Feb 22 1965
From The Space Library
Vice President Hubert H. Humphrey spent six hours visiting Cape Kennedy launching pads, talking to space experts, and looking over NASA Kennedy Space Center's Merritt Island Launch Area (MILA). "I'm sure the American people can feel this program is in good hands," he said before returning to Washington. At one point, Humphrey rode to the top of the 100-ft. launching vehicle to be used in next month's manned orbital flight and exclaimed: "Man, oh man, what a fantastic job!" (NASA Release 65-57; AP, Wash. Eve. Star, 2/23/65)
COSMOS LVII earth satellite was launched by the U.S.S.R. Orbital data: apogee, 512 km. (318 mi,) ; perigee, 175 km. (109 mi.) ; period, 91.1 min.; inclination, 64°46'. Tass said the satellite carried scientific apparatus "intended for the further investigation of outer space," Equipment was functioning normally. (Tass, Pravda, 2/23/65, ATSS-T Trans.)
DOD Secretary Robert S. McNamara told the House Armed Services Committee that deferral of the decision on Nike-X production from FY 1966 to FY 1967 "should not delay an initial operational capability by many months beyond what we would expect to achieve if we were to start production in Fiscal 1966." He said this was primarily because of the development, test, and evaluation work already under way. He added that the FY 1966 requests included $400 million for the continued development of Nike-X "on an urgent basis." Of this, $10 million had been programed for preliminary production engineering.. McNamara confirmed "... a broadening of the objectives of Air Force's Manned Orbiting Laboratory (MOL) program, including: 1) development of technology contributing to both manned and unmanned space operation; 2) development of manned capability to assemble and service large orbiting structures; and 3) other manned military space experimentation. In addition, MOL will be used to investigate servicing and assembly of non-military structures . . . and will progress to study man's biological responses during periods in orbit of as long as 30 days." (Av. Wk., 2/22/65, 26; M&R, 2/22/65, 18)
U.S.S.R. had kept the U.S. under relatively continuous surveillance with photo reconnaissance satellites launched as part of the Cosmos program, said Edward H. Kolcum in an article in Aviation Week and Space Technology. In 1964 14 such satellites were launched, he asserted. The article continued: "Soviet photo reconnaissance payload is believed to be an unmanned version of the Vostok spacecraft, which successfully carried cosmonauts into orbit six times. The unmanned camera mission uses the same launch facilities and same recovery techniques developed from Russian manned satellites. The recoverable section is the pressurized cabin, which weighs about 5,000 lb. when it is ejected from the main spacecraft for a parachute descent on land. . . . "Six of these payloads were recovered after eight days; two after seven days, one after six days and another after five days. One came down after 24 hr. in orbit; one remained up five weeks, another eight and a half weeks, and another, launched Aug. 29, is still in orbit. Departures from the norm are believed to indicate retrofire malfunctions or failures. Most recent Soviet reconnaissance satellite was Cosmos 52, launched Jan. 11 and recovered Jan. 19. . . ." He stated that 11 of the 14 reconnaissance satellites orbited in 1964 were orbited at 65° inclination. The remaining three orbited at 51° inclination-"an inclination that also permits the payload to sweep over the entire continental United States." The other Cosmos satellites, orbited at 49° inclination, had remained in orbit until they decayed naturally. They were "believed to be scientific applications and military development payloads." (Av. Wk., 2/22/65, 22)
TSR-2, Britain's tactical and reconnaissance bomber, broke the sound barrier for the first time. The aircraft was flown to more than 1,400 mph over the Irish Sea, to a landing at Wharton. This was the 14th test flight of TSR-2 by its manufacturer, British Aircraft Corp. (Reuters, NYT, 2/23/65, 53)
Martin Co. had delivered the first pair of prototype nuclear generators for use in space to NASA, it was reported. The units contained no radioactive fuel and would be heated electrically for their qualification tests. Each generator was designed to deliver 30 watts of direct current to the weather satellite Nimbus B. first NASA satellite to use a nuclear power source. (AP, NYT, 2/23/65, 21)
John F. Mason outlined in Electronics the dramatic changes underway in U.S. tracking and communications stations around the world. "Before the end of the year, 85% of the telemetry gear on the Atlantic missile range will be replaced. Everywhere, new communications equipment is going in, new pulse radars are being installed and continuous-wave radar networks are being expanded. Slowly, the separate ranges are becoming an integrated global network. . . . "Besides the work going on at the ranges, research and development effort for programs of the future continues at an active pace at the various government and industry centers throughout the United States. "The reason for this general overhaul of the missile ranges is to support Apollo, the manned lunar mission, and approximately 70 other ambitious missile and space programs already under way..." (Electronics, 2/22/65, 94-105)
Esso Research and Engineering Co. announced development of a fuel cell that could convert methanol, a petroleum derivative, into electricity. The most immediate practical uses of the cell would be military, the company said. (NYT, 2/23/65, 48)
Leonid Seliakov, a deputy to the Soviet aircraft designer Andrei N. Tupolev, said fundamental breakthroughs would be made in civil aircraft between 1970 and 1975, Seliakov was quoted in Vechernaya Moskua as saying: "Airliners will be designed for flight speeds up to 2,500 kilometers (1,550 miles) an hour. I am sure that in 10 years from now, Muscovites will be able to fly to Khabarovsk in three instead of eight hours." Khabarovsk is about 4,000 miles from Moscow. (AP, NYT, 2/23/65, 53)
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