Astronautics and Aeronautics, 1967 - NASA's History Office

ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1967 November 15
The $100,000 contract would explore seeding warm fog-above 32” F-
with new materials to cause water droplets to combine into larger drops
and become precipitation. Materials would be dispensed into fog from
aircraft or from ground equipment.
United Air Lines had started successful cold-fog seeding progp;am
in 1963, using dry ice pellets, and program now involved several airlines
and seeding operations at 17 airports. Warm-fog seeding at Sacramento,
Calif., would be technically managed by UAL Meteorology Manager
W. Boynton Beckwith; tests would run to Feb. 29, 1968. (ATA
Release)
November 16: NASA Nike-Apache sounding rocket, .launched from NASA
Wallops Station, reached 102-mi (167-km) altitude in Univ. of Maryland
experiment to evaluate capabilities and accuracies of pulse and thermal
equalization probes as research tools. Experiment also investigated electron
energy distribution in normal daytime ionosphere and use of wingslope
techniques with Langmuir probes. Experiment was successful.
(NASA Rpt SRL)
* NASA announced Boeing Co. had been awarded incentive fee of $1,811,611
for two missions-Lunar Orbiter IVY $1,061,111; Lunar Orbiter V,
$750,50O--completing performance fee portions of Boeing contract
and totaling $6,809,053 in such awards for all five Lunar Orbiters. Previous
incentive awards-Lunur Orbiter I, $1,995,312 ; Lunar Orbiter II,
$1,948,725 ; Lunar Orbiter Ill, $1,053,405-had been earned by Boeing.
After initial goal to photograph potential moon landing sites had been
achieved by first three Lunar Orbiters, NASA’s contract modification set
a new goal of more advanced scientific missions for Lunar Orbiter IV and
V; Boeing could earn through outstanding performance remaining
award fees not earned on previous flights. Modified contract provisions
still recognized amounts of original Lunar Orbiter IV and V award fees.
NASA’s Incentive Award Fee Board for Lunar Orbiter noted that Lunar
Orbiter IV had photographed moon’s “entire front,” and Lunar Orbiter
V had completed photography of “opposite side.” (NASA Release 67-
285)
First F-111A USA squadron probably would not be operational in Southeast
Asia before November 1%8, despite Pentagon “leak” that squadron’s
scheduled appearance was February 1968, predicted Norman
Sklarewitz in Wall Street Journal. Of 75 aircraft required for readying
of squadron and planning of tactical fighter wing, only two production
and six test models had arrived for pilot training at Nellis AFB. At
least nine months would be required for pilot training plus several more
months for unit training after arrival of sufficient production models at
Nellis AFB, he said. (Sklarewitz, WSJ, 11/16/67, 14)
* Dr. Donald F. Hornig, Director of OST and science advisor to the President,
addressing science writers’ seminar in St. Louis, doubted value of
scientists’ becoming part-time politicians to promote greater public support
of scientific activity. He said a scientist who used his skill in explaining
complex subjects to laymen was “a much better politician than anyone
trying to be an amateur on serious political matters.”
Noting that rate of growth of Federal support. of science activities had
slowed in recent years, Hornig said $17 billion was still being spent
annually on science activities, including $1.8 billion on academic science
in universities. (AP, NYT, 11/19/67, 2; Federal Support for Academic
Sciences and Other Educational Activities in Univ. and Col., July 67)
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