Feb 10 1966
From The Space Library
In a White House ceremony, President Johnson awarded the National Medal of Science to 11 scientists, including the late Dr. Hugh L. Dryden, former NASA Deputy Administrator. Dr. Dryden was cited for his “contributions as an engineer, administrator, and civil servant for one-half century to aeronautics and astronautics which have immeasurably supported the Nation’s preeminence in space.” Mrs. Dryden accepted the medal-first ever awarded posthumously -for her husband. President Johnson told recipients that “in a nation of millions and a world of billions, the individual is still the first and basic agent of change. Without the unfettered curiosity of individual men probing and reaching for new truth our planet would be a dry and dreary place.” ‘‘(Pres. Doc., 2/14/66; NYT, 2/11/66, 5; Wash. Eve. Star, 2/11/66, A2; Balt. Sun, 2/11/66)’’
Mstislav Keldysh, president of Soviet Academy of Sciences; Alexander Lebedinsky, .professor; and Alexander Vinogradov, geochemist, held 2½-hr. televised press conference in Moscow on the LUNA IX mission. Keldysh said U.S.S.R. had mastered the soft-landing technique and was planning more soft-landing missions in 1966 to obtain information on physical conditions on the moon, composition of lunar rock, and variations in lunar temperature. He said the next major challenge would be designing a spacecraft capable of returning men to earth from the moon and called for US. “cooperation not competition” in a program for manned lunar landing. LUNA IX’s mission was “only to photograph the surface of the moon and measure cosmic radiation,” Keldysh said. The full panorama of the lunar surface included 6,000 lines and was transmitted to earth in 100 min. Spacecraft contained no solar batteries. Lebedinsky revealed that LUNA IX had “shifted between the second and third transmissions of the panorama, and as a result, the inclination of the photo television camera changed several degrees, while the camera itself shifted its position several centimeters.” Keldysh added: “It may be that the station landed on an unstable small stone, or perhaps the ground settled slightly. Such a very small deformation could occur because of temperature changes on the moon or a certain mechanical impact by the station itself." He expressed confidence that the lunar surface could support manned spacecraft. Lebedinsky said LUNA IX had measured rate of radiation in outer space at 30 millirads a day and that the spacecraft had detected additional radiation on lunar surface apparently produced by nuclear reactions from cosmic rays hitting moon's upper layers-but he did not disclose amount. Vinogradov reported that lunar surface was hard, porous, volcanic cracked rock, but acknowledged that other areas might be different. Keldysh announced that VENUS II and VENUS III spacecraft, launched Nov. 12 and Nov. 16, 1965, respectively, were scheduled to approach Venus March 1. ‘‘(Wash. Post, 2/11/66; Balt. Sun, 2/11/66; Sullivan, NYT, 2/11/66, 17)’’
Apollo/Saturn AS-201 successfully completed countdown rehearsal at ETR in preparation for scheduled Feb. 22 suborbital flight test. ‘‘(AP, Wash. Post, 2/10/66)’’
NASA launched two sets of three Nike-Cajun sounding rockets, each carrying payload of 19 acoustic grenades, about 12 hrs. apart from three launch sites-Point Barrow, Alaska, Churchill Research Range, and NASA Wallops Station-to gather information on atmosphere between 20-and 60-mi. altitudes over widely spaced geographic areas under day and night conditions during winter. Grenades were ejected and detonated at programmed altitudes, yielding information on wind directions and speeds, atmospheric densities, pressures, and temperatures. ‘‘(Wallops Release 66-9)’’
U.S.S.R. launched COSMOS CVII containing scientific equipment for investigation of outer space. Orbital parameters: apogee, 322 km. (200 mi.); perigee, 204 km. (126.7 mi.); period, 89.7 min.; inclination, 65°. Equipment was functioning normally. ‘‘(Tass, 2/10/66)’’
U.K. would build $84-million prototype nuclear-power reactor of the breeder type -designed to produce large amounts of new fissionable atoms -at Dounreay in northeast Scotland, Technology Minister Frank Cousins told the House of Commons. Sir William Penney, head of British Atomic Energy Authority, told news conference he hoped to have commercial models of the breeder power station in operation by 1980. ‘‘(NYT, 2/10/66; Wash. Eve. Star, 2/11/66, A1)’’
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