Dec 27 1972
From The Space Library
U.S.S.R. launched Cosmos 541 from Plesetsk into orbit with 348-km (216.2-mi) apogee, 218-km (135.5-mi) perigee, 81.3° inclination, and 90.2-min period. Satellite reentered Jan. 8, 1973. (GSFC SSR, 12/31/72; 1/31/73; SBD, 1/3/73, 2)
Houston, Tex., public TV station KUHT-TV announced it had been only TV station to carry entire coverage of Apollo 17 extravehicular activity. On Dec. 11, 12, and 13 station had shown uninterrupted coverage of Astronauts Eugene A. Cernan and Dr. Harrison H. Schmitt on moon. On Dec. 17 station had carried Astronaut Ronald E. Evans' space walk live from earth orbit. KUHT EVA coverage had totaled 25 hrs. British Broadcasting Corp. had sent 13 hrs of Apollo 17 programming through KUHT's facilities to United Kingdom via satellite. (KUHT Release)
NASA announced appointment of Raymond J. Sumser as Director of Personnel, effective Jan. 21, 1973. Sumser had been Personnel Director at Goddard Space Flight Center since July 1967 and was awarded NASA's Exceptional Service Medal in 1972. (NASA Ann)
December 27-28: Joint Congressional Committee on Economics held hearings to probe possible Nixon Administration intention to revive U.S. supersonic transport (SST) program that was killed by Congress in 1971. Economist Milton Friedman said he favored building SST in U.S. "if private enterprise finds it profitable to do so after paying all costs, including any environmental costs imposed by third parties." He op-posed governmental subsidizing of SST because "a governmental decision to produce an SST largely at its own expense is a step toward socialism and away from free enterprise." Committee Chairman, Sen. William Proxmire (D-Wis.), criticized failure of Administration witnesses to testify on possible SST plans. "If nothing is planned, why don't they come forward and say so?" (Testimony; UPI, W Post, 12/28/72, A7)
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