Jun 22 1976
From The Space Library
Tass announced the launch of the Salyut 5 orbital scientific station "under the program of studying the outer space." Parameters were 260-km apogee, 219-km perigee, 51.6° inclination, and 89-min period. Control posts inside the Soviet Union as well as vessels of the USSR Science Academy "sailing in the waters of the Atlantic Ocean" were tracking the flight, receiving telemetry, and controlling the station, the announcement said. Although the official announcement did not mention manned flights as part of the Salyut 5 program, the Washington Post reported that a Western specialist in Moscow had predicted the new station would be manned "sooner or later." The Washington Star noted that 2 visiting cosmonauts-Pyotr Klimuk and Vitaly Sevastyanov, who lived aboard Salyut 4 for 63 days last summer-speaking at an international meeting in Philadelphia 2 wk ago said the new station would be able to accommodate 6 cosmonauts for as long as 3 mo, and would have 2 entry ports, so that 2 spacecraft could dock with it at the same time. The 2-mo flight of Klimuk and Sevastyanov set a Soviet record for time spent in space; however, the 84-day flight of 3 Americans (Gerald P. Carr, Edward G. Gibson, and William R. Pogue) aboard Skylab 4 had set the overall endurance record in early 1974.
A USSR manned mission would be the first launching of cosmonauts since the joint Apollo-Soyuz flight with the U.S. in July 1975; the last USSR orbital station, Salyut 4 , was launched 26 December 1974 and was still performing experiments, according to official announcements. The Star said that the Soviets were directing their resources toward perfecting permanent stations in contrast to the U.S. approach of developing a reusable Space Shuttle. (FBIS, Tass in English, 22 June 76; W Post, 23 June 76, A-11; W Star, 23 June 76, A-15)
Switzerland and the U.K. became the first 2 countries to sign a protocol authorizing the European Space Agency to "undertake the exploitation phase" of its meteorological satellite Meteosat. The agreement, signed in Paris, would remain open until 30 September for signature by the other participants (Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, and Sweden) and for other countries to participate. Meteosat, being developed for ESA by the Cosmos consortium with Aerospatiale (France) as prime contractor, was one of four current ESA applications programs; it covered the design, development, construction, launch, management, and control of a preoperational satellite. ESA's responsibility for checking out Meteosat in orbit for the first 6 mo after launch (scheduled for the third quarter of 1977) would be extended by the protocol to include the subsequent 2.5-yr "exploitation phase" of the satellite to be carried out with meteorological authorities in the participating countries. Other ESA applications programs were OTS (telecommunications), MAROTS (maritime communications), and Aerosat (air traffic control). (ESA release 23 June 76)
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