Jun 14 1976
From The Space Library
Marshall Space Flight Center-lead NASA center for Spacelab development-announced that the full-scale model of the Spacelab module developed by the European Space Agency for orbital research and applications missions in the Shuttle orbiter had been shipped from Germany and was on display at the U.S. Bicentennial exposition on science and technology at Kennedy Space Center, open until 7 Sept. The Spacelab access tunnel and pallet section manufactured at Huntsville for MSFC had been shipped to KSC for assembly with the module. The pressurized module would be used by U.S. and European scientists working in space in a shirtsleeve environment; the unpressurized pallet would contain unmanned equipment such as telescopes, antennas, and instruments requiring direct exposure to space; and the access tunnel would be used by the crew to transfer from the orbiter to the module and return. Spacelab was designed to be fully reusable for an operational lifetime of 50 missions or 5 yr, whichever is reached first; nominal mission duration would be 7 days, but could be extended as long as 30 days. Spacelab was managed jointly by ESA, NASA Hq, and MSFC. (MSFC Release 76-110)
The Air Force announced that its third prototype B-1 bomber successfully completed its maiden flight, having left Air Force Plant 42 at Palmdale, Calif., at 3:37 pm PDT and landed at nearby Edwards AFB after a flight of 2 hr 9 min. Since its rollout 11 May, the prototype built for USAF by Rockwell International's B-1 Division had undergone fuel and propulsion-system checkout, subsystem tests, low- and high-speed taxi tests, and a complete review of flight readiness. The B-1 was the first large swing-wing aircraft to complete a complex 8-mo series of structural integrity testing so early in its design life. The third B- I's primary flight-test objective was to acquire data to verify predicted design loads in test missions at both subsonic and supersonic speeds. Highest altitude reached during the maiden flight was about 3 km, with top speed at .45 mach. Crew members were Doug Benefield of Rockwell, pilot; AF Lt. Col. Ed McDowell, copilot; and Rockwell flight-test engineer Jack Baldwin, who was riding in the B-1 for the first time. (USAF release 14 June 76)
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