Sep 20 1966
From The Space Library
September 20-22: NASA’s 2,204-1b. SURVEYOR II (Surveyor B) was successfully launched from ETR’s Complex 36 at 8:32 a.m. EDT. After excellent injection by Atlas-Centaur (AC-7) launch vehicle on trajectory toward moon’s Sinus Medii, spacecraft successfully accomplished all required sequences up to midcourse maneuver. Initiated at 1:00 a.m. EDT Sept. 21, the 9.8 sec. thrust phase was unsuccessful because one of three vernier engines failed to ignite, which caused spacecraft to tumble at about 1 rps. Thirty-nine additional attempts were made to start all three engines. In all cases, the same two engines ignited; the third did not. JPL engineers, uncertain of cause of malfunction, speculated it might be result of stuck valve or insufficient power to operate engine’s triggering mechanism. They said unless it was corrected, SURVEYOR II could not soft-land since all three vernier engines were needed to stabilize spacecraft during decelerating descent to lunar surface. On Sept. 22, when it became apparent the mission could not be completed, engineering experiments were performed to obtain as much data as possible on spacecraft performance. All communication with spacecraft was lost 30 sec. after main retro ignition at 5:34 a.m. EDT. Probable cause was mechanical failure within telecommunications subsystem due to centrifugal forces generated by high tumbling rate. SURVEYOR II impacted in area of moon southeast of crater Copernicus about 11:18 p.m. EDT. Spacecraft was second in series of seven flights to prove out design, develop technology of lunar soft-landing, and provide basic scientific and engineering data in support of Project Apollo; it contained survey television system and instrumentation to measure lunar surface bearing strength, temperatures, and radar reflectivity. SURVEYOR I, identically equipped, was launched May 30, successfully soft-landed on moon June 2 in region of Oceanus Procellarum, and transmitted 10,338 pictures to earth. Surveyor program was under direction of OSSA’s Lunar and Planetary Div.; project management was assigned to JPL; Atlas-Centaur booster was managed by LRC; prime contractor for spacecraft development and design was Hughes Aircraft Co. ‘‘(NASA Release 66-248; NASA Proj. Off.; AP, Wash. Post, 9/21/66, A l; Wilford, NYT, 9/22/66, 2; NYT. 9/23/66. 25)’’
During White House meeting with President Johnson, NASA Administrator James E. Webb discussed current status of national space program and showed President two previously unreleased color photographs-one of southern Texas, the other of Baja California taken from 180-mi. altitude during Sept. 12-15 GEMINI XI mission. Following meeting, Webb announced that Astronauts Richard F. Gordon, Jr., and Neil A. Armstrong would leave Oct. 7 for three-week tour of 10 Latin American nations : Venezuela, Ecuador, Colombia, Peru, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay, Argentina, and Chile. ‘‘(Wash. Eve. Star, 9/21/66, A4)’’
Project Eros (Earth Resources Observation Satellite)-program to gather facts about earth’s natural resources from earth-orbiting satellites with remote sensing observation instruments-was announced by Secretary of the Interior Stewart L. Udall: “Facts on distribution of needed minerals, our water supplies and the extent of water pollution, agricultural crops and forests and human habitations, can be used for regional and continental long-range planning.” Udall named Dr. William T. Pecora, Director of U.S. Geological Survey, to head program. ‘‘(Beckman, Chic. Trib., 9/21/66; CR, 9/27/66, 23171-2)’’
Simulated Aerobee 150 was launched from WSMR to 2-mi. (3.2-km.) altitude in GSFC flight test of proposed new Aerobee booster. Instrumentation performed satisfactorily, and booster performance was excellent. ‘‘(NASA Rpt. SRL)’’
USAF launched unidentified satellite with Thor-Agena D booster from WTR. ‘‘(US. Aeron. & Space Act., 1966, 156)’’
Rep. George P. Miller (D-Calif.), chairman of the House Committee on Science and Astronautics, told the National Space Club in Washington, D.C., that the national space program provided the best possible workshop for gathering of vital science and technology necessary for other important goals on earth: “In other words, from space research and development have come new methods of thinking, new techniques of management, new marriages of scientific disciplines, and a new illumination on possible interrelationships of human problems to scientific knowledge.” During question and answer period, Rep. Miller said there would be a “very definite mission” for the 260-in.-dia. solid propellant motor in the U.S. space program, although that mission could not presently be strictly defined. He said the Nation would have to develop space rescue capability and one apparently promising way to do this was through the use of solids. Solids, he pointed out, were storable and could be readied and launched on short notice. ‘‘(Text, MIS Daily, 9/21/66, 22)’’
M2-F2 lifting body vehicle, piloted by L/C Donald Sorlie (USAF), was air-launched from B-52 aircraft at 45.000-ft. altitude in seventh glide flight at Edwards AFB; purpose of flight was checkout of new $lot. ‘‘(NASA Proj. Off.)’’
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