Nov 15 1969
From The Space Library
U.S.S.R. launched Cosmos CCCX into orbit with 332-km (206.3-mi) apogee, 203-km (126.1-mi) perigee, 89.8-min period, and 64.9° inclination. Satellite reentered Nov. 23. (GSFC SSR, 11/15/69; 11/30/69)
Washington Post editorial on Apollo 12 launch: "Through the peculiarities of our time, we are all about to become participants, albeit vicariously, in the kind of research and exploration that has been carried out previously by lonely scientists almost in isolation. Radio and television make it possible for us to watch and to hear two explorers as they go about the somewhat mundane business of making and recording observations, picking up rocks, and setting up equipment. As these flights roll on through the next few years, we will watch the slow process of exploration proceed. In a way, it will be like being there when Darwin traveled around the world and made the observations that resulted in his theory of evolution or when Lewis and Clark explored the Northwest. Not too much should be expected from any one trip or any one set of experiments. It is the totality of knowledge, not its fragments, that counts." (W Post, 11/15/69, A20)
Americans had generated only "scant enthusiasm" for Apollo 12 launch, New York Times said. In contrast to Apollo 11, July 16, "television sets in bars and business offices drew only small, languid crowds. . ." Collective sense of anticlimax was "perhaps predictable considering the intense national emotion spent on the first moon landing four months ago." Contributing to indifference might have been "the mounting preoccupation with the war in Vietnam, the peace rallies, the controversy surrounding Vice President Agnew and earthly social problems." However, "there were no reports of the kind of demonstrations that protested the Apollo 11 flight." Marchers in antiwar protests had appeared "to show little interest" in Apollo 12. (Reinhold, NYT, 11/15/69)
FAA announced proposal to extend hourly flight quotas in effect at five high-density airports serving New York, Chicago, and Washington, D.C." for 9-12 mos beyond Dec. 31 expiration date. Experience with quota system since June 1 inception indicated it had relieved congestion and reduced delays. (FAA Release 69-125)
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