Nov 7 1963
From The Space Library
MSC successfully conducted the first off-the-pad abort test of the Apollo launch escape system at White Sands Missile Range, N.M. A boilerplate version of the Apollo command module (Boilerplate No. 6) was lifted off the pad by the 155,000- lb.-thrust launch escape motor mounted on a launch escape tower attached to the Apollo module. Thrust continued to a height of 4,100 ft. (T +8 sec.), escape tower jettisoned at 4,900 ft. (T +15.5 sec.), and parachutes deployed for the recovery. Primary purpose of the test was to determine the stability and operational characteristics of the escape configuration during a pad abort. (MSC Release 63-247; NYT, 11/8/63, 16)
U.S.S.R. celebrated the 46th anniversary of the Bolshevik Revolution with a Moscow parade that featured the first public display of its antimissile missile. Marshal Sergei S. Biryuzov, Chief of the Soviet General Staff, hailed the weapon on a radio broadcast as capable of destroying "the enemy in the air." At a reception Premier Khrushchev said : "Before the Revolution Russia was a beggar. Now she has become the Soviet Union and is a king in the land. From the lowest she has become the second country in the world, and in a maximum of seven years we will be first." (Tanner, NYT, 11/8/63, 1)
X-15 No. 3 was flown to 2,925 mph (mach 4.40) and 82,300-ft. altitude by Major Robert Rushworth (USAF). (X-15 Project Office)
U.S. and U.S.S.R. were said near agreement on a declaration of principles of space law. Agreement was said to have been reached in a series of talks at the U.N. Both nations were to present their positions to the 28-member Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space in hopes that the entire committee would sponsor the declaration in the General Assembly. Earlier in the year the U.S. had found four Soviet demands with regard to space law to be unacceptable and talks on the declaration had seemed deadlocked. (Hamilton, NYT, 11/8/63, 1)
Perfection in manufacture of engines for Project Gemini would be sought through a Verification Instruction Program (VIP) to train and qualify manufacturing and test personnel at Aerojet's Liquid Rocket Plant. The program would include 30 days of classroom instruction followed by on-the-job training for top management and senior hourly personnel. Program would be operated by NASA Astronaut Frank Borman and Aerojet plant manager Ray C. Stiff, Jr. (Space Bus. Daily, 11/8/63, 228)
President Kennedy announced that he had appointed Dr. Donald F. Hornig, Chairman of the Chemistry Department at Princeton Univ., to succeed Dr. Jerome B. Wiesner as the President's science adviser and director of the White House Office of Science and Technology. Dr. Hornig has previously been a member of the President's Science Advisory Committee. The President also announced that Robert H. Charles, a special assistant to the NASA Administrator, would succeed Joseph S. Imirie as Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Materiel. (Wash. Post, 11/8/63)
DOD announced U.S. Army had filed with Federation Aeronautique Internationale for certification of six new world speed records for rotocraft. A Hiller OH-23G light observation helicopter, piloted by Capt. Bertram G. Leach (USA) , flew record flights m two weight, classes on three courses for speed over a straight course and over a closed circuit. In the E1B (1,102 to 2,204 lbs.) class, the OH-23G was timed at 123.67 mph on a 3-km. straight course, 123.58 mph on a 15-km. straight course, and 119.81 mph on a 100-km. closed circuit. In the E1C (2,204 to 3,858 lbs.) class, the OH-23G was clocked at 123.44 mph, 123.77 mph, and 121.70 mph on the same three courses. (DOD Release 1460-63)
USAF Minuteman missile was launched from AMR on an intended 1,700-mi. flight, but went out of control and exploded several hundred feet above the launch pad. Several fires were started on Cape Canaveral by flaming fragments but without injury or property damage. (AP, NYT, 11/8/63, 7)
Rep. George P. Miller (D.-Calif.) spoke on the House floor of the series of meetings with leading scientists that had been conducted by the Subcommittee on Science, Research and Development of the House Subcommittee on Science and Astronautics. "I cannot overemphasize the work of the Daddario Subcommittee in the effect it will have on the future progress of the United States, progress not only in science but also in the proper relationship of science and technology to our entire society. The members of the subcommittee are assuming a very weighty responsibility because, I believe, results of the subcommittee work will set the framework for science and technology in relation to the overall resources that we have to guide ourselves in the difficult years that lie ahead of us." (CR, 11/7/63, 20332)
Argentina was planning a series of science fairs for secondary school students on a national basis. The Argentine Department of Education would operate the program, with assistance from the National Commission for Scientific and Technical Investigation. (Science Service, NYT, 11/7/63, 67)
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