Feb 19 1964
From The Space Library
Space News for this day. (2MB PDF)
X-15 No. 3 flown by NASA pilot Milton O. Thompson in third of current series designed to study heat transfer rates with sharp-leading-edge vertical tail. Launched from B-52 near Hidden Hills, Calif., the X-15 attained maximum speed of 3,504 mph (mach 5.26) and peak altitude of 77,500 ft. This was flight 101 for the X-15, 26 for X-15 No. 3. (FRC Release; NASA X-15 Proj. Off.)
Boilerplate Apollo spacecraft arrived at Cape Kennedy, where it would be orbited by Saturn I SA-6 in April. Three separate USAF aircraft transported the boilerplate launch escape system, command module, service module, .related ground service equipment, and adapter. Within a few hours, S-1 stage and instrument unit for SA-6 arrived by barge after 13-day trip from Huntsville, Ala. (MSC Release 64-33; MSC Roundup, 2/19/64, 1)
India's Dept. of Atomic Energy and NASA announced signing memorandum of understanding for Indian-U.S. cooperation in meteorological sounding rocket program. Data gathered in the program would contribute to International Indian Ocean Expedition, a continuation of research begun during IGY, concentrating on weather and atmospheric conditions related to the Indian Ocean area. Under the agreement, India Dept. of Atomic Energy would provide, transport, assemble, and launch Loki-Dart sounding rockets and payloads; operate the Thumba Equatorial Rocket Range; and coordinate launchings with those of other countries in International Indian Ocean Expedition. NASA would lend radar equipment, train Indian personnel, and provide technical advice. (NASA Release 64 39)
NASA announced FRC had issued requests for proposals for construction of two low-speed lifting-body gliders. NASA would furnish the selected contractor with information obtained in research with M-2 concept at Ames Research Center and the HL-10 lifting-body at Langley Research Center. Both vehicles would undergo thorough testing in Ames wind tunnel, then be tested in flight at FRC. (NASA Release 64-41)
NASA Associate Administrator for Space Science and Applications Dr. Homer E. Newell told Subcommittee on Space Science and Applications, House Committee on Science and Astronautics, that Scout space vehicle had not been performing with desired reliability. Ground tests and modifications were conducted, and when a test vehicle was fired the fixes were shown to be "adequate." Subcommittee Chairman, Rep. Joseph E. Karth (D.-Minn.) , replied that "if NASA spent half as much money on solids as it did on liquid vehicles, the solid rocket program would have 100 per cent reliability." Discussing Surveyor lunar probe, Dr. Newell said first nine Surveyors would be reduced from 2,500 lbs. to 2,100 lbs., and it was hoped flox upper-stage Atlas-Centaur space vehicles would be available to launch the subsequent Surveyors. (SBD, 2/20/64, 279)
Edmond C. Buckley, Director of NASA Office of Tracking and Data Acquisition, testified before Subcommittee on Advanced Research and Tracking, House Committee on Science and Astronautics: "We are requesting $274.4 million to support the Tracking and Data Acquisition program in fiscal year 1965, as compared to $307.7 million in fiscal year 1964, a decrease of eleven per cent. The reason for this decrease is that most of our new station construction requirements in all three networks, were funded in fiscal years 1963 and 1964. . . ." Mr. Buckley pointed out that the largest single item in OT&DA budget for FY 1965 was $106.9 million for equipping the manned space flight network for Projects Gemini and Apollo. (Testimony)
Unnamed NASA spokesman denied Feb. 15 statement by Dr. Wernher von Braun that scientist would be included in crew for second lunar landing flight. NASA said it had not been decided whether a scientist Would be aboard the flight, and that if fully qualified scientists did make lunar expeditions they probably would go "later than the second flight." (Houston Press, 2/19/64; Houston Chron., 2/19/64)
USN request that NASA include four of its experiments in manned Gemini flights was revealed in NASA Gemini program review. (Av. Wk., 2/24/64, 23)
Discovery of the omega-minus particle in the atomic structure was hailed as a significant step toward construction of an ordered table of elements for the atom similar in nature and importance to the periodic table of elements. Prof. Paul T. Matthews, of the Imperial College, London, and a Fellow of the Royal Society, described his discovery in the British journal New Scientist. Prof. Y. Ohnuki had suggested in 1960 that the clue to orderly relationship between the 50 or more known atomic particles might lie in a type of "spin" which could only be described in mathematical terms and known as "unitary transformations." Several scientists in various parts of the world, including Dr. Murray Gell-Mann in the US., began working on this theory. Relationships did begin to appear among particles; also it became apparent that one more sub-particle was needed. Its characteristics could be deduced from its place in the atomic relationship. At this point teams of scientists went to work with the 33-billion-volt Alternating Gradient Synchrotron at Brookhaven National Laboratory and others with equipment at the Center for European Nuclear Research (CERN) at Geneva, Switzerland. Analysis of 100,000 photographs of bubble patterns made by accelerated atomic particles traveling through "boiling" liquid hydrogen disclosed two sightings of particles with the characteristics predicted by the relationship table. (Hillaby, NYT, 2/20/64, 1 ; Sullivan, NYT, 2/23/64, 67)
Dr. J. Allen Hynek, Director of Lindheimer Astronomical Research Center and head of astronomy dept. of Northwestern Univ., Evanston, said in an interview that remote control telescope on the moon was practical as well as desirable. Heart of lunar telescope would be image orthicon, comparable to picture tube in TV camera; signals would travel to the telescope and pictures would travel back to earth on laser beams. ". .. If you had a telescope on the moon, you could point it where you want to by remote control and the picture would go into an image orthicon to be flashed back to earth on the same laser beam that controls the moon telescope." (Hughes, Chic. Trib., 2/19/64)
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