QUARTERLY REPORT NO. 9

foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music] quarter of 1965 the United States passed the midpoint in its development of a capability to achieve the manned Apollo lunar Mission within this decade in operations for manned Gemini missions the first American four-day flight and extra vehicular activity were achieved in the development of Apollo Saturn Hardware major system testing continued in the preparations for Apollo Saturn flights manufacturing work continued pointed toward the first Apollo Saturn 1B mission in construction new facilities and Equipment approached completion in the continuing unmanned investigation of space missions were launched to study re-entry environments and the near-earth meteoroid environment the major achievement of the quarter was the four-day Gemini mission of Jim mcdivitt and Ed White launched on June 3rd the objective of the mission Gemini 4 launched by a modified Air Force Titan II was to obtain experience in Rendezvous Maneuvers extra vehicular activity and longer duration flight knowledge of major significance in the development of the nation's manned space flight capability the objective was achieved with outstanding success for example early in the mission during the flight crew's attempt to approach the burned out second stage of the booster much was learned about maneuvering with a spacecraft and rendezvousing with a second vehicle in Ed White's extra vehicular activity phase it was proven that a man outside his spacecraft can control himself with either a maneuvering unit or a tether and further that he can do useful work extra vehicular activity will be essential in scientific experiments and other operations in later manned missions almost throughout the flight valuable experience was gained in real time or on-the-spot Mission planning a major contribution to the effectiveness of such planning is made by NASA's Goddard space flight center which gathers information from the worldwide network of tracking stations and relays it in real time to Mission Control personnel real-time planning was exemplified by decisions affecting fuel utilization scientific experiments and work rest Cycles most important of all it was proven that the Germany system can provide a habitable working base for man for at least four days and proven that man can live and work acquiring scientific data such as weather and Earth terrain photographs for at least four days at the mission's conclusion the value of teamwork was proven not for the first time but once again within less than an hour after touchdown Navy helicopter units had picked up the astronauts and returned them to the primary recovery vessel the carrier USS Wasp and preliminary post-flight examinations aboard the WASP medical doctors found in the astronauts no inhibitive physiological effects after four days in the space environment as important as the Gemini 4 flight itself was the activation of the Houston Mission Control Center for it is from here that all future NASA manned space flights will be directed and controlled the focal point for the worldwide operations attendant to any NASA manned flight the control center provides four major functional systems one for mission control and monitoring one for communications one for real-time computer calculations and one for simulation checkout and training with the four systems the control center provides flight controllers with a capability to direct and monitor as well as simulate highly complex missions long duration missions for example involving Earth orbital plane and altitude changes lunar surface and orbital trajectories and Rendezvous and docking maneuvers by contrast the early Mercury control center provided flight controllers with a capability for dealing with only one Mission at a time and these missions lasted for short durations and involved relatively simple Earth orbital trajectories as proven in Gemini 4 the Houston Mission Control Center is a vital part of the nation's banned space flight capability the next manned flight is Gemini 5 an eight-day mission the Gemini 5 spacecraft delivered to Cape Kennedy on June 19th for a summer launch is equipped with two new subsystems a rendezvous radar and fuel cells the radar will be used in the continuing development of Rendezvous techniques the fuel cells instead of batteries will furnish primary electrical power for the spacecraft combining hydrogen and oxygen reactants to generate power fuel cells offer a weighted bandage over batteries in long duration flights and are therefore essential in the Apollo manned lunar and other extended missions the achievements in Germany manned flight operations increased confidence that the Apollo manned lunar Mission will be accomplished within this decade meanwhile Apollo Saturn Hardware development continued on May 19th at the Army's White Sands Missile Range NASA and contractor Personnel conducted another of the tests of Apollo's rocket-powered launch Escape subsystem one zero [Applause] the objective was to test the subsystem at high altitude approximately 112 000 feet five seconds after liftoff however the Little Joe 2 launch vehicle began an unprogrammed violent role apparently the result of a control fin turbo valve failure consequently a 12 300 feet the Little Joe 2 broke up imposing abort conditions far exceeding the limitations of emergency detection equipment in spite of this the abort sequence occurred as programmed the launch Escape subsystem separated the Command Module from The Little Joe 2 and the parachutes returned the vehicle safely to Earth although certain test results were missed they will be acquired in a later Mission and the test will not be repeated therefore Apollo development schedules were unaffected a few weeks after this flight another test of the launch Escape system was conducted at the White Sands Missile Range this one performed under simulated pad abort conditions achieved all major mission objectives in preparation for lamb development work Grumman aircraft continued with final assembly and checkout of ground test vehicles in its newly completed white room at Bethpage New York included were a lamb mock-up which will be used in extensive thermal testing and Analysis a full-scale metal structure for use in electronic system integration and testing two flight weight prototype descent propulsion rigs which will be test-fired in high altitude simulations at the White Sands test facility and a prototype lamb midsection with Associated equipment including an Ascent propulsion system all for testing in high altitude simulations at White Sands while spacecraft development was characterized by a steady progress during the second quarter of 1965 launch vehicle development was marked by three major Milestones the First full thrust static firings for each of Saturn V's three stages at the Marshall space flight center the first state was fired in a single engine test for the first time early in April almost two months ahead of schedule [Music] it was fired again in the middle of April in a five-engine test which attained full thrust of seven and a half million pounds for the first time in the next firing the stage's engine gimbaling capability was tested for the first time the Saturn V second stage underwent its initial 5 engine firing in an ignition test at North American Santa Susanna facility on April 24th this was the first time the stages J2 engines had been fired in the clustered configuration in a subsequent test the second stage developed its full thrust capability one million pounds the third stage was fired in the Saturn V configuration for the first time on June 19th at Douglas aircraft Sacramento test operations this stage also serves as the second stage for Saturn 1B the start of the full thrust static firing tests for Saturn V stages is a major step toward Apollo Saturn V flight operations Apollo Saturn flight Hardware meanwhile continued its steady progress through manufacturing and checkout at North American Aviation spacecraft 009 command and service modules payload for the unmanned first Saturn 1B launch were assembled in the Stacked configuration final equipment installation and Factory checkouts were underway the purposes of the first mission a major Milestone are to verify the flight worthiness of the Apollo Saturn 1B in the all systems up configuration and to prove out the capability of the Command Module heat shield under Apollo re-entry conditions for the first Saturn 1B first stage acceptance test firings were successfully conducted by the Chrysler Corporation at Marshall during April where the tests complete the stage was returned to NASA mashu for refurbishment and final checkout by Chrysler the first flight vehicle's second stage meanwhile was shipped to Douglas aircraft's Sacramento test operations for acceptance test firings for the first flight Vehicles instrument unit component installation was begun and continued by IBM all elements of the first Apollo Saturn 1B flight vehicle are scheduled for delivery to Cape Kennedy in the near future the launch is scheduled for 1966. Beyond Apollo Saturn 1B which will give the United States a capability for prolonged Earth orbital missions manufacturing was also in progress for Apollo Saturn V which will extend the capability to lunar surface missions at North American Welding operations continued for the first Apollo Saturn V flight spacecraft in Marshall and Boeing manufacturing areas major assembly of the first flight Saturn V first stage proceeded with completion of the two major structural units at North American assembly of major elements for the first flight second stage continued at Douglas aircraft propellant tanks for the first flight third stage were completed and mated then hydrostatically proof tested concurrent with Stage assembly instrument unit components were in fabrication at contractor plants keeping Pace with the development and manufacturing of Hardware is the construction of ground facilities an essential part of the nation's manned space flight capability at NASA's Mississippi test facility construction was drawing to a close for a stand to be used in static firings of Saturn V second stages this the first MTF stand scheduled for completion will be used initially in firings of a flight weight ground test second stage at the John F Kennedy Space Center's complex for Apollo Saturn V launches two more construction Milestones were achieved one was the completion of the steel framework for the 525-foot Vehicle Assembly Building or VAB which will be used for checkout and assembly of Apollo Saturn V vehicles altogether the framework comprises some 45 000 beams and columns varying in weight from 150 pounds to 36 tons the second milestone was the functional testing of the first Apollo Saturn V crawler transporter which will move assembled space vehicles from the VAB to the launch pad in the first series of checkouts Mobility speed and braking tests were performed in the second series lift and Mobility tests were performed using a mobile launching structure the structures stand 485 feet high and weigh 11 million pounds the total weight of the crawler and structure is over 16 million pounds simultaneous with Gemini manned operations Apollo Hardware development and Manufacturing and facility construction government and Industry continued investigating the space environment on May 22nd at Cape Kennedy the second project fire emission was launched project fire is directed by NASA's Langley Research Center under the office of advanced research and Technology the objective of these suborbital missions is to acquire information on high velocity re-entry Heating the data gathered as the project fire spacecraft re-enters the atmosphere at more than 25 000 miles per hour is assisting in the interpretation of laboratory data in the definition of re-entry environments and in the planning of Apollo missions in another mission to investigate the space environment this nation's second Pegasus meteoroid detection satellite was launched from Cape Kennedy into near-earth orbit by the ninth Saturn one vehicle this was the first night launch for a Saturn in orbit the Pegasus developed by Fairchild Hiller under the direction of Marshall for NASA's office of advanced research and Technology spreads 96-foot Wings to measure meteoroid numbers and mass velocity based on meteoroid penetration of wing panels placing the Pegasus in a near perfect orbit the Saturn one extended its flight record to nine successes in nine launches the third and final Pegasus will be launched by the 10th and final Saturn one vehicle sa-10 erected on the pad early in June and just at the end of the quarter NASA added six new members to its pool of astronauts included were two doctors of medicine and four scientists with Doctorate Degrees the achievements in the second quarter of 1965 were Milestone accomplishments at the midpoint of this nation's development of a manned lunar Landing capability further they were Milestone accomplishments in the development in manned space flight of a highly significant tool for the advancement of science [Music]