Oct 22 1963
From The Space Library
President John F. Kennedy addressed the centennial meeting of the National Academy of Sciences in Washington ". . . it took the First World War to bring science into central contact with government policy, and it took the Second World War to make scientific counsel an indispensable function of government .... "Every time you scientists make a major invention, we politicians have to invent a new institution to cope with it-and almost invariably, these days, it must be an international institution. I am not just thinking of the fact that when you people figure out how to build a global satellite communication system, we have to figure out a global organization to manage it. I am thinking, as well, that scientific advance provided the rationale for the World Health Organization and the Food and Agriculture Organization-that splitting the atom leads not only to a nuclear arms race but to the establishment of the International Atomic Energy Agency-that the need for scientific exploration of Antarctica leas to an international treaty providing free access to the area without regard to territorial claims-that the scientific possibility of a World Weather Watch requires the attention of the World Meteorological Organization-that the exploration of international oceans leads to the establishment of an Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission .... The ocean, the atmosphere and outer space belong not to one nation or to one ideology but to all mankind. "... ours is a century of scientific conquest and scientific triumph. If scientific discovery has not been an unalloyed blessing, if it has conferred on mankind the power not only to create but also to annihilate, it has at the same time provided humanity with a supreme challenge and a supreme testing. If the challenge and the testing are too much for humanity, then we are all doomed. But my own faith is plain and clear. I believe that the power of science and the responsibility of science have offered mankind a new opportunity not only for intellectual growth but for moral discipline-not only for the acquisition of knowledge but for the strengthening of nerve and will." (OR, 10/28/63,19279-80)
After a technical lecture on the chemical structure of matter, Dr. Linus Pauling, 1963 Nobel Peace Prize winner, attacked the U.S. lunar program before the National Academy of Sciences meeting in the Department of State auditorium: "I believe that it [the lunar program] is a pitiful demonstration. Something is wrong with our system of values when we plan to spend billions of dollars for national prestige." Pauling claimed that for the same investment it would be possible "to answer 1000 interesting and important questions about the human body for every one question answered about the moon." (Simons. Wash. Post, 10/23/63, 1)
Boilerplate Apollo capsule underwent eighth drop test of the 3-parachute landing system. At El Centro, Calif., U.S. Naval Air Force Parachute Facility dropped the capsule from a C-133 transport aircraft from 13,000 ft. In a test of the parachute combination under low-altitude abort conditions. (MSC Release 63-178)
GFSC announced negotiations with Republic Aviation Corp. for Phase I contract for Advanced Orbiting Solar Observatory (AOSO). AOSO would be launched into a 300-mi. near-polar orbit for observations of x-rays, gamma rays, and ultraviolet emissions of the sun. Phase I calls for one-year development of systems engineering and detailed design of the satellite. (GSFC Re-lease G-22-63 )
NASA awarded $2 million contract to Lockheed Missiles and Space Co. for a vehicle systems test complex to be used for full checkout of Agena target vehicles to be used in Project Gemini rendezvous flights. Space Bus. Daily, 10/23/63,133)
Lewis Research Center tested a newly developed seal for liquid fluorine pumps. This seal eliminates the explosion inherent in previous seals for liquid fluorine transfer systems. (Lewis Chronology, 10)
U.K.'s newest commercial jet aircraft., the BAC 111, crashed in a field in southern England during a test flight, killing all seven crewmen. The British Aircraft Corp.'s twin-jet, 74-passenger 111 was planned as a replacement for the prop-let Viscount, bringing jet service on short-haul routes. Prior to the crash, the aircraft had had some 80 hours of flight test. (NYT, 10/23/63, 66)
Aviation executives criticized Government plans for the supersonic transport in testimony before the Senate Commerce Committee Subcommittee on Aviation. C.R. Smith, president of American Airlines, objected to the provision that industry pay one quarter of the development costs, wanted Government to pay all the costs and defer decision on how to recapture some of the costs until after the prototype had flown. John Stack, vice president and director of engineering of Republic Aviation Corp. and former NASA Director of Aeronautical Research, complained that competition with the British-French Concorde would force U.S. industry to set up management and assembly lines prematurely. Stack urged that a manufacturer be chosen to begin work on a prototype next spring and that the one-year-long second design phase be eliminated. He also supported the steel-and-titanium mach 3 concept as more efficient than an aluminum mach 2+ aircraft presently favored by FAA. (Clark, NYT, 10/23/63, 9)
October 22-25: DOD's Exercise Big Lift successfully airlifted an entire 14,500-man armored division from bases in the U.S. to Germany in less than 72 hours. This was the first large-scale transatlantic test of the C-135 jet transport fleet recently acquired by the Military Air Transport Service (MATs). (DOD Release 1339-63; Olsen, NYT, 10/23/63, 1)
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