Henry Ricketts a $1,625 NASA suggestion award-largest sum ever awarded for an employee suggestion-for new method of removing coating from printed circuit boards. Method shortened removal time from 15 min to two minutes and reduced costs by $571,750 the first year. (MSFC Release 67-80)
USAF successfully launched Titan II ICBM from Vandenberg AFB toward target in the Pacific. (UPI, W Post, 4/13/67, A22)
Javelin sounding rocket launched from Churchill Research Range, Canada, reached 496-mi (798-km) altitude in Southwest Center for Advanced Studies/Defence Research Telecommunications Establishment experiment to determine in conjunction with an overpass of an Isis satellite: vertical distribution of flux and energy spectra of soft electrons during a mild ionospheric disturbance; vertical distribution of thermal ion and electron densities and temperature of various species of ions; and flight qualification of a soft-electron spectrometer to be flown on ISIS-A spacecraft. Rocket and instrumentation performed satisfactorily. (NASA Rpt SRL)
Number of mid-air aircraft collisions could be reduced "if pilots accept the idea that the plane can be quicker than the eye," Lockheed Aircraft Co. aviation psychologist Dr. Earl J. Ends said in a Washington, D.C., interview. According to his calculations based on ideal conditions: "A pilot flying 600 miles an hour will travel 88 feet from the time his eye spots an oncoming plane until the message is relayed to the brain. By the time the brain interprets the message, the plane has flown 920 feet. When the pilot decides to climb, descend or turn, he has already covered 2,680 feet. And by the time he carries out his decision the plane has covered 4,792 feet. Put another way, one of the pilots would have to see the other plane 9,548 feet away before he could change course to avoid a collision. (UPI, NYT, 4/13/67,74)
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