May 12 1966

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Senate Committee on Aeronautical and Space Sciences recommended NASA FY 1967 authorization of $5,008,000,000-$58,000,000 more than House appropriation but $4,000,000 less than NASA request. Recommendations by Committee included restoration of 1967 MARINER Venus mission and deletion of amounts added by House for other flight projects in lunar and planetary programs; concurrence with NASA request of $3.5 million for 260-in. solid fuel rocket motor project; reduction of amount requested for Lunar Sample Receiving Laboratory by $1 million; and restoration of $14,689,850 to administrative operation, but separation of amount approved into two categories: personnel compensation, and benefits and other expenses. (NASA LAR V/78-79)

Lee R. Scherer, manager of NASA’s Lunar Orbiter program, in interview with Seattle Times reporter Robert L. Twiss, expressed confidence that the Boeing-built spacecraft could help resolve many unanswered questions about the moon. With funding and NASA approval, Lunar Orbiters equipped with devices that could be deployed to the moon could be launched in 1969, yielding valuable scientific information, Scherer said. “We could gain substantial information about other areas of the moon than the site chosen for manned landing.” (Twiss, Seattle Times, 5/12/66)

West Germany’s first satellite would be launched in 1968 with US. Scout booster to study inner radiation belts and aurora borealis, Science Ministry in Bonn announced. Orbit would have 2,898-km. (1,800-mi.) apogee and 258-km. (160-mi.) perigee. Nine West German firms were participating in joint NASA-West Germany Science Ministry project. (Reuters, Wash. Post, 5/13/66, A23; Reuters, NYT, 5/13/66, 12)

Results of nationwide Gallup Survey on UFO sightings: “More than five million Americans claim to have seen something they believed to be a ‘flying saucer.’ And about ten times as many people-nearly half of the US. adult civilian population-believe that these frequently reported flying objects, while not necessarily ‘saucers,’ are real and not just a figment of the imagination.” (Gallup, Wash. Post, 5/12/66, K7)

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