NASA in the 1960s

Civil

Rights

Act

of

1964

Passed on July 2, 1964, the bill

guaranteed certain civil rights and labor

law legislations. It outlawed any discrimination

based on race, nationality, religion, sex, or the

color of one's skin. It brought an end to voter

registration requirments being unequal across the

states, and prevented racial segregation in school,

workplaces, and areas of public accomidation.

JFK

Assasinated

On November 22, 1963, the 35th president

of the United States, John F. Kennedy was assasinated. He was killed in Texas by Lee Harvey Oswald, and was shot twice - once in the head and once in the chest. Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson took over the presidency on Kennedy's passing. It is the most recent assasination of a president.

Tet Offensive

Named after the Vietnamese New Year, the Tet Offensive

began on January 30, 1968. It was a large campaign of surprise attacks against South Vietnam by Northern Vietnam armies (Viet Cong and People's Army of Vietnam). The Massacre at Hue took place during this time. Although it

was an overall win for South Vietnam and the

United States, it shocked the public and increased

distrust of the government, contributing

to decline of support for the war.

First Moon Landing

NASA's Apollo 11 lands humans on the surface of the moon on July 20, 1969. Astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first men to walk on the moon, respectively. Astronaut Michael Collins remained in orbit up above in the Columbia. It was described as "one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind" by Armstrong and brought an end to the Space Race between the

United States and the Soviet Union.

Gemini Agena Target Vehicle

The Gemini Agena Target Vehicle was

used to allow many astronauts to practice numerous rendevous

and docking manuveurs they would need if they would fly the Apollo

missions to the moon and back. It was used four times on the four

missions of Gemini 8, 10, 11, and 12 in 1966.

X-

15

The X-15 was a rocket

reasearch aircraft created by

NASA, the Air Force,

and the Navy. It was owned and

run jointly by all three units. It

consumed large amounts of fuel, so the

X-15 was always launched from a

separate B-52 aircraft at heights of

45, 000 ft. and at speeds higher than

500 mph. It set record speeds of Mach

4.43 (March 7, 1961), Mach 5.27

(June 23, 1961), Mach 6.04

(November 9, 1961), and Mach 6.7

(October 3, 1967) and an altitude record of

354,200 ft. (August 22, 1963). It gave

NASA numerous precious infomation on subjects

such as hypersonic air flow, aerodynamic heating, control and

stability at hypersonic speeds, reaction controls for any flight

above the atmosphere, piloting techniques for reentry,

human factors, and flight instruction. It highly

contributed to the success of the Mercury,

Gemini, and Apollo piloted

spacecraft programs, as

well as the Space

Shuttle

program.

Echo 1, 1A, and 2

Echo 1, 1A, and 2 were used from 1960

through 1964. The first experimental

communications satellite project produced these

three Echo satellites. Each one was a spacecraft

made of a large metallized balloon which, by

design, acted as a passive communications

reflector which bounced communication signals

transmitted from one point on the Earth to

another. Although the launch vehicle carrying

Echo 1 failed, Echo 1A (commonly confused

with Echo 1) successfully orbited the Earth and

redirected transcontinental and intercontinental

telephone, radio, and television signals. The successes

of Echo 1A and Echo 2 proved that microwave

transmissions to and from satellites in space was not

only understoof but could be demonstrated with a

future promise of more communications satellites.

TIROS

All of the TIROS (Television Infared

ObservationSatellites) were launched between

1960 and 1965, and are still in orbit. These

spacecraft were the beginning of a long series of many

different polar-orbiting meteorological satellites.

TIROS was followed by the TOS

(TIROS Opoerational System) series

of satellites as well as the ITOS (Improved

TIROS) series of satellites and the

NOAA series of satellites. TIROS

satellites were made and developed by the

GSFC and were managed by the

ESSA (Environmental Science

Services Administration). They achieved

the beginning and much of their objective of

establishing a global weather satellite system.

Apollo 1 Disaster

On January 27, 1967, the testing of the Apollo 1 (AS-204) capsule turned into a tragedy when a cabin fire broke out with the three crew members inside. It was to be the first manned mission of the Apollo Space Program, which had an ultimate goal of a manned lunar landing. However, Apollo 1's low orbit test in Earth for the Apollo Command and Service

Module never happened on the scheduled date of February 21,

1967 due to the tragedy. The cabin fire happened during a

launch rehearsal test at the Cape Kennedy Air

Force Station Launch Complex 34, killing

the three crew members -

Command Pilot Gus

Grissom, Senior

Pilot Edward

White, and Pilot

Roger B. Chaffee -

and destroying the command

module.

Important

Events

From

The

1960s

Aircraft,

Shuttles,

Rockets,

and Satellites

Used by

NASA

NASA

Remembers

New

Discoveries

From

Space

Research

• First successful meteorological satellite
• First experimental orbital navigation system
• First operational long-range ballistic missile
• First Mercury-Redstone capsule-launch vehicle combination
• First piloted Mercury spacecraft
• Development of the Titan rocket
• First privately built communications satellite
• First telephone and television signals carried by satellite
• First successful planetary flyby
• X-15 sets altitude record of 67 miles
• Photos of the moon
• First commercial communications satellite
• First spacewalk
• First images of Mars
• First space rendevous
• First orbital docking
• First real NASA tragedy
• First manned lunar landing mission

NASA in the 1960s

Sarah Armstrong, Period 1 Astronomy