Jun 2 1965
From The Space Library
U.S. Senate passed a bill (H,R, 7717) authorizing appropriations to NASA for FY 1966 totaling $5,196,826,350, as follows: $4,533,350,. 000 for research and development; $67,376,350 for construction of facilities; and $596,100,000 for administrative expenses. (CR, 6/2/ 65, 11816)
NASA Administrator James E. Webb, testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on Patents, Trademarks, and Copyrights, said: "Fundamental to NASA's approach to the patent policy question and to technology utilization is our belief that active effort must be expended, and meaningful incentives provided, if the byproducts of the space efforts are to flow to the general public through entrepreneurs willing to risk investment capital. ... "If NASA's experience has served to establish one principal, it is that a single presumption of ownership does not provide a satisfactory basis for Government wide policy on the allocation of rights to inventions. NASA's experience further establishes that the 'Government has a responsibility to foster the fullest exploitation of the inventions for the public benefit. " (Transcript)
William B. Rieke, NASA Deputy Associate Administrator (Management) for Manned Space Flight, was appointed Deputy Associate Administrator for Industry Affairs, replacing George Friedl, Jr. Prior to his appointment to NASA in 1962, Rieke was president of Lockheed Aircraft International, Inc. Friedl would continue to serve NASA as a consultant. (NASA Ann,)
Grove Webster had been appointed Director of NASA Hq, Personnel Div, NASA announced. He had previously served as deputy and acting director. (NASA Release 65-182)
AFSC Commander Gen. Bernard A. Schriever predicted at a Retired Officers' Luncheon in Washington, D.C., that "the next major breakthrough in international commerce will be low cost, long haul air transportation, which could be derived in large part from prior military experience," Gen. Schriever said he recognized "that there are problems involved in translating military systems into commercial systems ... but these problems can be successfully attacked and solved if there is adequate long range planning now." (Text)
June 3-7: NASA's GEMINI IV spacecraft was launched at 11:16 a.m. EDT with two-stage Titan II booster from the Eastern Test Range and began the four-day space flight of Astronauts James A. McDivitt (Maj. USAF) and Edward H. White, II (Maj., USAF ) , who would make 62 revolutions around the earth in 97 hrs. 56 min. Two minutes and 36 sec, after liftoff, the first stage of the booster separated. Six minutes later, traveling at 17,567 mph, the spacecraft was inserted into an orbit with apogee, 174.8 mi. (283.2 km,) ; perigee, 100 mi. (161 km,) ; period, 94 min. Original plans had been for GEMINI IV to be maneuvered within 25 ft. of the burned out second stage of the TITAN II booster rocket and for White to approach and possibly touch it during his extravehicular mission. Three hours into flight, ground stations reported that excessive tumbling of the second stage had increased atmospheric drag and that it was orbiting 32 mi. ahead of and 5 mi. below GEMINI IV, Mission Director Christopher C. Kraft confirmed Command Pilot McDivitt's suggestion to abandon further attempts at rendezvous because of a potential fuel shortage. White's extravehicular activity, planned for the second orbit, but delayed until the third to allow astronauts more preparation time, began at 3:45 p.m. EDT. The cabin was depressurized; White, equipped with tether carrying oxygen and communication and with chest pack for emergency oxygen supply, emerged from the spacecraft just past Hawaii, Carrying a modified 35 mm, single-lens reflex camera loaded with color film and propelled by a hand-held, oxygen-jet gun, he went three times to the full length of his 25-ft. tether and then returned, using the gun to halt his motion and prevent his hitting the spaceship. When the gas supply in the gun was depleted, he returned to the spacecraft by gently tugging on the tether line. At one point. McDivitt exclaimed: "You smeared my windshield, you dirty dog," Flight plans had called for a ten-minute walk in space but White remained outside the spacecraft for 22 min, He experienced no disorientation during his "walk." When he finally heeded commands to return to the capsule, he had difficulty closing the hatch and decided not to reopen it to jettison excess equipment. "It's the saddest moment of my life," White said as he reentered the spacecraft, On June 5 during the 17th orbit, the astronauts spoke to their wives at MSC. During the 20th orbit, McDivitt spotted a satellite with "big arms sticking out," He was unable to identify it positively. On June 6 during the 48th orbit, trouble developed with the spacecraft's computer and attempts to repair it with the aid of ground instructions failed. The malfunctioning computer made it necessary for CEMINI IV to reenter on a ballistic trajectory. Throughout the flight the daily routine of the astronauts included eating, exercise, and performance of medical and scientific experiments. They alternated rest periods, During 12 of the 62 orbits, when GEMINI IV passed through a heavy radiation area called the South Atlantic anomaly, Astronauts McDivitt and White switched on radiation and magnetic field measuring devices to take readings inside and outside the spacecraft and near their bodies. They also attempted to improve the knowledge of the earth's terrain through high-quality color photographs; to measure with instruments the electrostatic charge that accumulates in space and on objects in space, to better define the magnitude and direction of the earth's geomagnetic field; to test the accuracy of part of a prototype navigational system for future space capsules; to measure heartbeats to try to determine the effects of prolonged weightlessness on functioning of the heart; to determine the effects of limited exercise in space through use of a tension cord; to take high-resolution photographs of cloud formations over the earth to aid weathermen in improved forecasting from weather satellites; to determine more exactly the elevation of the earth's atmosphere and its layers through use of filtered film; and to determine if long, periods of weightlessness might make the bones brittle. On June 7, to begin reentry, McDivitt fired a 100-lb. thrusting rocket for two minutes, 41 sec,-one second too long-to guide the capsule into an orbit with 156.2-mi (252-km,) apogee and 100-mi. (161-km, perigee. Twelve minutes later, McDivitt fired the retrorockets; 2½ min. later he placed the spacecraft into slow rotation to reduce reentry dispersion. Communications with, the spacecraft then ceased for about 4 min, as ion-sheath blackout phase of reentry began. GEMINI IV entered the final stage of reentry at 1:07 p.m. EDT when the stabilizing chute emerged and damped the oscillations of the descending craft. The main parachute opened shortly afterward and slowed the spacecraft for its final landing at 1:13 p.m. EDT, about 450 mi. east of Cape Kennedy. The landing was 40 mi off target because of the one-second error in the firing of the thrusting rockets and one-second delay in the firing of the retrorockets. Fifteen minutes after splashdown, Navy frogmen, lowered into the water by helicopter, placed a flotation collar around the capsule, Before egressing from the spacecraft to be hoisted to helicopter, astronauts took biomedical data on themselves. About 40 min, later, Majors McDivitt and White were landed by helicopter on the flight deck of the 'carrier Wasp. They were taken immediately to the ship's sick bay for postflight examinations, Dr. Charles A. Berry, Chief Flight Surgeon for the astronauts, said after the examinations: "We have knocked down an awful lot of straw men, We had been told that we would have an unconscious astronaut after four days of weightlessness, Well, they're not, We were told that the astronaut would experience vertigo, disorientation when he stepped out of that spaceship, We hit that one over the head," The most serious problem was fatigue. "Both men were bushed," said Dr. Berry, Maj. McDivitt had a few flecks of caked blood in his nostrils, caused by the dryness of the mucous membranes from inhaling pure oxygen for so long. X-rays taken of the astronauts' little fingers and heel bones both before and after the flight to determine if long exposure to weightlessness would cause a substantial loss of calcium were being studied, Commenting on the historical significance of the Gemini flight, Dr. George E. Mueller, Associate Administrator of NASA's Office of Manned Space Flight, said the flight had included "at least two world firsts": a record length for two-man flights and the first time a pilot had maneuvered outside a ship with a propulsion gun, which gave him control over his movements. American astronauts had flown a total of 259 hrs, 34 min. in space; Soviet astronauts had accumulated 507 hrs, and 16 min. ( NASA Release 65-158; NASA Proj, Off.; NYT, 6/4/65, 1,15; Wash. Eve, Star, 6/4/65, A1,A6,A10; Wash, Post, 6/4/65, A1,A7,A8; WSJ, 6/4/65, 4; Clark, NYT, 6/5/65, 1,12; Wash, Eve. Star, 6/5/65, A3; Wash, Post, 6/5/65, A1,A7; NYT, 6/6/65, 1,70; NYT, 6/7/65, 22C; Wash, Post, 6/7/65, A1,A4,A6; Balt, Sun, 6/7/65; Justice, Wash, Post, 6/ 8/65; Simons, Wash, Post, 6/8/65; Time, 6/8/65, 20,25,25A; NYT, 6/8/65, 22C; NYT, 6/9/65, 1,22; Lee, Houston Post, 6/9/65; Wash. Post, 6/11/65, Al; Wash, Eve, Star, 6/13/65, Al; Wash, Post, 6/15/ 65, Al.)
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