Mar 18 1965
From The Space Library
U.S.S.R.'s VOSKHOD II, manned by pilot Col. Pavel Belyayev and co-pilot Lt. Col. Aleksei Leonov, was launched from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, Tass reported. The spacecraft set an altitude record, reaching an apogee of 495 km. (309 mi.)-higher than any manned spacecraft had flown. Other orbital data: perigee, 173 km. (108 mi.) ; inclination, 65°; period, 91 min, During the second orbit, Lt. Col. Leonov, clad in a spacesuit with "autonomous life support system," stepped into space, moved about five meters from the spacecraft I tethered by a cable), and successfully carried out prescribed studies and observations: he examined the outer surface of the spacecraft; turned on a film camera; carried out visual observations of the earth and outer space; took horizontal, vertical, and somersaulting positions; and returned safely to the spacecraft, Tass said: "Outside the ship and after returning, Leonov feels well." He spent about 20 min, in conditions of outer space, including 10 min, free-floating in space. Entire procedure was carried out under control of Col. Belyayev, with whom continuous communication was maintained. A television camera fixed to the side of VOSKHOD II relayed pictures of the maneuver to Soviet ground stations. Biotelemetric data indicated that both cosmonauts had satisfactorily withstood the orbiting and the transition to weightlessness: the pulse rate of Belyayev and Leonov was 70-72 beats a minute and the respiration rate 18-20 a minute. All spacecraft systems were functioning normally. Tass said VOSKHOD II would complete at least 13 orbits of the earth. (Tass, AP, NYT, 3/19/65; Komsomolskaya Pravda, 3/19/ 65, 1, ATSS-T Trans.; Haseltine. Wash, Post, 3/19/65)
Atlas launch vehicle sustainer engine system had been successfully fired for the first time using flox, a combination of liquid fluorine and liquid oxyGen. as the oxidizer. This was the first time a complete engine system had been fired using this high-energy oxidizer. Approximately 20 firings would be conducted in the series using the standard concentration of 30% liquid fluorine to 70% liquid oxygen. Conditions involving thrust level, oxidant fuel ratio, and other engine variables would be run to establish engine performance limitations. The tests were being conducted under LRC contract, by North American Aviation's Rocketdyne Div., Canoga Park, Calif. ( LRC Release 65-21)
NASA launched a Nike-Apache sounding rocket with a 63-lb. payload from Wallops Station, Va, to peak altitude of 98 mi. The experiment was conducted for the Graduate Research Center of the Southwest, Dallas, Tex., and was designed to measure ion composition and neutral composition of the upper atmosphere as functions of altitude. Impact occurred 89 mi. downrange in Atlantic Ocean; no recovery was attempted. (Wallops Release 65-14)
NASA Aerobee 150 sounding rocket was successfully launched from White Sands, N. Mex., to a peak altitude of 154.5 km. (96 mi.). The primary experimental objective was to obtain ultraviolet spectra of Mars and Orion by the use of four spectrographs. GSFC provided the payload instrumentation. (NASA Rpt. SRL)
USAF launched Thor-Altair booster from Western Test Range with unidentified satellite payload. (U.S. Aeron. & Space Act., 1965, 136)
NASA bioscience programs were discussed in testimony before the House Committee on Science and Astronautics' Subcommittee on Space Sciences and Applications by NASA Associate Administrator Dr. Homer E. Newell: "Results recently submitted by the U.S. and U.S.S.R. from flights up to five days in length indicate that long term space flight may have several important and serious physiological and behavior effects upon the performance and well being of man that need to be investigated further. There were changes in the circulation system, in the biochemical characteristics of the blood and urine, and in the electroencephalogram indices, all pointing to a need for more detailed investigations. The results from the Biosatellite studies will have broad application to long term, manned space flight, including manned space stations and lunar and planetary bases. "Prolonged manned flights may involve changes similar to those observed after 10 days of strict bed rest on the ground. These are moderate losses of bone minerals such as calcium, particularly in the vertebrae; loss of muscle tone and physical capability; certain cardiovascular changes; and metabolism in general. The effect of continued sensory deprivation on behavior and performance is unknown. "Biosatellite experiments are of both scientific and practical importance and extremely profitable to investigate. We do not presently have sound theoretical bases for making precise quantitative (and in some cases qualitative) predictions of what we expect to happen. It is, therefore, important to carry out Biosatellite studies of suitable duration to critically demonstrate and test the effects of weightlessness on living organisms," Outlining approaches to the search for extra-terrestrial life in NASA's bioscience programs, Dr. Newell testified: "(a) An attempt is being made to synthesize models of primitive single-celled organisms in the laboratory. . . . "( b) The physical environments of the planets are being studied and characterized by instruments from the Earth, from high altitude balloons and from planetary fly-bys. . . . "(c) Living Earth organisms are being grown under simulated planetary environmental conditions... "(d) Plans are being made for both unmanned and manned direct exploration of planets..." (Testimony; 1966 NASA Auth. Hearings, 806-41)
NASA Deputy Administrator Dr. Hugh L. Dryden told the annual meeting of the American Astronautical Society in Washington, D.C., that NASA planned to select 10 to 20 scientists to begin astronaut flight training this summer from over 900 applicants. Dr. Dryden said the Mercury astronauts had demonstrated man's ability as a sensor and manipulator, and to some extent as an evaluator, in orbit, "Early Gemini and Apollo flights will further examine these capabilities so that, in the future, man's full potential can be exploited." (AP, NYT, 3/19/65)
In an article in the San Diego Evening Tribune deploring the strikes and labor unrest at Cape Kennedy and Merritt Island, Victor Riesel said: "Well over $100 million had been lost in strikes. "NASA officials report 78 walkouts between Dec. 1, 1962, and Feb. 15, 1965. Total work loss has been 63,784 man days. This means there has been an average of more than five vital strikes a month. At least 35 of them have been illegal and have cost 49,596 man days." (Riesel, San Diego Eve. Trib., 3/18/65)
Tokyo Univ. Aeronautical Institute announced successful firing of a three-stage Lambda research rocket from Uchinoura in southern Japan. The rocket reached an altitude of 680 mi. and landed in the Pacific northwest of the Marianas. (Reuters, NYT, 3/19/65)
Among the aerospace pioneers selected for San Diego's new International Aerospace Hall of Fame were Scott Crossfield, Charles A. Lindbergh, Gen. James H. Doolittle, Astronauts John H. Glenn and Alan B. Shepard, Dr. Wernher von Braun, Orville and Wilbur Wright, Robert Hutchings Goddard, Jacqueline Cochran, and Amelia Earhart. Representatives of 287 organizations from throughout the world were on the nominating committee. Oil paintings of the honorees were unveiled at a dinner given in conjunction with San Diego's Space Fair 65 observance. ( NAA S&ID Skywriter, 3/19/65, 1)
Catholic Univ. was the first school in the Nation to offer undergraduate study in space science, said Dr. C. C. Chang, head of the Dept. of Space Science and Applied Physics established two years ago. In addition to space science, the department offered specialization in aerospace engineering, applied physics, and fluid mechanics and heat transfer. (Hoffman, Wash, Post, 3/ 18/65 )
Soviet VOSKHOD II Cosmonauts Pavel Belyayev and Aleksei Leonov talked with Cuban Defense Minister Raul Castro, who was in Moscow, and told him they had seen his island from space, Tass reported. "It was very beautiful, and her green colors were lovely," they said. (AP, 3/18/65)
Rep. J. Edward Roush ( D-Ind.), speaking on the floor of the House, compared the states in distribution of Federal research and development funds per scientist employed: "Of the seven states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin only Illinois exceeds the national average of approximately $25,000 in research and development funds per scientist employed in educational institutions in this area. Even then this one state exceeds the average distribution by only $4,600. The shares of other states range from a high of $15,000 per scientist in Michigan down to only $9,000 in my own state of Indiana. In between these we find Minnesota, $13,000; Ohio, $11,000; and Wisconsin, $10,900. "Leading the national list is New Mexico with $163,000 per scientist followed by Nevada with $109,000 and California with $63,000 per scientist. At the very bottom of the list is Maine with only $4,000 per scientist. ". . . this matter of the uneven geographic distribution of Federal research and development funds is involving our national interest." (CR, 3/18/65, 5186)
A spacesuit that would enable man to leave his spacecraft was discussed by Soviet doctor Vladimir Krichagin in a commentary for Tass written before the VOSKHOD II flight: "It is in fact a miniature hermetic cabin which consists of a metal helmet with a transparent visor, a multi-layer hermetic suit, gloves, and specially designed footwear. The spacesuit has its own power circuitry feeding communications, and a system of pickups of physiological functions . . . It is impossible to create atmospheric pressure within the suit because it would then inflate as a football . . . and the man would turn into a statue unable to bend his legs and arms . . . the air pressure inside the spacesuit should be at least 0.4 atmospheres . . . It was established that prolonged (over one hour) respiration in pure oxygen literally washes nitrogen out of the tissues of the body and then the pressure can be safely reduced. It was . . . possible to free a man in the spacesuit from . .. the immobilizing effect of an 'inflated football'. . . . "There must be a steady supply of pure oxygen for the cosmonaut in spacesuit ... his body has to 'breathe' and . . . give off up to 300 kilo-calories [every hour]... the spacesuit has a special air conditioning system through which room temperature air is pumped into the spacesuit. This air carries away excess heat of the organism and skin-exuded moisture. "To protect man in space from ... heat . . . and cold . . ., the spacesuit is covered by thermal insulation layer and coated with a light color that deflects heat rays , , In these spacesuits of the ventilation type . . . used air is injected into the environment. "[In] spacesuits of the ... regenerating type . .. the available air and hydrogen supply circulates regenerating the spacesuit to a generating device and back. This device on the suit's surface removes carbon dioxide and excess moisture from the 'spent' air . . . replenishes oxygen supply and cools off gases to a preset temperature. "This spacesuit may be used for prolonged work in space and for landing on the lunar surface." (UPI, Rosenfeld, Wash. Post, 3/19/65, 1, 2; Tanner, NYT, 3/20/65, 1,3)
Soviet Cosmonaut Col. Pavel Popovich, who orbited the earth 48 times in August 1962, said during a televised news conference in Moscow: "In the future, we shall be able to discard the cord connecting the cosmonaut with his craft. A small rocket engine will help the man to return to his ship." Vasily Seleznev, Soviet doctor of technology, told the news conference he thought the significance for space a research of Leonov's leaving his craft was that "in [the] future cosmonauts will take part in assembling spaceships. There may also arise the need for repairing the craft and, what is most important, there is the prospect of travel to other planets." Seleznev said the Russians hoped to reach the moon in the not too distant future. (Rosenfeld, Wash. Post, 3/19/65, 1, 2)
Vice Adm. Hyman G. Rickover (USN ) urged Congress to approve the construction of a new type of nuclear reactor that he said was vital to the welfare of the United States and perhaps the whole world. Adm. Rickover said the reactor-which he himself conceived-was called a "seed-blanket" reactor, would employ thorium as the major fuel and would produce more fuel than it consumed. It would run about nine years on one fuel charge. Reactors of this type-costing more than $263 million for the initial one-could extend the fuel resources of the United States by several hundred years and also produce electricity economically, he said. Dr. Glenn T. Seaborg, chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission, testified that AEC had signed a memorandum of understanding with the state of California for the development and construction of the proposed $263 million prototype, and that whereas present "lightwater" reactors tapped only 1 to 2 per cent of the energy available in either uranium or thorium, the proposed reactor "will demonstrate technology which is expected to provide means for ultimately making available for power production about 50 per cent of the potential energy in thorium-which represents an energy source many times larger than that of the known fossil-fuel [coal and oil] reserves." Admiral Rickover said the proposed power device would have more than twice the electrical-generating capacity of any United States central power station. (AP, NYT, 3/19/65, 12 )
March 18-19: Scientific research papers were presented by high school students at regional Youth Science Congress contests conducted by National Science Teachers Association in cooperation with NASA, Regional winners would compete at the National Youth Science Congress to be held in Washington, D.C., later this year. (LaRC Release; GSFC Release G-7-65)
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