Dec 18 1973
From The Space Library
Dr. Kurt H. Debus, Kennedy Space Center Director, an-nounced that KSC would go on a single daylight shift from 8 am to 4:30 pm, effective Jan. 6, 1974, when the U.S. returned to daylight saving time by Presidential order. Other KSC measures to conserve energy were establishing a computer system to promote car pooling, limiting automobile speeds to 50 mph, curtailing drive-through tours, reducing lighting, and rescheduling visitor tours. (KSC Release 284-73)
December 18-26: The U.S.S.R. launched Soyuz 13 carrying cosmonauts Maj. Pyotr Klimuk (commander) and Valentin Lebedev (flight engineer) from Baykonur Cosmodrome at 4:55 pm local time (2:55 pm Moscow time; 6:55 am EST) into earth orbit with a 246-km (152.9-mi) apogee, 188-km (116.8-mi) perigee, 88.9-min period, and 51.6° inclination. With Skylab 4 astronauts in earth orbit since Nov. 16, the launch of Soyuz 13 made it the first time in the history of space travel that the U.S. and U.S.S.R. had men orbiting the earth simultaneously. The Soviet news agency Tass announced the objectives of the mission were to observe stars in the ultraviolet range using a special system of telescopes, survey separate sections of the earth's surface and obtain data "for the accomplishment of economic tasks," continue comprehensive verification of onboard systems, and test manual and automatic controls and methods of autonomous navigation in various flight conditions. Western observers also expected the cosmonauts to study Comet Kohoutek as it approached the sun.
The Western press reported that Soyuz 13 was the same kind of modified Soyuz capsule as would be used for the U.S.-U.S.S.R. Apollo Soyuz Test Project scheduled for 1975. It would test a new navigational system that would increase the cosmonauts' ability to fly the spacecraft themselves rather than relying on ground control, ensuring that the quality of the spacecraft support system would match that of the Apollo. During the fifth orbit the spacecraft moved into a higher orbit with parameters reported by Tass as 272-km (169-mi) apogee, 225-km (139.8-mi) perigee, 89.2-min period, and 51.6° inclination. At 5:30 pm Moscow time (9:30 am EST) Soyuz 13 had made 18 orbits of earth. The cosmonauts reported they had adjusted to weightlessness and were carrying out their scheduled scientific program.
Tass reported Dec. 20 that the crew had harvested the first crop of nutritive protein mass in an onboard experimental biological system, Oasis 2. In a closed system of two kinds of microorganisms, the waste products from the synthesis of the first were used by the second to accumulate protein mass. During the eight-day mission, the cosmonauts also aimed the telescope at preset areas of the sky, photographing constellations; studied cerebral circulation under weightless conditions; studied natural resources on the earth; took x-ray photos of the sun; and photographed light effects before sunset and sunrise along the line of the terrestrial horizon to further development of autonomous navigation for future interplanetary journeys. Soyuz 13 landed successfully in a snowstorm and cyclonic winds at 11:50 am Moscow time (3:50 am EST) Dec. 26, 200 km (125 mi) southwest of Karaganda in the Kazakhstan Steppe. A medical examination indicated the cosmonauts were in good health. Soyuz 13 was the second Soviet manned launch in 1973. Soyuz 12, during a successful two-day mission Sept. 27-29, had tested improved flight systems, tested manual and automatic control in various flight conditions, and obtained spectrographic data of separate sections of the earth. Soyuz 12 had been the first Soviet manned flight since the death of three cosmonauts on Soyuz 11 in June 1971. (GSFC SSR, 12/31/73; Tass, FBIS-Sov, 12/21/73, Ul; 12/26/73, Ul; 12/27/73, Ul; Kaiser, W Post, 12/19/73, A26; Parks, B Sun, 12/19/73, Al; Wren, NYT, 12/21/73, 56; SBD, 12/21/73, 267)
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