Jun 20 1977
From The Space Library
JSC announced it had signed a $40 million letter contract with Rockwell International Corp. Space Division for modifications to the first Space Shuttle orbiter Enterprise and for starting design of a third orbiter. Funded in part by the Economic Stimulus Bill, the contract had been directed at generating more employment opportunities. (JSC Release 77-37)
JSC announced it had signed a supplemental agreement with Rockwell International Corp. Space Division deleting two items from the Space Shuttle orbiter contract: a neutral-buoyance trainer, and vibroacoustic tests on the aft fuselage of the orbiter. This work had been scheduled for Rockwell's plant in Downey, Calif., with support from JSC and KSC field offices. The decrease of $25 334 750 had lowered the value of the cost-plus-award-fee contract with Rockwell to $3 013 971 603. (JSC Release 77-38)
Av Wk reported that the USSR and France had agreed on a joint mission to Venus in 1983 for which France would design a balloon 26 to 30ft in diameter to float in the planet's atmosphere for up to 100hr collecting data, and the USSR would design an orbiter weighing more than 600kg (13221b). Jacques Blamont, chief scientist for the French space agency CNES (Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales), said a Soviet mission planned for Venus next year would also carry French multiwavelength ultraviolet spectrometers on at least two spacecraft scheduled for flybys. (Av Wk, June 20/77, 27)
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