Oct 12 1964
From The Space Library
U.S.S.R. launched into orbit VOSKHOD I spacecraft with three-man crew: pilot-cosmonaut, Eng. Col. Vladimir Mikhailovich Komarov ; scientific co-worker cosmonaut, Candidate of Technical Sciences, Konstantin Petrovich Feoktistov; and physician-cosmonaut, Boris Borisovich Yegorov. This was history's first multi-manned space flight and marked the entry into space of a scientist and a physician. Initial orbit (as given by Tass) : 409-km. (254-mi.) apogee, 178-km. (110-mi.) perigee, 90.1-min. period, and 65° inclination to the equator. Tass announced purposes of the space flight were to: test new multi-seat manned spacecraft; investigate work capability and interrelationship, in flight, of a group of cosmonauts consisting of specialists from various branches of science and technology; conduct scientific physico-technical research under actual spaceflight conditions; continue study of effects of space-flight conditions on human organism; and conduct expanded medico-biological investigations under conditions of prolonged flight. Television photographs of the cosmonauts, wearing lightweight woolen suits rather than spacesuits, were received in U.S.S.R. and transmitted both taped and live by TV stations during the day. On its eighth orbit, as the spacecraft passed over U.S., the crew radioed greeting: "From aboard the spaceship VOSKHOD we convey our best wishes to the industrious American people. We wish the people of the United States peace and happiness." (Tass, Krasnaya Zvezda, 10/13/64, 1, ATSS-T Trans.; Tanner, NYT, 10/13/64, 1)
Prof. Leonid I. Sedov, Soviet space official, said in Izvestia interview that success of VOSKHOD I "opens up new horizons" in space. It now made realistic any plans about building an "orbiting space platform, a flying space institute," which could serve as a "springboard for further inter-planetary expeditions." And Lt. Col. Pavel Popovich, Soviet cosmonaut, said in Tass interview that flight of VOSKHOD I was of great significance "because our aim is to send space stations to distant planets." (Tanner, NYT, 10/13/64, 1, 18)
Yuri M. Vorontsov, Soviet delegate to U.N. Legal Subcommittee of the Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space, said orbiting of three-man VOSKHOD spacecraft represented "a great achievement of Soviet science and the Soviet people "on behalf of all mankind." " Dr. N. M. Sissakian, member of presidium of Soviet Academy of Sciences, said in Paris that USSR hoped to present scientific results of VOSKHOD I space flight to international symposium on manned space flight in Paris next June. (AP, Balt. Sun, 10/13/64; Sullivan, NYT, 10/13/64, 18)
Yuri Gagarin, Soviet cosmonaut and first man to fly in, space, said in Izvestia interview that Engr. Col Vladimir Mikhailovitch Komarov, member of VOSKHOD I crew, had once been disqualified for cosmonaut training because of heart-beat irregularity, but had been reinstated when a heart specialist declared his heart to be sound. (Loory, N .Y . Her., Trib., 10/13/64)
British Labor party leader Harold Wilson said Soviet VOSKHOD I space-craft was forerunner of missile-launching satellites that would make Polaris missile obsolete. Such space-based weapons, he said, "would mean that the all-American deterrent on which Sir Alec Douglas-Home bases his defense argument will soon be made obsolete by space missile development." British election was three days away. (Culhane, Balt. Sun, 10/13/64)
Dr. Wernher von Braun, Director of NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, said in Gatlinburg, Tenn., speech to NASA-AEC-USAF symposium on radiation protection that "not too far in the future huge nuclear-propelled spacecraft will take crews of men on long voyages deep into space.. . "The problems of man-made radiation connected with these space ships will prove far more challenging in the long run than those of the natural radiation in space. . . ." (NYT, 10/13/64, 18)
First test patterns had been sent over special cable link between Suitland, Md., and Moscow, for exchange of meteorological data, according to U.S. Weather Bureau. The link was considered operational, could be used any time U.S. and U.S.S.R. agreed on scheduling and other details of the cooperative exchange. The cable was result of cooperative space agreement reached in 1962 by NASA Deputy Administrator Dr. Hugh L. Dryden for the US. and Academician Anatoli A. Blagonravov for the U.S.S.R. (Gustaitis, Wash. Post, 10/13/64)
First meeting of Joint Navigation Satellite Committee, composed of representatives from NASA, FAA, and Departments of Commerce, Defense, Interior, and Treasury. Committee would evaluate requirements for improved navigation, traffic control, and search-rescue services, then determine whether navsat system could meet these requirements and at what costs. (NASA Proj. Off.; NASA Release 64.-253)
USAF XB-70A research bomber achieved 740-mph speed and 35,000-ft. altitude in its third flight test. Pilot Alvin S. White said it hit super-sonic speed three times during the 1 hr., 35 min. flight near Edwards AFB, Calif. (Wash. Post, 10/13/64; AP, NYT, 10/13/64, 31)
Details of Phoebus-powered nuclear rocket engine, as described by Harold B. Finger, Director of NASA-AEC Space Nuclear Propulsion Office, in series of lectures sponsored by NATO Advisory Group for Aeronautical Research and Development (AGARD) The second-generation nuclear rocket would have 250,000-lb. thrust, using 5,000-megawatt Phoebus reactor. In clustered formation, the engines could launch manned space-craft out of earth orbit on Mars trajectory. Ground-test firings of first-generation (low-power) Phoebus would be conducted in 1965-66, and tests of the heavier Phoebus reactor in 1967. (M&R, 10/12/64, 17)
Safety of jet airliners had improved sevenfold since 1959, William W. Moss told 17th international air safety seminar of the Flight Foundation in New York. Capt. Moss, a Pan American World Airways, pilot, said there was average of one fatal accident per 690,000 flying hours in first nine months of this year, whereas there was one per 85,000 flying hours in 1959. (NYT, 10/13/64, 74)
October 12-14: Entry Technology Conference sponsored by AIAA was held in Williamsburg, Va., and NASA Langley Research Center, Hampton, Va. Among the papers presented at the conference was review of Project Fire by Richard C. Dingeldein, of Langley's Flight Re-entry Programs Office. He reviewed results obtained from first Project Fire experiment, which achieved re-entry velocity of nearly 38,000 fps. (Lam Release; AIAA Bulletin)
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