Apr 27 1969
From The Space Library
Several thousand gallons of fuel escaped from prevalves in Saturn V 1st stage (S-IC) while it was being prepared for Apollo 10 countdown demonstration test (CDDT) at KSC. Prevalves opened while leak was being repaired in nitrogen pressurization system on mobile launcher. CDDT, scheduled to begin April 28, was delayed 24 hrs while vehicle was examined for damage. (O'Toole, W Post, 4/29/69, A3; Marshall Star, 4/30/69, 1)
FRC announced retirement of NASA's two X-15 rocket research aircraft, designed for manned hypersonic flight research at speeds up to 4,000 mph and altitudes of 50 mi. X-15 No. 1, which had made first flight June 8, 1959, would be displayed at Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. No. 2 would be displayed at Air Force Museum at Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio. No. 3 had been destroyed in accident Nov. 15, 1967. During $300-million NASA-USAF-USN program X-15 had set two unofficial world records, reaching 354,200-ft altitude and 4,520 mph (mach 6.7). Aircraft served as reusable manned platforms for wide range of experiments that helped advance development of vital spaceflight systems. Final flight, 199th, had been Oct. 24, 1968, and NASA had announced completion of program Dec. 20. (FRC Release 9-69)
William Hines said in Washington Evening Star: "It now seems entirely possible that NASA may sneak into a Mars program without a specific go-ahead of the type given for the moon adventure in 1961. A case can be made that exploration of the planets is but a logical extension of exploration of the moon; that once the space frontier is crossed in 1969 everything else is evolutionary, not revolutionary. This sort of gradualism, which is analogous to a girl's becoming a little bit pregnant, is just as effective in the long run as the flamboyant setting of spectacular goals, and probably a good bit more feasible in a time when there is already much grumbling about pre-occupation with other worlds when our own is in such a sorry state." (W Star, 4/27/69, G4)
Dr. Nicholas E. Golovin, technical adviser for aviation and space science and technology in Office of Science and Technology, died of heart attack in Washington, D.C., at age 57. He had been deputy Associate Administrator of NASA in 1960. After returning to private industry for a year, he had rejoined NASA. as director of Large Launch Vehicle Planning Group. Before coming to NASA he had been Chief Scientist at White Sands Missile Range for DOD and then Director of Technical Operations Div. of ARPA. (W Post, 4/30/69, B14; W Star, 4/30/69, B6)
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