Jun 11 1965
From The Space Library
Space News for this day. (4MB PDF)
Saturn V booster (S-IC-T stage) was successfully static-fired for 90 sec. at NASA Marshall Space Flight Center. During the test, longest to date, the five F-1 engines developed 7.5 million lbs, thrust and all four outer engines were gimbaled to simulate the motion required to control the vehicle in flight. (MSFC Release 65-148; Marshall Star, 5/16/65, 1)
At a news conference at NASA Manned Spacecraft Center on the Gemini GT-4 spaceflight, Astronaut McDivitt said: "I saw three things that looked to me like they were satellites on the earth, I saw two over the Pacific, I guess, One . , near Hawaii... . I saw a white object and it looked like it was cylindrical and it looked to me like there was a white arm sticking out of it. . . We saw another one at night. It looked like just a pin point of light in the sky. . . And I saw another one over the western Pacific again just shortly before I got into the sunlight on the windshield. . . The only one I could even define the shape of at all was the first one and it looked a lot like an upper stage of a booster." Astronaut White commented: "... we were looking to find out: Could man control himself in space? And the answer is yes, man can control himself in space," McDivitt continued: "The first thing we learned was that the Gemini IV is a liveable spacecraft for at least four days." (Transcript; NYT, 6/12/65, 3)
President Johnson announced during an impromptu visit to NASA Manned Spacecraft Center-his first-that he had nominated Astronauts James A. McDivitt (Maj. USAF) and Edward H. White II (Maj., USAF) for the rank of lieutenant colonel, In a speech before nearly 5,000 MSC employees, Mr. Johnson said: "The race in which we of all generations are determined to be first is the race for peace in the world. "In the labors of peace-as in the explorations of space-let no man doubt for the moment that we have the will, and the determination, and the talent, and the resources required to stay the course and see those labors through." (Text; Stern, Wash, Post, 6/12/65, A3; Semple, NYT, 6/21/65; MSC Roundup, 6/25/65, 1)
Sen. E. L. Bartlett (D-Alaska) introduced a bill to extend privileges and immunities, including tax and customs granted international organizations, to the European Space Research Organization (ESRO ) . ESRO was considering building a satellite telemetry command station near Fairbanks, Alaska, and was seeking the same special treatment afforded NASA with regard to its tracking stations abroad and personnel abroad. (CR, 6/11/65, 12836)
Rep. Albert Thomas (D-Tex.), Chairman of the House Appropriations Committee's Subcommittee on Independent Offices, paid tribute to NASA on the floor of the House: "... too much credit cannot be given the top management of the Space Agency ... "To this group of distinguished gentlemen, must go the credit of spending some $17 billion without the slightest breath of scandal attached to the many thousands of transactions." (CR, 6/11/65, 12829)
Laser beams could be used to track satellites, a group of scientists reported at a news briefing at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. The briefing followed a two-day meeting discussing efforts to track EXPLORER XXII and EXPLORER XXVII satellites which were orbiting the earth at a height of about 700 mi. Dr. Henry Plotkin, Head of GSFC's Optical Systems Branch, said the experiments had indicated that: 1) a beam of laser light from the ground could be directed with sufficient accuracy to strike satellite reflectors; 2) turbulence in the atmosphere would not break the beam enough to interfere with its lighting up the satellite; 3) very short bursts of light from lasers could be used to measure the range of a satellite precisely by means of timing the flight and rebound of the pulse; 4) reflected light could be photographed against a stellar background to provide angles by which the satellite could be identified very accurately. (Transcript)
“Ed White and Jim McDivitt” article in Time Magazine
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