Aug 6 1968
From The Space Library
USAF launched unidentified satellite with Atlas-Agena D booster from ETR into orbit with 24,769-mi (39,866.8-km) apogee, 19,685-mi (31,556-km) perigee 1,436.0-min period, and 9.9° inclination. USAF's first unannounced ETR launching in five years (USAF usually launched from WTR) ; satellite carried payload described by USAF as "experimental." AP story in Washington Post said payload's primary purpose reportedly was to test improved sensing devices and other equipment designed to locate missile and other military installations and provide warning of rocket attacks from unfriendly nations. AP sources had indicated launch was from ETR so satellite could achieve high-altitude orbit where it could "dwell for a longer period over a desired area of the globe." (AP, W Post, 8/7/68, A14; SBD, 8/7/68, 156; GSFC SSR, 8/15/68; Pres Rpt 68)
USAF launched unidentified satellite from Vandenberg AFB by Titan III-B-Agena D booster. Satellite entered orbit with 266-mi (428.1-km) apogee, 88-mi (141.6-kin) perigee, 90.5-min period, and 109.5° incli- nation and reentered Aug. 16. (SBD, 8/12/68, 177; GSFC SSR, 8/15/68; 8/31/68; Pres Rpt 68)
Washington Post article by George C. Wilson logged significant changes in U.S.S.R. space program: Cosmos CCVIII and Cosmos CCXXVIII, launched March 21 and June 21, had been first Soviet "spy" satellites to stay up for 12 days instead of usual 7 or 8. U.S. space experts had said they would have to watch pattern of future satellites before concluding whether purpose of longer-lived satellites was peaceful. Launches had been logged without comment in GSFC Satellite Situation Report but West had evidence that U.S.S.R. had recovered photographs taken by them. U.S. analysts also had noted overlapping by U.S.S.R. of reconnaissance flights, possibly to ensure backup if one failed. Cosmos CCXXXIV marked 100th Soviet reconnaissance launch July 30. Cosmos CCXXXI had been launched July 10 at time appropriate for photographing French nuclear tests in Pacific near Tahiti. (W Post, 8/6/68, 2)
Republican presidential contender Richard M. Nixon told group of Southern delegates to nominating convention U.S. must restore balance of power in missile and space programs. "This Administration has allowed it to deteriorate. That is why I am opposed to any kind of pro- gram-such as defensive missiles-which allows the United States to take second place to the Soviet Union. We are going to restore our strength in the missile program." In the space program, he said, "We have sort of a budget problem . . . and we may have to trim it in some places. But as far as these great and important objectives that involve national defense . . . [and] prestige, we have got to be sure that the United States is first and never second in space . . . [for] any great nation, to remain great, must explore the unknown. . . . As far as I am concerned . . . there is a research gap at the present time. We aren't putting enough money into basic research to keep ahead of the Soviet Union. We are going to close that gap-and then create one where they are behind us all around the world." (M Her, 8/7/68, A22; Cocoa, Ha., Today, 8/7/68; SBD, 8/8/68, 162)
In policy statement on science New York Governor Nelson B. Rockefeller, campaigning for Republican presidential nomination, had recommended that U.S. postpone manned space program after Apollo. IIe warned against treating space program as contest between U.S. and U.S.S.R. and advocated use of unmanned satellites for direct benefits on earth, to explore planets, and to study sun. Gov. Rockefeller said if he were President he would appoint commission "to review the whole field of government science." He recommended President make annual report to Congress on science and technology. (SBD, 8/6/68, 149)
House Committee on Government Operations report, Government Use of Satellite Communications-I968, endorsed DOD decision to proceed with Phase II of Defense Communications Satellite System [see June 18] and urged immediate action in reprogramming and procurement. "The initial system, established partly on an experimental basis and without the benefit of more recent technological advances, needs to be supplemented and ultimately replaced." It recommended DOD planning to develop facilities and methods for emergency communications by satellite, to provide satellite services when possible instead of expand. ing conventional systems, and to improve ground terminals and develop new ones. (Text; Aero Daily, 8/6/68)
NASA successfully completed month-long laboratory test of Biosatellite capsule which would maintain primate in space for 30 days in 1969. Fully instrumented, 15-lb, pigtailed monkey which made simulated space flight was alert and responsive when removed and was undergoing postflight examination and physiological measurements identical to those planned to follow actual flight. Test had been terminated after 28 days when biomedical instrumentation measured less urine than monkey would normally secrete. Biosatellite D primate flight would duplicate most routines of manned flight to provide data on effects of prolonged weightlessness. During simulated flight, monkey ate pellets, drank water, and performed two 30-min tasks each day. Test was conducted by Biosatellite experimenters at UCLA with support from NASA and General Electric Co. ARC was managing project. (NASA Release 68-142; AP, B Sun, 8/29/68, A4)
USAF experiments in human reactions to extreme heat had indicated astronauts could survive reentry through earth's atmosphere if their cabin cooling system failed. In tests at Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, airmen were being subjected to 300°F and 400°F heat in four-foot-high oven three times daily. Some could stand up to 15 min at 300°F; limit at 400°F had been two or three minutes. (AP, LA Times, 8/6/68)
Apollo 7 prime crew successfully completed water egress training in Gulf of Mexico. (NASA Apollo Status Summary, 8/7/68)
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