Oct 4 1969
From The Space Library
Nike-Tomahawk sounding rocket launched by NASA from Wallops Station carried 223-lb Cal Tech payload to 146-mi (234.9-km) altitude to study intensity, spectrum, and degree of isotropy of diffuse x-ray background in 0.1- to 20-key range and to study energy spectrum of star X-1 in constellation Scorpius in 0.1- to 15-key range. Rocket and instruments functioned satisfactorily and good data were obtained in all 12 prime data channels. (NASA Rpt SRL; WS Release)
NASC Executive Secretary William A. Anders, Apollo 8 astronaut, told Western Conference of Young Presidents, Organization in Phoenix, Ariz." that U.S. lost $13 billion each year in agricultural production from insects, disease, and fire. Use of satellite sensors could improve surveys of agricultural and forest resources, aid mineral and petroleum prospecting, obtain better inventory of earth's water sources, detect natural and man-made geography changes, sense ocean currents and temperatures to aid fishing industry and improve routing of commercial shipping, and study effects of environmental and water pollution. While NASA space expenditures were averaging about $4.5 billion annually-about 2/3 of 1% of GNP-nearly $4 billion was spent in U.S. for nondurable toys and sport supplies, $4.7 billion for foreign travel, and over $6.5 billion in amusements. Anders urged international harmony through space. "We travel through space on a small planet. The Earth looked so tiny in the heavens that there were times during the Apollo 8 mission when I had trouble finding it. If you can imagine yourself in a darkened room with only one clearly visible object, a small blue-green sphere about the size of a Christmas tree ornament, then you can begin to grasp what the Earth looks like from space. I think all of us subconsciously think the Earth is flat or at least almost infinite. Let me assure you that, rather than a massive giant, it should be thought of more as the fragile Christmas tree ball which we should handle with considerable care. . . From space, the earth is indivisible. There are no flags, no national boundaries. Let us on Earth then use the Communications Revolution to break down the barriers which separate us, so that all of Earth's people will be truly brothers." (CR, 10/6/69, E8190-2; NASC PIO)
Apollo 11 Astronauts Neil A. Armstrong, Edwin E. Aldrin, Jr., and Michael Collins and wives arrived at Las Palmas, Canary Islands, for two-day rest before proceeding to Madrid and meeting with Gen. Francisco Franco during 38-day goodwill tour. (AP, NYT, 10/6/69)
USAF had awarded three-year, $20-million contract to North American Rockwell Corp. Rocketdyne Div. to design new rocket engine to power payloads in space, Business Week said. United Aircraft's Pratt & Whitney Div. was also working on concept, magazine believed. (Bus Wk, 10/4/69)
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