Oct 5 1964
From The Space Library
USAF launched Thor-Agena D booster rocket from Vandenberg AFB with unidentified satellite payload. (PI, NYT, 10/7/64, 19; HHN-48)
Addressing Oklahoma Frontiers of Science Foundation in Oklahoma City during ceremonies celebrating its tenth anniversary, NASA Administrator James E. Webb pointed out that "some of our NASA projects in education and in the transfer of space technology to the general economy owe much to the philosophy and concepts threshed out in the early days of the Foundation. . . . ' (Text)
Second flight-test of XB-70 aircraft was conducted at Edwards AFB, Calif., with pilot Alvin S. White (North American Aviation, Inc.) and co-pilot Col. Joseph Cotton (USAF). The aircraft reached 600 mph instead of planned 700 mph and attained 28,000-ft altitude instead of planned 35,000 ft. It was forced to land prematurely because of hydraulic system problems. (AP, Balt. Sun, 10/6/64; Av. Wk., 10/12/64, 29)
Sen. Clinton P. Anderson (D.-N. Mex.) , Chairman of Senate Committee on Aeronautical and Space Sciences, said Rift program should be reactivated because "mechanical difficulties which impeded early work on the nuclear propulsion reactor for space have largely been overcome." He said success of recent nuclear reactor test for Nerva strengthened his view that NASA and AEC receive funds in the coming fiscal year "so that we can develop in a properly phased development program an operational nuclear propelled rocket' He pointed out the need for "proper consideration to nuclear energy in planning new space missions. It is obvious that this is a necessary step and one that will re-quire restoration of target dates for an actual flight test of a nuclear rocket system." (SBD, 10/5/64, 179; M&R, 10/12/64, 17)
USAF announced an ion rocket would be tested in 90-day orbital flight next spring, using Agena vehicle. Electrical power to operate the engine would be provided by Snap 1.0A reactor, the first test combining an electrical propulsion engine and a nuclear reactor in space. Spokesmen said similar rocket had been successfully tested in August in sub-orbital flight from Pt. Arguello, Calif. The new engine, developed by Electro-Optical Systems, was said to have "developed the unheard-of specific impulse level of 7,800 seconds-roughly 20 times greater than the best chemical rockets of today." (Wash. Post, 10/6/64; Hines, Wash- Eve. Star, 10/6/64)
NASA Director of Personnel Robert J. Lacklen said in Aviation Week he had ordered a "complete re-write" of NASA Management Manual section dealing with employees' acceptance of gifts and gratuities from aerospace industry representatives. "The same thing has jumped us off on a re-write that caused the Defense Dept to issue its new orders. That is the continuing appearance of NASA names on con-tractor entertainment lists." (Av. Wk., 10/5/64, 18)
U.S. airmail stamp honoring Dr. Robert H. Goddard was released at Roswell, N. Mex- Stamp was first U-S. stamp with rocket motif since Fort Bliss stamp of 1946. U.S. stamps also had been issued for Project Echo (1961) and Project Mercury (1962) . (NASA Historian)
Article in U-S. News & World Report assessing impact of Project Apollo on U.S- industry quoted unnamed U-S. space official: " "Project Apollo is the biggest single job in history. In terms of manpower used, it dwarfs the building of the pyramids by three times. It is five times greater in cost than the wartime crash program to build the first atomic bomb." "Over-all price tag on moon exploration in this decade is 20 billion dollars. Ten billion of that has been spent-or will be spent-on preliminary programs such as Projects Mercury and Gemini and for new facilities, Government payrolls, tracking stations, communications. . . . "At a time when Pentagon spending on missiles and rockets is going down, higher spending by NASA comes as a shot in the arm to thousands of firms. . . . "Apollo is now entering a critical phase, one entrusted almost solely to U.S. industry. At the peak of the industrial pyramid are four major aerospace firms, supported by 66 other major companies holding NASA contracts of more than half a million dollars each.. . "What is bound to impress anyone is how the big companies have been pulled together on this vast project. To people in industry, working together in peacetime on a national goal' is new and satisfying. Explains one official: "The amazing thing is that industry is finding that space is not only good business-but it is a real adventure for us, too: " (U.S. News, 10/5/64)
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