Jan 16 1967
From The Space Library
GSFC engineers had successfully used an electric "screwdriver" to restore power to Explorer XXXIII satellite, in orbit 252,900 mi from earth, saving the spacecraft from an almost certain power blackout. Emergency repair-believed to be the most distant satellite "fix" ever accomplished-was conducted via Rosman, N.C., tracking station. Engineers turned off the spacecraft transmitter so that an increased power surge through the other electronic systems eliminated the suspected short circuit. (NASA Release 67-5)
Undulating, banana-shaped barium cloud, released from a Nike-Iroquois sounding rocket launched from Eglin AFB in USAF experiment on air currents, touched off dozens of reports of UFO's throughout southeastern U.S. (UPI, NYT, 1/18/67, 48)
U.S. could have a permanent manned space station in orbit by 1970, predicted Charles W. Mathews, Director of Saturn/Apollo Applications, NASA Hq. OMSF, in Space Business Daily interview. Mathews said that by clustering various modules, instrument packages, and spacecraft in orbit for reuse and utilizing resupply of expendables and crew replacement, it would be possible to extend capabilities of hardware currently under development to the point where such a space station could be permanently manned in about three years. (SBD, 1/16/67,63)
This New Ocean: a History of Project Mercury (SP4201) by Loyd S. Swenson, Jr., James M. Grimwood, and Charles C. Alexander was published by NASA. It was NASA's first major program history published and was available to public from Superintendent of Documents, GPO. (NASA Release 67-1)
MSFC awarded Sanders Associates, Inc., $2,149,548 contract for logistic support of Saturn V operational display systems used to present information on vehicle's status during simulated and actual launch preparations. (MSFC Release 67-8)
V/Adm. Hyman G. Rickover (USN) received Printing Industries of Metropolitan New York's Franklin Award for "advancement of scientific knowledge and furtherance of democracy." In his acceptance speech, Admiral Rickover said citizens in a democracy had a duty to become educated so they could support social action against harmful technologies. "There is a knowledge gap of vast dimension between the public and that small elite of highly intelligent, highly educated experts who understand science and have the use of technology. . . . A free society cannot, in the long run, bear the burden of having a mass of voters who lack the education they need to make them responsible citizens. Society ceases to be free if a pattern of life develops where technology, not man, becomes central to its purpose. We must not permit this to happen lest the human liberties for which mankind has fought, at so great a cost of effort and sacrifice, be extinguished." (Gilroy, NYT, 1/17/67,27)
Photos taken Jan. 9 by two teenage brothers, purportedly showing a helicopter-sized UFO hovering over Lake St. Clair near Detroit, did not "indicate an obvious hoax" and were being studied further for authenticity, Dr. J. Allen Hynek, USAF consultant on UFO's and Chairman of Northwestern Univ. Astronomy Dept. disclosed in a telephone interview. (Hofmann, NYT, 1/17/65, 10)
Dr. Robert J. Van de Graaff, inventor of the Van de Graaff particle accelerator used in nuclear physics research and cancer therapy, died at age 65. (AP, NYT, 1/17/67,35)
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