Aug 13 1968
From The Space Library
Apollo 7 spacecraft had been mechanically mated to Saturn IB launch vehicle at Complex 34, NASA announced. Apollo 7 prime or backup crew, or both, would participate in 10-hr network simulation of first six revolutions of mission and 8-hr launch simulations during week. Spacecraft 2TV-1 command and service modules successfully completed manned checkout Aug. 9 and 10 in preparation for five-day manned thermal-vacuum test at MSC in September to help verify spacecraft in simulated space environment for Apollo earth-orbital and lunar missions. Two-minute captive firing of 6th Saturn V booster stage at MTF Aug. 13 would try out "fix" for Saturn V longitudinal oscillations -conversion of liquid oxygen prevalves into gas-filled shock absorbers. (Text; C Trib, 8/13/68)
NASA issued request for quotations for design, development, fabrication, test, qualification, and delivery of actuator system for Apollo Telescope Mount (ATM) , calling for completion within nine months. System, expected to weigh 201b, would be contained in cylinder 18 in long and 1 ft in dia. It would be used to deploy solar panels of ATM which would be placed in orbit and docked with Saturn I workshop. ( Release 68-178)
NASA Associate Administrator for Manned Flight, Dr. George E. Mueller, had told Apollo project contractors that U.S.S.R. was developing a "large booster, larger by a factor of two, than our Saturn V," New York Times' John N. Wilford reported. Wilford said estimate was part of warning to Apollo team that unless they speeded their efforts, U.S.S.R. might beat U.S. to manned lunar landing. With Dr. Mueller in Europe, NASA spokesman had said he did not know basis of information. Previously, there had been no public statement indicating U.S.S.R. might be working on rocket with greater than 10-million-lb thrust. Saturn V had 7.5-million-lb thrust (NYT, 8/14/68, 11)
NAE'S Aeronautics and Space Engineering Board called for review of air transport's part in U.S. transportation network, urging that DOT and FAA take systems approach to study of R&D goals while leaving R&D itself to enlarged NASA role. Board report, Civil Aviation and Development: An Assessment of Federal Government Involvement, recommended, "NASA's role should be expanded to involve not only flight vehicles and their propulsion systems, which have traditionally occupied its principal attention . . . but all aspects of research and development of importance to civil aeronautics." First project of Board organized in 1967, study said NASA work should include "development of new technologies relating to air traffic control as well as to airports and their support facilities." In addition to NASA's background in vehicle technology and growing avionics capability, "developments in space technology, including the use of satellites for communications and navigation, offer new opportunities for improving air navigation." (Text; NAE Release; Lannan, W Star, 8/13/68, A8; Sehlstedt, B Sun, 8/14/68; A&A, 8/68)
U.S. patent No. 3,396,921 was issued to Francis M. Rogallo, head of low-speed vehicle branch at LaRC, for control devices to regulate pitch and roll of paraglider planned for Apollo Applications flights. Rogallo and his wife Gertrude had developed paraglider-called Rogallo wing -under NASA contract. It was free-flight vehicle with flexible wings which could be extended upon reentry to carry astronauts to a landing. (Pat Off Pio; NYT, 8/17/68, 37)
DCD announced second $1-million installment on contracts for design of Navy VFX, substitute aircraft for F-111B, held by Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corp., General Dynamics Corp., LTV Aerospace Corp., McDonnell Douglas Corp., and North American Rockwell Corp. [see July 19]. Five contractors would eventually get $3 million each under contract definition phase to end Oct. 1. (DOD Press Off; W Post, 8/14/68, D9)
USN had announced selection of General Dynamics Corp. and Lockheed Aircraft Corp.-LTV Aerospace Corp. team to make contract definition studies of vsX, carrier-based antisubmarine aircraft to replace 15-yr-old S2, Wall Street Journal reported. VSX, powered by turbofan-jets, would have twice S2's speed, 10 times its efficiency because of its digital computers which could analyze underwater sound and present data on TV-like displays. Contract could eventually reach $1 billion. (WSJ, 8/13/68,2)
In closed meeting at Civil Aeronautics Board, Washington, D.C., 75 airline and U.S. Government officials discussed possible solutions to aviation congestion crisis, including: elimination of peak-hour charter flights; adoption of minimum flight distance rule for scheduled services from New York's Kennedy International Airport; rollback to 1967 • level of Kennedy schedules; limitation of aircraft movements in peak hours, including general aviation; diversion of flights to other airports; and blackout of discount fares at peak periods. Trans World Airlines President Charles C. Tillinghast, Jr., disagreed with Port of New York Authority view that basic solution to air congestion was construction of fourth New York airport. Solution, he said, was expanding Kennedy's capabilities to meet traffic demand. (Tolchin, NYT, 8/14/68, 30; W Star, 8/14/68, A18)
New York Times editorial advocated priority for passenger transports over private aircraft during peak hours at major airports-New York, Washington, Chicago, Los Angeles-until longer-range measures could be provided to alleviate congestion. "Such a solution will be strongly opposed by . . . general aviation which now numbers 112,000 private planes [including] 4,000 business jets. . . . The contention will be advanced that it is unfair to bar them from airports built with public funds through a system of preference for the 2,200 commercial airliners now in service. Yet no one can argue that it is in the public interest to keep a commercial airliner with 120 passengers aboard circling for . . . hours . . . while airport tower time and runway space are occupied by planes which may carry only two or three persons. . . . Where limited airport facilities necessitate a choice, common carriers should have preference over private planes. Delay in making that choice is an invitation to disaster." (NYT, 8/13/68, 34)
Washington Evening Star editorial praised U.S. decision to test Multiple Independently Targetable Reentry Vehicle (MIRV) despite suggestions that experimentation be suspended as token of U.S. readiness to negotiate with U.S.S.R. on international control of missile production: ". . . negotiations . . . are still in the future and will be drawn out. . . . Meanwhile, since neither party is subjecting itself to any kind of control . . . and since the technology of missiles continues a sort of explosive advance, nothing could be more foolish or more dangerous than a unilateral suspension . . . of the testing that is clearly necessary to the defense of the nation." (W Star, 8/13/68, A6)
Prof. J. Hoover Mackin, one of four experts chosen by NASA to examine first rock samples to be returned from moon, died in Houston, Tex., at age 62. He had held William Stamps Farish Chair in Geology at Univ. of Texas. (AP, W Post, 8/14/68, B6)
Ralph Hazlett Upson, aeronautical engineer who won James Gordon Trophy in 1913 International Balloon Race from Paris to England and American National Balloon Races in 1913, 1919, and 1921, died in Burien, Wash., at age 80. (NYT, 8/15/68, 35)
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