Mar 14 1969
From The Space Library
NASA Wallops Station recovered parachute and payload launched on two-stage Sidewinder-Arcas meteorological sounding rocket. Recovery-by fixed-wing Cessna 206 aircraft-was third success to date. Flight investigated performance of Sidewinder-Arcas rocket system and demonstrated deployment of 16-ft-dia, disc-gap-band parachute at high altitude. Wallops scored first aerial recovery Nov. 9, 1966, when payload launched on Argentina Orion II sounding rocket was snatched by helicopter. (WS Release 69-7)
Aerobee 150 sounding rocket launched by NASA from WSMR carried GSFC -Univ. of Wisconsin-Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory payload to 109.8-mi (176.7-km) altitude. Objective was to provide precisely calibrated stellar observations of stars Regulus, Spica, Denebola, and Benetnasch, which had been viewed by NASA'S OAO H-using 12.9-in-dia Dall-Kirham telescope, plane-grating spectrograph, and STRAP III stellar pointing attitude control system. Rocket and instruments performed satisfactorily, but attitude control system malfunctioned. First target was acquired and data were obtained; second and third targets were not acquired; and fourth target was acquired but not identified. (NASA Rpt SRL)
Senate Committee on Aeronautical and Space Sciences ordered favorably reported the nomination of Dr. Thomas O. Paine as NASA Administrator. Nomination awaited approval by Senate. (NASA LAR, VIII/42)
President Nixon proposed deployment of $6- to $7-billion modified, "Safeguard" ABM system using components developed for Sentinel, but altering deployment to provide local defense of selected Minuteman sites, area defense to protect bomber bases and command and control authorities, defense of continental U.S. against accidental attack, and "substantial protection against the kind of attack which the Chinese Communists may be capable of launching throughout the 1970's." Deployment would not place missile and radar sites near major cities (except Washington, D.C.). President said safety of country "requires that we should proceed now with the development and construction of the new system in a carefully phased program. . . . The program is not provocative. The Soviet retaliatory capability is not affected by our decision." (PD, 3/17/69, 400-9)
FAA announced signing of two-year agreement with Air Transport Assn. of America to participate in ATA's airborne collision avoidance program. FAA would take part in testing and evaluation of airborne CAS systems supplied by industry in ATA-funded program. (FAA Release 69-34; ATA Release 22)
Soviet youth newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda praised NASA's Apollo 9 mission: "A thorough check of the entire equipment necessary for a lunar landing has been attained, thanks to the courage and gallantry of the three American astronauts. At the same time the Apollo 9 flight showed that it is impossible in terrestrial conditions to envisage all difficulties astronauts are encountering in real flight." Soviet Academician Prof. Anatoly A. Blagonravov complimented NASA's planning for lunar landing: "The fact that the Americans earlier made a flight around the moon and now conducted the Apollo 9 experiment, in my opinion, is evidence of a rather complete solution of the problem of dependability," though some risk always remained. (UPI, W Star, 3/14/69, A6)
Lockheed Aircraft Corp.'s Hummingbird experimental VTOL aircraft, officially designated XV-4B, crashed 22 mi from Dobbins AFB, Ga." during research flight. Civilian test pilot Hal J. Quamme parachuted to safety. Aircraft was being tested and developed for USAF. (UPI, P Inq, 3/15/69, 1; AP, W Star, 3/16/69, A8)
Los Angeles Times editorial observed space industry employment drop from 400,000 in mid-1960s to current 200,000-at which rate it would sink to 50,000 by 1972. ". . . the pool of scientific and technical expertise which has been brought together in the manned space program is disintegrating. If the President wants to save what is really an invaluable national resource, he and Congress cannot wait much longer to assign new projects to the space agency. . . . "A sound space program deserves a high place on the scale of priorities. And, both economic and military considerations dictate that the emphasis should be heavily on activities in the space near earth rather than on esoteric exploration of such deep planets as Mars and Venus. The proposal for construction in earth orbit of a large, permanent scientific laboratory . . . seems to deserve serious consideration as the major space project of the 1970s." (LA Times, 3/14/69)
“The Daring Contraption called LEM” article in Life Magazine
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