Astronautics and Aeronautics, 1967 - NASA's History Office

August 8-9 ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1967
Nike-Apache launches were conducted for GCA Corp., under contract
to GSFC. Arcas launch was part of Wallops Station’s Bio-Space Technology
Training Program to assist biological experimenters in
evaluating the engineering and operational aspects of spaceflight research.
(WS Release 67-27)
August 9: U.S.S.R. launched Cosmos CLXXII into orbit with 301-km (187mi)
apogee, 202-km (125-mi) perigee, 89-min period, and 52” inclination.
Equipment functioned normally. Satellite reentered Aug. 17. (Aero
Tech, 8/14/67, 13; GSFC SSR, 8/31/67)
Explorer XXXV, launched July 19, had completed 33 orbits of the moon.
Results from GSFC’S magnetic field experiment aboard spacecraft indicated
moon was not magnetized. Capture of interplanetary magnetic
field lines by the moon and formation of lunar magnetosphere (theorized
by T. Gold in 1966) was not substantiated. A lunar bow shock wave
had not yet been observed when moon was Iocated in the interplanetary
medium or the magnetosheath of the earth. (NASA Proj Off)
* A balloon carrying 9,000-lb instrumented payload for NASA was successfully
launched from Chico, Calif., by Univ. of California Space Sciences
Laboratory. Approximately 10 hrs later, however, parachutes failed to
deploy after ground stations had commanded payload to separate and
payload fell into the Pacific. Equipped with flotation gear, it landed
within 20 mi of the recovery barge, but had not yet been located. Believed
the heaviest ever carried by a balloon, payload contained instruments
to: (1) measure cosmic radiction, nuclear interactions of primary
particles, and interference background of secondary particles;
and (2) gain information on mass and momentum of incoming particles.
Scientists were uncertain whether instruments had survived the impact,
but said they had obtained excellent telemetry data during 9X-hr flight.
(NASA Release 67-218)
* NASA had selected RCA Defense Electronics Products Div. for negotiation of
a $5-million, cost-plus-fixed-fee contract for 16 pairs of flight-qualified
dual spacesuit communications (SSC) systems to be used by Apollo
astronauts on the moon. ssc systems-each consisting of AM and FM
transmitters and receivers, warning system, and related equipmentwould
(1) permit two Apollo astronauts on lunar surface to maintain
constant voice communications with each other and with flight controllers
on earth and (2) simultaneously transmit telemetry data from
each astronaut back to the lunar module (LM) for relay to earth. Contract
would be managed by MSC. Delivery of first two flight units was
scheduled for October 1968. (NASA Release 67-214)
* Rep. George P. Miller (D-Calif.) , Chairman of the House Committee on
Science and Astronautics, praised NASA’s Lunar Orbiter program on
the House floor: “In the short span of just under 1 year, all five Lunar
Orbiters have been launched and have provided the world with more
information about the moon than has been obtained in all previous history.
Lunar Orbiter photography has certified four potential landing
sites for our Apollo astronauts, and has provided detailed photographs
for 99 percent of the front side of the moon and 60 percent of the back
side.
“Successful completion of the present mission [Lunar Orbiter VI will
provide supplementary data for the certification of five more Apollo
landing sites, detailed photography of virtually the entire moon’s sur-
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