Dec 10 1971
From The Space Library
MSFC announced completion of study of offshore oil and gas operations by team of MSFC, MTF, and Michoud Assembly Facility experts. Study, made for U.S. Geological Survey, was confined to federally managed outer continental shelf in Gulf of Mexico but team's recommendations, in report to uses, applied to all outer shelf operations. Team had suggested measures to produce offshore resources with safety and protection from pollution of marine and coastal environment. (MSFC Release 71-232)
Development of lift-distribution system to alleviate stress problems in C-5A aircraft by spreading aerodynamic loads through wings rather than concentrating stress on small areas was announced by Lockheed-Georgia Co. Vice President Robert B. Ormsby. Modification could be installed during regular modification and inspection periods and would not affect aircraft's handling. (AP, W Post, 12/12/71, A3)
U.K. successfully tested experimental hovertrain in 805-m (880-yd) run at 32 km per hr (20 mph) near Cambridge. Train, developed by Tracked Hovercraft, Ltd., to reach maximum 483-km-per-hr (300- mph) speed, traveled on air cushion astride concrete track and was controlled from trackside. (Scott, NYT, 12/11/71, 54)
December 10-16: U.S.S.R. launched Cosmos 464 from Plesetsk into orbit with 311-km (193.3-mi) apogee, 180-km (111.9-mi) perigee, 89.4-min period, and 72° inclination. British Royal Aircraft Establishment and British Interplanetary Society sources reported that drift of about 5° per day brought satellite over East Pakistan on revolution 44 Dec. 13 at height of 230 km (142.9 mi). On revolution 46, two-impulse maneuver lowered both apogee and perigee, with 89.0-min period and 182-km (113.1-mi) perigee. Westerly drift rate was reduced to less than 1° per day, permitting three further daylight passes over Pakistan area before reentry Dec, 16. Orbital changes supported earlier reports of Soviet maneuvering capability. Cosmos 463 [see Dec. 6-11] and Cosmos 464 were launched during Indo-Pakistan war; altered paths permitted observation of Pakistan before early reentry. (GSFC SSR, 12/31/71; SBD, 12/14/71, 199; SF, 9/9/72, 351; W Post, 1/7/72, A16)
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