Mar 24 1964
From The Space Library
Mrs. Lyndon B. Johnson visited NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, where she toured the facilities, witnessed a Saturn I and an F-1 static firing, presented awards to MSFC employees, and was honored at luncheon and tea with her Alabama relatives. At awards ceremony, Mrs. Johnson presented 30-year service pin to Michael J. Rabatin, program coordination officer, and a 20-year pin to Mrs. Mary Derryberry, engineering designer. She presented five invention awards: $300 to Robert J. Carmody for invention of highly flexible cellular structure; $400 to Klaus Juergensen for invention of bilateral energy transfer system; $400 to Lester Katz and Jack J. Nichols for force measuring instrument; and $300 to Benjamin M. Saunders for self-latching handle. Group achievement award of $500 went to Walter F. Gillespie and Alonza J. Davis for contributions to recoverable motion picture camera system developed for the Saturn I SA-5, SA-6, and SA-7 launch vehicles. Mrs. Johnson also presented a $250 Sustained Superior Performance award to Mrs. Hazel T. Atchley, contracts assistant. In letter to MSFC Director Dr. Wernher von Braun, the First Lady described her visit as "stimulating, exhilarating, informative. . . . The significance of the Saturn has come home to me." (Marshall Star, 3/25/64, 1, 4; Robertson, NYT, 3/25/64; Marshall Star, 4/1/64, 1)
NASA launched Nike-Apache sounding rocket from Ft. Churchill, Canada, to 111-mi. altitude, but telemetry transmitter failed. Five charged-particle detectors, an aspect magnetometer, and an accelerometer were included in the instrumentation, which was to have obtained data on charged particles responsible for visual aurora and those responsible for auroral absorption. (NASA Rpt. SRL)
USAF launched Thor-Agena booster combination from Pt. Arguello with unidentified payload. (, Wash. Post, 3/25/64)
USAF conducted second flight test of Asset re-entry vehicle at AMR. The second stage of the Thor-Delta launch vehicle failed to ignite, so the 1,100-lb. research vehicle fell back into the Atlantic only 500 mi. away from the launch site. USAF said the Asset payload had reached 33 mi. altitude and was traveling at 10,000 mph at the time of stage separation, but it was supposed to have reached 12,000 mph at separation time. (AP, Houston Chron., 3/24/64; UPI, Wash. Post, 3/25/64)
Chief engineer of Air Transport Association's Supersonic Advisory Committee, John T. Dyment, estimated it would cost half-again as much as the $1 billion estimated by the Government to develop the U.S. super-sonic transport and test it adequately. He criticized plans to take steps toward manufacturing before prototype testing was completed: "We must have supersonic transports built and flying for a year or so to gain the experience and the reliability before we even start a production line. This is essential . . ." Detailed findings of the committee's two-day meeting in New York would be reported to IATA Technical Committee May 5. (Clark, NYT, 3/25/64, 65)
Export of U.S. aerospace products in 1963 totaled $1.3 billion, according to Aerospace Industries Association (AIA). (AP, Wash. Eve. Star, 3/24/64.)
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