Dec 9 1963
From The Space Library
President Lyndon B. Johnson appointed Dr. Edward C. Welsh "acting temporary chairman" of the National Aeronautics and Space Council. As Vice President, Johnson had served as NASC Chairman. (Space Bus. Daily, 12/10/63, 370)
Report by three-man NASA advisory committee concluded that "shielding [against radiation] of the crew for Project Apollo is not possible within the time and weight limitations of the project." The crew "will simply have to accept the relatively low probability of encountering a major solar flare during their relatively brief excursion to the moon." Report estimated 10,000 lbs. of polyethylene shielding would be required to 'protect men in 10-ft. diameter spacecraft for a week. For flights to Mars or Venus, more than 20,000 lbs. of polyethylene would be required. "The accomplishment of manned flights to the vicinity of Mars and Venus may have to be delayed until some means are found for reducing these shielding weights," report stated. (AP, NYT, 12/10/63, 24; AP, Wash. Eve. Star, 12/9/63)
GSFC held bidders' briefing with 350 representatives of 55 aerospace firms hearing outlined the "Unified S-Band" method of providing tracking and communications for Apollo lunar missions. Conferees were notified of firm design and production requirements for two complete systems and three partial systems. Contract would be awarded after April 1, 1964. (Gam Release G-30-63)
RCA announced completion of negotiations for a $23.5 million contract from Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corp. to provide a radar subsystem for Project Apollo's Lunar Excursion Module (LEM) . Grumman is prime NASA contractor for building the LEM. (Wall Street Journal, 12/10/63)
"It has been a long and rough road from the original upper stage studies by General Dynamics/Astronautics in 1956-57 to the orbiting Centaur of 1963," Aviation Week and Space Technology editor Robert Hotz wrote. "At Cleveland, it was a Lewis Research Center team headed by David S. Gabriel, Centaur project manager, with Edmund Jonash, Cary Nettles and Ronald Rovenger who developed and executed the rigorous ground testing program in the wind tunnels and rigs that paid off so well in the recent flight performance. And on Capitol Hill, it was Representative Joseph Karth, Democrat of Minnesota, whose investigation into Centaur's troubles shook the program out of its management difficulties and established its priority as a vital step in the lunar landing program .. . . "Centaur should merit a permanent page in the history of the space age as an excellent example of what can be accomplished when industry and government devote their best talents and unflagging determination to reach for a distant but desirable technical goal. It has taught lessons that must not be forgotten when new barriers loom on the frontiers of technology." (Av. Wk., 12/9/63, in CR, 12/19/63, A7749-50)
Christian M. Clausen, JPL's public information director since 1957, died at 49 in Altadena, Calif. (NYT, 12/11/63, 47)
Dr. Glenn T. Seaborg, Chairman of AEC, spoke at Joint Meeting of the Indianapolis Engineering Societies and the Indianapolis Scientific and Engineering Foundation : "None of us today, I think, would presume to cover quite so wide a territory in our endeavors as Leonardo [da Vinci] did, but we are living in a time when the example of his bold imagination can be a valuable source of inspiration. "Much has happened to close the gaps between what Leonardo dreamed of and what we have now achieved. History has witnessed in our country two revolutions-the revolution inspired by our Founding Fathers which gave birth to this Nation, and the Industrial Revolution, inspired by man's inventive spirit, which gave us a place among the nations of the world. We are involved now in a Third Revolution-the Revolution of Science, inspired by our educated men and women-which is strengthening our position as a leader of nations. "During the last several decades, and especially the last two decades, this Nation and the world have witnessed a remarkable expansion and extension of knowledge. This knowledge has been and is being transformed into the outlines of a new and revolutionary society. We have all been part of a new tide of exploration and discovery, not limited to the dimension of the past but creating new dimensions of its own. "Indeed, the revolutionary accomplishments of the past decade-in space-have extended man's reach far beyond this planet. We now know that the search for new knowledge, if not restricted to subjects of foreseeable and immediate practical importance, results in an unexpected increase in our understanding of physical or biological phenomena. The increases, in turn, give rise to far-reaching practical applications which could not have been anticipated from the original basic research. Our scientific knowledge and technology are advancing at an explosive rate. The time lag between the discovery of a fundamentally new scientific principle and its application in engineering is now very short, and these rapid developments are changing the lives of all of us in many ways which we only dimly perceive . . . ." (Text)
Dr. Eugene Fubini, Deputy Director of DDR&E, was commended by Missiles and Rockets for speaking out in favor of "old-fashioned engineering." "What Fubini is seeking is something that has not yet been done, the application of modern technology to conventional warfare problems on a massive scale. He has coupled this appeal for fresh thinking in R&D with a brief for simplicity and sound engineering. "'Old-fashioned engineering may come back in vogue,' he said, `because one cannot have simplicity without good engineering. To make things simple takes a lot of ability and this is going to be the most important and the most difficult challenge facing us.' " (M&R, 12/9/63)
Researchers at Technology Audit Corp. continued, under NASA contract extension, to study possible use of a satellite as a navigation aid for advanced aircraft such as the supersonic transport. (M&R, 12/9/63,9)
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