May 18 1966
From The Space Library
L/Col. Robert A. Rushworth flew X-15 No. 2 for 81 sec. in test to measure stability and control of X-15 with ventral fin attached. He reached 3,689 mph (mach 5.43) and 99,000-ft. altitude. Flight was 158th in NASA/USAF X-15 research program. (FRC; X-15 Proj. Off.)
In letter to Congress transmitting report on the Nation’s oceanographic work, President Johnson urged that funds be voted to continue work on Project Mohole. House Appropriations Committee had denied (May 5) $19.7-million Presidential request for NSF work on Mohole in FY 1967. Total cost was estimated as $110 million; about $25 million had already been spent. President Johnson wrote: “The Mohole Project will provide the answer to many basic questions about the earth’s crust and the origin of ocean basins. It will teach us how to drill in the ocean depths the prelude to the future exploitation of resources at the bottom of the sea.” (Pres. Doc., 5/23/66, 661; AP, NYT, 5/19/66, 23; Wash. Post, 5/19/66, A6)
U.S.S.R.’s third MOLNIYA I comsat, launched April 25, successfully carried out “first experiment in observing the earth and taking television pictures of our planet” when it transmitted photographs from 30,000 to 40,000-km. (18,634-to 24,845-mi.) altitude. Lenses and light filters of television camera, focused on earth by means of autonomous focusing system, were changed to obtain images of earth on different scales and to observe earth’s surface elements under different illumination. (Tass, 5/18/66)
Summing up the effect of May 17 loss of GEMINI IX mission’s Agena Target Vehicle, William Hines said in the Washington Evening Star: “. . . it is obvious that at the very least the American space effort has lost three weeks of precious time and possibly $25 million in money the cost of the lost hardware plus overhead. . . . “One thing should be clear from the experience of Gemini 9. “There was nothing of omission or commission that can be charged against NASA in the failure of the Agena’s Atlas launching rocket. If the hackneyed phrase ‘random failure’ ever was properly used, it was in describing yesterday’s trouble. “The Atlas, as a standard space launching vehicle, has had 49 successes in 52 attempts over the last three years-a better success record than the over-all American space program has enjoyed in any year since its inception in 1957.” (Hines, Wash. Eve. Star, 5/18/66, AB)
Eight photoelectric photometer-telescopes were flown from NASA Wallops Sta. on Aerobee 150A sounding rocket to 131-mi. (211-km.) altitude to measure stellar ultraviolet radiation which did not penetrate earth’s atmosphere and could not be observed from the ground. Readings on light in four spectral bands were telemetered to ground stations during the 7½-min. flight conducted for Univ. of Wisconsin’s Space Astronomy Lab. (NASA Releases 66-30, 66-123; NASA Rpt. SRL)
Editorial comment on May 17 scrubbing of GEMINI IX mission: New York Times: “For the third time in the past few months, a space experiment involving the Atlas-Agena rocket has run into trouble. Late last year a sequence of events similar to yesterday’s led to a postponement of the original Gemini rendezvous experiment, while in March of this year, Gemini VIII nearly met catastrophe when it was docked with an Agena target vehicle. There may well be no connection between these three separate incidents; but since the Atlas-Agena has been a highly reliable and successful instrument in other aspects of the nation’s space program, its emergence as the weak link in the Gemini series poses something of a mystery. The setback caused by last year’s failure to orbit an Agena target vehicle was made up for by the brilliant improvisation that permitted Geminis 6 and 7 to rendezvous last December. Warned by that earlier experience, space officials were better prepared for this latest setback. The substitute target rocket they have on hand may permit much of the originally planned GEMINI IX experiment to take place early next month. But for the moment at least, a shadow has again been thrown over this country’s lunar program.” (NYT, 5/18/66)
Washington Post: “We shall do well to prepare for many more disappointments before man reaches the moon, including the possibility of serious accident. What remains essential in the competition is that considerations of human safety not be sacrificed to too feverish a schedule.” (Wash. Post, 5/18/66)
Washington Evening Star: “The simple fact is that the United States has been incredibly lucky that no catastrophic accident has yet taken place during a manned space flight. The further fact is that the nation cannot logically expect this luck to last forever. Progress in space, as with nearly all human progress, will come at the cost of men’s lives. And the nation should be prepared for the day when our luck runs out; prepared to accept tragedy as the inevitable concomitant of so ambitious a voyage of discovery.” (Wash. Eve. Star, 5/18/66, A18)
Lockheed test pilot Ed Brown flew American-designed, German-built F-1O4G Starfighter to 400 mph in 8 sec. from Lagerfeld Base, Munich, Germany. Rocket-assisted takeoff from Zero Length Launch (Zell) platform at 30° angle demonstrated aircraft’s capability to carry out combat operations from hidden areas without airfields. (New York News, 5/19/66; Lockheed Aircraft Corp.)
Unidentified USAF satellite was launched from Vandenberg AFB by a Scout booster. (U.S. Aeron. & Space Act., 1966, 150)
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