Astronautics and Aeronautics, 1967 - NASA's History Office

August 7 ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1967
US. national space program. We think it was the aim of these legislators
to mark the end of the era when NASA got everything it wanted simply
because it asked for it in a strident and persistent voice. We think it
was also the goal of Congress to put the national space program in a
better perspective in relation to such other high-priority problems as
the Southeast Asia war and the urban riots. . . .” Hotz predicted that
the future of the space program as a valid, continuing national goal
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will depend in the long run on the successful development of its new
hardware and the successful operation of this equipment on missions of
increasing complexity and greater value. The most significant contribu-
tion that NASA and its industrial contractor complex can make to the
future of the space program now is to bend their every effort to assure
that the Apollo hardware will function flawlessly, not only for its mis-
sions to the moon but also for long-duration earth-orbital opera-
tions. . . .” (Hotz, Av Wk, 8/7/67, 17)
US. and Soviet delegates attending COSPAR’S International Years of the
Quiet Sun (IQSY) symposium in London [July 17-21] had recom-
mended that cooperative solar studies begun during IQSY be extended
into the period of maximum solar activity, Herbert J. Coleman reported
in Aviation Week [see Jul. 17-21]. NRL scientist Dr. Herbert Friedman,
President of the Inter-Union Commission on Solar Terrestrial Physics
(IUCSTP) which initiated the proposal, said the application of new tech-
nologies, including space techniques, “had opened up new fields of
investigation such as the relationship between the solar wind and the
magnetosphere. A period of increased solar activity could provide valu-
able data.” Soviet physicist R. V. Pushkov pledged full Soviet coopera-
tion in extending the program. (Coleman, Av Wk, 8/7/67, 67)
ComSatCorp’s plans to launch a satellite by 1970 for relaying VHF com-
munications from transoceanic airliners might be delayed by high
costs, Electronics reported. “As far as the FAA is concerned, the only
issue is cost. The agency is still reeling from a Comsat proposal earlier
this year pricing such communications services at $5 million per chan-
nel per year; the FAA told Comsat it was not interested at that price. To
make matters worse, one FAA official says current estimates from hard-
ware makers are even higher.” (Electronics, 8/7]67)
Second phase of NATO’s proposed comsat project (NATO/SatCOm) [see
July 91 was being delayed by dispute over which countries would
develop satellite systems, Aviation Week reported. Several member
countries reportedly opposed use of US.-supplied, Philco-Ford Co.
Skynet satellites because it would eliminate participation by European
avionics industry and give US. dominant role. Satcom officials were
considering alternate plans in the event that agreement on original
Phase I1 proposal could not be reached: (1) delaying satellite develop
ment until Phase I11 to allow sufficient time to reach agreement on the
work-sharing formula; or (2) dropping satellite development from
Phase I1 and constructing a ground station network compatible with
DOD’S IDCSP satellites which were being used temporarily during initial
test phase. (Av Wk, 8/7/67,28)
August 8: NASA Aerobee 150 sounding rocket launched from WSMR achieved
180-mi (289-km) altitude in flight to measure: (1) vertical profiles of
neutral and ion composition and electron densities; and (2) dissociation
of molecular oxygen and atomic nitrogen density using mass spectrom-
eters designed for the POGO satellite. Preliminary data indicated that the
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