Feb 27 1973
From The Space Library
The House Committee on Science and Astronautics' Subcommittee on Manned Space Flight began hearings on H.R. 4567, House version of the $3.016-billion NASA FY 1974 authorization bill. Dale D. Myers, NASA Associate Administrator for Manned Space Flight, said the "historic accomplishments of the Apollo program" were "an open record and an enduring tribute to a basic belief in human progress. The Apollo flights, in three short years, gave us an order of magnitude increase in our knowledge of the solar system. Although the epic Apollo voyages have ended, the results of these missions will provide the scientific, the technical, and medical, and the managerial communities with a rich store of data that will be studied and analyzed for many years to come." NASA had completed the Apollo program and "moved from the era of learning how to live and work in space to a new plateau, where this Nation can utilize space and its unique capabilities for expanding its horizons in science and in applications, in defense, commercial activities and in international cooperation at reduced costs." Skylab-scheduled for May launch-would be the "first post-Apollo step into the intensive utilization of space" and toward reorienting manned space activities to earth orbit. The Apollo Soyuz Test Project (ASTP), scheduled for July 1975 launch, would be "a major step forward in meaningful and beneficial international cooperation in manned space flight" and a significant step in space safety and in reducing costs by cooperation. Later, the space shuttle would provide "ample additional opportunities for meaningful technical and economic cooperation in space." One opportunity would be to carry sortie.lab being developed by group of European nations using their own funds. Closing out of Apollo activity would include "very careful screening of available production tooling for applicability to future shuttle or other NASA requirements. " Available flight articles included two Saturn V and two Saturn IB launch vehicles, one completed command and service module, two partially assembled CSMs, and a backup Skylab cluster. This hardware would be placed in storage for potential use. (Transcript)
A satellite station for international communications being built near Belgrade, Yugoslavia, would be completed by Oct. 21, the Belgrade Politika newspaper reported. The station, containing $4-million equipment, would be able to make direct contracts with many countries without the expense of buying cable communications. Japan had designed and built the equipment and would train Yugoslav engineers to operate it. (FBIS-Sov, 3/9/73, 119)
The Air Force announced award of a $59 000 000 firm-fixed-price contract to Boeing Co. for the first two 747B jet transport aircraft for the Advanced Airborne Command Post Program. If Congress appropriated funds, a total of seven 747135 would replace EC-135 airborne command posts of the National Military Command System and Strategic Air Command. The seven would be first 747s used by Air Force. (DOD Release 96-73)
The Brevard County, Fla., Department of Civil Defense had obtained a 1-million-gal water tank valued at $60 000 from Kennedy Space Center under a Federal program which offered excess Government equipment to state, county, and local government agencies free of cost, KSC announced, The tank had been used to pump water onto Launch Complex 34 and 37 pads after Saturn launches to protect them from flame damage. Brevard County would use the tank to hold an emergency water reserve. (KSC Release 36-73)
February 27-May 15: The U.S.S.R. launched a series of meteorological sounding rockets from the French island of Kergulen in the Indian Ocean. Twenty-four rockets reached altitudes between 71 and 76 km (44 and 47 mi) under a Soviet-French agreement for joint research in space meteorology and aeronomy signed in 1972. The flights were to record changes in temperature, atmospheric pressure, and wind at high altitudes to aid in weather forecasting. (Tass, FBIS-Sov, 5/17/73, LI)
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