Mar 21 1965
From The Space Library
NASA's RANGER IX, equipped with six television cameras, was successfully launched toward the moon from Cape Kennedy by an Atlas-Agena B. After the Agena had carried the 800-lb. RANGER IX into 115-mi.-altitude parking orbit with 17,500 mph orbital speed, the Agena engines were cut off. Second burn of the Agena lasted about 90 sec., increasing the velocity to about 24,525 mph and freeing RANGER IX from the major pull of the earth's gravity, RANGER IX then continued on its 2½-day, 245,000-mi. trip to the moon. About 70 min, after launch, NASA announced the spacecraft had been commanded to deploy its solar panels that would convert solar energy to electrical power for its equipment. Projected target was the crater Alphonsus, about 12° south of the moon's equator, where gaseous emissions had been reported. On the day of impact, Alphonsus would be illuminated by slanting sunlight, producing long shadows and bringing out subtle surface features. The terminator-dividing line between the dark and sunlit portions of the moon-would be only 11° from Alphonsus. Five hours after lift-off, NASA announced that RANGER IX's course was so accurate it would hit the moon only 400 mi. north of the crater target; an inflight maneuver would be executed later to correct this small course error. (NASA Release 65-25; Wash, Post, 3/22/65; Sehlstedt, Balt. Sun, 3/22/65; Sullivan, NYT, 3/22/65; WSJ, 3/22/65)
Leonid I. Brezhnev, Soviet Communist Party First Secretary, talked by telephone to Cosmonauts Pavel Belyayev and Aleksei Leonov and promised them a fitting reception when they arrived in Moscow. He thanked them for the successful fulfillment of their mission. They said they felt well. Congratulations on the VOSKHOD II flight were sent to Brezhnev by Mao Tze-tung and other Chinese leaders, Peking Radio reported. (Loory, N.Y . Her. Trib., 3/22/65; AP, N.Y. Her. Trib., 3/22/65)
Soviet Cosmonauts Col. Pavel I. Belyayev and Lt. Col. Aleksei Leonov appeared in public for the first time since they landed VOSKHOD II in the Perm region Mar. 19. They were en route to Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan where they were expected to undergo detailed medical checkups and debriefings by scientists and technicians before being welcomed in Moscow in Red Square. (Shabad, NYT, 3/22/65, 1, 3)
At a news conference reported by Soviet press, Col. Pavel Belyayev and Lt. Col. Aleksei Leonov, the two-man crew of the Soviet spacecraft VOSKHOD said they had sighted an artificial satellite during their Mar. 18 flight: "We shouted with surprise when we saw it slowly rotating about 800 meters [900 yards] from our ship." Neither the satellite nor the orbit in which it was traveling was identified. The cosmonauts related the part that each had played. Col. Belyayev had operated the controls of the decompression chamber through which his companion left the spacecraft, recorded Leonov's pulse and respiration rate, and oriented the spacecraft so that Leonov was always in sunlight during the televised sequence transmitted to earth. Col. Leonov said that when he opened the hatch of the air lock after decompression, he was "struck by a flow of blindingly bright sunlight like an arc of electric welding." The spacecraft was in its second orbit, passing over Kerch Strait. Space had an unexpected aspect, he said: "Ahead of me was black sky, very black. The sun was not radiant, just a smooth disc without an aureole. Below was the smooth-level earth. You could not tell it was a sphere, only by the fact that the round edge showed on the horizon." The acrobatics tired Leonov, especially because of the effort required to move. He said that although the program required that he carefully wind the rope that had tethered him to the craft, he found it "a waste of time" and simply pulled it into the hatch. "The commander quickly closed the hatch cover and injected pressure into the air lock," Leonov said. Describing the manually controlled landing, Col. Belyayev said the controls were switched on in time and all systems had "worked without a hitch." He said the spacecraft landed in the northern Ural mountains between two big spruce trees in snow 5-10 ft. deep. (Shabad, NYT, 3/23/65, 1, 23)
Over 500 contractors shared the work in NASA’s $1.35 billion Gemini manned space flight project, it was reported. The biggest contractors were aircraft companies, but computer manufacturers, major airlines, telephone companies, and small businesses, manufacturing highly specialized items were included. (Hines. Wash. Sun. Star, 3/21/65
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