May 19 1966
From The Space Library
Interplanetary spacecraft PIONEER VI, launched by NASA Dec.. 16, 1965, reached perihelion-75.7 million mi. from sun-at 10 p.m. EDT. Among findings reported during probe’s 260 million mi. of travel: exact measurement of average numbers of particles in interplanetary space; fact that high-energy particles thrown out by solar flares (principal radiation hazard to man) traveled in well-defined streams which were twisted about one another; and solar wind did not travel in straight lines. PIONEER VI had identified new ion (singly ionized helium) in solar wind, had found magnetic-field effects on solar wind temperatures, and discovered that sun’s magnetic field occurred in filament-like “stringers” extending out from its corona. Spacecraft had revealed that regions on sun produced many solar flares and high solar wind velocities, as reported by MARINER IV. During its 154 days in solar orbit, spacecraft had transmitted to earth 340 million readings of 3,000 separate scientific measurements and sent back 3 million readings of 100 individual engineering measurements. Specifications called for operating life of six months (complete on June 16, 1966), but it could be extended if larger antennas were available to hear PIONEER VI as it moved progressively away and ahead of the earth on its smaller orbit around the sun. (NASA Release 66-122)
XB-70A-only operational aircraft that approximated size, weight, and speed of proposed supersonic transport (SST)-successfully made sustained 2,000-mph (mach 3) flight at 70,000-ft. altitude for 32 min. from. Edwards AFB. Although air friction on exterior surfaces caused heat buildup of 620°F, crew inside cockpit enjoyed 75°F environment, proving aircraft’s skin and internal systems could withstand this temperature range. Flight accomplished major goal in USAF’s XB-70 test program and proved that sustained “triple sonic” speed was possible for larger aircraft. (AFFTC Release 66-4-7)
May 19: Supersonic transport (SST) would grow one foot in length” when it reached its normal cruising speed of 1,800 mph-result of metal’s expansion and contraction during transition between subsonic and supersonic flight-reported AP. “At altitudes for subsonic flight, an SST will be exposed to temperatures as low as 65 degrees below zero. May 19: XB-70 research aircraft, shown here in an earlier flight. Later this year NASA would join USAF in using XB-70 to investigate sonic booms and other high-speed flight phenomena. But in 17 minutes it can reach supersonic altitudes where the temperature on the outside of the fuselage will be 450 degrees.’ (AP, Phil. Eve. Bull., 5/19/66)
Cuba and U.S.S.R. had signed agreement to improve Cuba’s meteorological service and hurricane detection system, reported the New York Times. Agreement provided for “meteorological laboratory” equipped with Soviet radar and instruments which would enable Cuba to receive weather data from all over the world and to exchange aerological soundings with the Soviet Union. (NYT, 5/19/66,8)
William Hines charged in Washington Evening Star that publicity given to proposed US. supersonic transport (SST) was “. . . part of a propaganda barrage aimed at the American taxpayer, who in the years ahead will be called upon to underwrite deficits clearly predictable in building and operating a costly fleet of airplanes capable of spanning the Atlantic in two hours. “The SST program has been publicized since the program’s inception in 1963 with the same combination of gobbledygook and public-relations hokum used so successfully in merchandising the moon program. Technological challenge, the asserted psychological-spiritual imperative, and the added spur of an international ‘race’-all are cited as reasons compelling development of a 2,000-mile-an-hour super-airliner. “Actually the SST, when built and placed in operation, will be no more a free-enterprise product than the Saturn V moon rocket is. It will be built to government specifications, by contractors selected by the government, with development costs largely if not entirely underwritten by the government.” (Hines, Wash. Eve. Star, 5/19/66)
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31
