Oct 4 1963
From The Space Library
Sixth anniversary of launching of SPUTNIK I, the opening of the Space Age.
First flight-rated model of Gemini spacecraft (No. 1) delivered by the contractor to MSC Test Conductor at AMR, Paul C. Donnelly, the spacecraft to be used for pre-flight checkout procedures leading to the first Gemini mission. This spacecraft will structurally simulate weight, center of gravity, and aerodynamic form of the final Gemini spacecraft. (MSC Release 63-160)
NASA selected three companies for negotiations to lead to a contract for installation, operation, and maintenance of a technical communication system in NASA's Merritt Island Launch Area (MILA). Eventually the system would link some 50 buildings on the 87,000 acre site, including Complex 39, where Saturn V will be launched. This system would be separate from the normal administrative telephone system with ;t its dial telephone exchange (NASA Release 63-221)
Weather Bureau stopped its portion of the funding of the Nimbus meteorological satellite because the current Nimbus offers an operational lifetime of no more than one year. Weather Bureau would continue using improved Tiros satellite while cooperating with NASA in development of a follow-on satellite with a lifetime of several years. NASA said it would continue the development of the Nimbus R&D models. (NASA Release 63-220; Commerce Release; Wash. Post,10/4/63, 2)
An aircraft somewhat similar to the U-2 reconnaissance plane was seen by reporters on the flight line at Air Force Flight Test Center, Edwards AFB, Calif. Air Force officials identified the aircraft as an RB-57F, a drastically modified version of the British Canberra jet light bomber. Chief modifications visible were two extremely long tapered wings similar to those of the U-2, with two very large engines mounted on them. Two smaller J-60 engines were mounted on the fuselage. The aircraft is used in Project Peewee, an environmental study of navigation and weather equipment at high altitude. (AP, NYT,10/6/63)
NASA Administrator James Webb spoke in Washington before the American Council on Education on the relationship of university activity to the space effort: "Dr. Frederick Seitz, President of the National Academy of Sciences and head of the Department of Physics at the University of Illinois, noted recently that he could `think of no aspect of university activity relating to science or technology which is not involved in a fundamental way in the space effort' . . . . "NASA [sponsors] a pre-doctoral training program with the ultimate objective of assisting in the production of 1,000 Ph. D.'s a year . . . "I think I can say categorically that the universities with which NASA works are not becoming so reliant on federal research funds that it is interfering with their traditional role of undergraduate instruction. Although the ratio of graduate to undergraduate effort in many universities may be increasing, those with which we work are not reducing their undergraduate instruction role. In fact, we know that all the major schools are most concerned about keeping up with the undergraduate demand. "It is worth emphasizing that NASA is attempting to foster a broader base of competence in graduate research by awarding training grants to institutions rather than to individual scholars. Thus the university as an institution is given the opportunity to select its own candidates for instruction on its own campus." (Text)
In an article in Pravda, V. Golobachev reported that U.S.S.R. was filing with the Federation Aeronautique International claiming new records for the tandem space flight of Cosmonauts Valery Bykovsky and Valentina Tereshkova June 14-19,1963. U.S.S.R. was claiming eight new records for the tandem flight: for VOSTOK V (Bykovsky), duration of orbital flight, 119 hours; distance, 3,326,000 km. (2,063,377 mi.) ; these represented four new records, since they were records not only for orbital flight but for any type of flight. For VOSTOK VI (Tereshkova), four records claimed for women in orbital flight: duration, 71 hrs. ; height, 231 km. (144 mi.) ; distance, 1,971,000 km. (1,224,720 mi.) ; maximum weight orbited, 4,713 kg. (10,390 lbs.). Total maximum thrust for each flight was listed as 600,000 kg. (1,322,760 lbs.). (Pravda, 10/4/63, AFSS-T Trans.)
Federal Communications Commission (FCC) ordered that TV channel 37 in the U.S. be reserved for exclusive use of radio astronomy until Jan. 1, 1974. FCC said it would urge Mexico and Canada to take similar action and would recommend world wide reservation of the channel at the world conference on space communications convening in Geneva on Oct. 7. (Wash. Daily News, 10/5/63)
Sen. Clinton P. Anderson (D.-N.M.), Chairman of the Senate Committee on Aeronautical and Space Sciences, wrote a letter to NASA Administrator James E. Webb asking for an explanation of the statements made at the summary conference on Project Mercury that there had been poor workmanship on the Mercury spacecraft, according to William Hines, in the Washington Evening Star. He was also reported to have inquired about, a remark attributed to Dr. Robert Gilruth, Director of MSC, that industrial shortcomings included outright falsification, citing an instance where a component used "'black iron where there should have been stainless steel."' (Hines, Wash. Eve. Star, 10/4/63)
Atlas F ICBM was launched by USAF from Vandenberg AFB, but blew up during liftoff. (UPI, NYT, 10/8/63, 28)
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