Feb 1 1968
From The Space Library
NASA Nike-Cajun sounding rocket launched from NASA Wallops Station carried payload to 65-mi (104.4-km) altitude to obtain vertical profile of atmosphere parameters between 22- and 59-mi (35- and 95-km) altitudes with exploding-grenade and falling-sphere techniques. Rocket and instrumentation performed satisfactorily except for one of the two spheres; other sphere was tracked for 23 min. Globe Exploration Corp. and Superior Engineering Co. experiments were correlated with firings from Kiruna, Sweden; Fort Churchill, Canada; and Point Barrow, Alaska. (NASA Rpt SRL)
Ats III, launched by NASA Nov. 5, 1967, was again returning color and black-and-white pictures to ground stations; color camera had been turned off Nov. 29, and black-and-white camera, Dec. 9. Latter had been returned to active photographing of cloud cover Dec. 30. Color camera had operated since first week of January, but ground equipment had lacked precise adjustment. GSFC believed camera problems, possibly caused by gas seepage, had been corrected. (NASA Release 68-24)
Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara, in annual report to Congress, stated before joint session of Senate Armed Services Committee and Defense Appropriations Subcommittee that U.S.S.R. had nearly closed nuclear missile gap in 1967 by more than doubling its IBM force. According to intelligence estimates, Soviet buildup could give U.S.S.R. capability of delivering about 1,000 nuclear warheads and bombs; U.S. could deliver up to 43/2 times that number. Both U.S. and U.S.S.R. possessed strategic forces capable of withstanding surprise attack and retaliating overwhelmingly against the other. "It is precisely this mutual capability to destroy one another, and conversely, our respective inability to prevent such destruction, that provides us both with the strongest possible motive to avoid a strategic nuclear war." Communist China's medium-range missiles, and ICBMs could be operational as a "modest" force in mid-1970s. (Beecher, NYT, 2/2/68, 2; Marder, W Post, 2/2/68, Al; NYT, 2/6/68, 42)
V/A Charles E. Weakley (N, Ret.), former Commander of U.S. Atlantic Fleet Anti-Submarine Warfare Force and recipient of Navy Distinguished Service Medal, became NASA Assistant Administrator for Management Development and took over staff of Organization and Management Planning Div., formerly under Associate Administrator for Organization and Management. (NASA Release 68-11)
February 1-2: Tenth anniversary of Explorer I [see [[January 31 1968|Jan. 31] was commemorated by JPL and Cal Tech with two-day program including symposium on First and Second Decades of Space Research and JPL open house. JPL Director, Dr. William H. Pickering, leader of first Explorer scientific task force, was chairman. Speakers included Dr. James A. Van Allen of State Univ. of Iowa, who had verified radiation belts bearing his name; L/G Austin W. Betts (USA), Army Chief of Research and Development; Dr. John W. Findlay, NASA Lunar and Planetary Missions Advisory Board Chairman; and Dr. Joseph Kaplan of UCLA, U.S. Chairman of icy when Explorer l was launched Jan. 31, 1958. In next 10 yr, "as an increasingly important area of scientific and technical research a balanced program in space must certainly be part of the activities of our Nation," Dr. Kaplan said. "No more noble and useful service can be conceived than one which gives strength to .. . cooperation among the nations of the earth. Space certainly qualifies for such a role." Dr. Findlay outlined possible missions "of strong scientific interest" to Mercury, Venus, Mars, and Jupiter in next decade. Gen. Betts voiced concern about attitudes toward exploratory efforts; he was "not convinced that we remember; the lesson" of Sputnik I. "Only some two weeks" after its launch, numerous programs were proposed for U.S. satellite-possible only because "far-sighted technical people had been planning for various applications of space for some time, and even though firm military requirements were not available." (JPL Releases, 1/22/68, 1/31/68; Texts; Wilford, NYT, 2/2/68, 4; SBD, 1/26/68, 38)
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