Astronautics and Aeronautics, 1967 - NASA's History Office

ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1967 February 1
FAA announced that contracts for development of SST would be extended
on month-to-month basis with funds already available, “pending negotiations
. . . with the manufacturers and the airlines for airline financial
participation in the Phase I11 (Prototype Construction) program.”
Evert Clark commented in the New Yorik: Times: “The move to have the
airlines share the cost is intended to lessen budgetary pressures on the
Administration, make the program more appealing to Congress and
have the airlines, the ultimate beneficiaries of the project, show good
. faith by joining in the risk to a greater degree. . . .” (Text; Clark,
NYT, 2/2/67,1)
0 Transportation men were still the great “risk-takers of our society,” Secretary
of Transportation Alan S. Boyd told Transportation Assn. of
America meeting in Chicago. “Most of the entrepreneurs associated with
America’s great moments in transportation seem to have lost their shirt.
“The builder of the greatest clipper ship went broke.
“The builder of the greatest steamboat of the nineteenth century went
broke.
“The builder of the first monorail went broke.
“Most of the early railroads went broke.
“Most of the early canals went broke.
“For that matter, the builder of the first Ford automobile went broke,
at least on the first try.
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. . . our society must try to hold open financial rewards which are
commensurate with such risks. Especially when you realize how brief
. . . the life of many important transportation innovations has been.
. . .” (Text)
e WAF’S $3.3-rnillion solar vacuum telescope, designed to predict more ac-
curately solar proton showers which endanger astronauts and spacecraft,
was meeting its timetable for construction at Sacramento Peak Observa-
tory near Sunspot, N. Mex., Office of Aerospace Research announced.
Telescope-of which 193 ft would be underground and 135 ft above
ground-would be largest solar vacuum telescope in the world when
completed in 1968. In addition to predicting “safe periods” for space
flight, it would study solar phenomena and solar-terrestrial relationships.
{OAR Release)
0 Organizational changes became effective at AFSC Hq.: (1) creation of new
Deputy Chief of Staff (DCS) for Operations; (2) reassignment of functions
and responsibilities of the Office of the Deputy Commander for
Space to other appropriate staff agencies; (3) redesignation of DCS for
Foreign Technology to DCS for Intelligence and Dcs/Plans to DCS Development
Plans; (4) establishment of Office of the Headquarters Commandant
as a special staff office; and (5) reassignment of GAO activities
function to Deputy Chief of Staff, Procurement and Production. (AFSC
Release 28.67)
Entire universe might be immersed in a sea of tiny particles known as
neutrinos whose presence had thus far eluded observation, Dr. William
A. Fowler of Cal Tech told Amerioan Physical Society meeting in New
York. His theory sought to explain absence of helium in the spectra of
certain older stars within the framework of the “big bang” theory of the
universe. If -the exploding fireball from which the universe was formed
had been packed with neutrinos, these particles would have interacted
with neutrons to produce a cloud of protons and electrons, Dr. Fowler
said. Latter would then have combined to form hydrogen atoms which
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