Mar 11 1977
From The Space Library
The W Post reported that NASA Administrator James C. Fletcher would resign effective May 1. Appointed by President Nixon in 1971, Dr. Fletcher had headed the agency during the end of the Apollo project; the successful Skylab missions; the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project; and numerous unmanned missions including the launch of the earth resources monitoring system, Landsat, and the Mars probe Viking. Dr. Fletcher planned to return to private life after his resignation. (W Post, Mar 11/77, A3; NASA Release 77-48)
NASA announced it had awarded a cost-plus-fee contract worth about $43.5 million to McDonnell Douglas Technical Services, Inc., Spacelab Integration Division, Huntsville, Ala., for Spacelab integration. The contract, lasting from March 1977 through Dec. 1983, would include design, development, manufacturing, and operational testing of NASA's Spacelab components. NASA planned to provide all operational services including flight operations, crew training, and maintenance, after the European Space Agency delivered the lab. Spacelab would remain in the Space Shuttle cargo bay to perform earth observations and experiments in materials science, physics, life science, communications, navigation, and space systems. (NASA Release 77-47)
MSFC reported that parachutes to recover the Space Shuttle's reusable solid-fuel rocket boosters (SRB) were undergoing dynamic testing at Martin Marietta Corp., Denver, Colo. Scheduled for completion Mar. 31, the tests simulated in-flight parachute deployment from the SRB. (MSFC Release 77-44)
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31
