Astronautics and Aeronautics, 1967 - NASA's History Office

ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1967 May 10
replacement of many highly flammable mate such as nylon netting;
(3) sheathing of open wiring with hard ; and (4) flame-re-
sistant spacesuits. In addition, spacecraft would be pressurized with nitro-
gen rather than oxygen on launching, and in orbit-where oxygen is in-
dispensable-pressure would be reduced one third to 5 psi.
Questioned about his attitudes toward the program since the Jan. 27
Apollo accident, Command Pilot Walter M. Schirra replied: “. . . we
went through a very agonizing self-appraisal; we suffered through three
months of recrimination; we’ve culminated these three months with some
very firm ideas.” These ideas, Schirra said, were being phased into an
orderly program that “will continu-with orderly haste . . . [and]
we are not going to run rampant on schedules.” The crews anticipated
that Apollo 101 spacecraft would be delivered to ICSC in December and
that first manned mission would be flown in first quarter of 1968. Pri-
mary mission objective would be to “exercise the vehicle in earth
orbit,” Schirra said. Asked if the April 24 death of Soviet Cosmonaut
Vladimir Komarov had had any adverse effects on plans for earth land-
ings in the Apollo program, Astronaut Thomas P. Stafford replied:
“The earth landing system that consists of the three main parachutes and
the two drogue chutes. had been qualified completely. . . . We still
have some earth landing drops to be made. But right now as far as the
crew is concerned, either the parachutes in this vehicle are qualified or
we don’t fly.” (Transcript; Newsweek, 5/22/67, 94; Hill, NYT,
5/11/67,27)
NASA awarded Douglas Aircraft Co. a $4,665,000 modification to an existing
contract for reliability and verification testing of Saturn S-IVB stage
components. (NASA Release 67-118)
* Small fire in KSC building housing an astronaut training simulator dam-
aged $1,200 worth of equipment, AP reported. Fire occurred in a rack
of gear which provided electricity to the equipment, but which was not
connected to the spacecraft simulator. NASA 05cials said no astronauts
were inside simulator when fire broke out but even if they had been there
would have been no damage. NASA issued no 05cial announcement on
the fire. (AP, NYT, 5/13/67,15)
* Fifteen outstanding young scientists received Air Force O5ce of Scientific
Research ( AFOSR) Postdoctoral Research Awards “for advanced study
and fundamental research in the sciences.” Selections, made by a board
of NAS-appointed senior scientists. were based on “demonstrated com-
petence and creativity in original research and on the scientific merit
of the proposed postdoctoral investigation.” ( NAS-NRC Release)
* DoD awarded General Dynamics Corp. a $l.S-billion fixed-price-incentive
contract for production of 493 F-111 aircraft: 331 F-111As for USAF;
64 F-111 strategic bombers for SAC; 24 F-111Bs for USN; 24 F-111Cs
for Royal Australian Air Force; and 50 F-111Ks for British Royal Air
Force. Contract included only costs of basic airframes and minor elec-
tronic equipment; additional costs for engines, major eleotronic equip-
ment, and modifications had not yet been fully determined and were
not included. There was speculation that congressional opposition to
adaptation of F-111 (formerly TFX) as an all-purpose military air-
craft-heightened by large increases in estimated costs and by January
and April crashes of USAF and USN test models-might delay appropria-
tion of production funds. (DOD Release 427-67; Wilson, W Post, 5/11/
67, H11; Sheehan, NYT, 5/11/67,1)
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