Dec 18 1974
From The Space Library
Post-storage checkout was proceeding at Marshall Space Flight Center on the first propulsive stage and instrument unit of the Saturn IB launch vehicle (SA-210) for the July 1975 Apollo Soyuz Test Project mission. Fin-mounting brackets on the stage, taken out of storage 27 Nov., had been rod peened (pounded with a small bundle of rods to place compressive stresses in the surface of the material) to avoid the stress-corrosion problems that had delayed the Skylab 4 launch in November 1973. Bolt holes for the fins had been rounded to eliminate stress points. The complete Saturn vehicle was to be stacked in January 1975. (MSFC Release 74-241; Spaceport News, 12 Dec 74)
Ames Research Center scientist Dr. Theodore Wydeven, Jr., had developed a new technique for coating salt lenses, NASA announced. Lenses made from large salt crystals had long been used in scientific applications because they were transparent to infrared light, but they were susceptible to fogging from even slight moisture. Using a method from his water purification experiments, Dr. Wydeven had prepared a Teflon-like membrane in an electric discharge to coat a salt lens, at a few cents a coating. The coating increased resistance to moisture and enhanced optical quality of the lens because of the film's antireflection properties. (NASA Release 74-319)
18-20 December: An experimental communications linkup between Mission Control Center at Johnson Space Center and the Soviet mission control near Moscow was made by U.S. and Soviet flight controllers rehearsing for the July 1975 Apollo Soyuz Test Project mission. Procedures for interfacing voice, video, teletype, and telex facsimile between the two control centers through the tracking networks were checked out. A 10-hr procedural simulation of the launches of the Apollo and Soyuz spacecraft, with exchange of status reports and data on spacecraft position, was held at JSC the third day. The first JSC Mission Control Center simulation with Apollo crewmen was scheduled for mid-February 1975, with the first all-up simulation with both control centers and both Apollo and Soyuz crews in late March 1975. (JSC Release 74-275; Chriss, LA Times, 24 Dec 74, 8; JSC PIO, interview, 15 Sept 75)
18 December-6 January 1975: NASA launched Symphonie 1, French and West German experimental communications satellite, at 9:39 pm EST from Eastern Test Range on a three-stage, thrust-augmented Thor-Delta launch vehicle. The 402-kg satellite entered a transfer orbit with a 38 071-km apogee, 402-km perigee, 688.2-min period, and 13.2° inclination.
Nine seconds after the Thor-Delta's 3rd stage separated from the 2nd stage, the inertial measurement unit (the altitude-sensing portion in the 2nd-stage guidance system) stopped functioning, but the failure did not affect the path of the already separated 3rd stage. In addition, the main engine cutoff was achieved by fuel depletion with 430 kg liquid oxygen remaining instead of with the planned depletion. The anomalies, which did not affect the mission, were under investigation.
Ground controllers in West Germany activated the apogee kick motor, the first using liquid propellant, at 6:00 pm EST 21 Dec., putting the spacecraft in circular geosynchronous orbit with 35 810-km apogee, 35 767-km perigee, 23-hr 56-min period, and 0.3° inclination. The space-craft was despun and three-axis-stabilized and its large solar panels were successfully deployed 24 Dec. Symphonie 1 drifted eastward to its final station at 115° W longitude over the west coast of Africa and began operations 2 Jan. 1975.
The NASA mission objective-to launch the spacecraft into a transfer orbit that would permit the onboard propulsion system to place it in an accurate synchronous orbit-was satisfied and the mission was adjudged successful 6 Jan. Symphonic 1 would provide 1200 telephone circuits, 8 voice channels, and 2 color TV channels for experimental communications between Europe, Africa, and South America.
The first of two Symphonie satellites, provided for by a French-West Germany agreement signed June 1967, the satellite was developed by a French-German industrial consortium under the direction of the French Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales (CNES) and the West German Gesellschaft für Weltraumforschung (GfW). In October 1973 NASA agreed to provide the launch vehicle and services on a cost-reimbursable basis and in June 1974 signed a launch services contract with CNES-GfW. Goddard Space Flight Center in cooperation with French and West German ground stations was responsible for tracking the spacecraft during launch and transfer orbit operations. GSFC was also responsible for the launch vehicle. (NASA MORS, 13 Dec 74,6 Jan 75; NASA prog off, interview, 29 Aug 75; NASA Release 74-316)
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31
