Jul 21 1977
From The Space Library
INTELSAT announced that Paraguay had become the 97th member of the organization on July 18, and the 22nd nation in the western hemisphere to join. Paraguay's ANTELCO (Administracion Nacional de Telecomunicaciones) had signed the operating agreement. Created in 1964, INTELSAT claimed to provide more than half the world's transoceanic telecommunications and domestic communications for 9 countries through its global satellite system. (INTELSAT Release 77-19-I)
Today reported that Congress had approved June 20 the largest NASA budget in nearly 10yr, including new starts on three major programs. In conference committee, the House (which had cut $20.7 million requested by NASA to begin work on an unmanned 1982 Jupiter probe) had agreed with the Senate on $17.7 million for the project, which NASA said was enough to start with. The budget also contained $36 million for the large orbiting telescope, a frequently delayed major scientific project, and $26.6 million for Landsat-D, fourth of a series of earth monitoring satellites. The newspaper said the only real disagreement was over the Jupiter mission, which Rep. Edward P. Boland (D-Mass) wanted to kill [see June 10] because of its eventual cost, estimated to reach $435 million by the time it was scheduled for launch in 1983. The House conferees had finally accepted the Senate's figure. Planned to take advantage of a favorable alignment of the earth with Jupiter in 1982, the mission would not only be the first to orbit Jupiter but would also drop a probe into the planet's atmosphere. During its 20mo in orbit, the mission would also view Jupiter's moons at close range. (Today, July 21/77, 20A)
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