Oct 27 1970
From The Space Library
USAF X-24A lifting-body vehicle, piloted by NASA test pilot John A. Manke, successfully completed 19th flight in joint NASAUSAF research program from FRC. Purposes of flight were to expand flight envelope to mach 1.25, obtain lateral directional derivatives at mach numbers greater than 1.15, obtain longitudinal trim and lift-to-drag ratio data with 30° upper flap, and determine effect of upper flap on approach and landing. (NASA Proj Off)
NASA announced reorganization of OART to improve aeronautical research and give more support of space activities. Effective immediately, reorganization created new aeronautical research units: Short Landing and Take-Off (STOL) Program Office, Advanced Technology Experimental Transport (ATET) Program Office; Lifting Body Program Office, Aeronautical Operating System Div., Aeronautical Research Div., and Aeronautical Propulsion Div. New units to support technology in space or atmosphere were: Shuttle Technologies Office, Technology Applications Office, Nuclear Systems Office, Space Propulsion and Power Div., Environmental Systems and Effects Div., Guidance, Control and Information Systems Div., and Materials and Structures Div. Remaining units were: Resources and Institutional Management Div., Advanced Concepts and Mission Div., Safety and Operating Systems Office, and Research Council for planning future research efforts. Council members would include directors of LaRC, LeRC, ARC, and FRC. OART would retain its name and additional staffing would not be required. (NASA Release 70-183)
Brain sensor and radio transmitter system developed for space medical research was being used by scientists at ARC and Agnews State Hospital in San Jose, Calif., in diagnosis and treatment of schizophrenics, NASA announced. System, developed by ARC, employed wire clip headset with two small electrodes that sensed brain waves through hair with no scalp preparation. Tiny battery-powered radio transmitter broadcast brain signals to computer for analysis. Light weight and simplicity of system eliminated disquieting procedures required by past diagnostic methods. (NASA Release 70-179)
Apollo 12 seismometer had detected moonquakes at least twice when moon was at apogee, 405 555 km (252 000 mi) from earth, Washington Post reported. Univ. of Hawaii seismologist Dr. Rolf Meissner had said quakes, which had occurred during seven months ending in August, might be caused by sudden venting of trapped gas when tidal stresses from earth's pull were suddenly relaxed. Finding followed Aug. 10 finding by Dr. Gary V. Latham and NASA team at MSC that moon quaked at perigee. Stress pattern was reversed during apogee, Dr. Meissner had said, "What might be happening is the lunar surface layer is pushing down, pulling the interior apart and unblocking gas chambers at some depths in the moon." While apogee, quakes did not appear to emanate from same place producing perigee quakes, they did emanate from same general location-in Fra Mauro hills, where Apollo '14 astronauts were scheduled to land. (O'Toole, W Post, 10/27/70, A3)
Nobel Prize for physics for 1970 was awarded jointly to Hannes O. Alfven of Univ. of California at San Diego and Louis E. Neel of Grenoble Univ. in France. They would share $78 000 cash award. Alfven was cited for "fundamental work and discoveries in magnetohydrodynamics, with fruitful applications in different parts of plasma physics." Neel was cited for "fundamental work and discoveries concerning ferromagnetism, which have led to important applications in solid-state physics." Dr. Luis F. Leloir of Argentine Institute of Biochemical Research received Nobel Prize in chemistry for study of how sugars were metabolized and stored in the body and for work that had provided "real knowledge in wide fields of biochemistry, where earlier we had to resort to vague hypothesis." (O'Toole, W Post, 10/28/70, A 13)
NASA announced award of $4 660 000, cost-plus-fixed-fee contract to RCA for flight-model videotape recorders and associated equipment for ERTS program. Recorder system would be used to record output of return-beam videcon high-resolution TV system and multispectral scanner system when ERTS was not in contact with a ground station and to relay data to earth on command. (NASA Release 70-184)
Oral history of space flight on 647 reels of tape assembled over six years had been presented to Smithsonian Institutions Air and Space Museum, Washington Daily News reported. Assembled by Michael Kapp, Vice President of Capitol Records Co., tapes began with reminiscences of Mrs. Esther Goddard, widow of rocket pioneer Dr. Robert H. Goddard, and went through Apollo 11 mission. Six record LP album had been excerpted from tapes. (W News, 10/27/ 70)
Visiting Soviet Soyuz IX Cosmonauts Andrian G. Nikolayev and Vitaly I. Sevastyanov took turns with Astronaut Edwin E. Aldrin, Jr., flying Boeing 747. They were accompanied by Boeing test pilot during flight from Boeing facility near Seattle, Wash. (AP, B Sun, 10/28/70)
Pan Am Boeing 747 engine caught fire minutes after landing at London after flight from Los Angeles. Several of 89 passengers aboard were injured slightly in evacuating aircraft via escape chutes. FAA spokes man later said fire was not related to conditions cited by National Transportation Safety Board on Oct. 1 (W Post, 10/28/70, A18)
U.S.S.R. announced it would conduct month-long series of missile firing tests in Pacific Oct. 28 to Nov. 30. Target area would be circle 257.5 km (160 mi) in diameter about 482.8 km (300 mi) from Midway Islands. (AP, W Post, 10/28/70, A14)
"Our World in Space-Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow," illustrated lecture by artist Robert McCall, was presented by Smithsonian Associates in Washington, D.C. (Program)
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