Jul 27 1963
From The Space Library
Eastward drifting of SYNCOM II communications satellite was reversed by ground command firing of hydrogen peroxide jet controls onboard the satellite. SYNCOM II was now drifting westward at rate of 5° per day. After drifting into desired position, satellite would be stopped by onboard control jets so that it would be in synchronous position of 24-hour orbit. Command signals to SYNCOM II were sent by U.S. Army Satellite Communications Agency station aboard USNS Kingsport in Lagos Harbor, Nigeria. NASA Release; AP, Wash. Sun. Star, 7/28/63; AP, Wash. Post, 7/28/63)
NASA Deputy Administrator Dr. Hugh L. Dryden, at District Convention of American Legion, Dept. of Virginia, in Roanoke, said: "Those who view the lunar program simply as a 'propaganda' effort fail to grasp that not only our prestige, but our capacity for constructive international leadership, our economic and military capacity for technological improvement, depend upon our ability to achieve acknowledged superiority m science and technology, and to use this capability in our own behalf and that of our allies. "With a billion people already allied against us, and the uncommitted and emerging nations weighing events that will affect their own future welfare, the United States must present the image of a can-do nation with which they can confidently align their futures. "Thus the program, in addition to its other aims, becomes literally also a matter of national necessity. The world has come to regard space exploits as a measure of a nation's strength. And alliances and loyalty are given to the strong. "We must master this new environment-just as we have had to master the land on which we make our homes, the oceans that carry our ships, and the air that sustains us-to guard against the day when mastery of space might mean world domination . ." (Text)
House Rules Committee announced it was considering a "complete, full and thorough investigation" of Federal expenditures on research, to determine: what departments and agencies conduct research, at what cost, and with what results; amounts being spent on scholarship grants and grants for research to colleges and industry; and what facilities, if any, coordinate the various research programs, including grants to colleges and scholarship grants. (NYT, 7/28/63,1, 49)
Six Republican members of House Committee on Science and Astronautics recommended establishment of a special Congressional committee, composed of members of Armed Services Committee and Science and Astronautics Committee, to re-evaluate the national goals in space. The Congressmen said U.S. was ignoring "the main thrust of the Soviet space aim, which is to dominate inner space through the ability to exercise control over the surface of the earth." Statement was included in a Committee report on NASA FY 1964 authorization bill, (AP NYT, 7/29/63, 12)
Writing in Washington Post, Howard Simons said: "There is no absolute guarantee that U.S. experts, using scientific means alone, can detect every nuclear detonation in . . [the air, under water, or in space] ; but the over-all U.S. detection capability is regarded as good enough to make cheating in those environments a very risky business, indeed. "Generally speaking, this detection system provides an excellent probability for detecting and identifying any and all atmospheric nuclear blasts larger than a few kilotons from ground level up to 6 miles above the earth's surface . . . . "Detection and identification from 6 to 15 miles above the earth's surface is not as effective, but considered to be adequate. "From 15 miles out to 100 million miles, detection becomes easier-with ground-based and satellite-based detection system unless a cheater were to go to complex and costly lengths to hide the blast behind a shield m space . . . ." (Wash. Post. 7/27/63)
USAF Minuteman ICBM launched from Vandenberg AFB in routine training test by Strategic Air Command crew. (DOD Release 1080-63)
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