Jul 29 1964
From The Space Library
RANGER VII spacecraft successfully completed its midcourse correction maneuvers to put the spacecraft on its final collision course to the moon. RANGER VII carried out series of orders involving switching from the directional to the omnidirectional antenna, folding the directional antenna out of the way of the midcourse motor, pitch and roll maneuvers to properly orient the spacecraft, firing the midcourse motor, and reorientation by earth and sun acquisition after the midcourse motor had been fired. Telemetry indicated that everything aboard the space-craft was normal after the midcourse correction activities had been completed. (NASA Release 64-187)
USAF Capt. Joe Engle flew the NASA-AirForce X-15 No. 3 experimental plane from Edwards AFB, Calif. in a test of the heat-resistant qualities of special materials attached to Calif., craft's fuselage. The X-15 reached maximum speed of 3,511 mph (mach 5.32) and peak altitude of 78,000 ft (NASA X-15 Proj. Off.; AP, Wash. Eve. Star, 7/30/64)
NASA conducted two successful test-flights of paraglider vehicles at Edwards AFB, Calif. In the first test, a simulated Gemini spacecraft manned by North American Aviation, Inc., test pilot E P. Hetzel was towed aloft beneath a pre-inflated paraglider landing system. The tow test vehicle (TTV) was towed to 6,000-ft. altitude by CH-46C helicopter. While airborne, Hetzel manually controlled the TTV through preplanned maneuvers to its landing. In the second test, a similar but unmanned system was dropped from a C-130 aircraft at 32,000-ft. altitude. The paraglider was automatically deployed and remotely controlled in flight from 22,000-ft. to 12,500-ft. altitude, where it was separated from the Gemini test vehicle. The tests were part of NASA's continuing evaluation of the paraglider system as a means of landing and recovering manned spacecraft (MSC Roundup, 8/5/64,1)
NASA announced its Ames Research Center would negotiate with J. W. Fecker Co., division of American Optical Co. for satellite attitude control simulator. Contract would amount to about $1 million. The simulator would be used in vacuum chamber to evaluate performance of systems and components being developed for attitude control of spacecraft. (NASA Release 64-188)
At MSC press conference, Kenneth S. Kleinknecht, Deputy Project Manager of Project Gemini, stated that an experiment assigned to the second manned flight (GT-4) in Project Gemini would involve the first exposure of an astronaut to the hazards of outer space without full space vehicle protection. He said that the experiment would involve "stepping into space," but modified this later to say that it might involve nothing more than the crewman's opening up the spacecraft hatch and standing up in his seat. In addition to this experiment, the second flight (scheduled for early 1965) also would include other scientific assignments, including medical tests, radiation measurements, and measurement of the earth's magnetic field. (AP, NYT, 7/30/64)
Christopher C. Kraft, Jr., Assistant Director for Flight Operations of NASA Manned Spacecraft Center, was appointed flight operations director for the second Gemini-Titan flight (GT-2), an unmanned suborbital flight scheduled for autumn. Kraft had been responsible for flight direction in Project Mercury and in the first Gemini-Titan flight. For the GT-2 mission he would replace Dr. Walter C. Williams, who resigned from NASA last March to become Vice President and General Manager, Manned Systems Div., Aerospace Corp. (NASA Release 64-185)
Communications Satellite Corp. announced its Board of Directors had elected John A. Johnson as Vice President-International. Mr. Johnson had been Director of International Arrangements of ComSatCorp since Dec. 9,1963. From October 1958 until he joined ComSatCorp in 1963 he had served as General Counsel of NASA. (ComSatCorp Release)
His Excellency Philibert Tsiranana, President of the Malagasy Republic, toured NASA Goddard Space Flight Center and received briefings on the Goddard mission by GSFC Director Dr. Harry Goett. In his official) party were his wife, the Malagasy Foreign Minister, their Ambassador to the U.S., and officials of the U.S. State Dept. and NASA Hq. (Goddard News, 8/10/64,1)
Dr. Norman W. Rosenberg, of the Air Force Cambridge Research Laboratories, was presented the DOD Distinguished Civilian Service Award, highest decoration for civilian employees. Since joining AFCRL in 1959, Rosenberg designed and executed a number of important experimental studies in upper atmosphere physics, most of which were part of Project Firefly. (OAR Release 7-64-3)
West Germany's vertical take-off aircraft successfully passed the speed of sound in a test flight. The two-jet VJ101 achieved its vertical rise by tilting its jets downward and then went into forward flight by swinging them up to a horizontal position. The plane was being developed by the West German firms of Boelkow, Heinkel, and Messerschmitt. (AP, Wash. Post, 7/31/64)
USAF successfully fired an Atlas ICBM from Vandenberg AFB, California. (M&R, 8/3/64, 8)
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