Mar 4 1972
From The Space Library
U.S.S.R. launched Cosmos 477 from Plesetsk. Satellite entered orbit with 309-km (192-mi) apogee, 214-km (133-mi) perigee, 89.5-min period, and 72.8° inclination and reentered March 16. (GSFC SSR, 3/31/72; SBD, 3/7/72, 36)
U.S.S.R.'s meteorological satellite system was described by Tass as "a turning point in the history of Soviet meteorology." Three operating Meteor spacecraft transmitted data on area from pole to pole every 11/2 hrs in band up to 1500 km (900 mi) wide-covering over two thirds of globe daily-to network of ground stations covering about one fourth of earth. Meteor system had helped accumulate valuable data for further perfection of onboard equipment and ground reception, registration, and processing of information. "The operation of sputniks outside the boundaries of the atmosphere enabled a new approach to the study of the air ocean of the planet [and] led to interesting discoveries in the sphere. The sputniks . made it possible for the first time `to cast a glance' on strong currents in the upper layers of the atmosphere." (FBIS-Sov, 3/7/72, L2)
New York Times editorial commented on plaque launched on Pioneer 10 Jupiter probe March 2: "Despite the uncanny ;mastery of celestial laws that permits man to shoot his artifacts at the stars, we find our-selves still depressingly inept at ordering our own systems here on earth. Even as we try to find a way to insure that sapient man will not consume his planet in nuclear fires, a rising chorus warns us that man may very well exhaust his earth either by overbreeding or by inordinate demands on its resources, or both. "So the marker launched into space is at the same time a gauntlet thrown down to earth: that the gold-plated plaque convey in its time the message that man is still here-not that he has been there." (NYT, 3/4/72, 26)
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