Jul 17 1967
From The Space Library
Cosmos CLXIX was launched by U.S.S.R. into orbit with 208-km (129-mi) apogee, 144-km (89-mi) perigee, 88-min period, and 50° inclination. It reentered later in the day. (Aero Tech, 7/31/67, 18)
Congressional reaction to the FY 1968 space budget pointed up the need for the Johnson Administration to "take a fresh, hard look at shaping a truly national space program" in the 1970s, Michael Getler suggested in Aerospace Technology. "What we have now, on one hand, is the already big and expensive civilian space program which, though enormously successful and of great importance to national technological strength, is unfortunately vulnerable to on-again/off -again Congressional support and to the continuing challenge of finding dramatic new undertakings which can attract the necessary backing. On the other hand, we now have a rapidly growing military space program which appears to be on its firmest footing and which has demonstrated an ability to request and get new funds even when dollars are very tight. . . ." There were many areas where the two programs should remain separate, Getler said, but there were also many areas where cooperation would be advantageous: "Rather than representing a loss of funding, we believe that joint development [in some areas] will lend stability to programs that might otherwise run into trouble as single agency undertakings, will lend more logic to the national commitment to space, and end some of the sniping about parallelism that has hurt in the past. . . ." (Getler, Aero Tech, 7/17/67, 70)
Six airlines reserved delivery positions for 16 SSTs at a cost of $750,000 each [see June 5], bringing to 129 the total number of delivery positions reserved. (AP, NYT, 7/18/67)
Rep. William F. Ryan (D-N.Y.) , speaking on the House floor, repeated his request that Congress reopen its investigation of NASA [see June 12]: The Apollo hearings should be reconvened-not for the purpose of continuing further a technical discussion of possible technical causes for the Apollo fire-but to undertake a serious and far-ranging management review of the sort that would force NASA to take stock and develop sound management practices for the protection of the public's investment in the space program. This is not to mention the safety of our astronauts. . . ." (CRY 7/17/67, H8750)
RCA announced it had received $38-million NASA contract [see June 2] to maintain and operate portions of the Satellite Tracking and Data Acquisition Network (STADAN) . (WSJ, 7/17/67, 3 )
Many valid conclusions could be drawn from the displays and exhibits at the Soviet Air Show [see July 8-9], Robert Hotz suggested in Aviation Week. Program indicated that U.S.S.R. had: (1) replaced "peaceful" Soviet aerial image projected at Paris International Air and Space Show with a "mighty brandishing of military might"; (2) begun to devote an increasingly large effort toward hardware and tactics for modern, non-nuclear war; and (3) exhausted her "creative design capability in the current generation of aerospace technology" and was relying more heavily on Western design concepts. (Hotz, Av Wk, 7/17/67, 21)
Legal Subcommittee of U.N. Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space meeting in Geneva reached provisional agreements on aiding and returning astronauts who landed in foreign countries and on payment of damages caused by space launches. Agreements would be submitted to full U.N. Committee for approval and then placed before U.N. General Assembly for final action. (UPI, P EB, 7/18/67; UPI, W Post, 7/18/67, A3)
July 17-20: NASA personnel changes: (1) Albert P. Little, former Chief, Program Plans, OMSF Plans and Analysis Directorate, had been appointed Assistant to the Assistant Administrator for Administration effective July 17; (2) R/Adm. Roderick 0. Middleton (USN), former Deputy Director of OMSF Missions .Operations Directorate, had been appointed Apollo Program Manager at KSC, replacing M/G John G. Shinkle (USA, Ret.), who resigned May 18; (3) Stanley de Jongh Osborne, a general partner of Lazard Freres & Co. investment banking firm in New York, had been sworn in as consultant to NASA Administrator James E. Webb on Government-industry relations and on the impact of space technology on the national economy; and (4) Erskine E. Harton, Jr., former Assistant Safety Director, had been appointed Acting Safety Director, replacing George D. McCauley who recently retired from Government service. (NASA Ann, 7/20/67; NASA Releases 67-189,67-190)
July 17-21 : Upper atmosphere, ionosphere, solar-terrestrial physics, sounding rockets, and probes were discussed in London Symposium on Results of the International Years of the Quiet Sun (IQSY 1964-65) and the concurrent annual plenary meeting of the Committee on Space Research (COSPAR). Nigel Calder, in Science, cited views of Univ. of Illinois physicist S. A. Bowhill: "The F-region of the ionosphere is now becoming fairly well understood, and the outstanding problems are yielding to theoretical treatment. The new explanations often involve large-scale movements of charged particles in the upper atmosphere. Attention will now turn to lower layers (the D-region and below) where recent studies indicate unexpected interactions between the ionosphere and the stratosphere." (Calder, Science, 8/11/67, 666-8)
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