Sep 26 1963
From The Space Library
NASA announced first television experiments via SYNCOM II communications satellite had been conducted. Test pattern signals sent Sept. 23 were followed by TV pictures Sept. 24 and 25; because of bandwidth limitations, no audio was sent. Officials of NASA Goddard Space Flight Center said transmissions were of good quality. Transmissions originated at Fort Dix, N.J., ground station, were sent to SYNCOM II 22,300 mi. above the earth, and retransmitted to AT&T ground station at Andover, Me. (NASA Release 63-216)
Rep. Albert Thomas (D.-Tex.) made public a letter from President Kennedy written in reply to the Congressman's request for clarification of the President's position on U.S. lunar landing goals in light of his proposals for U.S.-U.S.S.R. joint program. In his letter President Kennedy said "This great national effort and this steadily stated readiness to cooperate are not in conflict . . " Rather, they are "mutually supporting elements of a single policy. "In my view an energetic continuation of our strong space effort is essential, and the need for this effort is, if anything, increased by our intent to work for increasing cooperation if the Soviet Government proves willing . . . . "If cooperation is not possible-and as realists we must plan for this contingency, too-then the same strong national effort will serve all free men's interest in space, and protect us also against possible hazards to our national security. So let us press on." (UPI, NYT, 9/27/63, 2)
James T. Dennison, of NASA Technology Utilization Office, said in paper delivered at annual meeting of National Association of Business Economists, Cleveland ". . . We suggest that the greatest contributions of our government's aerospace programs to the business economy have been the psychological boost of setting for ourselves an utterly impossible goal and then buckling down to reach it. And this adventure has come at a time when there were those who cried that our democratic capitalistic economy was sluggish, that we were being outdone by overseas and overland competitors, that gloom was here and that doom was close at hand. "The challenge of the exploration of space, of putting our fellow man safely into a desperately hostile environment, has provided a spur to great segments of our American business economy. And that spur will be keeping us on the jump until . we get those men to the moon and back, and, then perchance, takeoff for Mars." (Text)
On his 66th birthday, Pope Paul VI recognized 175th anniversary of Georgetown Univ. by a special address broadcast to U.S. via TELSTAR II communications satellite. (NYT, 9/27/63, 9; NBC9/26/63)
USN launched Polaris A-3 test missile from surface test ship U.S.S. Observation Island using completely new eject launch system. (DOD Release 1301-63)
September 26-October 1: XIVth International Astronautical Congress held in Paris, with more than 1,000 delegates from 34 countries attending. 80 papers covering wide range of scientific and technical subjects were presented. (Program)
Dr. Eugene B. Konecci, Director of NASA Biotechnology and Human Research, and Chairman of IAF Bioastronautics Committee, presented his "Bioastronautics Review." Dr. Konecci discussed U.S. bioastronautics programs, results, and plans, and compared U.S. program with that of U.S.S.R. Summing up Project Mercury MA-9 flight, he said "The performance of Gordon Cooper proved in detail man's integration with the operation of the spacecraft systems. This accomplishment of the Mercury program is of major significance as it does indicate that much more dependence can be placed on man as a reliable operating portion of the man-spacecraft combination .... Once again, the recent flight of MA-9 has proved that man can adapt very rapidly to a 35-hour period in a new environment. His senses and capabilities are little changed in space. At least for the duration of Cooper's mission (a total of 34+ hours) weightlessness affecting the normality of his judgment, orientation and other human functions in space was no problem . . . ." (Text)
Dr. Konecci also reviewed Russian progress in biotechnology. He said the Soviets had demonstrated the reliability of their spacecraft and their "high regard for life of the cosmonauts, since, to our knowledge, `not a single life has been lost in the U.S.S.R. space effort.' The Soviets concede that, in the long run, human intellect and sensations are the only forces capable of learning the secrets of the universe." (Text)
Four papers by Soviet scientists presented at IAF Congress indicated biological effects of cosmic radiation were one of the most complex and most urgent problems of bioastronautics. Papers reported on radiation effects on seeds, fruit flies, animal tissue, and bacteria as well as on cosmonauts Gagarin, Titov, Nikolayev, and Popovich, who experienced no harmful effects. (Abstracts)
At IAF Congress in Paris, Dr. Charles Draper of MIT told Missiles and Rockets that joint lunar landing was possible within five years if progress continued at present rate and if U.S. guidance were used with a Soviet rocket. (M&R, 9/30/63, 26)
Lt. Col. Yuri Gagarin said in address Sept. 28 that Soviet scientists were working on problems of rendezvous and coupling of at least two spacecraft in orbit. Cosmonaut Gagarin acknowledged that rendezvous technique was "extremely complex" and that a number of problems remain in areas of "communications, optics and maneuvers." He said Soviets would dock several individual vehicles in earth orbit to construct space platform from which man would be sent on flight trajectory toward the moon. Le Journal du Dimanche reported Cosmonaut Gagarin's prediction that U.S.S.R. would land a man on the moon before the U.S. (Av. Wk 10/7/63, 30; Le Journal du Dimanche, 9/29/63, 22)
Soviet General Nicolai Petrovich Kamanin, Deputy Chief of Staff of Soviet Air Force and head of cosmonaut group, said at IAF luncheon that joint U.S.-U.S.S.R. manned lunar program would achieve a manned lunar landing more quickly and cheaply than separate efforts by the two countries. After the luncheon he told newsmen that a "more favorable political evolution" was necessary before a joint lunar expedition could be planned. (Reuters, Wash. Post, 9/30/63)
Edgar M. Cortright, Deputy Director of NASA Office of Space Sciences, said in IAF address "One of the most exciting technological aspects of space exploration has been the development of automated spacecraft. Most of the scientific exploration of space and the useful applications of space flight thus far have been made possible by automated spacecraft. Development of these spacecraft and their many complex subsystems is setting the pace today for many branches of science and technology. Guidance., computer, attitude control, power, telecommunication, instrumentation, and structural subsystems are being subjected to new standards of light weight, high efficiency, extreme accuracy, and unsurpassed reliability and quality . . . ." He then reviewed automated spacecraft already flown or currently underdevelopment by NASA. (Text)
Dr. Max Tishler, President of Merck, Sharp & Dohme Research Laboratories, received the 1963 Chemical Industry Medal of the American Section, Society of Chemical Industry, in Houston. In his acceptance speech Dr. Tishler discussed growth of Federal support of basic research, concluded: "Industrial research-once devoted exclusively to the promotion of economic growth-has become predominantly a Government-dominated institution for protecting the Nation's security and exploring the solar system. "The question is being asked with increasing persistence whether we are devoting a disproportionate amount of our scientific and technical resources to the Government's objectives. It has been pointed out that between 1954 and 1961 three-quarters of the increase in scientists and engineers engaged in research and development was absorbed by the defense and space programs, and that the programs on the drawing boards of these same agencies will require as many scientists during the next decade as all our institutions of higher learning will graduate during the same period . . . . How far and how long can this situation progress without damaging our country's capacity to maintain its road leadership in research? "The Defense Department and the space agency have countered these concerns with predictions of spinoffs for the civilian economy from developments financed by them. So far, the evidence for this contention is unpersuasive. Whether or not the prophecy will come true does not alter the unrelenting fact that too little attention is being paid to the long-range effect on the civilian economy and to the manner in which we have been using tax money to divert our scarce scientific and technical resources into such crash projects as the race to the moon. Our Government has been prone to act as if these resources are either unlimited or can be expanded indefinitely by appropriating dollars. Neither proposition is correct . . . ." (Text, CR, 1/15/64, A143-145)
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