Astronautics and Aeronautics, 1967 - NASA's History Office

ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1967 May 9
Committee’s Subcommittee on Disarmament, Director of Defense Research
and Engineering Dr. John S. Foster, Jr., indicated that US. was
developing a new type of nuclear warhead designed to destroy enemy
missiles with high-intensity x-rays. X-ray method, which would be used
with three-stage Spartan missile, could destroy enemy missile by (1)
disrupting avionic circuits used for guidance and detonation; (2)
heating warhead to such high temperatures that it would ablate prematurely
and burn up during reentry; or (3) triggering the warhead
and causing premature detonation. (Committee 0%; Av Wk, 5/15/’67,
22; UPI, P Inq, 5/11/67,3; Finney, NYT, 5/10/67,1)
L/G Nikolay P. Kamanin, military commander of Soviet manned space-
flight program, hinted in Zemlya o Vselennaya that U.S.S.R. would use
Soyuz-type spacecraft for manned lunar landing. He made no direct
mention of Soyuz I spacecraft [see April 23-241-believed to be heaviest
Soviet space vehicle ever launched-but said “payloads of more than 15
tons have already been put into orbit.” These payloads, he said, could
soft-land on moon from lunar orbit. (AP, B Sun, 5/10/67)
0 End of the “space race” between US. and U.S.S.R. was nowhere in sight,
Holmes Alexander speculated in the Philadelphia Evening Bulletin: “As
matters stand today, the space contest is pretty much a race between
the Communist and capitalistic systems. . . . Percentagewise the Soviet
government is investing 2.5 times as much of its gross national product
in the moon dash as we are. Moneywise, the investment is about equal.
But the Russian economy, being much more ‘managed’ than ours, per-
mits the ordering of what our economists call axl ‘internal brain drain.’
Russian consumer industries are raided in order to feed the USSR space
programs, whereas . . . NASA must compete . . . [with other agencies].
“It is wishful thinking to believe that the Russians will make any
substantive concessions to ease the cost of the space race. As in Vietnam,
we are locked in an expensive contest against Communism. Nobody has
yet found a way to the negotiation table.” (Alexander, P EB, 5/9/67)
Muy 10: M2-F2 lifting body vehicle crashed on landing at Edwards AFB
about three minutes after air-launch from B-52 aircraft, injuring NASA
test pilot Bruce A. Peterson. Vehicle, on mission to evaluate effects of
reduction in automatic damping for roll and yaw, turned over several
times after touchdown and was heavily damaged. Although exact cause
of crash was unknown, one unidentified NASA official speculated that
pilot had been distracted by a helicopter flying nearby. NASA immedi-
ately set up a committee to investigate crash and said that powered
M2-F2 flights scheduled for June would be delayed indefinitely until
after repairs and conclusion of investigation. (Av Wk, 5/15/67, 34;
Tech Wk, 5/15/67, 14; W Post, 5/11/67, C21; West, LA Times,
5/12/67)
NASA Administrator James E. Webb, Deputy Administrator Dr. Robert C.
Seamans, Jr., and Associate Administrator for Manned Space Flight
Dr. George E. Mueller appeared before the House Committee on Science
and Astronautics’ Subcommittee on NASA Oversight to submit Apollo
project reprogramming plans presented to the Senate May 9. Dr.
Seamans assured the Subcommittee that schedules could be met and
urged that Congress continue to support NASA: “We have confidence in
the ability of our technical and administrative teams, both in govern-
ment and industry, to meet the challenge before us. But that is not
su3icient; the Congress, representing the people of the Nation, must
147