Nov 19 1964
From The Space Library
NASA launched a Nike-Cajun sounding rocket from Wallops Island, Va., to an altitude of 78 mi., to test the prototype Nike-Cajun grenade payload produced by Limey Corp. Instrumentation performance was satisfactory, except for failure of 12th grenade to explode. (NASA Rpt. SRL)
NASA conducted two sets of experiments with Nike-Apache sounding rockets launched from the flight deck of the USNS Croatan: (1) an experiment to measure pressure, temperature, and density in the region of about 20- to 75-mi. altitude for the Univ. of Michigan; (2) ex-periments to measure electron density in the ionosphere for the Univ. of Illinois. (Wallops Release 64-86; NASA Rpt. SRL)
NASA Lewis Research Center undertook supervision at Lockheed Missiles and Space Company, Sunnyvale, Calif., of the design and development of a metal shroud section to replace the fiberglas section in Mariner IV. Investigations had indicated that the fiberglas fairing of MARINER III probably had structural failure when exposed to the flight environment and that this prevented shroud separation from the spacecraft. (KSC Release 206-64)
In press interview during Third International Symposium on Bioastronautics and Exploration of Space, in San Antonio, Major Duane E. Graveline, a USAF doctor who examined each of the Project Mercury astronauts after their flights, said there was no doubt that even brief forays into space created a certain physical debilitation. "What prolonged space flights, with the constant state of weightlessness and no gravity as we know on earth might do to the human body, we don't know yet. We know that the Russian cosmonauts have suffered from the effects of prolonged weightlessness, and that U.S. astronauts Walter M. Schirra and Leroy Gordon Cooper had temporary debility for the same reason. . . . What we must do now is determine how to condition man for long-duration manned orbital missions and journeys into the universe. Frankly, we don't have the answers yet." (Macomber, Copley News Service, San Diego Union, 11/19/64)
Cornell Univ. announced that scientists at the Ionospheric Observatory at Arecibo, Puerto Rico, bounced a radar signal off the planet Mars while it was about 138,000,000 mi. from earth today. Cornell said this was the farthest distance at which Mars had been detected by radar. (AP, Balt. Sun, 11/20/64)
NASA announced that Francis J. Sullivan had been appointed Acting Direc-tor of the Electronics and Control Div., Office of Advanced Research and Technology. The position formerly was held by Dr. Albert J. Kelley, who became Deputy Director of the Electronics Research Center, Cambridge, Mass. (NASA Announcement 64-274)
Dr. J. Allen Hynek of Northwestern Univ. said that he and his colleagues would submit a proposal to NASA for a 24-in. telescope to be landed on the moon by the mid-70's. Such a telescope might double the size of the optically observable universe from its present radius of about 5 billion light years to perhaps 10 billion. It would also "see" radiations from deep space that are totally excluded by earth's atmosphere. (Schmeck, NYT, 11/20/64)
Defense Secretary Robert S. McNamara announced the closing of Atlas E, Atlas F, and Titan I missile installations. The inactivation would save $116.9 million annually. McNamara said he took the action because of "our now sizeable inventory of Titan Hand Minuteman missiles which have far greater capabilities and can be operated and maintained at a fraction of the cost of the earlier models." (SBD, 11/20/64; DOD Re-lease 822-64)
The Soviet Union marked Rocket Day, a new observance, by warning the West of the "stupendous power," great range, and pin-point accuracy of its missiles. Marshal Nikolai I. Krylov, chief of the rocket forces repeated the Kremlin's claim that it had antimissile missiles. (cm, NYT, 11/20/64, 27)
A Commerce Dept. reprint of a Russian scientific article indicated that Soviet satellite COSMOS V had detected and reported a high altitude explosion of U.S. nuclear weapon over Johnston Island in the Pacific on July 9, 1962. (NYT, 11/20/64)
A Pershing missile, fired from an Army range north of Fort Bliss, Tex., by an artillery unit from Fort Sill, Okla., as part of a training exercise, crashed 400 mi. off course somewhere in the mountains near Creede, Colo. It was not armed with explosives. (AP, Balt. Sun, 11/23/64)
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