Astronautics and Aeronautics, 1967 - NASA's History Office

March 1-2 ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1967
manned lunar landing cannot be achieved before 1970,” Dr. Seamans
admitted there was a high probability that Apollo program would have
to operate on a delayed schedule. “An important contributor to . . .
success will be adequate resources and the flexibility to apply them when
needed. . . . We cannot say today that the $2.6 billion requested for
Apollo is not enough [but] we can say it is not too much. . . . It cannot
be reduced and still accomplish the objectives we have defined.” (Testi-
mony; Transcript, 118)
March 2: Two Aerobee 150 sounding rockets carrying instrumented payloqds
were successfully launched by NASA from WSMR. First rocket carried an
ultraviolet stellar spectrometer and input telescope to 97.5-mi (156.8-
km) altitFde to measure spectral irradiance of five early stars in 1,100
to 4,000 A wavelength. Second, carrying detectors to observe sky in the
infrared, reached 98.5-mi ( 158-km) altitude. Rockets and instrumenta-
tion performed satisfactorily. (NASA Rpt SRL)
* President Johnson told White House press conference that Soviet Premier
Aleksey Kosygin had responded to his Jan. 27 letter: “This reply con-
firmed the willingness of the Soviet Government to discuss means of
limiting the arms race in offensive and defensive nuclear missiles.
“This exchange of views is expected to lead to further discussions of
this subject in Moscow and with our allies. It is my hope that a means
can be found to achieve constructive results. . . .” Asked if he viewed
Senate passage of the consular treaty, the space treaty, the East-West
trade treaty, and a nonproliferation treaty as “one movement,” the
President responded: “I think they are all very desirable moves in the
national interest of the United States.
G<
. . . we are exploring, with every means at our command, every
possible way of relieving tensions in the world and promoting peace in
the world.” (PD, 3/6/67,353-4)
* Informed sources said U.S.S.R. had resumed sending meteorological data to
US. from an orbiting satellite following a four-month pause, AP re-
ported. Sent over a special teletype “cold line” established in 19a
between Moscow and Washington, D.C., for exchange of weather infor-
mation, data were apparently transmitted from Cosmos CXLIV,
launched Feb. 28. National Environmental Satellite Center later con-
firmed that it was receiving data from Cosmos CXLIV. (AP, NYT,
3/5 /67,31; AP, B Sun, 3/9/67)
* GSFC selected GE Missile/Space Div. to negotiate a $1.7-mi&on contract to
develop, integrate, and test attitude control system for Nimbus D meteor-
ological spacecraft. ( GSFC Release G-11-67)
MSFC would design and build inhouse a multiple docking adapter (Mda)
for use in Apollo Applications (AA) payload cluster scheduled for launch
in 1968-69 [see Jan. 261. Preliminary designs called for a 10-ft-dia,
15-ft-long cylinder surrounded by five 36-in-dia tunnels with docking
collars and sealing hatches for orbital docking. (MSFC Release 6742)
* Purdue Univ. had approved memorials for alumni Virgil I. Grissom and
Roger B. Chaffee, who died in Jan. 27 Apollo spacecraft fire. Memorials
included naming two campus buildings for astronauts, providing full
four-year scholarships for the two children of each man, and establish-
ing astronauts’ scholarship fund for worthy students. (AP, NYT,
3/3/67)
General Dynamics Corp. Convair Div. engineers said NASA had tentatively
selected its double delta wing design for a hydrogen-fueled hypersonic
60