Astronautics and Aeronautics, 1965 - NASA's History Office

ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1965 25
that derived from a satellite as provided for by the agreement,” she
asserted.
“Up to the present time, based on the information I have available,
the Soviets are realizing more from the 1962 Geneva Agreement than
we are.”
Senator Smith added that measuring the results of the Geneva
Agreement strictly on scientific knowledge gained “is not a broad
enough yardstick. Any real plusses, it seems to me, must be measured
in the light of what we seek to accomplish, namely, the mastering of
space for the benefit of all mankind. The fact that the Geneva Agreement
ever came into existence shows an awareness of the magnitude of
the task confronting man if he expects to operate successfully in
space.”
January 21 .- NASA Administrator James E. Webb received an honorary doctorate
from Wayne State Univ., Detroit, Mich.
there he said:
During a speech
“Our goal is 100 per cent assurance of [space booster]
success. This is difficult to achieve, but until we are certain in our
own minds that we can count on success we do not go [on] with a
manned shot. My directive on this is very clear. It came first from
President Kennedy and has been restated by President Johnson. It is
‘Go when ready and don’t go until ready.’ ”
As part of the ceremonies dedicating the Capt. Theodore C. Freeman
Memorial Library of Astronautics at the Houston Baptist College,
Faith L. Freeman, 10-yr.-old daughter of the late astronaut, was
awarded a scholarship to the college. (Houston Post, 1/22/65; MSC
Roundup, 2/3/65,8)
Federal Aviation Agency announced that Alitalia had reserved three additional
delivery positions for the US. supersonic transport plane,
bringing the Italian carrier’s total to six. The new total of reserved
positions for the SST was 96; the number of airlines holding positions
was 21.
(Glaser, NANA, Indianapolis Star, 1/21/65)
( FM Release 65-12)
(Text)
The newspaper La Maiiana said “flying saucers” had appeared in
Uruguay. Several readers had reported saucers zigging and zagging
at great speed, and said they “could only be manned space
ships.’’ ( UPI, Wash. Daily News, 1/22/65)
January 22.- NASA’s TIROS IX successfully injected into a polar orbit by a
three-stage Delta rocket launched from Cape Kennedy. The spacecraft
was to have gone into a circular orbit about 460 mi. above the earth
but the second stage of Delta burned 11 sec. too long and pushed
TIROS IX into an elliptical orbit with apogee 1,602 mi., perigee 426
mi., inclination 81.6”, and period 119 min. First NASA attempt to
place a satellite in near-polar sun-synchronous orbit from Cape Ken-
nedy involved three dog-leg maneuvers. In a sun-synchronous orbit
the precession (westward drift) of the satellite would be about 1’
daily, the same rate and direction as the earth moves around the sun.
A hat-box shaped structure, TIROS IX was an 18-sided polygon, 22-
in. high, 42-in. in dia., weighing 305 lbs., with one of its flat sides facing
earth when initially injected into orbit. Ground signals to the control
system tipped the craft up 90’ SO that it assumed’ the appearance of a
fat wheel rolling on a track around the earth. Two cameras were
placed on the perimeter opposite each other so that as the wheel rolled