Astronautics and Aeronautics, 1967 - NASA's History Office

ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1967
October 4
* U.N. Secretary General U Thant stated that “the very important treaty
governing the activities of states in outer space, on the moon and other
celestial bodies, forged in the conference room of the United Nations,
has reaffirmed the principle first stated in the General Assembly that
outer space is the province of all mankind.” [Space law treaty signed
Jan. 27 would go into effect Oct. 10.1 (NYT, 10/5/67)
* NASC Executive Secretary Dr. Edward C. Welsh was interviewed by Chris-
tian Science Monitor’s Neal Sanford. Comparing American and Soviet
space budgets, he expressed belief that U.S.S.R. was spending more
than twice the US. percentage of gross national product on space.
“Their [GNP] is less than half of ours. While they are spending about
the same amount of money that we are on space it is about twice the
percentage of GNP. They are putting a greater priority on space than we
are.” Soviet space program for 1967 had been “the most active in . . .
[their] history, so far as launches go,,’ he said. “I don’t know if they
are cutting [their budget] back. They are going along at a good rate
. . . [and] from the progress they are making, we assume they are
going along at about the same funding.” (Sanford, CSM, 10/4/67, 5)
News on failures of Soviet manned space flights was “at least in part,
‘managed’ by Washington,” Julius Epstein, research associate at Hoover
Institution on War, Revolution, and Peace, wrote in Los Angeles Times:
“According to reliable information, the CIA submitted a confidential
document to the White House early this year reporting the deaths of at
least 11 cosmonauts in addition to that of Komarov. The Washington
decision not to disclose information on . . . failures was made during
the last days of the Eisenhower Administration, presumably to protect
intelligence sources.” This decision, he said, was recorded in DOD-NASA
agreement, Jan. 13,1961. Mr. Epstein asked that the US. give an honest
accounting of what it knew about Soviet space losses, so that U.S. losses
could be assessed with proper perspective. (Epstein, LA Times, 10/4/67)
* FCC’S concern for future communications facilities in Atlantic basin area
was expressed in letters to ComSatCorp, AT~T, and international telegraph
carriers. Data were requested on the various requirements, to permit
evaluation of proposals for launching InteEat IV in 1970 time frame and
laying TAT v cable between US. and Spain about same time. Response
and exchange of comments were requested by end of October. (Text)
October 5: NASA Aerobe 150 sounding rocket launched from WSMR carried
NRL payload to 107-mi (173-km) altitude on flight to measure, with FLJV
heliograph and coronagraph, micrometeoritic particles close to rocket
and to take pictures of solar disc. Excellent results were obtained;
coronagraph package yielded more than 50 photographs of white-light
solar corona from three to 10 solar radii. (NASA Rpt SRL)
* Astronaut Clifton C. Williams, Jr. (Maj., USMC) , was killed during routine
flight when his “-38 jet aircraft crashed and disintegrated near Tallahassee,
Fla., apparently after he had blacked out from an oxygen deficiency.
A Lunar Module specialist and Gemini X backup pilot, Williams
was eighth astronaut to be killed in an accident and third to die in a
T-38 crash: one other astronaut had died in an air crash; three in Jan.
27 Apollo fire; and one in an automobile accident. He would be buried in
Arlington National Cemetery Oct. 9 with full military honors. ( W Post,
10/6/67, A1 ; 10/10/67, B3)
* Senate, approving (71-1) DOT’S FY 1968 appropriations bill (H.R. 11456) ,
accepted figures of its Appropriations Committee, where special attention
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