Jun 27 1973
From The Space Library
Cosmos 576 was launched by the U.S.S.R. from Plesetsk into orbit with a 331-km (205.7-mi) apogee, 203-km (126.1-mi) perigee, 89.8-min period, and 72.9° inclination. The satellite reentered July 9. (GSFC SSR, 6/30/73; 7/31/73; SBD, 6/29/73, 333)
The U.K. Trades Union Congress announced that it was asking its 9.5 million members to boycott French products for a week in protest against French nuclear testing in the South Pacific. (W Post, 6/28/73, B19)
June 27-28: Pioneer 11, launched by NASA April 5 toward a December 1974 rendezvous with the planet Jupiter, became the second spacecraft to cross the orbit of Mars. By June 28 the probe was 76 781 000 km (47 711 000 mi) from the earth, traveling at 108 000 km (67 110 mi) per hr. The earth had passed between the spacecraft and the sun, permitting scientists to look for the earth's magnetic tail, the extension of the magnetic field blown away from the earth by the solar wind. Data had suggested a malfunction in the spacecraft radio transmitter but were insufficient to identify the problem. The backup traveling-wave tube was being used. Flight controllers had fired the thrusters on Pioneer 10-twin probe launched March 2, 1972, toward December 1973 meeting with Jupiter-on June 21 to trim its course slightly and ensure passage behind Jupiters' moon Io. Pioneer 10, traveling at 43 470 km (27 000 mi) per hr, was 533 540 000 km (331 542 000 mi) from the earth. It had crossed the orbit of Mars in 1972 and finished crossing the Asteroid Belt in February. (NASA Release 72-122)
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