May 26 1966
From The Space Library
MARINER IV spacecraft, which took the world’s first close-up pictures of Mars July 14, 1965, was again in contact with earth, reporting on the space environment and its own operating performance after 18 mos. of flight. NASA said telemetry from MARINER IV, received over a 197.5-million-mi. radio link with the Deep Space Network‘s Goldstone Tracking Station, indicated that all spacecraft systems were operating properly. Launched Nov. 28, 1964, MARINER IV had exceeded its design life by more than 100% and gave indications it might function until 1968. (NASA Release 66-135; JPL Release)
President Johnson issued executive order directing Federal agencies to “provide leadership” in prevention, control, and abatement of air pollution. (Pres. Doc., 5/30/66, 696)
A superior glass-covered, super-blue solar cell for space use had been developed by scientists at LRC. “Super-blue” referred to cell’s extremely high sensitivity to blue light-the higher frequency rays of sunlight that reach only the top surface of the solar cell. Since experiments had indicated that radiation damage was most severe in cell’s response to low-frequency red light, program to develop cells ultraresponsive to blue light was begun and the thin, lightweight, super-blue cell evolved. (LRC Release 66-25)
USAF awarded Lockheed Missiles and Space Co. $12,916,000 contract for Agena rocket launch services from April 1966 to September 1967. Work would be at Vandenberg AFB. (DOD Release 462-66)
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