Astronautics and Aeronautics, 1967 - NASA's History Office

ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1967 April 7
April 7: Seven communications companies filed joint application with FCC
for construction of new earth station near Cayey, Puerto Rico, and the
transfer of ownership of three existing comsat stations. Companies-
ComSatCorp ; AT&T; Hawaiian Telephone Co. ; ITT World Communica-
tions, Inc. (WorldCom) ; ITT Cable and Radio, 1nc.-Puerto Rico; RCA;
and Western Union International ( WUI) -submitted application pur-
suant to March 27 earth-station ownership agreement. (ComSatCorp
Release)
0 Soviet scientist E. I. Taghiev told seventh World Petroleum Congress in
Mexico City that U.S.S.R. planned to drill a 49,500-ft-deep test well to
explore earth‘s crust and expressed regret that US. had abandoned its
Mohole drilling project in the Pacific. Site of Soviet project was not
revealed. (AP, W Star, 4/7/67, A14)
April 8: Cosmos CLIV was launched by U.S.S.R. into orbit with 232-km
(144-mi) apogee, 186-km (116-mi) perigee, 88.5-min period, and 51.6’
inclination. Equipment functioned normally. Satellite reentered Apr. 10.
(Tech Wk, 4/10/67; GSFC SSR, 4/15/67)
* Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, discussing Soviet space plans in Ogonyek, hinted
that U.S.S.R. was preparing to launch a large manned space station in
the near future. It had been speculated that U.S.S.R.-which had not
launched a manned spacecraft since March 18, 1965-would conduct
major manned launch in 1967 to commemorate 50th anniversary of the
Bolshevik Revolution. Gagarin said there was little value in repeating
feats already accomplished: “. . . it is not sensible in the future to put
expensive spacecraft into orbit for several days. . . . It is apparent
that they will have to stay in orbit a long time. It will be necessary
to supply them and change crews with the use of simplified types of
space vehicles. . . . The time is not far off when longer and more distant
space flights will be made.”
In later Novosti press agency report Soviet Academy of Sciences
Chairman Anatoly A. Blagonravov supported Gagarin’s predictions and
said: “Mankind is entering the 7th year of the age of man’s space
flight, and we do not doubt that in the not very distant future we will
witness new space victories which will exert a growing influence on the
life of people.” (Anderson, NYT, 4/9/67; UPI, W Star, 4/9/67, A13;
C Trib, 4/10/67)
April 9: Most probable cause of Jan. 27 flash fire in which Astronauts Virgil
I. Grissom, Edward H. White 11, and Roger B. ChafFee died was a spark-
ing short circuit in worn, defective, or poorly insulated wire, Apollo
204 Review Board concluded in its final report. Copies of report were
distributed simultaneously to NASA Administrator James E. Webb,
congressional committees, and the press. Board was unable to pinpoint
exact ignition source, but identified conditions which led to the disaster :
(1) a sealed cabin, pressurized with an oxygen atmosphere; (2) an
extensive distribution of combustible materials in the cabin; (3) vul-
nerable wiring carrying spacecraft power; (4) inadequate provisions for
the crew to escape; and (5) inadequate provisions for rescue or medical
assistance. Having identified these conditions, the Board addressed
itself to the question of “how these conditions came to exist. Careful
consideration of this question . . . leads . . . to the conclusion that in
its devotion to the many difficult problems of space travel, the Apollo
team failed to give adequate attention to certain mundane but equally
vital questions of crew safety.
101