Oct 10 1966
From The Space Library
NASA Administrator James E. Webb told press conference in New York that U.S.S.R. had "a better chance now than two years ago" to land a man on the moon before the US. Basing his view on the Soviet lead in payload-orbiting capability, Webb said: "They have been launching and recovering 10,000-pound spacecraft for four years. You cannot work in space without large booster. He suggested that the 10-mo. period of Soviet inactivity in manned space flight would end "very soon." (Loory, NYT, 10/11/66)
Gemini Astronauts Richard F. Gordon, Jr., and Neil A. Armstrong were received in Bogota by Colombian President Carlos Lleras Restrepo during their three-week tour of Latin America. (UPI, Wash. Post, 10/11/66, B2)
LaRC awarded Douglas Aircraft Co. a one-year, $145,204 contract for management services and facilities related to Design Criteria Program for space vehicle structures. Program-with total contract estimated at $500,000-was established by NASA to acquaint contractors and program managers with recommended design-problem solutions that had evolved from experience in space technology and alert them to possible pitfalls. (NASA Release 66-264)
October 10: Johnson Administration could not increase NASA's FY 1968 budget because of Vietnam war, but it could make a policy decision on a post Apollo program, wrote Robert Hotz, in Aviation Week. "What it will take to get this effort going is some political courage to restate the necessity of proceeding beyond Apollo, a decision to chart a specific course from the available alternatives and some modest Fiscal 1968 funding to retain the technical resources that will be required for the future-particularly engineering and scientific manpower. This combination of activity has already been deferred one year beyond its critical moment by the Johnson Administration. Delay for another fiscal year could impose a braking effect from which eventual acceleration would be much more costly and much less effective." (Hotz, Av. Wk., 10/10/66, 21)
Dr. James A. Hootman, executive secretary of NASA's Inventions and Contributions Board, retired after 30 years Government service to become a professor of physics at Pensacola (Fla.) Junior College. (NASA Ann.)
October 10-15: XVIIth International Astronautical Federation Congress was held in Madrid. Opening ceremony, attended by Prince Juan Carlos, son of pretender to Spanish throne; Princess Sophia, his wife; and Queen Mother Fredericka of Greece, included speeches by IAF President Dr. William H. Pickering; International Academy of Astronautics President Dr. Charles Draper; International Institute of Space Law President Dr. I. Pepin; Spanish Astronautical Assn. President Pedro Huarte-Mendicoa y Larraga; and Spanish Air Minister Gen. Josk Lacalle Larraga. (GE Congress Reporter, 10/11/66, 1)
Dr. Hilliard W. Paige, vice president of General Electric Co., reported first known satellite collision: in April 1965 two experimental gravity gradient-stabilized satellites launched pickaback by Naval Research Lab. March 9, 1965, locked booms in their 1,756th revolution. After collision, satellites separated and quickly were stabilized by gravity gradient systems. They were still in orbit. Paige said NASA was currently reviewing GE study to equip a Saturn V 3rd stage with three-axis gravity-gradient system to orient vehicle as manned space laboratory. (GE Congress Reporter, 10/11/66, 1, 2)
Jack L. Bromberg and T. J. Gordon, Douglas Aircraft Co., Inc., Missile and Space Systems Div., said the asteroids between Mars and Jupiter could be investigated by utilizing basic Apollo/Saturn launch vehicles, launch facilities, tracking system, and manufacturing and engineering expertise. Bromberg said a three-stage Saturn V could propel a 7,000-lb. unmanned research payload into the asteroid belt and a four-stage Saturn V could propel a 22,000-lb. payload to same target. (GE Congress Reporter, 10/11/66, 3)
Dr. Luis Tapis Salinas, president of IX Colloquium on Law of Outer Space, urged changing present laws to cover situations that could arise in outer space. (GE Congress Reporter, 10/13/66, 1)
Richard Johnston, Chief of MSC Crew Systems Div., said that to work effectively in space, a future astronaut would require a more streamlined spacesuit, a better self-propulsion system, and an anchoring device such as "stable work platform which will permit his energies to be used in accomplishing the task and not in overcoming body instability." He said that during extravehicular activity on NASA's Gemini missions nearly 80 per cent of the astronauts' energy had been expended to keep still and avoid tumbling. Johnston also recommended further investigation of metabolic expenditures required to perform work in space: twice Gemini astronauts had been forced to return to their spacecraft, overheated and exhausted, after struggling with relatively simple tasks. (Wilford, NYT, 10/12/66, 24)
Dr. George E. Mueller, NASA Associate Administrator for Manned Space Flight, presented a comprehensive review of NASA's Gemini program and Dr. Charles A. Berry, Director of Medical Research and Operations at MSC, gave a detailed biomedical report on the Gemini missions. Observations on the effects of spaceflight on man's system had revealed significant changes involving only cardiovascular, hematopoietic, and musculoskeletal systems, but even these changes appeared to be adaptive in nature and were no cause for concern, Dr. Berry said. Results of a study on red blood cell loss during spaceflight were inconclusive, Dr. Berry reported; hyperoxia, lack of inert diluent gas, relative immobility of crew, dietary factors, and weightlessness were being examined as possible causes. (Tech. Wk., 10/17/66, 16)
Soviet scientists V. E. Belai, P. V. Vassilyev, and G. D.Glod reported significant changes in the effect of various pharmaceutical preparations" under spaceflight conditions and emphasized that new medicines adapted and tested for space were necessary. Report indicated U.S.S.R. used drugs in manned spaceflight both for "therapeutic purposes or to increase the resistance of the human organism to unfavorable effects." Drugs mentioned included narcotics, to relax cosmonauts; stimulants; cardiovascular preparations; and antiradiation medications. (Tech. Wk., 10/24/66, 13)
Soviet scientists A. A. Gurjian, A. V. Yeremin, and V. I. Stepanzov said the dynamics of men working in free space was one of the most important problems connected with manned spaceflight. They had developed a series of arm and leg movements for cosmonauts to maneuver into working position, which included raising one hand over the head and rotating arm in cone-like fashion to cause an opposite body reaction and enable cosmonaut to face about. (Av. Wk., 10/17/66,30-31)
Phil Bono, Douglas Aircraft Co., Inc., Missile and Space Systems Div., encouraged by recovery, virtually undamaged, of forward section of GEMINI V -Titan II booster from the Atlantic in September 1965 and of an intact Atlas-Centaur insulation panel in November 1965, proposed a near-term technique for the land recovery of an earth-orbital stage" to be applied specifically to the Uprated Saturn 1's 2nd stage (S-IVB). (Av. Wk., 10/24/66, 32)
H. B. Bjurstedt, Karolinska Institute of Sweden, suggested that moon's low gravity field might lead to an accompanying loss of normal g-tolerance. He acknowledged that this was an uncertain extrapolation and that physiological effects of such exposure were as yet unknown. (Tech. Wk., 10/24/66, 13-14)
Soviet delegate Vassily V. Parin narrated new film showing post flight activities of space dogs Veterok and Ugolyek, launched Feb. 22, 1966, in COSMOS CX. Dogs, who lost up to one third of their preflight body weight during 22-day mission, appeared very weak and dazed when they emerged from capsule, but film sequence taken four months later showed them completely recovered. Parin said flight had studied neurological regulators of cardiovascular system. (Tech. Wk., 10/24/66, 13)
Dr. Luigi Napolitano, Univ. of Naples, was elected new president of IAF. (Tech. Wk., 10/24/66, 13)
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