Astronautics and Aeronautics, 1967 - NASA's History Office

October 1967
October 1 : Ninth anniversary of NASA, established by the National Aeronautics
and Space Act of 1958.
NASA Associate Administrator for Space Science and Applications Dr.
Homer E. Newell became NASA Associate Administrator. His appointment
had been announced Aug. 25. Dr. Newell would be replaced as
Associate Administrator for Space Science and Applications (Sciences)
by Dr. John E. Naugle. (NASA Release 67-228; NASA Ann, 10/20/67;
Hines, W Star, 10/3/67, A4)
* NASA announced that solar radiation and magnetic properties around
planet Venus as well as in interplanetary space would be studied as
Mariner V (launched June 14) approached closer to Venus. Flight plan
would take spacecraft within 2,500 mi of surface of Venus Oct. 19.
NASA hoped to acquire valuable information to supplement that learned
from Mariner II, which in 1962 had detected no radiation belts and no
magnetic field at miss distance of 21,600 mi. Added investigations
included: properties of solar wind; electron count by radio beam passing
through Venus’ atmosphere; study of so-called “solar plasma cavity”
on dark side of Venus; and investigation of unexplored region 54 million
mi from sun. (NASA Release 67-248)
Introduction to current US. research on use of spacecraft to study oceans,
“United States Activities in Spacecraft Oceanography,” was published
by National Council on Marine Resources and Engineering Development
and jointly prepared by NASA, Naval Oceanographic Office, Bureau
of (Tommercial Fisheries, and ESSA. Scientists reported on progress in
photographic and spectral scanning; when done from orbital locations,
scanning yielded data equivalent to that obtained by thousands of
globally distributed ocean-surface sensors. “Although data acquired
from space will initially appear coarse compared with measurements
from surface platforms, a sensing system with global coverage reporting
as often as desired, and with increasing scope and accuracy will
offer unique opportunities for broad unified synoptic analysis,” study
reported. (Text)
* New York Times editorial praised success of NASA’s Surveyor V, launched
Sept. 8: “If present indications are confirmed, Surveyor 5 has made one
the fundamental scientific discoveries of the century . . . that earth’s
natural satellite is made up of the same kind of material as is the earth.