Astronautics and Aeronautics, 1967 - NASA's History Office

ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1967 During July
nities now sharin fearful of the impact of any
major cut in this
“A rational 1968 sp been substantially lower
than either the House o ould have cut particularly
severely at the Apollo project. . . . It would have changed the present
emphasis . . . to lay greater stress on the exploration of the cosmos with
relatively cheap, unmanned rockets. Instead, the enormously expensive
manned lunar landing effort is left virtually intact, while the highly
promising program for sending unmanned Voyagers to Mars and other
planets could be entirely eliminated.
“The lobbyists can rejoice, but the nation’s real interests have been
dealt a severe setback.” (NYT, 7/3/67,10)
e AIAA President Harold T. Luskin, in Astronautics and Aeronautics editorial,
proposed a joint Soviet-American safety program to reduce hazards of
manned space flight. He urged that representatives of US. and U.S.S.R.
meet to exchange technical data on spacecraft safety features, to set up
a common communications network for use in emergencies, and to plan
joint rescue operations. “Cooperation for safety could be a step forward
in promoting the greatest possible success of manned space exploration.
The world would regard it as a meritorious indication that nations can
find ways to compete and cooperate at one and the same time. . . .
“Let both countries work toward the day when a flight crew is saved
through cooperative action. That event would be the finest space spec-
tacular, the best space first ! ,’ (A& A, 7/67,334)
* AFCRL Space Physics Laboratory scientists Drs. Graham R. Hunt and John
W. Salisbury said, “Major ‘hot spot’ on the moon is not volcanic,” a
conclusion based on measurements made by AFCRL imaging device to
produce thermal photographs of infrared emissions of lunar surface
during dark of moon. Images had been obtained by using infrared
imager in association with AFCRL Strawberry Hill Observatory’s optical
telescope at Concord, Mass. The hot spot, associated with crater Tycho,
had heat distribution pattern very similar to solar illumination pattern
just before lunar sunset. Because of clear relationship between heat re-
lease and solar illumination, Salisbury and Hunt had concluded that
crater was emitting stored solar heat rather than volcanic heat. (OAR
Res Rev, 7/67, 12-3)
International Council of Scientific Unions’ Inter-Union Commission of
Solar-Terrestrial Physics ( IUCSTP) had planned coordination of ob-
servations and data exchange during and beyond period of solar maxi-
mum activity expected to arrive before end of 1%8. Members had been
preparing list of projects in six major areas: solar activity; particles
and waves in interplanetary space; particles, fields, and waves in
magnetosphere; external geomagnetic field; ionosphere; and aeronomy.
Much if not most of this work would be carried out from ground;based
observatories and geophysical stations, but spaceborne instruments
would be essential to supply key information not obtainable from ground.
IUCSTP recommended that “ground-based, rocket and balloon programs
should . . . take advantage of the fact that certain space vehicles will
be making related measurements at particular times.” ( NAS-NRC-NAE
News Report, 8/9/67,6-7)
e Federal Suppofi for Academic Science and Other Educational Activities in
Universities and Colleges, NSF’S report to OST for fiscal years 1963-66,
showed these Federal obligations were $3.0 billion in 1966, more than
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