Aug 13 1966
From The Space Library
Five-man NASA board and House Science and Astronautics Committee's NASA Oversight Subcommittee had begun separate inquiries into failures of OGO I, II, III, OAO I, and NIMBUS I. Questions under investigation included: (1) Is the expenditure on observatory satellites wise? (2) Are the projects being carried out on an efficient basis? and (3) Is the taxpayer's interest being protected? GSFC Director Dr. John F. Clark told AP he believed there had been "technical goofs but no management problems" associated with the failures. "Scientifically, we have not had a failure in OGO. Something less than 100 percent but more than 75 percent of OGO's experiment return has been outstandingly successful. OGO 1 and OGO 2-although classified as spacecraft failures-gave us more data than all other 265 satellites combined up to that time." (NYT, 8/14/66, 1, 70; AP, Wash. Eve. Star, 8/14/66, A23)
Recent Trendex poll taken for Thiokol Chemical Corp. indicated that 71.4 per cent of Cincinnati residents were in favor of the Nation's lunar program. (Haggerty, J/Armed Forces, 8/13/66, 8)
Research by NASA and Air Transport Assn. indicated that wet-pavement skidding by aircraft could be substantially reduced by cutting 1/8 to ¬ -in deep grooves one to two inches apart in runways. Test runways would be equipped with grooves at cost of $70,000 by early 1967 for further experimentation. (Hudson, NYT, 8/14/66, 90; UPI, Chic. Trib., 8/15/66)
August 13-14: Alternate system kept US. tracking station at Robledo de Chavela, Spain, in operation when 500-600 ft. of cable were burned by forest fire raging nearby. Station, which played a critical role in NASA's Lunar Orbiter program, was expected to receive photos of the lunar surface in several days. (NASA Release 66-219)
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