Jun 22 1977
From The Space Library
MSFC announced it had received 26 proposals from researchers in the U.S., the U.K., and Italy for cloud-physics experiments to be performed on Spacelab. Cloud-physics research would try to explain cloud formation and release of precipitation. Preventing or limiting the effects of adverse weather such as severe storms or floods would enable man to avoid yearly losses of lives, property, and agricultural crops. MSFC teams would evaluate the proposals from engineering, management, cost, and scientific peer group standpoints; in July NASA would select experiments that would fly in 1980 or 1981. (MSFC Release 77-114)
MSFC announced it had successfully tested the recovery system for the Shuttle solid-fuel rocket boosters June 15 at the Natl. Parachute Test Range. Engineers had used an SRB simulator, a drop-test vehicle weighing more than 21 773kg (48 000lb) released from beneath the wing of a B-52 aircraft at a speed of about 85 meters per sec (190mph) and an altitude of about 5500m (18 000ft). Primary purpose of this test was to measure the maximum load on the drogue chute that would open first to stabilize the vehicle and pull out the other chutes. The measured load, about 114 000kg (a quarter of a million lb), was about that expected. The next test, scheduled for late July or early Aug., would measure loads on the other parachutes. Each Shuttle launch would use two SRBs, jettisoned at about 43km (27mi) altitude to descend by parachute into the ocean and be towed to shore for reuse. (MSFC Release 77-115)
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