May 20 1965
From The Space Library
NASA-AEC successfully performed a restart of the NRX A-3 Nerva experimental engine at Jackass Flats, Nev. The firing lasted for 18 min, including 13 min, at the engine's full power rating. The engine was the same one that had run for four minutes Apr. 23 before being shut down prematurely due to spurious malfunction. (SNPO-N-65-9; Wash, Eve, Star, 5/21/65; Rouer Chron.)
USAF launched unidentified satellite payload with Thor FW4s booster from WTR. (U.S. Aeron, & Space Act., 1965, 142)
Ground test version of the Saturn V booster (S-IC-T) was fired by NASA Marshall Space Flight Center for 41 sec., MSFC announced. It was the third and longest firing of the five engines, which developed 7.5 million lbs, thrust. The firing seemed entirely satisfactory, based on preliminary evaluation of data. (MSFC Release 65-131)
USN's F-111B fighter aircraft, originally designated TFX, was given its first test flight over Long Island at 2,000-mph for an hour and 18 min., during which the variable wing-sweep of the craft was tested. (Wash. Post, 5/19/65, 11; UPI, Wash. Post, 5/20/65, 2)
NASA engineers Harry Carlson and Francis E. McLean believed the sonic boom problem in the operation of the supersonic transport could be solved by fattening the fuselage just forward of the wing, thereby altering the air flow in such a way as to cut the boom to an acceptable level, reported Richard P. Cooke in the Wall Street Journal. Fattening the SST fuselage forward of the wings, said the NASA engineers, would also help the lift and might permit room for more seats. (Cooke, WSJ, 5/20/65)
AFSC announced that an airspace surveillance and weapons control system had been proposed for installation in the Ryukyu islands, southwest of Japan. Through use of semi-automatic data processing, the Ryukyu Air Defense System (Rads) would pick up airspace intruders in its area almost instantly, enhancing defense capabilities of the Pacific Air Force in that area. The system would consist of radars, ultra-fast communications, data processors, display consoles and command posts where decision makers could direct manned or unmanned weapon interception. Returning aircraft could be directed home or to alternate bases through the system. ( AFSC Release 54.65)
Newest Soviet aircraft, including the 186-passenger, four engine 11-62, designed for nonstop intercontinental service, were displayed at an exhibition of airliners and helicopters at Moscow's Vnukovo Airport. The 11-62, whose engines were mounted on the tail section of its fuselage, had a cruising speed of 500 to 550 mph and a range of 5,500 mi, Boris Kharchenko, chairman of the Soviet aircraft export organization, said the Soviet Union was seeking orders this year for both the 11-62 and the Tu-134, a medium-range, two-engine jetliner, Delivery would be in 1967. (NYT, 5/21/65)
Secrets unearthed by MARINER II and just made public were reported by Frank Macomber in the San Diego Union: "Venus is no lush sea and-swamp world, possibly teeming with primitive life, as some astronomers have speculated. Under its eternal cloud cover, the planet's surface must be like fuming slag or lava. The surface temperature is about 800°F,-hotter than molten lead. "The clouds surrounding Venus are a dense, unbroken pall of hydrocarbon smog, boiling up to at least 60 miles from the planet's surface," Macomber said MARINER II was regarded as one of the most successful of U.S. spacecraft. (Copley News Serv, Macomber, San Diego Union, 5/20/65)
General Bernard A. Schriever, AFSC Commander, said in an address to the Aviation-Space Writers' Association Conference in Albuquerque: "The Air Force responsibility for our nation's military developments in space is clearly established. This morning I would like to review our current progress in the areas of unmanned space programs, boosters and propulsion, and finally, manned space programs. . . . "In the late 1950s, a small group of Air Force officers began a program to develop a space-based missile detection and warning system. To obtain information on the background as observed from space and on the signature of ballistic missile rocket motors, the Air Force initiated a series of measurement programs, Instrumented aircraft were used to obtain data on our missile target, from many aspects and in various weather conditions, Concurrently, a spacecraft `piggyback' program for background measurements was instituted. This program has resulted in information of great value and is still collecting valuable data... , "The second area of interest is anti-satellite defense. Last September, President Johnson announced the existence of operational U.S. anti-satellite defense systems... "The third area of interest is the detection of nuclear detonations in space. The original effort was formerly known as 'Vela Hotel,' and has now emerged as the present Vela Satellite Program. , "In 1963 the first pair of Vela Satellites was launched from Cape Kennedy; the second launch occurred in 1964, Both launches were completely successful, and the four satellites are still functioning. . . . "The last area that I would like to consider in unmanned military space systems is communication satellites-commonly called COMSAT. Our current philosophy of controlled response has placed an additional emphasis upon communications between field commanders and the highest level of our nation... . "In summary, space is a new environment of activity, We need to exploit it effectively for our own purposes to prevent it from being used against us. We are aware of the many problems confronting us and do not pretend to have all the solutions. But much has been done, and we are building a broad technological base to meet the even greater challenges of the future." (Text)
NASA MARINER IV was 85 million miles from earth and traveling faster than 48,000 mph, NASA announced. A radio signal from the spacecraft, traveling at the speed of light, would take more than 7½ min. to reach a ground station. The Mars probe was returning scientific measurements and engineering data continuously and daily setting a new record for distance of communications. (NASA Release 65-167)
� A NASA report on its Aircraft Noise Research Program to the House Committee on Science and Astronautics and the Senate Committee on Aeronautical and Space Sciences said: ". , there is a growing understanding that efforts at a practicable and mutually effective solution will need to be evolutionary in nature, and involve a dedicated attack on all major aspects of the problem. These include the acquisition of definitive information on the manner in which aircraft noises are generated and propagated, and the associated development of efficient methods for the reduction of adverse aircraft noise at its source; the establishment of safe and efficient aircraft operating procedures that minimize and control the exposure of airport community property to undesirable aircraft noise; and the provision of a rational understanding of the specific aircraft noise factors which produce subjective annoyance for various activities and environments of a community population, and of optimum methods for the control and adjustment of community property usage in critical noise areas in the vicinity of the airport." (CR, 5/27/65)
AEC's Snap-10A nuclear reactor, aboard SNAPSHOT satellite, launched by USAF into circular polar orbit Apr. 3, automatically shut down on May 16 for unknown reasons, AEC announced. Snap-10A had been producing power for its own telemetry; first indications of malfunction came when telemetry ceased. Telemetry resumed about 40 hrs, later, powered by stand-by batteries, and indicated the reactor had shut itself down and was no longer producing power. The prototype of future auxiliary power systems, planned to operate at least 90 days, had been operating successfully although the ion engine experiment included in the spacecraft had been shut down when it developed electronic noise. The spacecraft containing the defunct power system would remain in orbit more than 3,000 yrs,; it would take 100 yrs, for the reactor's radioactive elements to decay to a safe level. AEC said Snap-10A had provided valuable information for design of future nuclear propulsion systems. (AP, Wash, Post, 5/21/65; UPI, NYT, 5/22/65, 5; Atomic Energy Programs, 1965, 151)
Enriched uranium of U-235 was the fuel used by the Chinese May 14 in their second nuclear explosion, according to preliminary analysis of airborne radioactive debris, AEC announced. It found "implausible" reports that the nuclear device had been carried by a missile although the detonation took place "above ground." AEC said the May 14 test was somewhat larger than China's first explosion of Oct, 16, 1964, which was equal to 20 kilotons or the Hiroshima bomb. (NYT, 5/21/65; Wash, Post, 5/21/65, A27)
Dr. Jeanette Piccard's 1934 balloon flight, establishing the still current women's world altitude record for a balloon, was celebrated in Dearborn, Mich., by a ceremony and placing of a marker near the takeoff site. The balloon had a 600,000 cu, ft. volume, reached 57,559 ft. altitude, and took Dr. Piccard from Dearborn, Mich., to Cadiz, Ohio. (CR, 5/18/65, A2465)
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