Apr 29 1964
From The Space Library
Space News for this day. (2MB PDF)
X-15 No. 1 was flown by Maj. Robert Rushworth (USAF) to altitude of 102,000 ft. and speed of 3,903 mph (mach 5.72) in test to determine effect of shock waves on photography. Both the test and the 105th flight of the X-15 were successful. (UPI, Wash. Post, 4/30/64; NASA X-15 Proj. Off.)
First successful, full-scale controlled test of parasail was conducted by NASA Manned Spacecraft Center. "It could not have been more successful," Lee Norman, parasail project engineer said. Model of two-man Gemini spacecraft was dropped from C-119 aircraft from 11,000-ft. altitude. Small drogue parachute immediately deployed, and then the parasail quickly deployed and stabilized the spacecraft's fall. After 7.8 min. the spacecraft hit the water of Trinity Bay. Previous attempt to drop-test the parasail was unsuccessful because of deployment problems. (Maloney, Houston Post, 4/30/64)
Unnamed NASA officials were quoted as saying U.S. had detected Soviet failure within the last week in an attempt to launch a probe to the moon, by John Finney in New York Times. Failure was said to have occurred within minutes after rocket booster rose from launch pad near the Aral Sea. (Finney, NYT, 4/30/64, 9)
NASA announced $1 million facilities grant to Texas A&M Univ., which would build an activation analysis laboratory for use in its space-related research program for remote analysis of materials through nuclear activation. (NASA Release 64-102)
Philip Donely, Chief of Flight Mechanics and Technology Div, NASA Langley Research Center, received 1964 Laura Taber Barbour Air Safety Award of the Flight Safety Foundation. Citation said that Donely's "diverse and unique contributions to air safety during his service of over 30 years with the NACA and NASA have made him an inter-nationally recognized authority in the areas of aircraft loads, operating problems, and airworthiness requirements. . . . The counsel he has given to industry, operators, and government agencies on matters such as airworthiness aspects of new aircraft, assessment of design criteria, and airworthiness problems related to aircraft accidents has contributed significantly to the development and operation of safe aircraft." (NASA Release 64-92)
NASA Deputy Administrator Dr. Hugh L. Dryden said in keynote address at Fourth National Conference on the Peaceful Uses of Space: "We have chosen to go to the moon because manned exploration of the moon involves every facet of overall space capability this nation must develop if we are to become a leading spacefaring nation. Also, the moon's pockmarked surface, untouched by water or wind erosion since it has no atmosphere, bears the traces of everything which ever occurred there. "We are carrying forward an active national space program, not limited to the moon, encompassing science, advanced engineering, practical applications, including manned space flight. "We are building toward pre-eminence in every phase of space activity-all the way from microscopic electronic components to skyscraper-tall rockets. "We are building a network of large-scale engineering facilities, space-yards, proving grounds, and space ports to assemble, test, and launch the space vehicles we need now and in the future. "We are creating new national resources of lasting value in these facilities; in the industrial and managerial capabilities we are developing; and in the growing number of scientists and engineers who are learning about space and space technology. "We are filling the pipelines of hardware and knowledge, and as measured by the financial resources required, will be halfway toward our first manned lunar mission by mid-1965. "We are accumulating, in space, the basic scientific knowledge about the earth, the solar system, the universe, and about man himself. "We are bringing benefits not only to the United States but to all the world through the use of space and space technology, employing such new tools as weather, communications, and navigational satellites, and applying space-based techniques, equipment, and materials to improve industrial products, processes and services. "We are providing a much-needed stimulus to the energies and creativity of people everywhere, particularly to the minds and aspirations of young people. "We are bringing about increased economic activity at a time when the effects of automation on our society are beginning to be felt. "And we are making certain, through our sustained efforts, that the realm of space now opening up to us shall be a domain of freedom. "It is for these reasons that we have mounted the greatest peacetime undertaking in the history of mankind. . . ." (Text)
Dr. George E. Mueller, NASA Associate Administrator for Manned Space Flight, discussed Project Apollo before the Conference on the Peaceful Uses of Space: "The overall time phasing . . . is quite conservative. The Apollo spacecraft is being developed on a schedule four years longer than Was needed for the Mercury spacecraft, and two years longer than was taken to produce the B-58 bomber. The Saturn IB and Saturn V launch vehicles are being developed on a schedule two years longer than that of the Atlas missile, and a year longer than was required for the Titan. The total duration scheduled for the Apollo program is longer than that of any previous United States research and development effort. "The Apollo job, of course, is a big one and we will need all of the time allotted. . . . We found . . . that if the remaining six years of work [in Project Apollo] were stretched out over 12 years the total cost of the presently approved manned space flight program would increase by about 30 percent, or about six billion dollars. The economic considerations, therefore, support the maintenance of the present schedule. It is six billion dollars cheaper to continue on the course We are now following than to set out on a new course at this late date.. . Among the benefits from Project Apollo is "the rapid advancement of United States capability in space-the ability to undertake whatever space activities the national interest may require. "There are seven major elements in this capability people, industrial base, ground facilities, launch vehicles, spacecraft, operational know-how, and the ability to manage research and development. Together, they add up to space power, which provides this country with freedom of action in this new medium. . . ." (Text)
Delta Air Lines had reserved three delivery positions for U.S. super-sonic transport, FAA announced. (FAA Release 64-37)
Britain's VC-10 long-range jet aircraft made its first commercial passenger flight - a BOAC flight from London to Lagos, Nigeria. The aircraft featured rapid lift, allowing it to use shorter runways than its U.S. counterparts, the Boeing 707 and Douglas DC-8. (Farnsworth, NYT, 4/30/64, 57)
April 29-May 1: Air Transport and Space Meeting and Production Forum held in New York, sponsored by Society of Automotive Engineers and American Society of Mechanical Engineers. At the meeting, NASA Ames Research Center scientists reported results of a study of a manned Mars mission: Nova-class launch vehicles and nuclear-propelled space-craft, combined with extensive aerodynamic braking techniques at Mars and Earth, would allow manned Mars mission to be made with a single, direct launch from Earth. Use of aerodynamic braking at Mars and Earth would reduce total velocity requirements 50 per cent. (M&R, 5/4" 17)
Forum on Developments and Techniques for Air Traffic System of the Future, sponsored by Radio Technical Commission for Aeronautics, held in Washington. At the forum, details of Westinghouse Electric's concept of navigation satellite system were disclosed by E. S. Keats, Westinghouse project manager for navigation and surveying systems. The single, synchronous-orbit satellite could provide navigation, communication, and traffic service to aircraft over North Atlantic or Pacific. The satellite would interrogate each aircraft periodically, measuring time to determine navigational position. (Av. Wk., 5/4/64, 69)
Hollywood screen writer Gene Roddenberry meets with executives at Desilu studios in Los Angeles and signs a draft contract to produce three television shows, including one called Star Trek.
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