7 Years Under NASA j

Productive At Center 1

.

BY BEN ALLSBULER Fire's purpose was to gather The National Aeronautics and dat~ on heatin_g l!laterial be­

Space Administration's seventh hS:vtor, an? radio signal attenu- ' year was one of expansion and a!Ion durl_Ilg reentry at such ! achievement aU Langley Re- htgh velocity· II

search Center. J Scout recorded its loth suc-Establi~ed 48 years a g o,j cessful launch in as many tries

Langley lS the oldest . facility ; Aug. 10, establishing a new high operated by NASA, whtch was reliability for NASA research created Oct. 1. 1958, as well as . one of the largest. Its plant grew rockets. . ~he four-stage solid-1 substantially in t h e last 12 fueled vehtc~e was deve~oped at months with six buildings valued Langley' which ~as contmued to at $1 million or more apiece un- manag~ the proJect through 37 der construction and nearing launchmgs. completion. . The Aug. 10 Scout was the

Langley also marked major first e~e~ to fly after having successes in its Scout and Fire been a1rhfted fully fueled and. projects. And a man responsi- ready to go, instead of having! ble for developing much of the been assembled at the launch center's manpower, s. Walter s~te. I~ also made use for the Hixon, was named Jan. 12 fed- first t!l!le of a course-changing eral civil service employe of capability such as ~e Mariner the year for the several Tide- spacecraft used on 1ts way to water area installations, while Mars. the personnel division's William! Three of the major new Lang­L. Williams won the Nationai,ley buildings are in a hitherto­Institute of Public Affairs ca- undeveloped western frontieq reer educational award for a All represent a new look in: year's study at Indiana Univer-j architecture, getting away from sity. the traditional institutional red

Pr~.iect Fire culminated ~ay!brick. 22 w1th the successful launchmg l' They are a vehicle antenna o~ a second spacecraft ~o a point test facility, an electronic in­high aboye t~e ~tlantlc Ocean, [ strumentation laboratory, and a from whtch tt ftred a reentry [ stabilization and control Iabora­p~ckage back to earth at 25,800. tory. Their purposes, respect­mll~s an hour. The speed, palf ively, are to develop antennas a gam as fast as that. ~ttamed for spacecraft and telemetry; by Me~cury and Gemim_ as!ro- to test and calibrate spacecraft. nauts, 1s about what scientists guidance systems· and to de­expect a mission returning from velop smaller and more effect­the moon to reach. ' See 7 Year, Page 12, Col. ~·

Space Technology Spacecraft - docking and air : ..

lock simulation studies a Is 0 1 During NASA's seventh year,! went on, as did preparation ofi Langley launched a large micho-1 manned space station techno!-/ meteoroid penetration satellite,! · ogy. Langley built a rotating! Explorer XXIII, similar to Ex-: space station simulator, a plat- plorer XVI but with detection form on which a man can be devices on more of its usable hung so that centrifugal force surface. Explorer XVI sent back · determines his ''weight " and in the first half of 1963 the first received a 30-ton life ;upport statistically significant informa­system prototype designed to tion on the ability of microme- ' house four to six men for up to teoroids to pierce spacecraft · a year. The center, which had/ skin materials. · contracted with Douglas Air- . cra!t. Co. to study the manned! Explorers Orbited

1 orbxtmg research laboratory con-1 Another pair of Explorers, cep~, last December gave thel, XXIV and XXV, were orbited. Boemg Co. a contract to study shortly afterward last winter,/ the feasibility of operating a . using a single Scout for the manned orbiting astronomical ; observatory, free of interference . from earth atmosphere in con-junction with the labor~tory.

12 DAILY PRESS, Newport News, Va., Sat., Oct. 2, 1965

7 Years Under NASA Productive At Center 1

. Cont~ued From Page 3ilaunch. It was only the second! IVe electroruc control and data-~· double satellite launch in NASA gathering devices. , history. 1

i Explorer XXIV is a 12-foot! Research Lab i balloon to measure air density :

Under construction elsewherelwhile XXV, or Injun Explbrer:j on the Langley reservation are ;carries a variety of experiments, a fatigue research laboratory : to test corpuscular radiation. ·\' and a $1 million addition to the< Langley also laid plans for center's 'high pressure air supply!Pageos, a balloon-like satellitej building. The laboratory willJsimilar to locally-created Echo, bring under one roof, with bet-,and intended to furnish a brightj ter facilities, metal fatigue reference point for more accu­studies now being conducted in rate mapping of the world with( several temporary locations. A the aid of cameras. Pageos is l 6,000 cubic - foot - per • minute, to be placed in polar orbit dur-1 6,000-pound-per-square-inch com· ing 1966. i pressor will improve the center's . Echo I, incidentally, passed! ability to perform basic research 1ts fifth birthday in orbit, still i in high-speed wind tunnels. visible and still spherical. !

Off campus, construction is A 1966launch goal is expectedi continujng on the Space Radia-l to be met by the lunar orbiter, tion Effects Laboratory at Oys· l a moon - mapping photographic· ter Point to which an 8,400-i satellite series being construct­square-foot experiment area is!ed under Langley management. being added for research on Langley is giving technical di­mesons and neutrons. _SR:E.L i re~tion to ~h~ee aerospace firms will be operated by the V1rguuaidomg pr~hmmary designs for a Associated Research Center and:hypersomc ramJet research en­form the heart of a graduate- i gine, and working with others study institut~on operated by a 1 ~n . the idea of a heat -shield for union of Virginia Pol¥technic In-jliftmg-body r e en t. r y vehicles· stitute. the University of Vir- which could be used fo1• a flight · ginia and the College of William I or two and then replaced like a and Mary. !'damaged automobile fender.

Langley is gradually contract- An infrared - sensing horizon ing for comP.Onents of a hot gas scanner to help aircraft a n d · radiation" research fa c i 1 it Y.. spacecraft con .ead naviga- ' which is a · sort of wind tunnel bon at extremely hiP altitudes operating at spacecraft speeds. is nearing the Jtage. De-; Purpose of the device is to study signed to tell whi way is up, • . radiation from the hot gas cap the scanner wa developed by · that forms around the front end Arthur L. Newcomb Jr. , Nei-: of a spacecraft reentering the son J. Groome and Norman M,: atmosphere. It will produce gas,Hatcher at Langley. flows past test models at up to Langley also received during 45,000 feet per second - more the_ last 12 months a rigid-rotor, than 30,000 miles an hour-for[~ehcopter to be used as a fly-· fractions of a second. i mg laboratory. 1

Exposure of man to some o£'1

.------- ·- - ---···

the features of space travel has not been overlooked in the past 1

12 months. Langley placed inl operation its lunar landing re-i search facility, where techniques •

1·,

will be developed for landing a i rocket powered vehicle on the!: moon and continued work on ' a IuU:ar orbit and landing ap- . proach device, which uses closed circuit television a n d lunar- , landscape mockups to simulate · the view from an Apollo space- · craft. I·