Oct 16 1969
From The Space Library
NASA estimated total cost of Viking project at $750 million, Dr. John E. Naugle, NASA Associate Administrator for Space Science and Applications, said in testimony before House Committee on Science and Astronautics, Subcommittee on Space Science and Applications. "We have . . . made a substantial effort to accurately determine funding requirements before beginning hardware development. We believe our estimates are sound and that the Viking mission will make major scientific advance in our knowledge about Mars." While earliest estimates for Earth Resources Technology Satellite (ERTS) program were about $50 million, current preliminary estimates varied from $100 to $200 million, depending on selection of spacecraft, sensors, telecommunications network, and ground data-handling system. "The study and design effort underway will provide for formal cost definition by the beginning of hardware development in mid-1970." In Applications Technology Satellite (ATS) program, 18 experiments had been chosen in air traffic control and communications, orbiting spacecraft communications and tracking, interference measurements, and meteorology. Instructional TV experiment would be conducted after completion of originally planned ATS-F program [see Sept. 18]. "We are well into the definition phase for ATS F & G, and plan to select a contractor for hardware development later this year with the launch of ATS F in 1972." (Text)
Aerobee 150 MI sounding rocket launched by NASA from WSMR carried GSFC payload to 127.2-mi (204.7-km) altitude to obtain high-resolution spectrograms of belt and sword stars of Orion. Excellent spectrum of star zeta in Orion was obtained and good spectrum of star epsilon in Orion was recorded. (NASA Rpt SRL)
Apollo 11 astronauts and wives on world tour had private audience with Pope Paul VI at Vatican and later met with bishops from around the world. During Papal audience, 200 dissident bishops attending "shadow synod" near Vatican issued denunciation of meeting. Pope had previously refused to see them. Priests said poor people of world would interpret astronauts, audience with Pope to mean "that the Church is ready to link itself with power, of which the astronauts are the symbol, and that she refused to accept direct contact with weakness, of which our modest assembly is a symbol." (AP, P Bull, 10/16/69)
U.S.S.R. Cosmonauts Georgy T. Beregovoy and Konstantin P. Feoktistov would arrive in New York Oct. 20 to begin two-week visit to U.S. as guests of astronauts, Apollo 8 Astronaut Frank Borman announced. He had extended invitation during his July tour of U.S.S.R. Beregovoy had flown Soyuz III mission, Oct. 26-30, 1968; Feoktistov was scientist aboard Oct. 12, 1964, Voskhod I flight. Itinerary was expected to include MSC, Grand Canyon, California, Detroit, and Washington, D.C. (NASA Release 69-141; AP, W Star, 10/21/69)
At LeRC technical conference on plasmas and magnetic fields, LeRC Electromagnetic Propulsion Div. Chief Wolfgang E. Moeckel said, "Man has reached the Moon and there is now some talk about going to the stars, but we are not yet ready with propulsion systems that are suitable for exploring our own solar system." Manned flights to distant planets would become reasonable only with advanced nuclear propulsion systems. Thermonuclear fusion rocket, if feasible, could reduce manned Mars mission to four to five months and journey to Jupiter or Saturn to under three years. Solar electric rockets looked promising for unmanned probes to planets as remote as Jupiter. (LeRC Release 69-58; LeRC PAO)
AIAA announced former ARC director H. Julian Allen had been named to receive 1969 Daniel Guggenheim Medal. Medal-presented annually by AIAA, American Society of Mechanical Engineers, and Society of Automotive Engineers for achievement in advancement of aeronautics -would be awarded Oct. 21 during AIAA Sixth Annual Meeting and Technical Display in Anaheim, Calif. (AIAA Release)
Dr. Charles Stark Draper, head of MIT's Instrumentation Laboratory since 1940, said he had been replaced because "they are going to take the lab" out of defense work and convert it to civilian purposes. MIT had set up committee with veto power over research projects. Prof. Charles L. Miller had been named as Dr. Draper's successor. (AP, W Post, 10/17/69, A3)
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded in Stockholm, Sweden, to U.S. scientists Dr. Max Delbruck, Cal Tech biologist; Dr. Alfred D. Hershey, director of Carnegie Institution's genetics research unit; and Dr. Salvador E. Luria, MIT microbiologist. Award recognized discoveries concerning viruses and viral diseases including reproductive processes of bacteriophage virus which infected bacteria. Scientists would share $73,000 cash prize for what selection committee called setting "the solid foundation on which molecular biology rests." (Lee, NYT, 10/17/69, 1)
In age of lunar landings there was boom in superstition in U.K., London Express Service reported in El Paso Herald-Post. Psychological investigation of 140 Manchester Univ. students had revealed 12% believed in old superstitions and London street survey had shown "pattern of belief incredible a few years ago." One U.K. astrologer received more than 100,000 letters yearly; three-fourths of population studied newspaper horoscopes regularly; and 3 out of 10 winners in premium bond stakes reckoned they owed winnings to "lucky numbers under a particular star." (El Paso Herald-Post, 10/16/69, C12)
Meteor Crater, Arizona, 640-acre site containing crater three miles in circumference and 570 ft deep, was attracting 200,000 visitors annually as "finest example on earth" of what Apollo 11 astronauts found on moon. (Arline, W Star, 10/16/69, A21)
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