Oct 30 1967
From The Space Library
U.S.S.R. launched two Cosmos satellites. Cosmos CLXXXVIII entered orbit with 276-km (171-mi) apogee, 200-km (124-mi) perigee, 89-min period, and 52° inclination. At 4.20 am, EDT, spacecraft was automatically docked with Cosmos CLXXXVI (launched Oct. 27). Tass later announced: ". . . both satellites, equipped with special approach and docking units, carried out a number of complicated maneuvers in space, automatically finding each other, drawing closer, berthing and docking rigidly." It was history's first automatic docking in space and was filmed by TV cameras onboard both satellites. US. had successfully accomplished first manned docking March 16, 1966, with Gemini VIIand Gemini Agena Target Vehicle (GATV); in this docking experiment, astronauts controlled the maneuver. After automatic docking, the two satellites continued in orbit with altitude ranging from 124-171 mi. At 7:50 am, EDT, after completing 2 1/3 orbits, spacecraft were undocked on command from the ground, and placed into different orbits by restarting rocket engines. Cosmos CLXXXVI, larger of the two spacecraft, soft-landed Oct. 31 after 65 orbits. Cosmos CLXXXVIII reentered Nov. 2. Cosmos CLXXXIX was launched into orbit with 600-km (373-mi) apogee, 535-km (332-mi) perigee, 95.7-min period, and 74° inclination. (Shub, W Post, 10/31/67, 1; Kamm, NYT, 10/31/67, 1; AP, W Star, 10/31/67, A3; Winters, B Sun, 11/1/67; GSFC SSR, 11/15/67)
U.S.S.R. announced successful completion of rocket tests in the Pacific northeast of Midway Island to test equipment for spacecraft landings at sea. Series, which began Sept. 2, was first to last as long as scheduled. (UPI, NYT, 10/31/67,44; M/S Daily, 10/31/67)
Scientific proof that instrumented capsule from U.S.S.R.'s Venus IV had impacted on planet Venus Oct. 18 was presented at Moscow news conference by Mstislav Keldysh, President of Soviet Academy of Sciences. Instrumented-capsule-station's transmitters, programmed to broadcast for 100 min, on basis of best previous estimates of pressure in atmosphere of Venus, "stopped transmitting after 94 minutes [exact time for descent]. The station recorded both its own speed and the remaining distance to the surface throughout the descent [and] also recorded the changing atmospheric pressure and recalculations on earth. . . ." Thus, based from this information and other known data, Keldysh confirmed that station stopped transmitting the instant it landed. The question of why radio transmission ended after 94 min-power for 100 min having been provided-was left unanswered. Press conference presented additional information. Magnetic field near Venus could not exceed 1/3,000 that of earth's low concentration of positive ions along Venus IV's route (much less than that at earth atmosphere's top); absence of atomic oxygen in upper Venusian atmosphere; probable dense molecular atmosphere of Venus; large percentage of carbon dioxide (90-95% ) in Venusian atmosphere; neutral hydrogen density of 1% of that near earth; nitrogen content of Venusian atmosphere measuring about 7%; and small amounts of argon and other inert gases. Water, at 1/10 to 7/10 of 1%, was reported to exist largely in the planet's cloud layer. Weather was cloudy on Venus, without precipitation. (Shub, W Post, 10/31/67,1; Rausch, Av Wk, 11/6/67, 17)
Cornell Univ. professor Hans A. Bethe, director of Los Alamos Atomic Weapons Laboratory's theoretical physics section during development of atomic bomb and recipient of AEC's 1961 Enrico Fermi Award, was awarded the 1967 Nobel Prize in physics for proving that the sun and other stars produced energy through synthesis of helium from hydrogen. He was cited specifically for "his contributions to the theory of nuclear reaction, especially his discoveries concerning the energy production of stars." Nobel Prize in chemistry was presented jointly to George Porter and Ronald G. W. Norrish of U.K. and Manfred Eigen of West Germany for their studies of extremely fast chemical reactions occurring at speeds of one-one-thousandth of a millionth of a second. Nobel Peace Prize was withheld for second consecutive year. (UPI, W Star, 10/30/67, 1; Wiskari, NYT, 10/31/67,1)
AT&T's letter responding to FCC inquiry on need for future communication facilities in Atlantic basin area urged construction of $70.4 million underwater communication cable to southern Europe by 1970's end. It said completion of cable would accommodate rapid growth in transatlantic calls and provide balance between satellite and cable links [see Oct. 4]. ComSatCorp and international telegraph carriers also had received Oct. 4 FCC inquiry. (UPI, NYT, 10/31/67,65)
Soviet-French space treaty of June 30, 1966, had produced results during September when two Soviet MR-12 sounding rockets carrying French payloads were launched to altitudes of 75 mi and 112 mi over Franz Josef Land in Soviet arctic. Payloads released sodium clouds to measure upper-atmosphere temperatures. (Av Wk, 10/30/67,13)
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