Astronautics and Aeronautics, 1965 - NASA's History Office

ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1965 43
go far beyond the observation and inspection functions we envision at
this time.” (AP, Haugland, Balt. Sun, 2/1/65)
January 31 : Tass had reported that Soviet astronomers believed the upper
layer of the moon’s surface was saturated with meteoric matter distinguished
chemically and in mineral content from deeper layers.
“Highly accurate and reliable” observation had been made by a
Gorky University team headed by Vsevolod S. Troitsky, the Soviet
Union’s leading authority on radio emanations of the moon. (&abad
, Louisville Courier-Journal, 1/3 1/65 )
Two US. physicists, Prof. Robert V. Pound of Harvard and Assistant
Professor Glen A. Rebka, Jr., of Yale, were awarded the
Eddington Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society of London for
gravitational red shift experiments reported in 1960 that confirmed
Einstein’s principle of equivalence, one of the basic assumptions of the
general relativity theory. (NYT, 2/1/65, 12)
Smithsonian Institution disclosed architectural plans for a national air
and space museum to be built in Washington, D. C., opposite the
National Gallery of Art. Designed by Gyo Obata, a St. Louis architect,
the building would be modern in concept with an internal design
that would provide a sweeping vista of exhibit areas. Smithsonian
officials hoped to receive Congressional authorization to build the museum
at a cost of $42 million. (NYT, 1/31/65)
During January: Reviewing Apollo program progress, Dr. Joseph Shea,
Manager of the Apollo Spacecraft Program Office at NASA Manned
Spacecraft Center, said that NASA had characterized the program as a
series of phases. He explained that 1963 and 1964 were years of
detailed designs and initial developmental testing; 1964. and 1965
were years of extensive ground tests and qualifications for flight; from
1966 nn, groiind tests would be supplemental to extensive flight tests,
initially on the Saturn IB and later on the Saturn V. From his visits
to almost all of the major Apollo hardware contractors, Dr. Shea said
he could report that all of the subsystems associated with the command
and service modules “are well along in their ground test programs.
“Almost all elements are on schedule and the test results indicate
that the designs will meet our program objectives. By early this year,
all subsystem hardware will be undergoing the rigorous qualification
tests which we require before certifying such hardware ready for
flight. . . . By the end of 1965, there will be three Apollo spacecraft
in continuous ground testing. 1964 was, in retrospect, a year where
milestone by milestone, we have achieved Apollo objectives.” ( NAA
S&lD Skywriter, 1/15/65, 1,4; Witkin, NYT, 1/24/65,60)
Dr. William H. Pickering, Director of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory,
said in an article in Astronautics and Aeronautics for January:
“. . . With Ranger 7, the prime factor was the expectation that the
Apollo mission would choose a landing area on one of the smooth
‘maria.’ So it was of great value to this program to find out as much
as possible about the mare topography. In particular, it was necessary
to know if these areas were really lava flows and, if so, how much
was exposed lava and how densely the small craters were scattered
over the surface.
“Ranger gave some of the answers.
In some areas, at least, small
craters were indeed strewn very thickly. Probably such areas lie