Sep 21 1964
From The Space Library
USAF XB-70A aircraft took off from Palmdale, Calif., on its first flight in extensive test program. The aircraft flew about one hour, attaining 16,000-ft altitude and subsonic speed, then landed at Edwards AFB, Calif. Despite trouble retracting the landing gear, loss of one engine's power, and blowout of two tires on left main landing gear, test was considered a "highly productive" first flight. (Don Release 676-64; Witkin, NYT, 9/22/64, 1)
At White House news conference, President Johnson announced his three appointees to the board of Communications Satellite Corp. "I have appointed Mr. Frederick Donner, who is chairman of the board of General Motors, and has been since 1958. . . . "I have Mr. George Meany, the president of the A.F.L.-C.I.O. I will have Mr. Clark Kerr, president of the University of California. Those are the three Presidential appointees. "This has required a good deal of study and discussion, and I feel very pleased that these men have indicated their willingness to make a sacrifice to lend their peculiar and unusual talents to the direction of this great adventure between government and free enterprise. "Needless to say, all of them have a good many duties at the present time, but because I pointed out the need for their experience and their broad knowledge, they accepted membership." (Transcript, NYT, 9/22/64)
NASA Administrator James E. Webb said in Aviation Week & Space Technology that U.S. space program had "entered a whole new period," in which U.S. was faced with exploring all the practical applications of knowledge suddenly gained through the space effort. "My view is to create stability, and the satellite may be one of the most important tools yet developed to create stability in the world. . . . In this effort, modern technology is going to play a very important role. The balance of technological power may be more important than any other form of power balance in the next decades ahead." He said NASA was developing a broad technological capability to conduct missions with vast international application. "This will enable our nation to say to other nations of the world, "Join with us and we will undertake these missions together." " "Overt expression" of this new focus of national space program planning would be expressed in forecast report NASA was completing for President Johnson, the article continued. Report would emphasize broad range of general space capabilities available in the future and describe specific possible post-Apollo missions-such as manned lunar base, earth-orbiting space stations, Mars probes-stressing that selection of such a goal should be a national decision. (Av. Wk., 9/21/64, 22)
Editorial in Aviation Week by Robert Hotz : "The hardware for the second generation of U.S. space systems is already in the flight test stage and its feasibility already demonstrated. This is why it is necessary now to organize a new type of national space program based not on the simple concept of overtaking the Soviets but on utilizing the new riches of space technology to serve domestic and international goals of U.S. policy.. . "A whole new spectrum of power has been created, ranging from the three tons of thrust per second of the huge liquid-fueled boosters through electric, nuclear and ionic power down to systems whose power can be calibrated in micromouse burps and can function for years with-out servicing. Harnessing these new energy sources for earth as well as space applications may be one of the most technically significant developments of the next decade. "NASA is picking an excellent time, aside from the election implications, to inventory the achievements of space technology and project them into a future format that will give the national space program a focus and purpose beyond the Apollo lunar landings. For the development of space technology will continue to open new vistas for man and his universe that cannot yet be perceived from this point in time with our vision still clouded by the earth's atmospheric sheath." (Av. Wk., 9/21/64, 17; CR, 9/23/64, A4823)
Rep. Hale Boggs (D.-La.) said on the floor of the House: "It was just a short 3 years ago when Mayor Victor H. Schiro [of New Orleans] made the first announcement about the reactivation of the Michoud plant [for production of NASA space boosters]. At that time few of us realized that this program would constitute the single most important industry that has come to south Louisiana since we were admitted into the Union in 1812. . . ." Rep. Boggs had served on the NASA New Orleans Coordinating Committee, formed in 1961 to help NASA establish Michoud operations. (CR, 9/21/64, A4764)
Astronaut Leroy Gordon Cooper (Maj., USAF) was presented the Gen. Thomas D. White Space Trophy by Air Force Secretary Eugene M. Zuckert, at the National Geographic Society, Washington. Award cited Major Cooper for "the most outstanding contribution to the Nation's progress in aerospace during 1963," orbiting the earth 22 times in Mercury spacecraft in May 1963. (Wash. Post, 9/22/64).
Information about the Van Allen radiation belts, obtained from USAF satellite about a year ago, was reported by Dr. Ludwig Katz, of USAF'S Space Physics Laboratory: "These low energy particles are not a serious hazard to men in space. Over a period of time, however, they could affect the performance of electronic equipment carried aboard a satellite. "The instruments carried aboard the satellite were of six types: a proton detector, plasma probe, electron detector, electrostatic analyzer, geiger counter and magnetometer. The data were gathered from more than 100 orbits." (Henry, Wash. Eve. Star, 9/21/64)
Editorial in Washington Evening Star said postponement of manned Gemini space flight into 1965 came as "scant surprise," since "as long ago as last Christmastime a 'space forecast' story in the Star made the prediction that this would be the case, and for several months the "last quarter of 1964' target date has been hardly more than a tongue-in-cheek fiction at NASA Headquarters. . . . "Of course, it is far better to delay the flights than to run the risk of tragic failure due to haste or carelessness. Wouldn't it make sense to forget about phony schedules and phony excuses for not keeping them-and just carry on with the space program as fast and effectively as possible?" (Wash. Eve. Star, 9/21/64)
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30
