Dec 30 1964
From The Space Library
In a New Year's greeting addressed to President Anastas I. Mikoyan and Premier Alexei N. Kosygin of the Soviet Union, President Johnson urged agreement on a series of United States disarmament proposals and arms control: "Arms control remains especially urgent; nothing can contribute more to the hopes of mankind for the future. During the months ahead I hope we can work for practical agreements to this end. We can and should move to limit the spread of nuclear weapons; to achieve a verified worldwide comprehensive test ban; to make a cut-off of fissionable material production for weapons coupled with measures to safeguard the peaceful uses of nuclear power; and to agree on a verified freeze in existing offensive and defensive strategic nuclear delivery systems. "By progress in this critical area, our Governments can help to make this a happier and safer world for all people. You may be certain that the American people and their Government will never be second in this effort." (Mohr, NYT, 12/31/64, 1-2)
A policy statement issued by the Committee on Science in the Promotion of Human Welfare of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) charged that social and political pressures on the scientific community arising from such major U.S. space programs as Apollo, Starfish, and West Ford constituted a "serious erosion of the integrity of science." The report was issued following a five-day meeting held by the association in Montreal, Canada. Commenting on the "space race" aspects of NASA'S program, the committee said the pattern for orderly development of research had been altered by the "essentially political decision to pursue project Apollo." The report concluded that Apollo did not appear to be based on the orderly systematic extension of basic scientific investigations. Another NASA program to come under fire at the AAAS meeting was the Voyager Mars exploration project attacked by Dr. Barry Commoner, professor of plant physiology at Washington University. Dr. Commoner said finding life in any form on Mars would have tremendous scientific significance, and that he was not opposed to the basic idea of searching for life on the planet. "I simply feel this country is not yet prepared to make a commitment of this scope," he said. "We could at this time be a lot closer to resolving this question if the scientific community had been given the opportunity to fully discuss it." He said even though the commitment had been made it was not too late to discuss fully the question of life on Mars before the 1971 launch. He said he hoped Congressional space committees would ask for complete justifications on the Voyager project. (Av. Wk., 1/4/65, 18; Abraham, Phil. Eve. Bull., 12/28/64; AP, Wash. Eve. Star, 12/28/64)
Dr. Harold Urey, Nobel prize-winning chemist, told scientists at American Geophysical Union meeting in Seattle that the structure of some of the ridges on the lunar surface photographed by RANGER VII indicated that water might exist on the moon. (AP, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 12/31/64)
A pea-sized rocket motor, called a cap motor, weighing less than three-hundredths of an ounce, might be given its first trial in space next year as a stabilizing motor for a Tiros weather satellite. Conceived by the Wright Aeronautical Div. of the Curtiss-Wright Corp. in Wood Ridge, N.J., it was made entirely of plastic, contained igniter material which would be touched off by an electrical impulse, a solid propellant, a combustion chamber, and a flared exhaust nozzle. A string of the expendable motors would be mounted on a tape that would feed through a half-pound triggering device and fire them one at a time or in sequence. One cap motor would yield a pound of thrust for about two-hundredths of a second. Two cap motor units, each containing 300 cap motors, would be placed on Tiros for the test in an attempt to lengthen its useful life beyond an expected three months. The satellite must spin at a certain number of revolutions a minute to stabilize its cameras; the slight friction in its trajectory would tend to slow it down. Computers on the ground would calculate the amount of spin to be imparted; aboard Tiros, 100 cap motors would be fired in each burst. (Hudson, NYT, 12/30/64, 1, 17)
Prof. Rene J. Dubos of the Rockefeller Institute charged at the Montreal meeting of the AAAS that present-day biology was almost completely irrelevant to the study of the nature of man. He said that the proper study of man's nature should concern itself with the evolved patterns of physiological responses to a changing environment-what he would call "humanistic biology." Not only would this approach turn up much new knowledge about "humanness," he said, but it would also provide a better understanding of the uniqueness of the individual. Prof. Dubos stated he was not discussing psychology, a social science. Man now possessed technical means for manipulating his mental and physiological processes and might soon develop ways to alter his inheritance and so direct the course of his evolutionary fate. "This means that mankind may soon be faced with decisions of immense importance that must be made in the light of the proper kind of biological knowledge," he said. "The glory of the coming age," he continued, "must be conceived within the framework of man's nature-of his biological limitations as well as his potentialities." (Osmundsen, NYT, 12/30/64, 11)
NASA Director of Personnel, Robert J. Lacklen, who had been with NASA since its inception, resigned to accept a position with the Richardson Foundation of Greensboro, N.C. Mr. Lacklen would head a Personnel Research Institute which would conduct research in personnel selection and appraisal. Mr. Grove Webster was named Acting Director of Personnel. (NASA Ann. 64-300)
USN awarded a $13 million contract to General Dynamics-Pomona for funding, development, and pilot production of both medium and extended range standardized versions of a Tartar/Terrier-type surface-to-air missile. The standardized antiaircraft missile would use the Tartar/Terrier warhead and the same control and launching systems with minor modifications and would offer improved reliability and performance at reduced cost. (DOD Releases 910-64 and 911-64)
The Paris Municipal Council had voted for creation of a flying fire brigade unit as part of the Paris police budget for 1965. The flying firemen would have three helicopters, would deal with fires in tall new buildings where expandable ladders would be ineffective. (Reuters, NYT, 12/30/64, 42 )
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31
