Jul 18 1964
From The Space Library
It was reported that NASA was considering diverting money from some of its other programs in an effort to save the National goal of land-ing men on the moon in the 1960's Dr. Robert C. Seamans, Jr., Associate Administrator of NASA, said in an interview that the agency "faced a real uphill battle in the next five years" to achieve a lunar landing before 1970. He stated that the probability of success was "not as high as we'd like it to be, since this is a national commitment" Dr- Edward C. Welsh, Chairman of the National Aeronautics and Space Council, said in interview that any further schedule slippages would inevitably throw the lunar landing into the 1970's Space officials were still holding to the 1969 goal, and, he added, "We haven't given this up yet." At the current time NASA was $217 million short of the bare minimum it had requested for FY 1965. (Hines, Wash. Sun. Star, 7/19/64)
A Naval Research Laboratory team under Dr. Herbert Friedman announced that it had disproved the theory that the Crab Nebula in the constellation Orion had a superdense neutron star at its center. The experiment was carried out July 7 by means of x-ray detectors flown to an altitude of 144 mi. over New Mexico by an Aerobee sounding rocket. (Hines, Wash. Eve. Star, 7/18/64)
It was reported that USAF was planning to orbit the third in the Oscar series of satellites. These satellites were built by radio hams in California and had no military significance. It was designed to receive and re-transmit a single word in Morse-"Hi." The 25-lb. satellite was to be launched as a pickaback payload on some USAF launch from Vandenberg AFB. (J/ Armed Forces, 7/18/64, 8)
A report in the Journal of the Armed Forces noted that during FY 1964 199 new objects were placed in orbit. NORAD Space Detection and Tracking Center (SPADATS), which tracked the objects, reported that as of the end of FY 1964 there were 438 items in orbit. The items included not only satellites and probes, but also "junk" items such as upper stages of rocket boosters. As of the date of this report there were 101 satellites or probes in space. The U.S. had been responsible for 89 of them, the U.S.S.R. for 9, the U.K. for 2, and Canada for 1. Of the 199 objects launched in FY 1964, 122 were pieces of debris, and the other 77 were payloads. 58 were U.S., 18 were U-S.S.R., and 1 was from U.K. (f /Armed Forces, 7/18/64, 8)
Clarence L. Johnson, Lockheed Aircraft Corp. designer of the YF-12A (A-11) aircraft, said that the airplane could easily outfly Russian aircraft. He stated that the YF-12A could capture all three absolute world flight records currently held by the Russians. (AP, Kansas City Times, 7/18/64)
It was reported that DOD had decided to invest $200 million in a military communications satellite system. The first launching was said to be scheduled for late 1965 or 1966. Plans called for seven or eight satellites to be placed in orbit by a single Titan III booster. The satellites, perhaps as many as 24 simultaneously, were to be placed in orbit at around 6,000 mi. altitude (see July 13). (UPI, NYT, 7/19/64)
Hanson Baldwin, military analyst for the New York Times, reported that the U.S.S.R. had developed and was presumably producing an improved ICBM: The missile was said to have a range of more than 6,000 mi. and could carry a multimegaton warhead to its target. In addition, its accuracy was believed to be greater than the first Soviet long-range missiles. It was reported that it was designed for use against the below-ground silos of U.S. Minuteman missiles. (Baldwin, NYT, 7/18/64)
An experiment designed by youthful rocket scientists ended in tragedy when "Gus," a two-ounce mouse, was killed in a mishap. Several youths from Schenectady had designed the rocket, which was to carry Gus to an altitude of 6,000 ft. The rocket went off at an angle upon launch and smashed into the ground killing its passenger. The launch, which had been protested by local humane societies, was viewed by a crowd of 400. (AP, L.A. Herald Examiner, 7/19/64)
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