Forest S. Gibson Collection, 1967-1971.

ArchivalResource

Gibson, Forest S. Forest S. Gibson Collection, 1967-1971.

Forest S. Gibson Collection, 1967-1971.

http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/733100239

The items in the collection were collected by Forest S. Gibson as part of his duties as Manager of the Executive Secretariat. Represented in the collection are interoffice memoranda, correspondence, and draft copies of manuscripts. Two folders document negligible JPL activities as a sub-contractor on non-JPL flight projects that included Nimbus E and F, OGO-E, Apollo program, and Orbiting Frog Otolith (OFO). The Nimbus satellites were early meteorological satellites. The six Orbiting Geophysical Observatory (OGO) missions conducted geophysical experiments in Earth orbit between 1964 and 1969. OGO-5 was launched on March 4, 1968, and carried 25 experiments. JPL developed the search coil magnetometer as well as four independent plasma probes aboard OGO-5. JPL also assisted NASA's Manned Spacecraft Center (MSC; named the Johnson Space Center in 1972) with Apollo-related tasks. MSC asked JPL to assist them in creating a gravitational model of the Moon, and to assist in a Lunar Ephemeris Development task. Represented are correspondence between JPL Director William H. Pickering and MSC Director Robert R. Gilruth. One document in the collection deals with the launching of an engineering model of a near-infrared multidetector spectrometer and filter spectrometer on a 10 million cubic foot high altitude balloon from Palestine, Texas. The data gathered by the balloon experiments were to be used to demonstrate the feasibility of the newly developed sounding technique. All instrumentation was recovered intact and returned to JPL. The balloon launch and recovery operations were provided by the National Center for Atmospheric Research. The flight was carried out as part of the Apollo Applications Program. Also in the folder is an outline of the Deep Space Network (DSN) support plan for Apollo 8, circumnavigating the Moon in December 1968. The Orbiting Frog Otolith (OFO) Project was designed to investigate the effect of microgravity on the otolith of a frog, a sensory organ that responds to changes in an animal's orientation within the Earth's gravitational field. The OFO was launched with two frogs using a Scout B launch vehicle at Wallops Field on November 9, 1970. The experiment lasted for seven days, until the on-board battery failed. The frogs remained in good health during the entire flight until the flight ended. The OFO was part of NASA's vestibular research program and was conducted under the Office of Advanced Research Technology. Project management responsibility was at Wallops Station. JPL assisted the OFO project in allowing the use of the 10-ft. space simulator and vibration facilities for testing requirements. One folder describes JPL flight experiments aboard Biosatellite D and F. The experiment was to analyze primate urine in flight. The JPL Urine Analysis Unit was delivered behind schedule and did not function properly in tests conducted in November 1967. Complaints caused JPL to strengthen the staffing, organization and priorities regarding the Primate Urinalysis Experiment. Biosatellite D was evidently launched as Biosatellite 3 in June 29, 1969. A Macaque monkey was launched aboard a Delta N rocket for a planned thirty-day mission. The mission was terminated after only 8.8 days due to the subject's deteriorating health. Represented in the collection are reports and correspondence regarding the Biosatellite experiment. There is one folder with materials pertaining to the Advanced Systems Technology (AST) Project. The AST project was an advanced exploration project. Sketched out are missions for a Mars entry capsule/lander/biological station, Venus capsule/lander, Jupiter spacecraft and Outer Planet ballistic spacecraft. The use of radioisotope thermoelectric generators (RTG) and solar electric propulsion for a Jupiter and beyond destination were sketched out. The Outer Planet Ballistic Spacecraft was approved for study by Dr. Pickering in June 1968. There are six folders of drafts for the history of the Ranger Project, Lunar Impact, written by R. Cargill Hall. Hall was hired in 1967 as the JPL Historian to write histories of the Ranger, Surveyor and Mariner projects. In 1971, Hall completed Project Ranger: A Chronology (JPL-CIT and NASA, 1971; JPL HR-2), which led to his completion of Lunar Impact: A History of Project Ranger (Washington, D.C.; NASA, 1977; SP-4210 in NASA History Series). In the research for these publications, Hall created the JPL History Collection of historical documents. Represented in the collection are various comment drafts of selected chapters. The original title of the Ranger history was "Man and the Moon: A History of Project Ranger," which was used for a time in 1971. The history was also referred to as "Ranger Narrative History." Also in the collection is a rough draft of the Ranger chronology for the year 1964.

0.45 cubic ft. (10 folders)

Jet Propulsion Laboratory Library and Archives