Jul 27 1967
From The Space Library
USAF launched two unidentified satellites from WTR on one Atlas booster. Satellites were later identified as OV 1-12 and OV 1-86. (Pres Rep 1967)
Sen. Joseph S. Clark (D-Pa.) , speaking on the Senate floor, urged President Johnson to appoint a commission to study the need for construction and deployment of an antiballistic missile (ABM) system. ". . . the ABM question is of such a magnitude that it is essential to have a careful and objective evaluation of the course the United States should follow. I do not believe . . . that the military-industrial complex is objective enough to advise the United States Congress or the President on how we should proceed. This being the case, I strongly suggest that a temporary blue ribbon commission drawn from all sectors of national life is the best way to bring a thorough inquiry into the issues. Our very national survival may be at issue in the ABM controversy. It is time we put the best minds in the country to work." (CR, 7/27/67, S103644)
NASA's Apollo program was "back on the track" six months after the Jan. 27 fire at KSC, Washington Evening Star columnist William Hines concluded after a tour of NASA centers. "Half a year after that unforgettable night of Jan. 27 the process of trauma, shuck, and recuperation has run its course. Much remains to be done, of course-and it will be another nine or 10 months before astronauts fly again-but things are moving once more. "At Downey . . . where Apollo spacecraft are built, at Houston, where flights will be controlled, and at Cape Kennedy, where they will begin, there is a noticeable air of confidence (but not over-confidence) mingled with caution (but not over-caution) . "A sadder but wiser Apollo team has emerged from the disaster at pad 34 with the realization that `pretty good' simply is not good enough. . . ." (Hines, W Star, 7/27/67, A1)
DOD officials were concerned about serious mechanical problems that had undermined the readiness" of the Minuteman II ICBM, William Beecher reported in the New York Times. "As recently as this spring, reliable sources say, nearly 100 missiles-about 40 per cent of all the advanced Minuteman 2 missiles and 10 per cent of the entire 1,000-missile Minuteman force-were out of action because of trouble with the weapon's guidance and control system." Although DOD's "more or less official view" was that the problem was "worrisome but well in hand," many officials "while observing that mechanical problems will always group up in any complex electronics system and can be corrected, cite the Minuteman 2 trouble in questioning the wisdom of the near total reliance that Mr. McNamara places on intercontinental ballistic missiles in the strategic field." [See July 28.] (Beecher, NYT, 7/28/67, 1, 2)
LaRC would negotiate with Ling-Temco-Vought, Inc. (LTV) , for 24-mo, $10-million, firm-fixed-price contract to provide 15 Scout launch vehicles, NASA announced. Deliveries would begin about the 10th month at a rate of one vehicle a month. Scout was a multistage booster which could launch a 320-lb satellite into 300-mi orbit or a 50-lb satellite into an 11,000-mi orbit. (NASA Release 67-201)
NASA and Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales (CNES) were conducting series of laser tests with five orbiting satellites-three U.S. and two French-to make precise geodetic measurements, NASA reported. In experiments, a laser beam was fired at a satellite equipped with a reflector designed to return beam to the transmitting station. Time elapsed from transmission to reception was measure of the distance between station and satellite. If satellite's position was known by independent means or if several stations fired lasers simultaneously, it was then possible to determine distance between observing ground stations. NASA said initial tests, which began in April from stations in U.S., Europe, and North Africa, had been so successful that it might soon be possible to prove or disprove the theory of continental drift by determining the movements of continents relative to one another. (NASA Release 67-197)
A fir tree had been tested in the Royal Aircraft Establishment's wind tunnel at Farnborough, U.K., to study the effects of high storm winds on forests. (Can Press, NYT, 7/27/67,3)
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31
