FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1963
1963 - 2208.PDF
LIGHT International, 19 December 1963 1009 Missiles and Spaceflight MANNED ORBITING LAB FOR USAF America's decision to go ahead with the development of a manned orbital laboratory was announced in Washington on December 10 not by Mr James Webb of NASA, as might have been expected, iut by Mr Robert S. McNamara, Secretary of Defense. This iroject, Mr McNamara disclosed, has been assigned to the US Air : orce; the laboratory will "conduct military experiments involving nanned use of equipment and instrumentation in orbit"—and, "if lesired by NASA," for scientific and civilian purposes. The Defense Secretary said that the first flight of the manned irbiting laboratory (MOL) was expected, to take place in late 1967 ir early 1968. It would consist of a pressurized cylinder approxi- nately the size of a small house, so designed that astronauts could nove about freely inside it without wearing space suits. The craft ould orbit the Earth at a height of 300 miles, and was designed to increase Defense Department efforts to determine military useful- lessof men in space." The manned orbiting laboratory will be attached to a modified Gemini capsule and launched into orbit by a Titan 3 booster. The Gemini is being developed by NASA for two-man space experiments in rendezvous techniques in preparation for the Apollo lunar programme, while the Titan 3 is being developed as a standardized booster by the Air Force. Astronauts will be seated in the mocfified Gemini capsule during launch, and will move into the laboratory after injection into orbit. After completion of their task in space, they will return to the cap sule, which will then be detached from the laboratory to return to Earth. The design of the MOL will permit rendezvous in space between the orbiting laboratory and a second Gemini capsule, so that relief crews could replace original crews in the laboratory. Such an operation would be undertaken if man's utility in a space environ ment were demonstrated and long operations in the space laboratory were needed. MrNcNamara said that the MOL programme would make use of existing NASA control facilities. These include the tracking systems which have been set up throughout the world for Gemini and other space flight programmes of NASA and the Department of Defense. The MOL programme, he continued, would permit a much more extensive exploration of the in-flight capabilities of the manned space vehicle. If results of the MOL and the unmanned re-entry Programmes warranted, a new and more advanced ferry vehicle The US Navy announced on December 4 that its Subroc anti-submarine missile has successfully completed over 60 trial tests and should become operational within the next year. Here a technician carries out a pre fixing inspection at the Naval Ordnance Laboratory, White Oaks, Maryland programme might be initiated in the future. Initial unmanned flights in the new programme probably would come in the first half of 1966. At the press conference announcing the project, the Defense Secretary commented that the USA would continue to support the United Nations resolution which prohibits any member nation from utilizing space to develop large-scale mass-destruction weapons. Mr McNamara also announced that the United States is terminating its X-20 Dyna-Soar programme. This was being done, he said, because the current requirements were for a pro gramme aimed at the basic question of man's utility in space, rather than a programme limited to finding means to control the return of man from space. He estimated that the cancellation of the Dyna- Soar programme and substitution of the MOL project would permit a saving of approximately $100m in the present 1963-1964 military space programmed expenditures. The Dyna-Soar was to have been a one-man winged spacecraft boosted into orbit by a Titan 3 and flown as a glider by its pilot. Dyna-Soar would have been designed to test the feasibility of manoeuvrability during re-entry, thereby allowing the pilot to choose a landing site and land in a manner similar to a conventional aircraft. The Air Force's Dyna-Soar project would have cost more than $800m. Approximately $400m has already been spent on it. As reported last week, NASA is negotiating a study contract for "refinement and revaluation of a NASA manned orbital laboratory concept" with Douglas Aircraft Co. The announcement of this contract stated "Both NASA and the Department of Defense are interested in possible requirements for a manned orbital research laboratory and have mutually agreed on the scope of the Douglas study contract." " Subroc is fired from a submarine on the San Clemente range. Launched underwater from a conventional torpedo tube, the missile is propelled wough the air by its solid-propellant rocket motor. A thrust-reversal system coupled with explosive bolts separates the rocket motor from its nuclear depth-bomb, ofter which the warhead continues on course, eventually descending to complete its journey underwater. Because of its double transition from underwater to surface and back to water, the missile must incorporate the hydrodynamic characteristics of a torpedo and the aerodynamic char- octer/s;/cs of a missile, as well as a shock-reducing devioe which permits the operation of the arming device and the warhead after water re-entry at "fwscnic speed. Prime contractor is Goodyear Aerospace Corporation
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
