Apr 15 1969
From The Space Library
USAF launched unidentified satellite from Vandenberg AFB by Titan IIIB -Agena D booster. Satellite entered orbit with 292.7-mi (471-km) apogee, 78.9-mi (127-km) perigee, 89.9-min period, and 108.7° inclination and reentered April 30. (GSFC SSR, 4/15/69; 4/30/69; SBD, 4/25/69, 264)
U.S.S.R. launched Cosmos CCLXXIX into orbit with 350-km (217.5-mi) apogee, 205-km (127.4-mi) perigee, 89.8-min period, and 51.8° inclination. West German Institute for Space Research later reported spacecraft was a Soyuz space capsule and that it reentered and soft-landed in U.S.S.R. April 24. (GSFC SSR, 4/15/69; AP, C Trib, 4/25/69)
President Nixon submitted to Congress FY 1970 budget amendments [see April 12]. White House, DOD, and NASA released details. NASA funds were reduced $45 million from 83.878-billion Johnson proposal to $3.833 billion (recommended $3.716 in new obligational authority plus $117 million carried over from prior years). Apollo Applications program would be cut by $57 million but new obligational authority of $46 million for resumption of Saturn V rocket production and $40 million for lunar exploration would be added, for net increase of $29 million in manned space flight funds. Space science and applications would be cut by $41 million, to $517.8-million new total. Advanced research and technology would be cut $13 million, to total $277.4 million; and tracking and data acquisition, $20 million, to total $278 million. University affairs funding would remain at $9 million, technology utilization at $5 million, and NERVA funding under nuclear rocket program at $36.5 million. Funds proposed for construction of facilities and for research and program management remained unchanged. At NASA budget briefing, NASA Administrator Dr. Thomas O. Paine said: "The reductions we have been required to make will make necessary difficult program adjustments and will result in reduced accomplishments in many areas. However . . . in a context clearly requiring that Government spending be held to a minimum, the Administration has recognized the importance to the United States of a strong and continuing program in space and aeronautics. . . . Last January , I characterized President Johnson's FY 1970 Budget as a 'holding' Budget .. deferring to President Nixon's Administration the decisions the nation faces on the future of manned flight programs." President Nixon's recommendations, "if approved by the Congress, will ensure that the nation can continue a scientifically effective program of manned lunar exploration and avoid foreclosing our ability to continue large-scale space operations in the future by allowing the capability to produce Saturn V launch vehicles .. . to lapse beyond the point where it can economically be resumed." DOD spending was reduced $1.1 billion and requested new obligational authority, $3.1 billion, including $51 million from MOL. Other science budget cuts: AEC funding, $78.6 million; agricultural and natural resources conservation, $345 million; HEW university facilities, $107 million; and NIH, $47.4 million. NSF budget remained at $495 million. Nixon budget made available $92.7-million carry-over for SST R&D but no funds for prototype construction. Overall reduction in space and atomic energy funding was $140 million. (PD, 3/21/69, 561-3; NASA Budget Briefing Transcript; DOD Transript; W Post, 4/1516/69; NYT, 4/16/69; Science, 4/25/69)
Project Tektite Aquanauts Richard A. Waller Conrad V. W. Mahnken, John G. Van Derwalker, and H. Edward Clifton were brought to surface and placed in decompression chamber for 19 hrs, after record-breaking 59 days on ocean floor off St. John, Virgin Islands. They had submerged Feb. 15 in successful experiment to determine how men functioned for extended periods underwater. At news conference later, aquanauts revealed they had spent 25-40 hrs outside underwater habitat during first two weeks, moving no farther than 300 ft; later they averaged 70 hrs per week, swimming up to 3,000 ft from habitat to study marine life, ocean currents, and geology. (Lyons, NYT, 4/14/69, 17; AP, W Star, 4/15/69, B11; W Post, 4/16/69, A9; 4/17/69; 4/19/69, A6)
At American Chemical Society meeting in Minneapolis, Univ. of California at Berkeley nuclear scientist Albert Ghiorso reported discovery of element 104 isotopes 104-257 and 104-259 and possibly 104-258. Discoveries, made by bombarding target in heavy ion linear accelerator (HILAC), were announced by Lawrence Radiation Laboratory, operated at Univ. of California for AEC. (AEC Release M-87)
April 15-17: Conference on technology of food management for aerospace vehicles was sponsored by NASA, NAS, and Univ. of South Florida at Tampa, Fla. Discussions included Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo mission experience by Dr. Charles A. Berry, MSC Director of Medical Research and Operations, and feeding system requirements for Manned Orbiting Laboratory and Apollo Applications program. Food specialists had found they needed to improve methods on all types of aerospace flights with emphasis on more palatable food and less food preparation time in fight. (NASA Special Release)
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