Astronautics and Aeronautics, 1967 - NASA's History Office

ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1967
May 12
Sensors aboard two Vela nuclear detection satellites, launched April 28 by
USAF Titan 111-C booster, were turned on, and large amounts of data
were being received. Satellites were part of DOD’S Vela program to
monitor space for violations of nuclear test ban treaty. (AP, NYT,
5/14/67)
May 13: Manned expeditions to every part of the solar system would be
achieved by the end of the 20th century, Vice President Humphrey pre-
dicted in his opening statement to a student panel at North Dakota State
Univ. in Fargo. He envisioned “the development of a whole family of
earth orbiting stations, manned and supplied by regular ferry services;
the launching of unmanned probes to every part of our solar system,
and probably manned expeditions as well.” (UPI, NYT, 5/14/67)
Australia would be able to maintain its prominence in radio-astronomy with
a new 150-in optical telescope to be constructed at Siding Spring, New
South Wales, the New York Times reported. Construction of the $11,-
760,000 telescope, a joint British and Australian project, was expected to
be completed in six years to provide Australian scientists-who currently
had to send findings to Mt. Palomar (Calif.) Observatory for verifica-
tion-with a suitable size optical telescope to check their observations.
(NYT, 5/14/67, 37)
* L/G James H. Doolittle (AFR~S., Ret.) received the Sixth Annual Thomas D.
White National Defense Award at Air Force Academy ceremonies in
Denver. An aviation pioneer and Medal of Honor holder, General
Doolittle was cited for making “outstanding contributions to the
national defense and security . . . [and giving] a lifetime of leadership
to military and civil aviation.” (Denver Post, 5/14/67, 32)
May 14: U.S.S.R. was training more scientists, faster, than any other coun-
try in the world, Dr. 6. M. Dobrov, Kiev Academy of Science professor,
told a London meeting of scientists from 14 countries. During the last
50 yrs, the number of scientists in the world had doubled every 15 yrs:
US. had doubled its personnel every 10 yrs; U.S.S.R., every seven years.
Dr. Dobrov said U.S.S.R. had 10,000 professional scientists in 1917,
compared to 700,000 in 1967. He suggested that women be encouraged
to enter scientific professions to enlarge resources of potential man-
power. (Reuters, NYT, 5/14/67,85)
A 59-lb, $350,000 computer used on Gemini V mission had been recondi-
tioned and was being used by USN in tests of new airborne weapons sys-
tem designed to locate and destroy enemy radar, AP reported. USN de-
clined to name the aircraft or reveal where the tests were being con-
ducted. (AP, Denver Post, 5/14/67)
May 19-18: Aviation-Space Writers’ Assn. met in Las Vegas.
Dr. Mac C. Adams, NASA Associate Administrator for Advanced Re-
search and Technology, discussed NASA’s attempts to solve the increas-
ing problem of aircraft noise. Efforts included: (1) active participation
in the interagency task force established by President Johnson to study
aircraft noise [see Feb. 11, (2) study of methods to reduce noise of con-
ventional aircraft engines, (3) investigation of the use of steeper descent
angles during approach to landing and steeper climb on takeoff to re-
duce noise by moving the source farther from the ground, and (4) re-
search on a new turbine engine with low noise as a basic requirement.
(Text; N News, 5/16/67)
Former AFSC Commander Gen. Bernard A. Schriever (USAF, Ret.)
charged that the Johnson Administration was not “pushing technology”
153