NASA the National Aeronautics and Space
Administration presents Aeronautics and
Space Report 1967 marked the end of the
first decade since Sputnik it was an
eventful year in space a year when this
country's biggest rocket was flown for
the first time a year when the moon was
mapped in its entirety and a year when
remarkable color pictures of the earth
were received from a globe orbiting
satellite these are the highlights there
were three successful surveyors this
year helping prepare the way for
Americans who would land on the moon
these three legged crafts hurled two
hundred thirty-five thousand miles from
Earth and sat down gently on the moon
their job photographed large areas of
the lunar surface this the surveyors did
and more upon a signal from Earth an
Arman surveyor three with a small shovel
attached extended out to this unknown
soil retrieved a scoop full and placed
it on one of the spacecraft's landing
pads surveyors camera then took a look
at the moon material in color other
instrumentation has chemically sampled
the soil but the surveyors were not
alone
three picture-taking lunar orbiters gave
scientists a different perspective as
they circled above the moon again
pictures pictures from a distance and
pictures close up pictures revealing the
lunar surface in remarkable detail the
kind of detail needed before men land
they're explaining what we've learned
from the two spacecraft NASA's Assistant
Director for lunar flight programs
captain Lee sure there are three major
accomplishments of the severe and lunar
orbiter programs they have demonstrated
that we have the technical competence to
do a significant exploration of the
planets with automated spacecraft they
have shown us that the moon is a complex
and scientifically interesting place for
further exploration by man and they have
paved the way for that first man landing
this will be accomplished along the
equatorial belt of the moon in this zone
the eight smoothest sites have been
selected from orbiter photography in the
four of these surveyors have landed the
next step is that historic moment
when man first sets foot on the lunar
surface it will be a launch vehicle like
this Saturn 5 that will one day boost
astronauts toward the moon in this
important first flight test on November
9th all systems work flawlessly
separations occurred as programmed
stages untried in space fired on command
shown here in animation the
all-important re-entry to duplicate a
return trip from the moon if two
exceeded its requirements the spacecraft
skipped in and out of the Earth's
atmosphere to slow it down blazing in at
nearly 25,000 miles per hour simulating
a lunar return finally a landing in the
Pacific within sight of recovery ships a
textbook flight from liftoff to
splashdown Saturn five and its million
component parts worked and worked well
1967 was a year when three astronauts
were lost during a ground test of the
Apollo command module
since then the spacecraft has been
redesigned a quick opening hatch for
emergency exits special covers and
guards for panels fireproof containers
for potentially flammable materials and
new electrical circuit designs the new
Apollo spacecraft is ready and so are
the men who will make the first flight
astronauts Shara Cunningham and Isley
1967 was an especially busy year for
other unmanned space explorers bio
satellite carried out the first
biological research in space under
controlled conditions 13 experiments
were chosen to study how various life
processes are affected by the space
environment these earthly space
travelers included frog eggs wheat
seedlings wasps and flour beetles the
main objectives of the mission were to
study the effects of weightlessness and
radiation upon living organisms after
two days in space the bio satellite
capsule re-entered the Earth's
atmosphere was snatched in midair by
plane and rushed to Hawaii to waiting
scientists it was learned from the
flight that several types of plants are
dependent upon a continuous gravity
field however most of the data from the
various experiments including those for
radiation are still being studied three
Observatory type spacecraft were
launched during the year this is a go
orbiting geophysical Observatory in
addition to giving scientists a better
understanding of interplanetary and
galactic space logos many experiment
hours of data may eventually unlock some
of the mysteries of the Earth's
environment - spacecraft in the orbiting
solar observatory series are studying
the Sun and its influence on the earth
the Sun is the nearest star to our
planet and the only one we can study in
detail here's an ultraviolet view as
never before seen it indicates solar
heat in excess of a million and a half
degrees orbiting solar observatories
will also serve as watchdogs for future
space travelers enabling those on the
ground to advise astronauts of solar
activity warning them when they should
come in out of possibly hazardous solar
storms complimenting the observatory
satellites - interplanetary monitoring
probes explorers 34 and 35 they too are
part of a solar flare production
capability to aid the lunar landing
they are also reporting on the
magnetosphere which protects the earth
from radiation the reliable Atlas Aegina
launch vehicle was used this year to
launch the second and third in a series
of five applications technology
satellites the spider shaped spacecraft
are being used to test out experimental
systems for improving weather forecasts
radio television and communications of
all kinds up till now
airplanes flying over mid-ocean have
been out of radio range for periods of
an hour or more with ats technology
airlines can keep in touch at all times
this conversation between a Pan Am jet
pilot and mainland United States took
place when the plane was half way from
New York to London the communication
travelled from the ground to the
satellite and finally to the airplane
ATS can also relay color TV and multiple
telephone calls from around the globe
color pictures of the earth show the
changing cloud pattern over the world
for an entire day giving weather men a
view in color of developing storms while
the 80s were checking out possible
advanced application systems NASA
launched six more operational satellites
three SS satellites for the weather
bureau and three intercept spacecraft
for the communication satellite
cooperation
On June 14th a 540 pound spacecraft
called Mariner was launched toward the
planet Venus
after travelling through space for
nearly 3 and 1/2 months and covering a
distance of 219 million miles Mariner 5
flew by Venus the highly successful
Mariner transmitted data about the
Venusian atmosphere ionosphere magnetic
fields and the energy levels of cosmic
rays in Pasadena the director of the Jet
Propulsion Laboratory talked about the
results here's dr. William H Pickering
on October 19th for this year
905 flew past the planet Venus at a
distance of about 2500 miles above the
surface this was the second successful
Mariner mission to the planet the past
of the Mariner is shown by this model
and between these two points of the path
around the planet Mariner was out of
sight of the earth this was done
deliberately so that we could observe
the effect of radio signals passing
through the atmosphere of the planet
Venus by observing the effect of the
atmosphere on the radio pigments we were
able to learn a great deal about the
atmosphere of a planet to show for
example that it is exceedingly dense at
the surface that it is mostly carbon
dioxide san marco' is the name of a
cooperative effort between NASA and the
Italian commission for Space Research a
launch pad anchored off the coast of
Kenya Africa was the site of the
scientific launching the successful San
Marco reported on the makeup of the
Earth's atmosphere and investigated the
causes of interference with long-range
radio transmissions more than 360
sounding rockets were used to probe the
regions of the lower and middle
atmospheres many of these experiments
were in cooperation with other nations
interested scientists from all over the
world bring their experiments to NASA's
Wallops Island Virginia sounding rocket
station for launching
NASA continued broadly applicable basic
research in aeronautics during 1967
supersonic aircraft technology was of
particular interest this effort included
the operation of test planes like this
xb-70 the xb-70 is being used to study
the flight dynamics associated with
supersonic speeds the huge bird-like
plane duplicates the size and speed of
the SST
although primary interest has been on
materials propulsion and flight dynamics
work in such areas as fuels radiation
factors and sonic boom is also
continuing one thing the xb-70 cannot
simulate is the variable-sweep feature
of the SST which allows the plane's
wings to fold close to the fuselage for
supersonic travel and then swing back to
normal position for landing the f-111
can however and NASA is using this plane
to provide much of the experience needed
to study the variable-sweep
characteristics of supersonic transports
to study speeds in excess of 3500 miles
per hour the hypersonic x-15 rocket
airplane is used the usual jet black
x-15 took on a new appearance this year
as it was painted with a special
ablative coating to withstand the
searing heat beyond Mach 7 on October
3rd
Major William Knight set a new speed
record with the newly painted rocket
plane 4,500 34 miles per hour as usual
the x-15 is carried aloft by a giant
b-52 when the desired altitude is
reached the x-15 drops away and
maneuvers on its own
major night and all the test pilots at
the Flight Research Center mourn the
recent death of major Michael J Adams in
a fatal crash of one of the x-15 the
first fatality since the program began
in 1959 a so-called HL 10 lifting body
was successfully tested this year at the
Flight Research Center lifting body
craft are being studied there's one
possible means of flying future
spacecraft back to earth after a mission
rather than parachuting into the ocean
their stubby design will allow an
astronaut to maneuver his spaceship back
through the Earth's atmosphere and then
land like a conventional airplane jet
aircraft noise is a national problem
NASA's effort is part of a nationwide
program with other government agencies
and industry is threefold while studies
are going on to improve existing engines
the Lewis Research Center in Cleveland
is designing a completely new engine
designed to be quiet across the country
at NASA's Ames Research Center in
California especially instrumented jet
is being operated in a way to decrease
the ground exposure to noise this
involves flying the plane in at a steep
approach and letting the distance reduce
the noise on the ground eventually all
the known noise control techniques will
be combined in an effort to produce a
truly quiet engine surveyor
lunar orbiter Mariner
oh so Explorer
biyo satellite xb-70 Saturn 5
aeronautics and space highlights in 1967
a year of continued research and
exploration
this has been an Aeronautics and Space
report presented by NASA the National
Aeronautics and Space Administration