Oct 26 1967
From The Space Library
First flight test of Saturn V, designated Apollo 4, was scheduled no earlier than Nov. 7, announced M/G Samuel C. Phillips, Apollo Program Director. "This is a target date," he said. "We are in a very complex learning process and we are going to take all the time we need on this first launch." Launch vehicle and Apollo spacecraft combination was 363 ft tall and weighed 6 million lbs. Thrust of Saturn V's first stage was 7.5 million lbs. Key objective of flight planned for Nov. 7 would be evaluation of Apollo Command Module heat shield under conditions encountered on return from moon mission. Flight would also test thermal seals for use in new quick-release spacecraft hatch which would be installed on all manned Apollo missions. Apollo 4 flight plan would call for Saturn V to place spacecraft and launch vehicle 3rd stage (S-IVB) into 117-mi circular orbit. After completing two orbits, 3rd stage would be re-ignited to place spacecraft into orbit with apogee of 10,800 mi. After separation from 3rd stage, Service Module propulsion system would be fired to rake spacecraft apogee to 11,400 mi. During descent the Service Module motor would fire again, boosting velocity of spacecraft to about 25,000 mph, the reentry speed of a lunar return flight. (NASA Release 67-274; B Sun, 10/26/67, A6)
GSFC officials completed week of checkout of OSO IV and turned on last of nine experiments. All experiments were performing well and spacecraft was transmitting satisfactory data. The 599 lb spacecraft, launched from ETR Oct. 18, had received 1,500 commands. It was 3,000th object in orbit since SPUTNIK I in 1957; 100th satellite orbited in 1967; and 50th satellite orbited by Delta launch vehicle in 53 attempts. (NASA Release 67-273)
Senate and House adopted conference report on amended NASA FY 1968 appropriations bill (H.R. 124;74) totaling $4.6 billion, and legislation was cleared for President's signature. Report approved $3.925 billion for R&D, decrease of $152.1 million from authorization and decrease of $356.5 million from budget; report approved $35.9 million for Construction of Facilities, decrease of $14.6 million from authorization, and decrease of $21.3 million from budget; report approved $628.0 million for Administrative Operations, decrease of $20.2 million from authorization, and decrease of $43.3 million from budget. Rep. James G. Fulton (R-Pa.) , ranking minority member of House Committee on Science and Astronautics, on floor of House, said that "Voyager and NERVA II programs should be funded this fiscal year. Voyager is the only major planetary exploration program this Nation will have in the 1970's. If this program is abandoned, we will be abdicating our responsibilities. . . . This is particularly significant following the recent Russian Venus IV soft landing on the planet Venus." Sen. Gordon L. Allott (R-Col.) , ranking minority member of Senate Committee on Appropriations' Space Appropriations Subcommittee, was forced to accept no specific funding for Voyager and NERVA programs (in final version) but said in statement read by Sen. Margaret C. Smith (R-Me.) on floor of Senate that "agreement was reached to add $15.5 million to [R&D] over the House figure." He added that the agreement would provide that NASA's Administrator "may reprogram funds . . . with approval of the appropriate committees of the Congress." He added: ". . . conferees share this belief, that this country must move ahead now in [RW] leading to interplanetary exploration." (CR, 10/26/67, H14036-8, S1545-8)
Dr. Harvey H. Nininger, leading authority on meteorites and tektites, was honored at Meteoritical Society's 30th annual meeting at ARC by publication of special issue of the Journal of the Geochemica1 Society and by presentation -of Society's annual Leonard Medal. First to propose, in 1940, that tektites came from moon, Dr. Nininger later proved that coesite - a quartz-like material created by very high pressures-could be found in meteoroid craters. Presence of coesite was currently being used to determine whether a crater was formed by meteorite impact (ARC Release 67-21)
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