Astronautics and Aeronautics, 1967 - NASA's History Office

ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1967 October 27
with Cosmos CLXXXVIII. Both spacecraft performed satisfactorily. ( W
Post, 10/29/67, A16; SBD, 10/30/67,320; GSFC SSR, 10/31/67)
e Atlas-F carrying unidentified payload exploded shortly after launch by
USAF from Vandenberg AFB. (SBD, 10/30/67,316)
October 28: Cosmos CLXXXVII was launched by U.S.S.R. into orbit with
210-km (131-mi) apogee, 145-km (90-mi) perigee, 87.8 min period, and
50” inclination. Satellite performed satisfactorily and reentered same
day. (GSFC SSR, 10/31/67)
October 29: U.S.S.R. would “shortly” launch a manned spacecraft which
might land outside Soviet territory-possibly in India-Soviet Ambas-
sador to India Nikolai M. Pagov told reporters in Madras, India, ac-
cording to AP. Permission to recover spacecraft in India had been
requested and granted in early September, he said. Official U.S. sources,
noting that several other countries had been approached for such per-
mission, speculated that an unmanned rehearsal for a manned circum-
lunar flight had been scheduled for late September and postponed
because of technical problems. Oct. 27 launches of Cosmos CLXXXVI
and Cosmos CLXXXVII-which were apparently Soyuz-type space-
craft-could be “practice shots” for the planned manned flight. (AP,
W Post, 10/30/67, A3; Clark, NYT, 10/30/67,54)
e JPL Director Dr. William H. Pickering announced appointment of Fred H.
Felberg, Assistant Laboratory Director for Technical Divisions, to the
new position of Assistant Laboratory Director for Plans and Programs.
He would be succeeded by Jack N. James, Deputy Assistant Director for
Flight Projects. In his new position Felberg would be responsible for
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planning JPL’s total program, including . . . effective distribution of
manpower and resources.” ( JPL Release 460)
October 30: U.S.S.R. launched two Cosmos satellites.
Cosmos CLXXXVIII entered orbit with 276-km (171-mi) apogee,
2W-km (124-mi) perigee, 89-min period, and 52” inclination. At 420
am, EDT, spacecraft was automatically docked with Cosmos CLXXXVI
(launched Oct. 27). Tass later announced: “. . . both satellites, equipped
with special approach and docking units, carried out a number of complicated
maneuvers in space, automatically finding each other, drawing
closer, berthing and docking rigidly.” It was history’s first automatic
docking in space and was filmed by TV cameras onboard both satellites.
US. had successfully accomplished first manned docking March 16,
1966, with Gemini VII and Gemini Agena Target Vehicle (GATV) ; in
this docking experiment, astronauts controlled the maneuver. After automatic
docking, the two satellites continued in orbit with altitude ranging
from 126171 mi. At 7:50 am, EDT, after completing 2% orbits, spacecraft
were undocked on command from the ground, and placed into
different orbits by restarting rocket engines. Cosmos CLXXXVI, larger
of the two spacecraft, softlanded Oct. 31 after 65 orbits. Cosmos
CLXXXVIII reentered Nov. 2.
Cosmos CLXXXIX was launched into orbit with 600-km (373-mi)
apogee, 535-km (332-mi) perigee, 95.7-min period, and 74O inclination.
(Shub, V Post, 10/31/67, 1; Kamm, NYT, 10/31/67, 1; AP, W
Star, 10/31/67, A3; Winters, B Sun, 11/1/67; GSFC SSR, 11/15/67)
0 U.S.S.R. announced successful completion of rocket tests in the Pacific
northeast of Midway Island to test equipment for spacecraft landings at
sea. Series, which began Sept. 2, was first to last as long as scheduled.
(UPI, NYT, 10/31/67,44; M/S Daily, 10/31/67)
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