Mar 18 1976
From The Space Library
Donald K. (Deke) Slayton, pilot of the docking module on the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project, had been appointed to a newly created position as Deputy Director of Flight Operations for approach and landing tests of the Space Shuttle at Johnson Space Center, the Spaceport News of KSC reported. Slayton would be responsible for planning and implementing the shuttle approach and landing test project, under the Director of Flight Operations for the Space Shuttle project. (Spaceport News, 18 Mar 76, 5)
NASA announced it had completed negotiations with Owens-Illinois, Inc., for replacement of a mirror blank for the Infrared Telescope Facility being built at Mauna Kea, Hawaii. The 126-cm-dia. replacement would be ready for processing at the Kitt Peak National Observatory that would turn it into a telescope mirror. Opticians at Kitt Peak had cut a center hole in the original disc preparatory to grinding it when a fracture was detected last Sept.; the crack, extending radially more than 86 cm from the center hole, rendered the mirror blank useless. The original and replacement were cast from Cervit, a transparent ceramic material obtained by NASA for testing as part of the Space Telescope. When a different material was decided on for the Space Telescope, the Cervit blank was transferred to the infrared telescope project. Cervit had practically zero thermal expansion, making it ideal for telescope materials, and had been used in 2 of the world's 5 largest telescopes. Under the new agreement, Owens-Illinois would provide a replacement lens for $200,000 and return of ownership of the damaged blank to the Ohio firm. (NASA Release 76-42)
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 2829 30 31
