Feb 1 1964
From The Space Library
President Johnson stated in press conference: "This past week the United States has demonstrated in at least eight different situations this Nation's determination to insure both peace and freedom in the Widest possible areas. "Progress toward these ends is frequently slow and rarely dramatic, but it should be viewed in the perspective of history and not head-lines. . . ." The President listed the first seven situations, then "And finally, we have witnessed and the whole world has witnessed with pleasure the remarkable success of our Saturn rocket, the most powerful rocket thrust known to man. This rocket, I am happy to say, was first recommended by our committee [Senate Preparedness Subcommittee, chaired by Johnson] in 1958." (Transcript, Wash. Post, 2/2/64, A7)
Editorial in Christian Science Monitor said: "It is one thing to question the wisdom of spending so much so quickly to put an American hopefully on the moon in this decade, a time limit that the economy drive in Washington may remove. But it would be less than wisdom to cut back sharply on space funding under the false assumption that the United States is pulling ahead of the Soviets. It is still coming up from behind." (CSM, 2/1/64)
Roscoe Drummond, in his Washington Post column, said success of Saturn I SA-5 ". . . means that the major advantage which the Soviets have had so long and Which has yielded them their principal space spectaculars-the long Russian lead in rocket power-is now a thing of the past. . . . "There should be no minimizing what the Soviets have already done. . . . "But the United States accomplishments have been more diverse. We have put almost four times as many spacecraft into orbit as the Soviets. We have made far more progress in the application of space technology in communications, weather, and navigation. We both have compiled a large volume of scientific data about outer space and neither is significantly ahead. "As Dr. Edward C. Welsh, Executive Secretary of the National Aeronautics and Space Council, puts it, 'the space race continues and it will be a long one." (Drummond, Wash. Post, 2/1/64, in CR, 2/1/64, A441)
Nuclear "breeder" reactor using thorium fuel, pioneered by Vice Adm. Hyman G. Rickover, was under consideration by AEC and Calif. Dept. of Water Resources for a nuclear power plant, according to recent letter from AEC Chairman Dr. Glenn T. Seaborg to Sen. John O. Pastore, Chairman of Joint Congressional Committee on Atomic Energy. Built around the "seed-and-blanket" design developed by the Rickover team, the thorium-fueled reactor appeared to have "unusual potential for generating economic nuclear power and for breeding." If successful, Dr. Seaborg said, the concept would "represent a major advance in reactor technology and an important milestone in our national objective of con-serving nuclear fuel resources." (Finney, NYT, 2/2/64,1, 30)
At Washington press conference, National Bureau of Standards and team of visiting Soviet metrologists announced preliminary agreement for extended cooperation in measurement and standards data exchange. Agreement provided for exchange of (1) data on observations of standard time and frequency signals from radio stations, (2) calibration information to compare measurements of electrical and electronic quantities, and (3) publications of National Bureau of Standards and Soviet Committee on Standards, Measures, and Measuring Instruments. (M&R, 2/10/64,10-11)
Special AFSC management office for the Manned Orbiting Laboratory (MOL) program was established in AFSC Hq., headed by Col. R. K. Jacobson, Assistant Deputy Commander for Space for VIOL. (AFSC Release 41-R-16)
According to USAF authorities in Berlin, preliminary examination showed that the T-39 jet trainer which crashed in East Germany last Jan. 28, killing the three Americans aboard, was shot down by Soviet aircraft. Denying charges made by East Germany, USAF spokesman said the aircraft carried no arms or photographic equipment, was incapable of reconnaissance. ( Wash. Post, 2/2/64, A16)
Soviet Chief Air Marshal Konstantin A. Vershinin said in Red Star that Soviet air force can destroy any enemy land, sea, or air target. Soviet air power now is based on supersonic, rocket-carrying planes capable of operating in all weather conditions. (UPI, Wash. Post, 2/2/64, A16)
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