May 9 1966
From The Space Library
NASA Aerobee 150 sounding rocket launched from WSMR carried JPL 100-kw. radar to 102-mi. (164-km.) altitude in experiment designed to gather data on behavior of radar echoes as a function of altitude for use in developing planetary terrain sounding technique. GSFC-managed flight marked first successful functioning of high-powered radar in space. Similar radar had been flown successfully on NASA Convair 990 April 27. (JPL Release, 6/26/66; PL, Lab-Oratory, 6/66, 10)
U.S.S.R.’s LUNA X completed its 284th orbit around moon and transmitted Communist anthem, “Internationale” on command from Soviet center of deep space communications. Instruments were functioning normally. (Pravda, 5/10/66, 1, USS-T Trans.)
House passed bill authorizing appropriations for AEC during FY 1967 totaling $2,259,958,000: $1,964,128,000 for operating expenses and $295,830,000 for plant and capital equipment. Rep. James G. Fulton (R-Pa.) urged that the Appropriations Committee consider the possibility of studying lunar materials in AEC radiation laboratories rather than building new NASA Lunar Sample Receiving Laboratory at MSC. (NASA LAR V/76)
Commenting on President Johnson’s proposed U.N. treaty banning sovereignty claims on the moon, Rep. George P. Miller (D-Calif.) told the House: “The President has taken a very progressive and forward step . . . in trying to establish a barrier against the use of the moon or outer space as a place of contest for the nations of the world. He has asked that these areas be internationalized and we follow in space exploration that principle which has been established already with respect to the use of nuclear weapons. “This is a great step forward by the President, and we in the House should appreciate it, and commend him for it.” (CR, 5/9/66)
Text of Soviet Academy of Sciences’ August 1965 proposal to International Astronomical Union (IAU) for an international effort to search for signals from other worlds was made public in Vienna. Proposal, which implied that peculiar objects such as quasars represented the kind of beacon a civilization with extraordinary capability might build, recommended two kinds of searches. First would look for narrow-band signals which a “civilization with the meager energy resources of earth” could send to another star. Concentration of the energy into narrow range of wavelengths would ensure signals’ survival for hundreds of light years. Search would be confined to 21-centimeter wavelength in the spectrum emitted throughout space by hydrogen. Second search would be for signals spanning much of the spectrum which a super civilization with the energy resources of a star would generate. Such signals would be difficult both to decode and recognize as artificial. Proposal, which recommended round-the-clock observations for three to five years, would be discussed at IAU General Assembly in Prague Aug. 22-31, 1967. (Sullivan, NYT, 5/10/66, 19)
NASA Deputy Administrator Robert C. Seamans, Jr., said NASA would request $6 billion for FY 1968, including $900 million for Apollo Applications and $100 million for Voyager, Aviation Week reported. Seamans’ statement that “Apollo Applications will fill the post-Apollo gap and that there is no need to define another goal now was said to conflict with the recent contention of Dr. George E. Mueller, NASA Associate Administrator for Manned Space Flight, that a clear definition of the Nation’s post-Apollo goal was necessary. (Av. Wk., 5/9/66,25)
May 9: AFSC Commander Gen. Bernard A. Schriever, at Armed Forces Management Assn., in Washington, D.C., predicted a management revolution commensurate with the explosive advance of technology and the pressing nature of military requirements. “I think that the biggest challenge to management in the years ahead will be to find ways to encourage and use the full creative potential of individuals. . . . We must create the atmosphere where the unique human capacity for innovation and judgment can be fully developed and employed. . . .” (Text)
Communist China conducted “a nuclear explosion that contained thermonuclear material” over its western areas, Hsinhua, Chinese Communist press agency, reported. U.S. officials in Washington, D.C., surmised that explosion indicated China was on the verge of developing a thermonuclear or hydrogen bomb. (AP, NYT, 5/10/66, 4; Topping, NYT, 5/10/66, 1)
Industry bids to AFSC for study of new integrated satellite system as follow-on to the Midas early warning satellite would be due June 24, Aviation Week reported. Proposal request included studies for sensor payload and spacecraft. Primary sensors would be optical, covering the infrared, ultraviolet, and visible spectra. (Av. Wk., 5/9/66, 23)
USAF announced it would award contracts to “individuals within the scientific community” to conduct “prompt, in depth investigation of selected UFO reports.” Funds for study, which had been recommended by Air Force Scientific Advisory Board in March, would be requested from FY 1967 and FY 1968 budgets. (DOD Release 388-66)
Results of survey by DMS, Inc., an aerospace market research firm, indicated that nearly twice as many aircraft would be built from 1966 through 1975 in the non-Communist world as were produced during the previous decade as a result of continued increases in airline passenger traffic, expansion of “private” flying, and pressing need to replace obsolete military aircraft. This would amount to about 260,000 aircraft for total investment of $100 billion. (DMS Aerospace News)
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31
