Jul 4 1966

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U.S.S.R. was entering second phase of space medicine research, seeking the "why" of physiological changes, V. V. Parin, a Soviet physician-scientist with a major role in selecting and training cosmonauts, told Technology Week in a Moscow interview. In phase one "we merely made objective observations of animals . . . we were interested in just keeping them alive, in generating the atmosphere, maintaining thermal control, humidity, pressure, and the rest," Parin said. "Now we want to know the intimate details of animal adaptation" to space, because lower animals could be more intensively studied in space flights than man. Parin cited four areas in which improved medical technology could aid the study of physiology: measuring calcium loss in astronauts; analyzing process of water loss in astronauts; measuring muscle tone; and devising better telemetry. Parin said he was satisfied with the interchange of space-medical data between U.S.S.R. and U.S. (Beller, Tech. Wk., 7/4/66, 12, 13)

NASA might have attempted to send Surveyor spacecraft to the moon in December 1965 but was effectively discouraged by severely critical report on the program published by House Committee on Science and Astronautics' Subcommittee on Space Science and Applications, Aviation Week contended. NASA had wanted to rush SURVEYOR into launch that would have landed during lunar night rather than preferred daylight opportunity, to ensure that U.S. achieved first soft-landing before U.S.S.R. (Av. Wk., 7/4/66, 15)

July 4: Soviet tests of carrier rockets begun April 24 "to develop new space systems" had been completed, Tass announced. Conducted in the Pacific in two areas west and northwest of Midway Island, tests were to have ended July 31; early completion was not explained. (AP, NYT, 7/5/66,28)

NAA's Rocketdyne Div. reported single J-2 rocket engine had operated continuously for 635.9 sec.-more than two minutes longer than burn time required for an Apollo lunar launch. Test firing was one of a series of 104 during which engine had accumulated a total of 12,120 set more than three times engine's specified operating life. (Tech. Wk., 7/4/66. 28)

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