Dec 13 1965
From The Space Library
A plastic dust cover carelessly left in a fuel line would have blocked the Gemini VI launch even if an electrical plug had not dropped out of the tail and shut down the Titan II engines, NASA officials revealed at a press conference. The device apparently had been installed at the Baltimore Martin Co. plant and was not removed due to "human error." The Martin Co., makers of the Titan II booster for Gemini spacecraft, could lose a $15,000 bonus because of the launch failure. (AP, Balt, Sun, 12/14/65; Simons, Wash. Post, 12/14/65, Al)
Abort Dec. 12 of the scheduled Gemini VI flight received editorial comment in the New York Times: "Disappointing as this was, the event had its brighter aspects as well. It gave a vivid demonstration of the effectiveness of the failsafe arrangements. These permitted survival of the rocket and its crew despite the fact that ignition and a buildup of power had taken place before the safety mechanism sensed trouble and shut down the powerful motor." (NYT, 12/13/65, 38)
Missions currently performed at Vandenberg AFB, reportedly now busier than Cape Kennedy, were listed by U.S. News and World Report: launching "spy" satellites into polar orbits to take detailed photos of military bases in Communist lands; testing Titan and Minute. man ICBMS over the Pacific; launching weather, mapping, navigation, and other scientific satellites; tracking space vehicles-U.S. and Soviet. Programs projected included: launching of the first Manned Orbiting Laboratory (MOL) in 1969 or 1970, following unmanned test shots in 1968; rapid buildup of manned military flights that could reach the level of 50 military man-in-space launches a year by the early 1970s; establishment of regular shuttle service in small rockets to and from large orbiting military spacecraft, Vandenberg was described as "a nest of pads and silos, some underground and some above, from which every U.S. missile and satellite can be fired." In the past year, there were 117 launchings at Vandenberg, compared with 93 at Cape Kennedy. (U.S. News, 12/13/65, 5)
Dr. [[W. Randolph Lovelace II], NASA Director of Space Medicine, his wife, and a pilot were reported missing on a private plane flight from Aspen, Colo., enroute to Albuquerque. (AP, NYT, 12/14/65, 51; AP, Wash, Post, 12/14/65, Al; AP, Wash. Eve. Star, 12/14/65, A9)
NASA had awarded a new $47,655,103 cost-plus-incentive/award fee contract to TRW Inc, for work on the Gemini/Apollo mission trajectory control program and the Apollo spacecraft systems analysis program. (NASA Release 65-378)
British Defense Secretary Denis Healey told Parliament the U.S. had agreed to a two-month extension to the original Jan, 1 option deadline for decision on purchase of the -111. Britain took the option to buy the F-111 after scrapping the British TSR-2 low-level strike-bomber early in 1965 because of rising costs. (Reuters, Wash. Post, 12/14/65, A20)
ComSatCorp had awarded three six-month study contracts totaling $240,000 to the U,K, General Post Office (GPO) for research into certain aspects of satellite communications. Studies would be carried out in cooperation with U.K. industry-Marconi, Plessey, General Electric Co., Mullard, and Standard Telephone Labs.-and would involve research into three major areas of technology involved in commercial communications of all types via satellite. (ComSatCorp Release)
USN had completed tests at Kirkland AFB, N. Mex, of a revolutionary new airport concept employing a completely circular runway, Under the proposed design, the main runway would be in form of a banked track, and would form a perfectly circular perimeter around the airport. At the very center would be the control tower, with an unobstructed view of every portion of the runway. The passenger terminal would also be circular, ringing the control tower. Airport would provide a number of special advantages: (1) aircraft would have an infinitely long runway; (2) airport would require only 2A the acreage needed for an equivalent conventional airport; (3) because crosswind effect would be minimal, all incoming aircraft could be brought in through a single air corridor; (4) single approach air corridor would need only one set of electronic landing guides. Construction costs would be slightly higher than for conventional runways, due to requirement for precise banking of the runway. (Appel, NYT, 12/13/65, 33)
Earth's third largest meteorite, weighing 30 tons, had been discovered in Communist China's Gobi Desert, the Washington Daily News reported. It was said to have been found in northern Sinkiang and was on display in Urumchi, capital of Sinkiang. (Wash. Daily News, 12/13/65)
Group headed by Junkers Flugzeug- and Motorenwerke AG, and including Lockheed Missiles and Space Co, had been selected by the European Space Research Organization (ESRO) to develop the Highly Eccentric Orbit Satellite (Heos), Junkers team was selected from eight international groups competing to build Heos, which would gather interplanetary particle data, Heos would be the first satellite developed in West Germany, but it would include the combined technology of several nations, Value of the over-all contract for satellite development was about $6.5 million. (Av. Wk, 12/13/65, 36)
A new planetoid had been discovered by East German astronomer Cuno Hoffmeister, East German news agency ADN reported. Planetoid orbited the sun once every 3.67 yrs, was 56 million mi. from the earth at its nearest point of orbit, and could be seen only every 11 years. (Reuters, Houston Post, 12/14/65)
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