Feb 9 1969
From The Space Library
DOD's Tacsat I Tactical Communications Satellite was successfully launched from ETR at 4:09 pm EST by Titan IIIC booster into synchronous equatorial orbit over Pacific. Orbital parameters: apogee, 22,387 mi (36,020.7 km) ; perigee, 22,332 mi (35,932.2 km) ; period, 1,446.6 min; and inclination, 0.6°. The $30-million, 1,6004b, cylindrical satellite would test feasibility of using satellite system to communicate over great distances with small military units such as aircraft, ships, and small ground stations. Tacsat I was powerful enough for ground forces to use portable receiving antennas as small as one foot in diameter. It also would test new gyrostat stabilization system. (W Star, 2/9-10/70; AP, W Post, 2/10/69, Al; GSFC SSR, 2/15/69; DOD Release 64-68; Pres Rpt 70 [69] )
Supercritical wing would be flight-tested on USN F-8 fighter at FRC, NASA announced. Airfoil shape had been developed in four-year wind-tunnel studies at LaRC by Dr. Richard T. Whitcomb. If wind-tunnel performance was achieved in flight, wing could improve performance and efficiency of future aircraft, particularly jet transports. It would allow efficient cruise flight near speed of sound at 45,000-ft altitude and reduce operational cost of subsonic flights by increasing operational range or permitting less fuel and more payload on faster schedules. Supercritical wing shape was developed to delay rise of drag force and onset of buffeting at high speeds. Flattened top was designed to reduce intensity of airflow disturbances; downward curve at rear of wing supplied lift lost by flattening. Flight program would evaluate behavior of wing in actual flight with both high-lift maneuvering and off-design performance, and determine sensitivity of supercritical wing to wing-contour variations associated with manufacturing processes and deformations due to flight loads. (NASA Release 69-27)
NASA announced the supercritical wing, a new airfoil shape developed in four years of wind-tunnel studies at Langley Research Center, would be flight-tested on a USN F-8 fighter at the Flight Research Center. Dr. Richard T. Whitcomb, inventor of the design expected to improve performance of subsonic jet transports, stood with his model in the test section of the wind tunnel at Lam. Meteorite broke into fragments in air and fell near Pueblito de Allende, Chihuahua, Mexico. Scientists at MSC Lunar Receiving Laboratory and Oak Ridge National Laboratory later reported from tests of fragments that meteorite was chondrite (C3 and C4) with opaque and micro-crystalline matrices. Gamma rays from short-lived isotopes were observed in specimens brought to low-background gamma counter less than 41/2 days after fall. (Science, 2/28/69, 928-9)
Boeing Co. test pilot Jack Waddell flew 355-ton, $20-million prototype of 490-passenger Boeing 747 jet transport from Paine Field, near Seattle, Wash., for 1 hr 15 min of scheduled 21/2-hr maiden flight. Waddell returned aircraft to field after encountering "minor malfunction" of wing surface control while lowering wing flaps to 30° angle. Later he said aircraft was "a pilot's dream" which could be "flown with two fingers" and indicated flap misalignment would not delay further testing. The 210-ft-long 747 used only 4,500 ft of runway to become airborne at 170 mph. Spectators were impressed with quietness of its engines. (W Post, 2/10/69, 1; AP, W Star, 2/10/69, A5)
Lunar module was "first manned spacecraft ever built that's not tough enough to survive a return to earth," said Thomas O'Toole in Washington Post. Vehicle from which two astronauts would descend to moon's surface in summer 1969 was 23 ft high, weighed 8,000 lbs, and carried 12 tons of propellant. It contained 25 mi of electrical wiring and more than a million parts, most of which had been designed "from scratch," held together by 216,000 "pins." Pin bent more than five degrees out of shape would have to be replaced. NASA had contracted for 15 LMs at total cost of $1.9 billion from Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corp." which had taken six years to get it from drawing board to launch pad. (W Post, 2/9/69, B2)
In Brussels, Astronaut Frank Borman and family attended dinner given in his honor at palace by King Baudouin and Queen Fabiola. Borman showed Apollo 8 film. (NASA Int Aff; AP, B Sun, 2/10/69)
Hungary and Romania had issued souvenir stamps commemorating Apollo 8 mission and astronauts, U.S. newspaper philatelic columns announced. Photograph taken from Gemini IV of Arabian coast provided design for new stamp in sultanate of Muscat and Oman. (Faries, W Star, 2/9/69, D10; AP, W Post, 2/9/69, K8)
Johns Hopkins Univ. associate professor of mechanics, Dr. Robert L. Green, had designed and perfected "visualization apparatus for X-ray crystallography," device which permitted continuous observations of changes in structure of atoms in metal under stress. Device could lead to discovery of hitherto unknown properties of metals, nonmetallic crystals, and living molecules; enable scientists to study changes in internal structure of metals during deformation caused by air and water pressure; enable scientists to project image of atomic structure on closed-circuit TV screen; and result in development of stronger submarine hulls, aircraft wings, and spacecraft. (Reuters, NYT, 2/9/69, 92)
FAA had awarded United Aircraft Corp. Pratt & Whitney Div. $665,241 contract for two-year study to develop design for quieter jet aircraft engines. (NYT, 2/9/69, 94)
Astronaut Walter M. Schirra, Jr., and his first-grade school teacher, Mrs. Peggy Crowley, would receive 1969 Golden Key Awards from six national school organizations at annual convention of American Assn. of School Administrators, Atlantic City, N.J., Feb. 15, Parade re- ported. Awards had been founded to dramatize teacher's role in U.S. life. (Parade, 2/9/69, 4)
In Washington Post, Thomas O'Toole said NASA Administrator was "the last big Federal post President Nixon has left unfilled." He asked, "Is it because he can't find the man he wants? Is it because no man he wants wants the job? Or is Mr. Nixon playing with the possibility of appointing [Acting Administrator Thomas O. Paine to the post of Administrator?" Washington "space watchers" felt job could not be kept vacant much longer, "if only because the program to land American astronauts on the moon is rapidly nearing its goal." (W Post, 2/9/69, All)
New York Times editorial: "The Congressional pressure that spurred the Nixon Administration to halt deployment of the Sentinel antiballistic missile system signals a healthy new disposition on Capitol Hill to challenge the military-industrial complex, against which President Eisenhower warned eight years ago." (NYT, 2/9/69, 12)
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