Oct 1 1965
From The Space Library
Space News for this day. (2MB PDF)
NASA's MARINER IV Mars probe stopped transmitting continuous data reports when a JPL command switched its transmitter from a high-gain directional antenna to a low-gain all-direction antenna to permit periodic tracking by NASA's Deep Space Network as spacecraft orbited the sun. MARINER IV, 19,359,086 mi. from Mars, traveling 90,499 mph relative to earth, had completed a total of 418,749,386 mi. in its solar orbit. Although it had achieved its mission objectives, additional scientific and engineering data might be obtained if the spacecraft were still operating in 1967 when the earth-spacecraft distance would narrow to about 30 million mi. (NASA Release 65-316; NASA Proj. Off,)
NASA consolidated its unmanned launch activities at both the Eastern and Western Test Ranges under Kennedy Space Center, NASA. At Cape Kennedy, the Launch Operations Div, GSFC, would become an integral element of KSC; at Western Test Range, Goddard personnel permanently assigned there and NASA Pacific Launch Operations Office which logistically supported them would also be placed under KSC. Robert Gray would be Assistant Director for Unmanned Launch Operations, Checkout and launch of all NASA launch vehicles, except the solid propellant Scout rockets developed and launched by LaRC at Wallops Station and Western Test Range, would be supervised by KSC. (NASA Release 65-313)
Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara administered the oath of office to four new defense officials in a Pentagon ceremony: Dr. Harold Brown, Secretary of the Air Force; Dr. John S. Foster, Jr., Director of Defense Research and Engineering; Norman S. Paul, Undersecretary of the Air Force; and Thomas D. Morris, Assistant Secretary of Defense for Manpower. (DOD Release 666-65)
First complete test model of the S-II stage of the Saturn V launch vehicle left North American Aviation's Space and Information Systems Div., Seal Beach, aboard the U.S.S. Point Barrow for NASA Marshall Space Flight Center. The 4,000-mi. trip via the Panama Canal would take about two weeks. (MSFC Release 65-246)
October 1-2: Contributions of NASA's space program to the future of the Nation were outlined by NASA Deputy Administrator Dr. Hugh L. Dryden at the Governor's Conference on Oceanography and Astronautics in Hawaii: "We are building toward pre-eminence in every phase of space activity... "We are building a network of large-scale engineering facilities, spaceyards, proving grounds, and spaceports to assemble, test, and launch the space vehicles we need now and in the future. "We are creating new national resources of lasting value in these facilities; in the industrial and managerial capabilities we are developing; and in the growing number of scientists and engineers who are learning about space and space technology. "We are filling the pipelines of hardware and knowledge, and, as. measured by the financial resources required, we're about halfway toward our first manned lunar mission in mid-1965, "We are accumulating, in space, the basic scientific knowledge about the earth, the solar system, the universe, and about man himself. "We are bringing benefits not only to the United States but to all the world through the use of space and space technology... . "We are providing a much-needed stimulus to the energies and creativity of people everywhere... "We are bringing about increased economic activity. ... "And we are making certain that the realm of space now opening up to us shall be a domain of freedom, "It is for these reasons that we have mounted the greatest peacetime undertaking in the history of mankind. . . ." (Text)
"The Military Implications of Space" were discussed for the Governor's Conference by Gen. Bernard A. Schriever, AFSC Commander: "Our military efforts in space can be placed into three broad categories: first, the development of space systems to support military missions on earth; second, the development of defensive measures against possible enemy actions in space; and third, the conduct of experimentation and of programs aimed at pushing technology forward. . . ." Schriever noted two examples of unmanned satellite systems : (1) the Nuclear Detection Program consisting of six Vela satellites gathering information on radiation backgrounds in far space and defining an operational nuclear detection system; and (2) communications satellites, He revealed that an initial R&D system to satisfy military communications' requirements had been authorized by DOD for launch early next year and would include up to 23 satellites orbiting earth at random spacing at about 21,000-mi, altitude. The satellites would be launched in clusters of eight from three Titan IIIC boosters and then would be positioned along an orbital path. An advanced system was also planned in which expected life of each satellite would be increased from one and a half years to between three and five years. In the advancement of space technology he listed several major programs: Manned Orbiting Laboratory, space cabin experiments, development of cryogenic rocket engines, development of the scramjet, development of a spacecraft capable of maneuvering during reentry, and the Spacecraft Technology and Advanced Reentry Program (Start) . (Text)
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