Mar 23 1967
From The Space Library
NASA had discarded crew assignments for three manned Apollo missions originally scheduled for 1967 but postponed shortly after Jan. 27 fire, MSC Director of Flight Crew Operations Donald K. Slayton told the press at MSC. "We don't have any crews assigned officially to any missions at the present time. There's not much point in worrying about crew assignments until we know what we're going to do." Backup crew for AS-204 mission had been Astronauts Walter M. Schirra, Jr., Donn F. Eisele, and Walter Cunningham; prime crew for AS-205/208 mission had been James A. McDivitt, David R. Scott, and Russell L. Schweickart; for AS-503, Frank Borman, Michael Collins, and William Anders. (UPI, W Star, 3/24/67, A2; AP, W Post, 3/24/67, A6; Wilford, NYT, 3/24/67,1,15)
US. officials were studying possibility of live television coverage via Intelsat II-C comsat of Latin American summit conference in Punta del Este, Uruguay, April 12-14, which President Johnson was scheduled to attend, Benjamin Welles reported in New York Times. Live coverage would require air-lifting a portable ITT ground station to conference site because necessary ground stations for picking up satellite signals did not yet exist in Latin America. Use of ComSatCorp's Intelsat II-C, launched by NASA March 22, would not only enhance interest in meeting, officials said, but would also dramatize US. technological and political support for Latin America. (Welles, NYT, 3/24/67)
LaRC Director Dr. Floyd L. Thompson had been selected as one of 10 public servants to receive National Civil Service League's 1967 Career Service Award for his pioneering efforts as an engineer, scientist, and administrator in advancing the science of aeronautics and space flight in the US. Award would be presented to Dr. Thompson April 21 at Annual Career Service Awards banquet in Washington, D.C. (NASA Release 67-69)
NASA Wallops Station employee James C. McConnell had been awarded $l,000 for his invention "A Method of Plating Copper on Aluminum" by NASA Inventions and Contributions Board. Award was part of agency-wide program to encourage and reward NASA employees for meritorious inventions and contributions. A second Wallops employee-Joseph W. McAllister-had been named one of the 1967 Economy Champions under President Johnson's national economy program for his "Device to Salvage Power Line Guy Anchors." An economy champion was a Government employee whose achievement or adopted suggestion during FY 1967 had shown first-year measurable benefits of $10,000 or more. (WS Releases 67-9,67-10)
Rep. Dante B. Fascell (D-Fla.) introduced in the House a bill (H.R. 7798) to strike commemorative medals in honor of Astronauts Virgil I. Grissom, Edward H. White II, and Roger B. Chaffee who died in the Jan. 27 Apollo flash fire. (CR, 3/23/67, H3301)
US. Ambassador to the U.S.S.R. Llewellyn E. Thompson and Soviet Foreign Minister Andrey A. Gromyko met briefly in Moscow for "preliminary discussions aimed at mutual agreement not to deploy antimissile missile systems, US. Embassy announced. (AP, W Post, 3/23/67, A12)
Shortage of US.-manufactured high-reliability components because of the demands of the Vietnam war was one of the reasons Canada was postponing the launch of her Isis-A satellite from fall 1967 to 1968, Dr. John H. Chapman, Deputy Superintendent of the Defence Research Telecommunications Establishment, told Toronto Globe & Mail. Isis-A would measure characteristics of the ionosphere. (Toronto Globe & Mail, 3/24/67,29)
A correlation between earthquakes and the forces exerted on the earth by the sun and moon was reported by Dr. Alan Ryall, Director of Univ. of Nevada seismological station. Dr. Ryall said he could support with scientific data the theory that where the earth`s crust is fractured and weakened, all that is necessary to cause earthquakes might be the pulling force or gravity of the sun and moon. (W Post, 3/24/67)
U.N. 17-nation disarmament conference in Geneva recessed until May 19 at US. request. (Cook, W Post, 3/24/67, A12)
ComSatCorp awarded two four-month study contracts-one to Lockheed Missiles and Space Co. for $272,000 and one to Hughes Aircraft Co. for $299,484--for research on advanced high-capacity synchronous satellites. Lockheed had proposed an inertia-wheel stabilization concept and Hughes a spin-stabilized approach for stabilizing a spacecraft in synchronous orbit. ComSatCorp had advised FCC Jan. 19 of plans to award contracts. (ComSatCorp Release)
U.K.'s Royal Aeronautical Society had invited foreigners to enter an eight-year-old annual competition to stay aloft in a muscle-operated craft over a figure-eight course with two turning points half a mile apart, Reuters reported. Society had also increased prize from $10,000 to $28,000. (Reuters, NYT, 3/23/67,5)
US. astronauts were honored with a special award at American Personnel and Guidance Assn. convention in Dallas. Accepted by Charles Duke on behalf of his fellow astronauts, the award cited the "exemplary model astronauts display to American youth in intellectual achievement, self discipline, personal dedication and physical fitness.'`(UPI, W Star, 3/24/67, A6)
ERC Deputy Director Dr. Albert J. Kelley had resigned to accept an appointment as Dean of Boston College's College of Business Administration effective June 1, NASA announced. He would continue to act as a special consultant to NASA. (ERC Release 67-5)
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