Astronautics and Aeronautics, 1967 - NASA's History Office

July 17-20 ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1967
Program Plans, OMSF Plans and Analysis Directorate, had been ap-
pointed Assistant to the Assistant Administrator for Administration
effective July 17; (2) R/Adm. Roderick 0. Middleton (USN), former
Deputy Director of OMSF Missions .Operations Directorate, had been
appointed Apollo Program Manager at KSC, replacing M/G John G.
Shinkle (USA, Ret.), who resigned May 18; (3) Stanley de Jongh Os-
borne, a general partner of Lazard Freres & Co. investment banking
firm in New York, had been sworn in as consultant to NASA Adminis-
trator James E. Webb on Government-industry relations and on the
impact of space technology on the national economy; and (4) Erskine
E. Harton, Jr., former Assistant Safety Director, had been appointed
Acting Safety Director, replacing George D. McCauley who recently
retired from Government service. (NASA Ann, 7/20/67; NASA Releases
67-189,67-190)
July 17-21 : Upper atmosphere, ionosphere, solar-terrestrial physics, sound-
ing rockets, and probes were discussed in London Symposium on Re-
sults of the International Years of the Quiet Sun (IQSY 1964-65) and the
concurrent annual plenary meeting of the Committee on Space Research
( COSPAR). Nigel Calder, in Science, cited views of Univ. of Illinois
physicist S. A. Bowhill: “The F-region of the ionosphere is now becoming
fairly well understood, and the outstanding prdblems are yielding to
theoretical treatment. The new explanations often involve large-scale
movements of charged particles in the upper atmosphere. Attention will
now turn to lower layers (the D-region and below) where recent studies
indicate unexpected interactions between the ionosphere and the strato-
sphere.” (Calder, Science, 8/11/67, 666-8)
July 18: JPL scientists abandoned attempts to contact Surveyor IV space-
craft resting on the moon [see July 14-16]. A JPL spokesman said both
Canberra and Goldstone tracking stations had sent signals to the space-
craft July 17, but had received no response. A committee was attempting
to determine whether Surveyor IV had softlanded on the moon as
planned or crashed out of control. (AP, W Star, 7/18/67, A3; AP, NYT,
7/20/67,11)
0 A minimum of four manned space flights would precede the first US.
attempt to land men on the moon, Astronauts Joe H. Engle and Alfred M.
Worden, recently returned from a geology survey in Iceland, told NASA
Hq. press conference. Three of the four missions would involve ren-
dezvous with another spacecraft in earth orbit. Astronauts also said that
they and their colleagues had even more confidence in the Apollo pro-
gram now than they had before the Jan. 27 fire. (B Sun, 7/19/67;
W Post, 7/19/67)
0 House passed $1.53-billion DOT FY 1968 authorization bill (H.R. 11456)
which included $142.3 million for SST prototype development. Amend-
ment by Rep. Clark MacGregor (R-Minn.) to delete SST funds was
defeated. (CR, 7J18/67, H8813-58)
Christopher C. Kraft, Jr., Director of Flight Operations at MSC, received
the Spirit of St. Louis medal from the American Society of Mechanical
Engineers (ASME) meeting in Cocoa Beach, Fla. He was cited for his
(6
meritorious service in the advancement of aeronautics.” (NYT, 7/19/
67,32)
* LeRC awarded four contracts totaling over $5 million for major systems of
the SERT II (Space Electric Rocket Test) spacecraft: (1) $2,462,678
to Fairchild Hiller ICorp. for system definition selection and qualifica-
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