Mar 9 1965
From The Space Library
Thor-Agena D launched from Vandenberg AFB orbited eight military satellites, the most in any single launch to date. Two satellites would measure solar radiation (GREB VI and SOLRAD) ; two would test stabilization methods for future spacecraft (GGSE II and GGSE ; one would be used in geodesy SECOR ; two would help calibrate satellite tracking networks (SURCAL satellites) ; and one would transmit radio broadcasts for ham operators (OSCAR III). OSCAR III would transmit signals from 25 amateur radio channels over a 4,000-mi. radius and was being tracked by ham radio operators at Foothill Jr. College, Calif. Amateur tracking stations in 30 foreign countries were informally participating in the project. (U.S. Aeron. & Space Act., 1965, 135-36; GSFC SSR, 4/5/65; Clark, NYT, 5/19/65; Wash. Post, 5/20/65, Al2; AP, Omaha Eve. World-Herald, 3/10/65)
Gemini astronaut parachute system for use in launch emergency failed to function properly during test at El Centro, Calif. When the jumper stepped from a C-130 aircraft at 23,000-ft. altitude, a "ballute" (combination balloon and parachute) device for stabilizing the fall failed to deploy; the chute was opened manually at 12,000 ft. (UPI Minneapolis Trib., 3/10/65)
In testimony on NASA lunar and planetary programs before the House Committee on Science and Astronautics' Subcommittee on Space Sciences and Applications, NASA Associate Administrator Dr. Homer E. Newell said: "The Surveyor program to date has accomplished a number of significant advanced developments that have found or will find their way into other programs. "The closed loop automatic landing system has other potential space and terrestrial applications. "The planar-array high gain antenna has several significant advantages over the usual parabolic dish. "The doppler and altimeter radars represent a significant advance in technology and have been adopted by the Apollo Lunar Excursion Module. "The throttleable high performance vernier engines, which have an almost unlimited operating lifetime, represent another significant step forward. "The high performance spherical main retro rocket has appreciably advanced the state of the art. Several launch vehicle programs are interested in this motor as a high-energy upper stage. "The Surveyor landing gear design represents a new high in efficiency of impact energy absorption. "Many of the miniaturized geophysical instruments developed for Surveyor may have terrestrial applications." (Testimony; NASA Auth. Hearings, 243ff)
World's longest antenna had been stretched on the top of the Antarctic icecap to study radio conditions in space beyond the earth, the National Science Foundation reported. The antenna was a 21-mi., plastic-coated, 3/4-in, copper cable that radiated low frequency waves that traveled far out into space along a line of force in the earth's magnetic field. The waves followed the line of force as it curved back toward the earth in the opposite hemisphere. (um, NYT, 3/10/65)
Rep. Westen E. Vivian (D-Mich.) told the House Committee on Science and Astronautics' Subcommittee on Space Science and Applications that he intended to request adoption of a policy to award one half of all NASA Phase 1A contracts to companies in areas presently receiving less than one half of NASA business. Chairman Joseph E. Karth (D-Minn.) said that although fiscal expedience demanded that procurement contracts go to industrialized areas, geographic distribution should be seriously considered in the allocation of research and development funds. He said the Subcommittee would consider Vivian's proposal. (Transcript, 3/9/65)
NASA Marshall Space Flight Center hosted group of 61 Navy, Air Force, and civilian personnel from Navy Field Office for Manned Orbiting Laboratory at Los Angeles. The group received briefings on Apollo and Saturn programs and saw facilities at Marshall. They had previously visited NASA Manned Spacecraft Center and were scheduled to tour NASA Kennedy Space Center. (FC Release 65-52)
A job classification dispute at the Chrysler facility of the Michoud Saturn plant in New Orleans caused over 200 United Auto Workers (UAW) to walk off the job. Chrysler was responsible for developing first stage of Saturn TB rocket for NASA. (I, Wash. Post, 3/10/65)
NASA Marshall Space Flight Center awarded $1,059,000 contract to Aetron, a division of Aerojet-General Corp., for installation of equipment on a Saturn V second-stage test stand at Mississippi Test Operations. Equipment would include consoles to check out systems on the flight stages being tested as well as in the area's test control center. ( MSFC Release 65-53)
Prompted by results of the experiments of Dr. Frank A. Brown, Jr., Northwestern Univ. biology professor, NASA and Northwestern Univ. scientists were studying a plan to orbit a potato around the sun in an attempt to prove whether man could survive in long trips in space. Dr. Brown had concluded that rhythmic patterns of wakefulness and sleep, glandular activity, cellular respiration, and all other biological cycles of most live organisms were timed by biological clocks outside the organism, not inside. The three primary forces were day-night changes and temperature, atmospheric, and pressure fluctuations. For ten years, Brown had kept potato tubers under constant pressure and temperature and in constantly dim light, yet they continued to fluctuate at same rate and time as potatoes planted in Illinois and they detected atmospheric pressure changes. Brown concluded that "something is getting through to the isolated potatoes to tell them what the weather is outside. It could be the earth's magnetic or electric fields or radiation, since they all observe a 24-hour pattern geared to the rising and setting sun, but we are not sure. ". . . biological clocks are necessary to keep a living system a coordinate, living, functioning whole. If the clocks are stopped, the organism may go beserk and die." If the orbiting potato were to die within 90 days, it would indicate that a 24-hour rhythm was vital. (Kotulak, Chic. Trib., 3/9/65)
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