Jan 17 1977
From The Space Library
NASA announced plans to launch NATO III-B, second in a new series of comsats to serve the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, from the Eastern Test Range at Cape Canaveral, Fla., on Jan. 27 as NASA's first launch of 1977. The three spacecraft in the Phase III series, funded entirely by NATO, were built by Ford Aerospace; the third would be launched in 1978. The Delta rocket provided by Goddard Space Flight Center that would put NATO III-B in orbit had successfully launched three previous NATO satellites: Nato II-A and -B, in March 1970 and Feb. 1971, and Nato III-A in April 1976. (NASA Release 77-5)
Rockwell International's B-1 Division announced award of contracts for more than $3 million to two Phoenix, Ariz., firms - Sperry Rand Flight Systems Division and AiResearch Manufacturing Co. - for work on the new USAF B-1 strategic bomber. The B-1 Division was system contractor to the Air Force for the program, which received DOD production approval on Dec. 2, 1976. Sperry would receive a $1 840 500 contract to build a gyrostabilization subsystem and a vertical situation display for a B-1 prototype that would enter flight testing in 1979; AiResearch would receive a $1218 102 contract to produce a secondary power subsystem for the same prototype. The gyrostabilization subsystem would provide the B-1 crew with the aircraft's course heading and flight angle with relation to the horizon; the secondary power subsystem would provide extra power for engine start and operation of support systems on the B-1. (Rockwell Release LA-1)
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