Nov 2 1969
From The Space Library
In Washington Post Thomas O'Toole traced NASA plans for planetary exploration from May 1971 launch of two Mariner spacecraft for Mars to Grand Tours of planets beginning in 1977 and 1979. "What comes after the two Grand Tours? Nobody really knows, but the space agency's dreamers about unmanned missions have a plot already written and it reads a little better than most science fiction does." Spacecraft would circulate through asteroid belt for year, making asteroid counts and photographing larger asteroids. Beyond that, scientists would like to rendezvous with a comet and investigate Saturn's rings. (W Post, 11/2/69, B3)
November 2-3: AFRCL conducted program to measure polar cap absorption (PCA) event and to determine effects on earth's upper atmosphere. Thirty-six sounding rockets- Nike-Iroquois, Black Brant, Nike-Javelin, Side-winder-Arcas, and Arcas -were launched from Churchill Research Range to 37.3- to 124.3-mi (60- to 200-km) altitudes to measure energies and densities of charged particles, atmospheric temperatures and composition, and geomagnetic fluctuations. Background data had been provided from eight sounding rockets launched before program and support was provided by measurements from Vela, Pioneer, ATS, Explorer, OV, and ESRO satellites; from instruments on board KC-135 aircraft; and from ground-based instruments. (SBD, 11/19/69, 80)
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30
