May 25 1965
From The Space Library
Saturn I (SA-8) launch vehicle, launched from Eastern Test Range, orbited a 23,000 lb. payload of which 3,200 lbs. was the PEGASUS II meteoroid detection satellite and 9,700 lbs. was Apollo boilerplate command and service modules (BP-26). This was the ninth successful test in nine flights for Saturn I. At launch, Apollo command and service module boilerplate spacecraft and launch escape system (Les) tower were atop Saturn I with PEGASUS II folded inside the service module. After second-stage ignition. LES was jettisoned. After injection into orbit, the Apollo boilerplate was jettisoned into a separate orbit and a motor-driven device extended 96 X 14-ft. winglike panels on PEGASUS II, exposing 2,300 sq, ft. of instrumented surface. The satellite was attached to the Saturn's S-IV second stage and would remain so during its lifetime. Each wing consisted of seven frames hinged together and providing mountings for a total of 208 detector panels. As particles collided with this surface, the penetrations would be registered and reported to earth. Orbital data: apogee. 460 mi. (741 km.); perigee, 316 mi. (509 km.) ; period, 97 min,; inclination. 31,8°, Primary purpose of the flight was to gather information on frequency of meteoroids encountered in the near-earth environment for use in design of future manned and unmanned spacecraft. PEGASUS II, an improved version of PEGASUS I launched Feb. 16, 1965, would be visible to the naked eye under favorable conditions near dawn and dusk. (NA Release 65-151; MSFC Release 65-121; Marshall Star, 5/26/65, 1: AP, NYT, 5/26/65, 10; U.S. Aeron. & Spare Act., 1965, 143)
X-15 No. I was flown by NASA's Milton Thompson to 179,800-ft. altitude at a maximum speed of 3,418 mph (mach 4,87) to obtain data on the Honeywell inertial system checkout. MIT horizon photometer, Pace transducer, RAS (Reaction Augmentation System) modification checkout, and pilot altitude buildup. (NASA X-15 Proj, Off.; X-15 Flight Log)
U.S.S.R. launched COSMOS LXVII containing scientific equipment for investigation of outer space, Orbital parameters: apogee, 350 km. (217 mi.) ; perigee, 207 km. (128 mi,) ; inclination to earth, 51.8°, Onboard equipment was functioning normally. (Krasnaya Zvezda, 5/27/65, 1, ATSS-T Trans.)
During the planned 4-day flight June 3, Astronaut Edward H. White (Maj. USAF) would leave the Gemini IV spacecraft for 12 min. "if conditions are favorable," MSC officials announced at press conference, He would be secured to the craft by a 25-ft, safety line. NASA said the decision had been delayed "so final qualification tests could be completed on the spacecraft, spacesuit, secondary life support pack and umbilical." The 12-layer protective suit that Astronaut White would wear had been worn for more than 200 hrs, and White himself had worn it during more than 60 hrs, of tests. Among other things, it had had pellets fired at it at a speed of 30,000 fps to simulate the impact of small meteoroids. The flight's command pilot, Astronaut James A. McDivitt (Maj. USAF) would not open his hatch but would take movies of White through a spacecraft window. Astronaut White would take a 35-mm. still camera loaded with color film on his "walk" in space. Although he had practiced acrobatics, White had no planned program and would "use his own judgment as to what to do while outside the ship," Exit from the spacecraft was planned for the second orbit. (Transcript; Clark, NYT, 5/26/65, 1, 11; UPI, Wash. Post, 5/26/65, A3)
Al J. Hayes, International Association of Machinists president, said union negotiations with Aerojet-General Corp, would not halt the scheduled two-man Gemini shot at Cape Kennedy on June 3, He said union members would continue work at Cape Kennedy even if a walkout were called against Aerojet-General. (UPI, Wash, Post, 5/26/65, A3)
X-22Avertical/short take-off and landing aircraft (V/Stol) was inspected by Government and military representatives at the Bell Aerosystems plant in Niagara Falls. Its unique characteristic was the ducted fan concept of propulsion consisting of four shrouded propellers-two forward and two on the tips of the 39-ft, wing aft-driven by four T-58 turbine engines. The four engines, expected to propel the aircraft at a cruising speed of 300 mph, were run for about five minutes, x-22A was constructed for the Army, Navy, and Air Force under a Navy-administered contract for $25 million, First flight test would be made in September 1965. (DOD Release 341-65; AP, NYT, 5/26/65, 94)
Minute amounts of fresh radioactive debris from detonation of Communist China's second nuclear bomb were registered over the U.S. by the Division of Radiological Health of the U.S. Public Health Service, Pollution was far below the hazard level. (AP, Wash, Eve, Star, 5/26/65, 5)
May 25-26: More than 300 representatives of NASA and industry attended the 1965 Cost Reduction and Management Improvement meeting at NASA Marshall Space Flight Center. (Marshall Star, 6/2/65, 2)
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