FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1967
1967 - 1326.PDF
1010 FLIGHT International, 14 December 1967 Ultra-violet view of the Sun; a picture received from NASA's Orbiting Solar Observatory (OSO-4) showing one aspect of the Sun's atmosphere 160,000km (100,000 miles) above its surface. The dark, shaded areas are regions where heat exceeds 82S,000°C. OSO-4, launched from Cape Kennedy on October 18, sent back more than 4,000 photographs during its first month in operation. (See "Flight," November 2, page 741) Spaceflight SOVIET SPACE TECHNOLOGY When NASA Administrator Mr James Webb was asked after the successful launching of Saturn V on November 9 whether he considered that this put the United States ahead of the Soviet Union in the "space race," he replied: "No, I do not,"' and went on to explain that from the beginning the USSR had always been one step ahead of the US in terms of booster power. This comment, reported by UPI correspondent Alfred Kru- sensteirn in a despatch from Washington recording that "despite the spectacular success of the Apollo 4 flight . . . America's space officials have made no attempt to claim that the US is now ahead of the Soviet Union," is of particular interest following the Review of the Soviet Space Program reported in last week's issue of Flight (pages 970-971) and the report of Dr Charles Sheldon's talk beginning on this page. The UPI despatch goes on to quote Mr Webb as saying that the Russians "have a booster bigger than the Saturn IB which we have tested out and flown; they are building one bigger than the Saturn V which flew today." Mr Webb added that the United States had been remarkably successful in microminiaturisation—building space vehicle com- ponents and equipment so small and light that experiments could be successfully undertaken using modest booster power. Air-to-ground view of the Manned Spacecraft Centre, Houston, Texas, showing, in the foreground, the new Lunar Receiving Laboratory where astronauts and material returning from Moon flights will be received But Mr Webb indicated that this factor, in his view, was not sufficient to make up for the Soviet advantage. NASA officials, the UPI despatch continues, stress that it is wrong to regard Soviet space rockets as big, but somehow primitive; they point out that, if it is carefully examined, Russian space technology turns out to be at least as sophisti- cated, if not more so, than that of the US. They further make the points that (1) the Russians were the first to land an instru- mented capsule on Venus and (2) first to achieve an auto- matic docking of two large spacecraft in orbit; (3) the Soviet space programme appears to be broader than that of the US, spanning the scale from planetary probes to manned lunar and Earth orbits, while in the first ten months of 1967 the USSR launched 57 major space probes against only 21 by the US; (4) the Russians have never missed a favourable Mars or Venus constellation to launch probes to these planets and have not been discouraged by failure, for although 17 of their early probes failed they pressed on, the result being the bril- liant success of their Venus 4, which exceeded the scientific achievements of any of the US Mariners; and (5) by auto- matically docking two big capsules the Russians have proved that they can erect large space stations in orbit, which will probably enable them to operate manned orbital reconnais- sance platforms well ahead of the manned orbital laboratory (MOL) envisaged by the USAF. THE RUSSIAN SPACE PROGRAMME Prior to the Saturn V launch,,the Russians had always openly boasted about their superiority in booster size; following it, there had been a noticeable change in attitude and the cus- tomary claims were no longer put forward. This comment was made by Dr Charles S. Sheldon II, Acting Chief of the Science Policy Research Division and Senior Specialist in Space and Transportation Technology at the Library of Congress, speak- ing at an Astronautics International Symposium held in New York last month by the American Astronautical Society. A Russian delegate was expected at the symposium, to talk about the Soviet space programme; but some ten days before the proceedings were scheduled to take place (November 27-29) the organisers received notification that the intensity of USSR space activity had made it impossible for the speaker to attend. Dr Sheldon therefore deputised for him, and as a result of having spent years analysing the Russian programme (he prepared the Library of Congress Review of the Soviet Space Program, to which reference was made in Flight last week (as noted above), gave his audience a much fuller account than a more reticent Russian spokesman would probably he provided.
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
