Dec 11 1968
From The Space Library
President-elect Richard M. Nixon introduced his Cabinet on nationwide TV from Washington, D.C. Among appointments, William P. Rogers, Washington attorney and Eisenhower Administration Attorney General, would serve as Secretary of State; Rep. Melvin R. Laird (R-Wis.) , as Secretary of Defense; and Massachusetts Gov. John A. Volpe, as Secretary of Transportation. (Herbers, NYT, 12/12/68)
Apollo 8 crew, wearing their spacesuits, participated in final 2 hr 45 min of countdown rehearsal for Dec. 21 launch. Spacecraft had completed four-day rehearsal fully fueled Dec. 10. (AP, B Sun, 12/11/68, A9; UPI, W Star, 12/11/68, C4)
NASA was unsuccessful in second Project SHAPE (Supersonic High Altitude Parachute Experiments) attempt at WSMR when parachute was ejected prematurely from five-foot-long canister after three-stage rocket had successfully propelled payload to 33-mi altitude. First test Oct. 23 had been successful. (NASA Release 68-216)
Federation Aeronautique Internationale (FM) had established Yuri Gagarin gold medal honoring cosmonaut who became first man in space April 12, 1961, during Soviet Vostok I mission, Space Business Daily reported. Medal would be awarded annually to pilot contributing best performance of year in peaceful exploration of space. (SBD, 12/11/68, 178)
Cal Tech's Dr. Maarten Schmidt received Rumford Premium, nation's oldest science award for "the most important discovery or useful improvement ... on heat and on light" at AAAS dinner in Boston, Mass. Award, established in 1796 by Benjamin Thompson, Count Rumford, consisted of medal and $5,000. Dr. Schmidt had determined intense radio emission of quasars indicated they were moving away from earth at speeds up to 149,000 mps, or about 80% of speed of light. (AP, W Star, 12/12/68, A2)
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