Feb 10 1974
From The Space Library
Skylab 4 Astronauts Gerald P. Carr, Dr. Edward G. Gibson, and William R. Pogue, who splashed down 8 Feb. after 84 days aboard the Orbital Workshop, completed a third day of post-splashdown tests before a brief welcoming ceremony at dockside in San Diego, Calif. The astronauts then flew to Ellington Air Force Base, Tex., for a reunion with their families. Medical tests would continue throughout the week and the three men would continue to eat the precisely controlled diet begun three weeks before their 16 Nov. 1973 launch. (McElheny, NYT, 11 Feb 74, 7)
A New York Times editorial noted that the 8 Feb. safe return of the Skylab 4 astronauts "was considered so certain that the television networks had decided well in advance not to broadcast the splashdown." It "really was a public tribute to the high technical achievements of the Skylab pro-gram and of previous manned American space projects." With Skylab's record and dividends, "the case for a permanent manned station in space can now be regarded as proved." (NYT, 10 Feb 74)
The success of the Skylab program had made the idea of continuous occupation of an orbital base more concrete to the directors of the American space efforts, a New York Times article reported. Such a base could be assembled by flights of the space shuttle being developed by NASA and could be used to observe the sun and the earth and for manufacturing special materials under weightless conditions. Skylab Program Director William C. Schneider had said in an interview, "We have shown that there is no man or machine limitation on whatever we want to do in space." The confidence of space scientists had been strengthened by the apparent adaptation of the astronauts to space, although the Times reported Skylab 2 Astronaut Joseph P. Kerwin and Johnson Space Center Director Christopher C. Kraft as cautioning that nine men "is a very small statistical sample." More long test flights would have to be made. However, if the medical data held true, the design of future space stations could be made much simpler and the number of space shuttle flights to establish it would be fewer. Schneider had noted that the conflict between the Workshop's need for power and its program for observation was still to be solved. The current design called for Workshop solar panels to point toward the sun rather than the earth. In a future space station, observatories might be placed on long booms which could turn on their own, minimizing the station's need to maneuver. (McElheny, NYT, 10 Feb 74, 40)
Computer enhancement of multispectral photographs from ERTS 1 satellite (circling the earth since 23 July 1972) had been proved useful for finding mineral and water deposits on the earth. Computer image enhancement, first used at Jet Propulsion Laboratory to improve early spacecraft pictures of the moon and Mars, had identified surface signs of known mineral deposits for JPL and U.S. Geological Survey investigators. Twenty ERTS-identified points had been verified in a test area, exploratory drilling had uncovered water-bearing rock 12 m below an ERTS-indicated water hole, and fractures indicating other drilling sites had been revealed. (NASA 74-27)
Noting the space program's emphasis had shifted earthward now that space flight was an accepted and almost routine part of life, John N. Wilford commented in the New York Times that "it is only natural that after surveying the canyons of Mars, the clouds and haze of Venus and the radiation belts of Jupiter, men turn back and take a new look at the earth and, in the words of T. S. Eliot, 'know the place for the first time.' " (NYT, 10 Feb 74, 7)
10-12 February: Soviet space probes Mars 4 and 5, launched 22 and 25 July 1973, neared Mars after a journey of 460 million km. Mars 4 approached the planet 10 Feb. Because of faulty functioning of one onboard system, the braking engine was not fired and the spacecraft flew by Mars at a distance of 2200 km. TV pictures were taken during the flyby and transmittal of information on outer space characteristics was to continue.
Mars 5 was put into orbit around Mars at 6:45 pm Moscow time (11:45 am EDT) 12 Feb., with a 32 500-km apogee, 1760-km perigee, 25-hr period, and 35° inclination.
Mars 6 and 7, launched 5 and 9 Aug. 1973, would approach Mars in March. During a 22 Sept. 1973 interview with Tass, Director Roald Sagdeyev of the Space Research Institute of the Soviet Academy of Sciences had said one of the four Mars probes would softland near the Martian south polar cap to test the physical properties of the soil and surface rocks and check the possibilities of transmitting TV pictures of the surrounding terrain to earth. (Tass, FBIS-Sov, 14 Feb. 74, UI; A&A 1973)
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