Apr 5 1965
From The Space Library
One of TIROS IX's two cameras had stopped returning useful photographs, NASA announced, possibly because of malfunction of a diode. Second camera was taking about 250 pictures daily of the earth's cover. Project engineers at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center had begun a "turnabout" maneuver to prevent the meteorological satellite from overheating and to ensure continued solar power, Maneuver would not affect satellite's picture-taking ability, Launched into polar orbit Jan, 22, 1965, TIROS IX had apogee of 1,605 mi, and perigee of 435 mi. The "cartwheel satellite," so called because it was moving through space like a rolling wheel with the cameras mounted opposite each other on the perimeter, had taken more than 32,000 pictures, 92% of them useful to weather forecasters. (NASA Release 65-120)
The White House announced scientists appointed by President Johnson to his Science Advisory Committee: Dr. Lewis Branscomb, chairman of the joint Institute for Laboratory Astrophysics of the National Bureau of Standards; Marvin L. Goldberger, professor at Princeton Univ.; Kenneth Pitzer, president of Rice Univ.; Dr. George Pake, professor at Washington Univ.; and Dr. Gordon McDonald, Univ. of California at Los Angeles' Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics. Also announced was the nomination of Frederick G. Donner, chief executive officer of General Motors Corp, for reappointment to ComSatCorp's board of directors. ( Wash, Post, 4/5/65)
NASA selected three aerospace firms to develop a concept and prepare preliminary designs for hypersonic ramjet research engine: Garrett Corp, General Electric Co, and Marquardt Corp. Total value of first phase of contract would be about $15 million. During 9-mo, parallel studies, opening phase of NASA's Hypersonic Ramjet Experiment Project, the companies would prepare engine development plans that would serve as technical proposals for the second phase of the program. The ramjet engine, because of its relative fuel economy at hypersonic speeds, w as expected to be useful for hypersonic transport aircraft, boosters, and spacecraft flying within the atmosphere, Flight research with the engine mounted on the X-15 aircraft was planned. Hypersonic Ramjet Experiment Project would be under the technical direction of NASA Langley Research Center, with the assistance of NASA Ames, Lewis, and Flight Research Centers. (NASA Release 65-110)
NASA Nike-Apache sounding rocket was successfully launched from USNS Croatan carrying an instrumented payload to provide data on the neutron intensity, solar x-ray flux, Lyman-alpha radiation, and ionosphere electron density at different latitudes. Experiment was conducted for the Univ. of New Hampshire. (NASA Rpt, SRL)
NASA Administrator James E. Webb appeared before House Committee on Appropriations' Subcommittee on Independent Offices, in support of the $5.26 billion NASA appropriation requested by President Johnson for FY 1966. He said: "The budget submitted to the Congress by the President provides for activities that are essential to continuing the progress that we have made towards our goal of preeminence in space sciences, application satellites, manned space flight, and advanced research and technological development necessary for aircraft improvements and for future space activities. It does not provide for everything that we could do or would like to do, In fact, it has been necessary within the strict budget requirements imposed by the President that certain desirable project activities started in previous years be omitted from the 1966 budget. "Within the confines of this limited budget, the President has provided the funds necessary to preserve the opportunity that we still believe we have to accomplish a manned lunar landing and exploration within this decade. The margin for insurance that had been built into our original program plan has largely disappeared. However, we now estimate this may be possible if we can maintain our current successful development efforts and make the all-up systems testing procedure work on the very large Saturn V-Apollo combination to launch men toward the Moon on earlier flights than we had originally planned. There is, therefore, still an opportunity to accomplish this national space objective within the time specified. Our work to date gives us somewhat more confidence than we had a year ago that we can still achieve the objectives that were planned in 1961 in spite of a limit on resources that will not fund all the flights planned at that time. It is important, however, to keep in mind that in Gemini we are just now in a position to find out by flight experiments how men can live, work, remain efficient, and make important contributions in space for extended periods..." (Testimony; Ind. Off. Approp. Hearings [Part 2], 846-96)
Announcement was made at NASA Manned Spacecraft Center that Astronauts Walter M. Schirra, Jr. (Cdr., USN) and Thomas P. Stafford (Maj. USAF) had been selected for the first Gemini docking and rendezvous mission, scheduled for launch "the first quarter of 1966," Virgil I. Grissom (Maj. USAF) and John Young (Cdr, USN) would be the backup crew. (Transcript)
An equipment modification to permit opening of the hatch on Gemini IV had been successfully tested, William Normyle reported in Aviation Week & Space Technology. Hoses connecting the spacesuits to the spacecraft's environmental control system were lengthened to permit the astronaut to stand and partially emerge through the hatch. NASA had not yet approved a spacecraft-depressurization and hatch-opening exercise for the two-man spaceflight. (Normyle, Av. Wk., 4/5,/65, 27 )
NASA had published 110-page illustrated report containing ten papers on diversified utilization of space-research knowledge delivered at NASA and Univ. of California-sponsored workshop held in Los Angeles, June 2, 1964. (NASA Release 65-109; NASA SP-5018)
Danish satellite tracking station official reported what he believed to have been the explosion of a U.S. satellite launched by USAF Mar. 25. About ten brilliantly lighted objects crossing the sky were at first assumed to have been meteors. (M&R, 4/26/65, 11)
Antoine Senni emerged from a cave 333 ft, below ground near Cannes, France. Senni had entered the cave Nov, 30, 1964, to test effects of isolation on human system. (Reuters, Wash. Post, 4/6/65)
Gen. Bernard A. Schriever, AFSC Commander, spoke in a luncheon address on military technology at the World Affairs Council in Los Angeles: , we can expect substantial improvements in materials with respect to their strength, stiffness, and ability to operate at high temperatures, "One such material, a composite formed from boron fibers in a plastic binder, has been demonstrated in the laboratory to have approximately five times the specific strength of today's aircraft alloys... This ... will give increased strength at greatly reduced weight. Another material is oxide dispersed nickel, which can make possible an increase of several hundred degrees in turbine operating temperatures, enough to double the thrust of today's jet engines, with no increase in weight... . "In propulsion, these advances in materials and component technology can make available engines for vertical takeoff and landing aircraft with more than double our present thrust-to-weight ratios and transport engines with half of today's fuel consumption. The use of hydrogen would make feasible engines for long range hypersonic craft flying at 7,000 miles per hour-almost four times as fast as the most sophisticated supersonic transport now proposed. And the aircraft will be of smaller size to do the same job. "New technologies in flight dynamics, such as laminar flow control, can materially increase the ranges of transport aircraft, If laboratory boron composite structures pan out, we could build aircraft that could carry twice the payload at the same weight and range of present models, With further understanding of variable geometry wings we can alleviate the difficulties of operating at a variety of combinations of speed and altitude." (Text)
"Within a decade , , space could be as vital to defense as nuclear weapons are today," postulated an article in U.S. News and World Report. It continued: "The deep conviction of top U.S. Air Force leaders is that Russia is directing its main energies and resources not to the moon, but to mastery of space nearer earth. Some are convinced that Russia, far behind in the missile race, is now striving to leapfrog the U.S. and move ahead with manned satellite weapons." (U.S. News, 4/5/65)
April 5-7: The Second Space Congress of the Canaveral Council of Technical Societies was held in Cocoa Beach, Fla, Rep. Olin Teague (D-Tex,) reportedly said in a speech that the House Committee on Science and Astronautics supported a military man-in-space effort and "almost unanimously" favored restoring $30 million to the Apollo program, Rep. Teague revealed that the Committee had written to President Johnson to stress the need for a decision on the proposed USAF Manned Orbiting Laboratory program and to urge him to "take a careful look as soon as possible and make a decision" as to whether or not the Gemini spacecraft would be used in the MOL program. (M&R, 4/12/65, 16)
In answer to the question of what man could do in space to contribute to the military mission, Maj. Gen. Don R. Ostrander, Commander of USAF Office of Aerospace Research, said at the Space Congress: "I believe that the MOL will enable us to come up with some of the answers." (Text)
Dr. George E. Mueller, NASA Associate Administrator for Manned Space Flight, speaking before the Space Congress, said: "... extravehicular activity, as accomplished by the Soviets, and orbital changes, as accomplished by Gus Grissom and John Young, are essential to future progress in space exploration, Both are objectives of our Gemini Program and both are techniques that we must learn in order to carry out the Apollo Program. We have long assumed that both were objectives of the Soviet Program, "Given these assumptions, the difference between the scheduling of these experiments in the Soviet program and ours is a detail of relatively minor importance. It has been our judgment that maneuvering and changing orbits are more important than extravehicular activity for the progress of our program, For this reason, we scheduled the conduct of such maneuvers for the first manned flight in the Gemini Program. We must assume that the Soviets had their good reason for scheduling extravehicular activity on an earlier flight in their program." (Text)
E. Z. Gray, also of NASA’s Office of Manned Space Flight, discussed future programs, He stressed that one of the cardinal rules guiding the planning was that maximum use must be made of hardware either already developed or currently in development. (M&R, 4/12/65, 16)
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