Nov 16 1964
From The Space Library
NASA launched its first Project Luster payload from White Sands, N. Mex., on an Aerobee 150 sounding rocket. Primary objectives of flight were to evaluate engineering performance of Luster micro-meteoroid-sampling instrument and to collect meteoritic debris during the peak of the Leonids meteor shower. The Aerobee 150 reached 97-mi. altitude, and performance of both the rocket and the instrumentation was considered "very good." Nose cone did not fully retract, so the data collected during the flight were lost in re-entry heating and atmospheric contamination. (NASA Rpt. SRL)
NASA launched an Aerobee 150A sounding rocket from Wallops Island, Va., to an altitude of 117 mi. The payload contained three experiments, the most important of which involved the measurement of the composition of the neutral atmosphere in the altitude region of 62-155 mi. All three experiments operated satisfactorily. (NASA Rpt. SRL)
X-15 No. 2 piloted by John B. McKay (NASA) in planned captive flight. (NASA X-15 Proj. Off.)
NASA's Manned Spacecraft Center in Houston divulged that its post-Apollo study emphasis would be on a Y-shaped 36-man National Multipurpose Space Station that could be launched by Saturn V and be the primary space scientific and technical experimental center for at least five years in the mid-1970's. (Av. Wk., 11/16/64, 51)
An MSC investigative board announced that a snow goose, weighing about eight lbs., with a wingspan of more than 24 in., caused the fatal crash of Astronaut Theodore C. Freeman (USAF) on Oct. 31. The bird struck the left side of the airplane canopy causing both engines to flame-out on impact. Captain Freeman, however, still had control of the aircraft and attempted to make a landing at Ellington. He flew a looping pattern over the Gulf Freeway and lowered his landing gear as he approached the field. When he apparently realized that a landing was not possible, he veered to the left into an open field, probably to avoid buildings at Ellington. Seconds later, at slightly under 100-ft. altitude, he ejected, too late for his parachute to deploy fully. (MSC Roundup, 11/25/64)
Dr. Albert J. Kelley, Deputy Director of NASA'S newly created Electronics Research Center, said in an interview with Missiles and Rockets that ERC would issue between 35 and 40 contracts, averaging about $50,000 each for a total of $2 million, within the next four months. Most of the contracts were expected to run for one year. (M&R, 11/16/64, 10-11)
The Sprint antimissile missile was partially displayed for the Association of the United States Army in Washington. Only the exterior shell was shown-a cone-shaped missile 27 ft. long and 41/2 ft. wide at its base. Sprint, combined with the Nike X, was designed to take off from below ground and intercept ICBM's in a matter of seconds. (Watson, Balt. Sun, 11/17/64)
An announcement issued by the AEC said: "The United States today recorded seismic signals from an event in the Soviet nuclear test area in the Semipalatinsk region." This was the first apparent Soviet underground nuclear test noted by the United States since the treaty banning all but underground nuclear tests was signed in August 1963. (NYT, 11/17/64,3)
The report that the White House might establish a "space czar" cabinet post to direct DOD and NASA space programs was discounted. The White House was against it, as were Secretary of Defense McNamara and NASA Administrator Webb. (M&R, 11/16/64, 7)
Col. John H. Glenn, Jr. (USMC), said during the career guidance clinic held at NASA Manned Spacecraft Center that there was a need for a national information center to make new space knowledge available to educators. (Lee, Houston Post, 11/17/64)
November 16-18: The Third International Symposium on Bioastronautics and the Exploration of Space, sponsored by the Aerospace Medical Div. of AFSC and organized by the Southwest Research Institute, was held in San Antonio, Tex. Dr. James A. Van Allen, for whom the Van Allen radiation belts were named, said in a speech that radiation from solar flares would have been dangerous to space travelers only three days in the past four years. After his address, Dr. Van Allen told reporters "there would be no serious danger to travel to any point in the solar system caused by solar flares;" Dr. Fred L. Whipple, Director of the Astrophysical Observatory of the Smithsonian Institution, said that EXPLORER XVI experienced 55 meteoroid punctures during a seven-month period. However, all were in patches of the satellite's skin made very thin to assess the collision hazard. The patches, made of beryllium copper, were of three thick-nesses: 1/1,000, 2/1,000, and 5/1,000 of an inch. None of the cells with the thickest skin was pierced. It was thought that the puncturing particles hit at typical meteor velocities of about 15 mi./sec. Dr. Whipple told reporters that the chances of a spacecraft being seriously damaged by meteoroids was about the same as being struck by lightning. Dr. John W. Firor, Director of the High Altitude Observatory at the National Center for Atmospheric Research at Boulder, Colo., said astronauts on the moon would have to be exposed to solar flare radiation for "many hours" before they would suffer serious damage. Attempts to forecast solar flares accurately "have not shown any success," Dr. Firor said. (Maloney, Houston Post, 11/17/64; Sullivan, NYT, 11/17/64, 16)
Dr. Frank J. Malina, chairman of the Lunar International Laboratory (LIL) program at the International Academy of Astronautics in Paris, said: "The principal justification for the operation of a manned center on the moon on an international basis may well be a financial one:" He explained that it was estimated that with present rocket technology, it would cost about $5,000 per pound of payload carried from the earth to the moon, and that one man-hour on the moon would cost as much as $80,000. Dr. Malina also mentioned that plans for LIL were begun before President Kennedy announced this country's intention of going to the moon before the end of the decade. (Maloney, Houston Post, 12/19/64)
Soviet scientists reported that the entire VOSKHOD I space flight was conducted by the three-man crew without spacesuits. USSR space physiologist, Dr. O. Gazenko said that the absence of spacesuits made it possible to perform a number of experiments using sensors directly on the skin, even during boost and re-entry. Among these were measurements of the electrocardiogram, respiration rate, electroencephalogram, eye movements, and seismocardiogram. Dr. V. V. Antipov, a radiologist, said that VOSKHOD preliminary results indicated a substantial contribution to knowledge about the effects of space flight factors upon biological organisms. He said that significant changes revealed in tissue experiments showed that new, spherical fragments occurred in cells in all stages of division and had only been duplicated in Soviet research under extremely high g forces, such as 4,000 g. They had thus far been tied to the boost and descent phase of the flight, with the greatest number of changes occurring during the first hours of flight, and the least just before re-entry. Antipov also disclosed that in one VOSKHOD experiment, a number of cells were flown which had been flown on previous space flights. He said this indicates that the tissues could maintain viability with repeated exposures, and possibly that some selection took place. By studying the ones which "selected themselves," he said, a great advantage would be gained in calculating what happened to human cells. Missiles and Rockets reported that during an interview Dr. Gazenko stated that due to the thermal and decompression advantages it offered, helium would eventually be used as a diluent gas for spacecraft atmosphere instead of the nitrogen gas that had been used on all Soviet space shots to date. He said the subject is a matter of scientific controversy in the USSR, but that "undoubtedly" there would be a shift to helium at some time in the future. (M&R, 11/23/64, 14-15)
At a press conference, Dr. O. G. Gazenko reiterated that the VOSKHOD crew did not use space or pressure suits at all. He was asked when the Russians plan to rendezvous and dock two spacecraft and if they would both be manned. "We will, of course, try to do this as soon as possible, but I have the feeling that it would be very nice to have two humans meet in space.. . It is possible one will be a man and one will be a woman." His answers were relayed to reporters by Dr. Boris Mandiovsky, a librarian from the Library of Congress. Dr. Gazenko, giving an oral summary of his much longer paper, said medical results of seven Russian manned space flights had not shown any insurmountable barriers to space flight. "The analogy of the physiological data obtained during manned orbital flight of up to five days duration proves that man, specially selected and trained, can satisfactorily tolerate all orbital flight stresses," Dr. Gazenko continued. "However, as can be seen in the material, important individual variations are noted. We have to devote special attention to this factor in future cosmonaut selection and training," he said. He told scientists that there are problems still to be solved for true long space flights, and expressed the hope that between Russia and the United States there could be closer cooperation in solving these problems. (Houston Post, 11/18/64)
Col. Charles E. Yeager, Commandant of the USAF Aerospace Research Pilot School at the Air Force Flight Test Center, Edwards AFB, Calif., called for an end to the use of heavy work-retarding pressure suits. "We are relying entirely too much on the suit to pull the guy out of a problem," he said. (Houston Post, 11/19/64)
Astronaut M. Scott Carpenter called for a "new approach" in development of wearing apparel for astronauts in space. He termed the pressurized spacesuit "the greatest single handicap we have to operations in space. To do useful work is almost impossible. I'm sure there is a better way." Carpenter said that he had proposed an investigation of a "spray-on" spacesuit that would permit astronauts to move freely about the cabin of the capsule. (Webb, Boston Globe, 11/17/64; Houston Post, 11/18/64; NYT, 11/18/64, 24)
Maj. Herbert H. Reynolds (USAF) , Chief of the Comparative Psychology Branch of the Aeromedical Research Laboratory at Holloman AFB, N. Mex., said that chimpanzees had performed so well within an almost total vacuum that there was hope space travelers could survive a vacuum caused by a puncture of their vehicle long enough for the hole to be plugged. Research was conducted at Holloman for NASA. (Sullivan, NYT, 11/19/64, 19)
Dr. Cyril Ponnamperuma, biochemist at NASA Ames Research Center, told newsmen that "there is a very good possibility of finding the answer to the question of the existence of life in our own planetary system by an inspection of the planets with our immediate or remote sensors." (Houston Post, 11/17/64)
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