Apr 22 1976
From The Space Library
Nato IIIA, first in a series of NATO-USAF military comsats, was launched from Eastern Test Range at 3:46 pm EST (1046 GMT) by a Delta vehicle into a synchronous transfer orbit at about 35 000 km altitude before being positioned above the equator off West Africa at about 15°W. The comsat would transmit voice, data, facsimile, and telex messages among military ground stations; a NATO IIIB spacecraft was scheduled for launch later in 1976 into geosynchronous orbit above the Indian Ocean. Nato IIIA, weighing 310 kg in orbit and designed for a 7-yr lifetime, was drum-shaped, 2.2 m in diameter and 2.2 m long, and extended about 3 m with antennas out. The eventual 3-satellite system including 16 major ground terminals had been estimated to cost about $340 million. (NASA Release 76-46 and 76-46A; MOR M-492207-76-01 [prelaunch] 19 Apr 76, [postlaunch] 20 May 76; W Post, 23 Apr 76, A-21)
NASA's Wallops Flight Center received a National Safety Council award for its performance in on-the-job safety. The Council selected Wallops for a third-place award in its annual contest honoring the lowest disabling injury frequency achieved by NSC member organizations. Wallops qualified for its award with a recorded rate of zero lost-time injuries per million man-hours worked, as compared to a rate of 1.4 injuries for all competing units in the Aerospace Section, Research and Development Division. (WFC Release 76-4)
The European Space Agency's launch vehicle Ariane during its 5-yr development period would use hydrazine fuel supplied by the USSR, reported the British journal New Scientist. The U.S. hydrazine plant near Baltimore had been closed down because of contamination by nitrosamines, hydrazine sources suspected of causing cancer. Hydrazine, highly corrosive and difficult to handle, had not been manufactured in Western Europe, and no one wanted to do so, according to the report. Ariane's discontinued predecessor Europa used a less powerful fuel liquid oxygen and kerosene-and the USSR had used hydrazine from the plant near Moscow to power the large rockets that launched the Salyut space stations and large interplanetary probes. The report said that the hydrazine deal stemmed from France's longstanding cooperation with the USSR in aerospace technology; if the Soviets should restrict hydrazine supplies, France would build a European plant because its commitments would override environmental objections. (W Post, 22 Apr 76, A-52)
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