Apr 22 1969
From The Space Library
NASA named Brian M. Duff, Vice President for Communications of National Urban Coalition, as Public Affairs Officer for MSC. He would succeed Paul Haney who was named Special Assistant to Julian Scheer, Assistant Administrator for Public Affairs, NASA Hq. Duff had been Director of Special Events in NASA Office of Public Affairs before going to National Urban Coalition. In new position, Haney would coordinate development of news media materials, with concentration on Apollo manned lunar landing. Haney later told press he had been ordered to new position because of personal differences with Scheer. "I'm definitely uncertain whether to go and have consulted a lawyer," he said. Scheer said on April 23 transfer was not personal matter but "case of using two very good people where they can best serve our needs." (NASA Release 69-59; H Chron, 4/22-23/69; H Post, 4/23/69, 1; W Post, 4/23/69, A3)
Rep. Charles W. Whalen, Jr. (R-Ohio) , inserted in Congressional Record results of annual opinion poll of his constituents which showed 51% preferred continuation of space funding at present level, 21% preferred cutback with reallocation of space funds to social welfare programs, 16% wanted acceleration of space program with increased funding if necessary, and 12% wanted none of these. (CR, 4/22/69, E3230)
DOD reported Soviet SS-9 missile had been test-fired with multiple reentry vehicles for first time over U.S.S.R.'s Pacific testing area at 5,000-mi range. Missile, of which U.S.S.R. had deployed 200, was capable of carrying warhead of up to 25 mt or three warheads of 5 mt and was only Soviet missile credited with hard-site destruction capability. Portions of its booster had been used in testing FCSs. (DOD Release 310-69; Homan, W Post, 4/23/69, A26)
April 22-25: Discovery of six new mascons (mass concentrations of dense material) beneath moon's surface was reported by JPL scientists at 50th Annual Meeting of American Geophysical Union in Washington, D.C. William L. Sjogren, Paul M. Muller, and Dr. Peter Gottlieb reported discovery that brought to 12 total mascons mapped on moon's near face and leading and trailing edges and that were expected to refine gravity model used in Apollo navigation. Dr. Gottlieb said latest gravity model produced significant agreement with analysis of tracking information from Apollo 8 mission Dec. 2127, 1968. JPL researchers were working with MSFC to predict accurately landing sites several orbits before spacecraft landing. Most data available had been taken from spacecraft in lunar orbit of about 60 mi. JPL team expected new and possibly higher resolution data from Apollo 10 when lunar module orbited at lower altitude. (JPL Release 514; NASA Release 69-61)
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