Jan 6 1966
From The Space Library
170 usable terrain photographs from GEMINI V mission flown by Astronauts Leroy Gordon Cooper and Charles Conrad, Jr., Aug. 21-29,1965, included pictures of South Africa which would provide valuable information about continental drift, GSFC geologist Dr. Paul D. Lowman said in interim report at NASA Hq. on 13 scientific and technological experiments carried aboard GEMINI V. Color photos of South Africa’s Namib Desert revealed 7-million to 8-million-year-old rock formations. Presence of similar formations along east coast of South America could indicate two continents had once been closer together, Lowman explained. Photos also pinpointed “a major diamond area” between rock formations and the sand dunes. Kenneth Nagler, U.S. Weather Bureau, told the meeting that GEMINI V pictures, some in color, had provided meteorologists with more detail of cloud systems than had orbiting TIROS satellites. ‘‘(Text)’’
NASA officials accepted Gemini VIII spacecraft from McDonnell Aircraft Corp., St. Louis, after studying data supplied by nearly 6,000 subcontractors involving close inspection of over 6,000 test points. The spacecraft, scheduled for launch in March, would be encased in a plastic shroud and flown to KSC in USAF C-124 cargo plane Jan. 7. ‘‘(Wilford, NYT, 1/7/66)’’
Of 351 astronaut applicants, 192, including all 6 female candidates, failed to meet minimum requirements, an MSC spokesman reported. The successful 15 would be announced in May. ‘‘(MSC Roundup, 1/21/66, 3; AP, New Haven Register, 1/7/66)’’
DOD and NASA signed agreement specifying funding arrangements, responsibilities, and general procedures to be followed in acquisition, modification, test, and associated administration of the Apollo/Range Instrumentation Aircraft (A/RIA), which would provide telemetry and communication relay support for Apollo and other national missile and space programs. National Range Division (NRD) of AFSC would exercise overall management responsibility for A/RIA project. ‘‘(Text, NASA NMI, 1052.67)’’
Dr. Seibert Dudley of the Univ. of California’s Visibility Lab., San Diego, said test equipment on the ground and in the GEMINI V spacecraft had definitely demonstrated that Astronauts Leroy Gordon Cooper and Charles Conrad, Jr., had seen what they claimed they had seen below on earth during their Aug. 21-29, 1965, mission. On a one-man Project Mercury spaceflight May 15-16, 1963 (MA-9), Cooper had drawn skepticism for reporting he could see dust clouds, roads, and other small features. ‘‘(AP, Houston Post, 1/6/66)’’
NASA’s decision to launch Mariner E -MARINER IV’s backup probe-to Venus rather than Mars was criticized by William Hines in the Washington Evening Star: “As a Venus probe, just about everything conceivable is wrong with Mariner-E. Its solar panels are too big, but without them its center of gravity would be all wrong; its earth-seeking radio antenna essential for long-distance communication-is oriented the wrong way; it is protected against cold rather than heat; its instruments are designed to explore a small planet with a thin atmosphere rather than an earth-sized object with a dense one. “Another Mariner flight to Mars promises far greater return . . . than a jury-rigged mission to Venus.” ‘‘(Hines, Wash. Eve. Star, 1/6/66)
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