Jul 5 1973
From The Space Library
The Air Force Space and Missiles Organization (SAMSO) announced it was issuing a $1 334 319 cost-plus-fixed-fee contract to TRW Systems Group, TRW Inc., to maintain a history of all operational testing of Minuteman missiles. (non Release 341-73)
The U.S.S.R. had launched meteorological sounding rockets from the Soviet research ship Academician Korolev at the 180° meridian, Tass reported. The rockets had obtained data for a study of the interaction of the high-altitude atmosphere and the ocean on the frontier of the Eastern and Western Hemispheres. (FBIS-Sov, 7/20/73, L1)
July 5-6: NASA test pilot John A. Manke made ground taxi tests of the X-24B lifting body at Flight Research Center to check for nosegear shimmy and evaluate nosewheel steering and ground handling characteristics. The successor to lifting bodies flown in a joint NASA and Air Force program between 1966 and 1972 would undergo ground functional tests of its main and subsystems before scheduling of its first flight. A modification of the X-24A, the new vehicle had an extended nose, flattened underside, and small blended wings. The NASA-USAF pro-gram was developing technology for future aircraft that could cruise at hypersonic speeds at the edge of space. (FRC X-Press, 7/6/73, 2; NASA photos 72-H-1395, 73-H-722)
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