Jan 10 1965
From The Space Library
Current revision
NASA signed a one-year $70,000 contract with Flight Safety Foundation to report and evaluate research and development projects and events related to rough air in the atmosphere. The study would be conducted from FSF Offices in New York City, Phoenix, Ariz., and Los Angeles. (NASA Release 65-10)
In an article entitled "The Pentagon, the 'Madmen,' and the Moon," Maj. Gen. of the Soviet Air Force B. Teplinskiy said: "Sober voices in the United States call for collaboration with the U.S.S.R. in space research. The Saturday Evening Post said: 'When we reach the moon and the stars, we shall find the solutions to the most profound secrets of the universe. How much more easily accessible all this would be if we would fly there together.' "It is known throughout the entire world that the lag in this respect does not depend on the Soviet Union. It is the spiteful policy of those U.S. circles, which do not hide their military space plans, which constitute the obstacle. These plans are widely trumpeted by the press, television, and radio. Such a position is not accidental. On the one hand it allegedly pursues the aim of enhancing U.S. prestige while it actually is aimed at blowing up the psychosis around the space armaments race and at trying to provoke the Soviet Union into retaliatory measures or to intimidate it by the alleged U.S. possibilities. A naive scheme." (Krasnaya Zvezda, 1/10/65, 3)
Data from SOLRAD, the Naval Research Laboratory's satellite monitoring the sun's x-ray behavior during the 1964-65 International Years of the Quiet Sun (IQSY) , indicated that the sun was at its quietest during May, June, and July, 1964. Information from SOLRAD also suggested that the x-ray region of the corona, instead of being a homogeneous region of a million miles or so, was a series of small cells that flared up to emit hard x-rays and then decayed rapidly. What was seen on earth was the net effect of many knots of very hot, flashing gas giving the appearance of a homogeneous region. (Simons, Wash. Post, 1/11/65; Hines, Wash. Eve. Star, 1/11/65; M&R, 1/18/65)
Eight NASA astronauts began geology field training in Hawaii, where they visited lava fields of Mauna Loa and Kilauea, active volcanoes, as well as upper elevations of dormant Mauna Kea. Geologists believed that these shield volcanoes contained features similar to those of the lunar surface. Study emphasis was on mechanics of lava flow, fissure eruption, deep lava lakes; examples of hot and cold basaltic flows; physical composition of lava rock; and topographic forms of shield volcanoes. Underfoot textures theorized as being typical of lunar terrain ranged from the glassy form of "pahoehoe" lava, through the crusty snow effect of "aa" lava, to the sinking feeling of loose cinders and pumice. The study was conducted by Dr. Ted Foss, head of the Geology and Geochemistry Section at NASA Manned Spacecraft Center. Astronauts were Charles Conrad, Jr., Clifton C. Williams, David R. Scott, Edwin E. Aldrin, Jr., Alan L. Bean, Donn F. Eisele, Roger Chaffee, and Richard F. Gordon. (UPI, Houston Chron., 1/11/65; Bryan, Houston Post, 1/14/65)
U.S. Chamber of Commerce released a report entitled "Criteria for Federal Support of Research and Development," which proposed the establishment of a forum for debating scientific and technical issues (such as space exploration and desalting of the oceans) before they became national policy. The council, to be composed of representatives of industry, labor, the Government, and the academic industry, would investigate the inherent worth of proposed programs and their value to society to increase public understanding of issues that were usually decided by the Government alone and debated afterward. (Clark, NYT, 1/11/65, 46)
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