May 17 1967
From The Space Library
NASA Argo D-4, (Javelin) sounding rocket launched from NASA Wallops Station carried Syracuse Univ. Research Corp. payload containing vacuum-ion chamber to 625-mi (1,006-km) altitude on flight to measure ion densities in the upper atmosphere. Telemetry signal was received for 18 min. (NASA Rpt SRL)
NASA test pilot William H. Dana flew X-15 No. 1 to 3,205 mph (mach 4.84.) and 71,0001-ft altitude in flight at Edwards AFB. Purposes of test: (1) PCM system checkout; (2) measurement of coldwall heat transfer; (3) measurement of step panel heat transfer; (4) boost guidance checkout; (5) energy management checkout; (6) check of tip-pod accelerometer; (7) sonic boom study; and (8 ) study of horizontal tail loads. (X-15 Proj Off)
U.S.S.R. successfully launched two Cosmos satellites : Cosmos CLIX entered orbit with 60,600-km (37,655-mi) apogee, 380-km (236-mi) perigee, 19-hr 33-min period, and 51° inclination; Cosmos CLX entered orbit with 205-km (127 mi) apogee, 142-km (88-mi) perigee, and 49.6° inclination. Equipment on both satellites functioned normally. Cosmos CLX reentered May 18. (UPI, W Star, 5/18/67, C18; GSFC SSR, 5/31/67)
NASA's SURVEYOR III spacecraft, resting on the moon, would not be reactivated until about May 23 despite the end of the two-week lunar night, NASA announced. Officials said they wanted spacecraft to warm up gradually before resuming communications. (UPI, NYT, 5/18/67, 22)
Congress, the Administration, and the press had failed to put the US. space program-particularly the Apollo fire--into proper perspective, Rep. Joseph E. Karth (D-Minn.) , Chairman of the House Committee on Science and Astronautics' Subcommittee on Space Science and Applications, told National Space Club meeting. "Despite reports and statements to the contrary, neither the Apollo nor the rest of the space program is falling apart. Despite reports to the contrary, NASA has revealed and discussed its errors and those of the contractor to an unprecedented degree. In fact, I have never heard more candid admissions of failures and responsibilities. Yet, these errors must be weighed in the overall balance with the tremendous accomplishments of NASA and its contractors during the past nine years. It is unfair and super-bad-judgment to measure this present `low water' mark with any other yardstick. . . ." (Text, Clark, NYT, 5/18/67,30)
Soviet space program would be seriously delayed because of the April 24 accident which killed Cosmonaut Vladimir M. Komarov, Soviet Cosmonaut Yuri A. Gagarin disclosed in Komsomolskaya Pravda. "Flights of spaceships of the type of Soyuz I will be possible only after a complete determination of the causes of the accident, their elimination and then test flights. This, of course, will take time." Gagarin confirmed that Soyuz I mission had been first of a series of flights planned for summer 1967. Concerning rumors that Komarov had survived the crash landing of Soyuz I , he said: "How we all wish that Volodya Komarov was alive. . . . But one must look facts in the face." (NYT, 5/18/67, 31; AP, W Post, 5/18/67, A26)
Michigan's Governor George Romney said US. exhibition at Expo '67 in Montreal was "a discredit to the Nation and the people of this Nation. . . . The only thing inside the exhibit that I could see that had any merit were the space capsules." (UPI, W Post, 5/18/67)
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