Oct 15 1965
From The Space Library
Space News for this day. (2MB PDF)
USAF launched Titan III-C from ETR with triple-satellite payload: LCS III radar calibration sphere, OV2-1 radiation sensor satellite, and a metal-ballasted dummy. About the time of the second burn of the transtage engines, the total assemblage exploded into hundreds of fragments and therefore the satellites were not useful beyond the earlier steps of launch vehicle testing. The Titan III-C transtage was to have ignited its engines 10 times, changed course 4 times, and ejected the satellites. Primary mission of the flight was launch vehicle testing, and USAF officials noted most major objectives were met. (U.S. Aeron. & Space Act., 1965, 153; AP, Newport News Daily Press, 10/17/65)
Gen. Mark E. Bradley (USAF, Ret.), former commanding general of USAF Logistics Command, was appointed consultant to NASA Administrator James E. Webb on management matters and evaluation of NASA's contributions to supersonic transport development and aeronautical research programs. (NASA Release 65-330)
NASA awarded Tri-State Roofing Co, $534,817 contract and J. A. Jones Construction Co. $1,130,531 contract for repair of buildings at Michoud Assembly Facility damaged by Hurricane Betsy. Both contractors had begun emergency repairs September 13. (MSFC Release 65-263)
North American Aviation's B-70A supersonic bomber reached 2,000 mph and 60,000-ft. in a one-hr, 47-min, experimental flight from Edwards AFB across Calif., Ida, Nev, Utah, and Ariz. The aircraft was powered by six 1,500-lb, turbojet engines, each with more than 30,000-lb, thrust. XB-70A flights were being used to obtain data valuable for design of the supersonic transport (SST) now in the design study phase. (NYT, 10/15/65, 45)
Vesta, a new French meteorological sounding rocket, was successfully fired for the first time from the Hammaguir Range, Algeria. The single-stage rocket, propelled by liquid fuel, carried an instrumented payload to 118-mi. (190-km,) altitude. (NYT, 10/28/65, 74M)
The quality of radio communications and telecasts between Moscow and Vladivostok via the second MOLNIYA I communications satellite was better than via the first MOLNIYA I, Soviet Deputy Minister of Communications Ivan Klokov wrote in Izvestia: "Due to its elongated orbit, during the greater part of the 11 hours 59 minutes while the satellite makes one orbit, it is over the northern hemisphere and insures a reliable link between the most remote points of the U.S.S.R. "The orbiting will offer a chance to check the possibility of establishing a communications system based on several satellites. This opens the prospect of a sharp increase of communications time, to the point of making it round the clock..." (Tass, 10/15/65)
M/Gen. Don R. Ostrander, Commander of USAF's Office of Aerospace Research, retired after 28 yrs, of service. He received the Distinguished Service Medal. ( OAR Release 10-1-65)
Senate passed joint resolution (H.J. Res. 597) authorizing $150,000 appropriation for a memorial to Dr. Robert Hutchings Goddard at Clark Univ. (CR, 10/15/65, 26107)
In a report on the pacing systems of the Apollo Program, the Subcommittee on NASA Oversight of the House Committee on Science and Astronautics concluded that the "general progress of the Apollo program is good at this time with a reasonable expectation of a lunar landing in this decade. " It noted two major pacing items requiring maximum effort: lunar excursion module and command and service module. The report pointed out that NASA had been maintaining the Apollo program schedule within funds authorized and appropriated; "however, additional funds of the order of $200 million over and above the funds requested by NASA for fiscal year 1966 would have provided: "1. Increased assurance of meeting the Apollo goal of a lunar landing in this decade; "2. Broader latitude in providing system alternatives when engineering difficulties are identified; and "3. Additional management latitude in utilizing all of NASA resources of personnel, facilities, and equipment in the Apollo effort..." (Text)
James McCormack (M/Gen., USAF, Ret,), vice-president of MIT and chairman of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, was elected Chairman and Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board of ComSatCorp by the Corporation's Board of Directors. McCormack would take office December 1, succeeding the retiring Leo D. Welch. (ComSatCorp Release)
A shift in emphasis in the U.S. missile program "from production to testing, updating, and improving firing, guidance and targeting systems" was reported by Richard Rutter in the New York Times. Speculating on the future of the missile program, Rutter quoted B/Gen. H. J. Sands, USAF Space Systems Div.: "Now we are in a period of apparent tapering off of missile program activity deploying the final units of the last of our presently operational ballistic systems. On the surface it would appear that having put our instant defenses in place we are coasting to a gradual stop on a plateau of preparedness where we can relax and take a breather, " 'The appearance is deceptive. Actually, we are in a critically important germination period of research and development of future missile systems,' " Rutter noted that the shift in the missile program "does not mean ... that its wings have permanently been clipped or that the scores of companies with a stake in the missile field face a bleak future. The missile era, in fact is still aborning." (Rutter, NYT, 10/15/65, 65, 69)
In an interview with Tass, Soviet rocket designer Prof. Petrovich said that Soviet scientists intended one day to put scientific expeditions on the planets of the solar system to domesticate them. Designers were concentrating their efforts on developing highly efficient new engines which could lift extremely heavy payloads to the prescribed orbits, he added. (Tass, 11/15/65)
Concorde, British-French supersonic passenger aircraft, would be test-flown in 1968 and ready for service by 1970, reported a spokesman for France's Sud Aviation Co, in Genoa. (AP, Wash. Post, 10/16/65, A5)
NASA Hq, announced appointment of William C. Schneider as Deputy Director, Mission Operations and Gemini Mission Director, effective immediately. Schneider, formerly Deputy Director of the Gemini Program, was replaced by LeRoy E. Day, who became acting Deputy Director of the Gemini Program. (NASA Release 65-331)
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