Nov 10 1966
From The Space Library
NASA Nike-Apache sounding rocket launched from Churchill Research Range reached 120-mi. (193-km.) altitude in flight to evaluate experiments for NASA-west German cooperative satellite program. Premature ejection of payload cylinder doors caused overheating and malfunction of an electron detector, but all other instruments performed satisfactorily. Rocket performance, though slightly in excess of predicted, was within normal tolerance range. (NASA Rpt. SRL)
XB-70 No. 1 experimental supersonic bomber, piloted by L/Col. Joseph Cotton (USAF) and NASA test pilot Fitzhugh Fulton, reached mach 2.52 and 60,000-ft. altitude in flight from Edwards AFB for the national sonic boom program. (XB-70 Flight log)
Dirty windows which obscured astronauts' vision moderately to severely in many of NASA's Gemini missions had been caused by volatile vapors produced by silicones used in window seals, Gemini program director Charles W. Mathews told news briefing at MSC. Problem would be corrected by curing silicone seals in a vacuum. (Wash. Eve. Star, 11/11/66, A4)
Groundbreaking ceremonies were held for ERC's $60-million headquarters complex in Cambridge, Mass. (Boston Her., 11/11/66; AIAA Daily, 11/29/66, 1)
Three USAF Athena missiles were successfully launched within three hours from Green River, Utah, to target area at WSMR, in test to determine how to distinguish armed missile from decoy missile during reentry. (AP, NYT, 11/13/66, 23)
November 10: Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara, after conferring with President Johnson, told newsmen at the Texas White House that there was "considerable evidence" that U.S.S.R. was building and deploying an antiballistic missile system around its cities, which might require an increase in US. offensive capacity. He said the Administration would probably recommend to Congress that US. begin production and deployment of Poseidon missile-a large submarine-launched missile with greater power to penetrate sophisticated defense system than Polaris missile. The Secretary reported that no decision had yet been made on deployment of Nike-X antimissile missile, on which $500 million had already been spent for research and development. (Semple, Jr., NYT, 11/11/66, 1, 19; Wilson, Wash. Post, 11/11/66, A1, A10; Horner, Wash. Eve. Star, 11/11/66, A1)
MSFC had awarded General Electric Co. a $147,884, 12-mo. contract to study design and systems requirements of an electrically propelled space vehicle for manned Mars landing missions and to identify areas of technology in which concentrated research would produce maximum benefit to manned planetary program. (MSFC Release 66-271)
Najeeb E. Halaby, vice president of Pan American World Airways and former FAA Administrator, suggested that Government build two SST prototypes-one Boeing and one Lockheed-using same prototype power plant for both before selecting the final design. "There is no substitute for flight testing," he said. "The whole world would benefit in the economics and safety of a flight-tested plane." Airframe designs by Boeing Co. and Lockheed Aircraft Corp. and engine designs by General Electric Co. and Pratt & Whitney Div. had been submitted to FAA Sept. 6 for evaluation. President Johnson would announce final selection in late 1966. (NYT, 11/11/66, 73)
Columbia Univ. announced creation of Institute for the Study of Science in Human Affairs which would seek to clarify present and potential roles of science in society. Funded by $1-million grant from Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, Institute would work through existing university structure, on both graduate and undergraduate levels, to stimulate teaching and research and possibly establish visiting professorships. The New York Times later editorialized: Its goal is to increase public understanding of the basic issues arising from the scientific revolution-and to develop wise men to lead that revolution. ". . . Its beginnings are modest, but the need for it is great and so, too, we believe, is its promise." (Sullivan, NYT, 11/11/66, 32; Aarons, Wash. Post, 11/13/66, L4; NYT, 11/13/66, 10E)
Sociological repercussions of the space age might be most important to historians, suggested Robert Toth in the Washington Post: In just nine years since the first man-made moon went aloft, the fact that man can escape his Earth has become so accepted Americans are almost blase about new manned flights. "It is too early for anyone to guess how such developments may affect the deeper thoughts of self and one's place in -the world and in the universe. But it is not too much to say that, even before man reaches the moon, he has begun to get a new perspective of himself and his place in the universe from the space adventure." (Toth, Wash. Post, 11 /10/66, P6)
November 10-30: NASA's LUNAR ORBITER II, launched from ETR Nov. 6, became second US. spacecraft to enter lunar orbit; five days later it was successfully transferred to final close-in orbit for photography. Orbital parameters: apolune, 1,163 mi. (1,870 km.); perilune, 122 mi. (196 km.); inclination, 12.2ΓΈ; period, 3 hr. 38 min. Spacecraft recorded two micrometeoroid hits-first ever detected by U S . spacecraft in moon's vicinity. It performed 205 attitude changes and responded to 2,421 commands. A total of 211 medium-and high-resolution photos of 13 potential Apollo landing sites were taken during mission's photo acquisition phase. Readout would be completed Dec. 13. Among photos transmitted, described as "consistently high in quality," was a picture of the crater Copernicus taken from an angle inaccessible to earth cameras. Dr. Martin J. Swetnick, NASA Hq., describing the closeup as "one of the great pictures of the century," said: "It provides new information, which certainly will lead to better understanding of the processes and structures on the moon." (NASA Proj. Off.; AP, rush. Post, 11/16/66, A18; Sullivan, NYT, 12/1/66, 1, 36)
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