May 20 1966
From The Space Library
Test version of Surveyor spacecraft designed for unmanned soft-landing on moon made smooth 900-ft. descent from a balloon over Holloman AFB in successful final test prior to scheduled May 30 flight. Three liquid-fueled engines, operating on information from two radar systems aboard spacecraft, slowed it from descent speed of about 50 mph to about 3.5 mph for landing. Test, second successful Surveyor descent without parachutes, had been delayed more than two hours by strong winds and optical problems. (AP, Wash. Eve. Star, 5/20/66, AI; AP, Chic. Trib., 5/21/66)
Saturn V all-systems 2nd stage (S-II) was successfully fired at MTF for 355 sec.-its full duration. The big stage developed 1-million-lbs. thrust from five hydrogen-and-oxygen-powered 5-2 engines. (MSFC Release 66-116)
Radio astronomy experiment designed to measure average intensity of cosmic radio noise originating outside the solar system was launched from NASA Wallops Station by four-stage Javelin rocket on 20-min. ballistic flight with 570-mi. (918-km.) apogee. Measurements were made at frequencies which could not be accurately detected by ground-based receivers. Data would aid study of galaxy’s formation. (Wallops Release 66-31)
Five successful sounding rocket launchings were conducted from the deck of USNS Range Recoverer during eclipse of sun in Greece, NASA announced. Launchings of the Boosted Arcas rockets, part of a cooperative project of the Greek National Committee for Space Research and NASA, were planned to investigate ionization of the upper atmosphere during solar eclipse. (NASA Release 66-32; NASA Rpt. SRL)
USN announced successful completion of flight tests of V/Stol XC-142A aircraft aboard U.S.S. Bennington. Tests included 44 short and six vertical takeoffs at speeds of up to 35 mph backward and as much as 400 mph forward at 25,000-ft. altitude. (DOD Release 443-66)
In a press conference, NIMBUS II project officials at GSFC said the meteorological satellite was “exceeding all expectations” with the amount and quality of data it was returning to earth. Launched into nearly circular orbit May 15, satellite could “produce in 12 hrs. as much refined weather data as took six months to get out of earlier satellites.” (Wash. Eve. Star, 5/20/66, A24)
Checks of distributions of Martian and lunar crater diameters indicated that the visible surface of Mars was 2.2-to-3 x 109 years old, Alan B. Binder, Univ. of Arizona, reported in Science. This result implied that in the early history of Mars large-scale subaerial erosion occurred. Of 69 Martian craters with diameters greater than 10 km., 13% had central peaks. This compared favorably with the frequency (11.7%) of central peaks among lunar craters and may indicate the peaks resulted from the impact mechanism rather than post-impact volcanism. Well-defined system of lineaments shown in MARINER IV photographs may indicate that Mars had lost appreciable angular momentum during its history. (Binder, Science, 5/20/66, 1053-5)
NASA Aerobee 150 sounding rocket launched from WSMR carried grazing incidence telescopes and band-pass filters to estimated 107-mi. (172-km.) altitude in GSFC experiment to obtain solar x-ray photographs. Another GSFC-instrumented Aerobee 150 was launched from WSMR eight hours later to 121-mi. (195-km.) altitude to obtain solar spectral data from 2-60 A. Both rockets and their experiments performed satisfactorily. (NASA Rpt. SRL)
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center held an “open house,” including movies, live demonstrations, and exhibits. (GSFC Release G-7-66)
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