Mar 8 1974
From The Space Library
8-19 March: NASA launched the United Kingdom's Miranda (UK-X4) experimental satellite from Western Test Range at 7:22 pm PDT on a four-stage Scout D booster, after the launch had been twice delayed by a malfunctioning pitch rate gyro. The spacecraft carried five experiments into orbit with a 926.8-km apogee, 727.7-km perigee, 101.1-min period, and 97.8° inclination.
Experiments were designed to demonstrate an attitude control ac-curacy of better than three arc minutes using a gas jet system, measure the performance in orbit of operational infrared sensor components, demonstrate an inexpensive Canopus sensor of high reliability, measure the density of sun-reflecting particles near the spacecraft, determine interference generated by the propane gas control system, demonstrate a basic sensing element with application in digital sun and earth albedo sensors, and measure degradation of silicone solar cells in orbit.
NASA's objective of placing the satellite in an earth orbit that would permit achievement of the scientific objectives was met, and the mission was adjudged a success 19 March. Under a December 1972 Memorandum of Understanding between NASA and the U.K.'s Dept of Trade and Industry, NASA would be reimbursed for launch vehicle and services.
Developed for the U.K. by Hawker Siddeley Dynamics Ltd., the 83.5-by 66.5-cm, 92-kg spacecraft was powered by a four-panel 250-cm-long solar array of 1800 solar cells. Miranda was deployed in a fully sunlit polar orbit with a yo-yo despin system and its attitude control system acquired the sun through three sun sensors.
The eighth NASA launch of a U.K. satellite and the fourth on a Scout vehicle-Miranda carried the names of 80 000 Boy Scouts from nine U.S. states on a microdot. (NASA MOR, 21 March 74; NASA Releases 74-36, 74-53; UN Reg; Newport News, Va, Daily Press, 22 Feb 74; SBD, 12 March 74, 59)
8 March: Preliminary reports for Skylab principal investigators indicated that large-scale zero-g production facilities in space could manufacture alloys, composites, and crystals of a homogeneity and perfection far greater than that obtainable on the earth, Marshall Space Flight Center announced. A sample from a Skylab brazing experiment demonstrated an almost perfect brazed joint, suggesting that it would be possible to assemble large facilities in space using welding and brazing techniques. Two ends of 2,5-cm tubes of nickel or steel joined with a sleeve by brazing with a silver-copper alloy showed a metallic structure that could not form under gravity conditions.
Crystals of germanium selenide, typically 2 to 3 mm on the earth, were grown in zero g to a length of 25 mm with straight edges and no surface structure defects. A mixture of metals that would not form alloys under gravity conditions showed at least some alloying under zero g. A strengthening fiber of silicon carbide whiskers introduced into composite materials was uniformly distributed, suggesting a potential for space production of materials of greater strength and lighter weight. (MSFC Release 74-33)
The 1974 Dr. Robert H. Goddard Memorial Trophy was presented to Rep. Olin E. Teague (D-Tex.) at the National Space Club's 17th Annual Goddard Memorial Dinner in Washington, D.C. Rep. Teague was honored for his leadership as charter member of the House Committee on Science and Astronautics and Chairman of the Subcommittee on Manned Space Flight since its 1963 formation, leading to a "much higher level of congressional understanding in support of the National Space Program."
The Astronautics Engineer Award was presented to Skylab Program Director William C. Schneider, NASA Acting Associate. Administrator for Manned Space Flight, for "his exceptional personal leadership of the Skylab Space Station Program." The Nelson P. Jackson Aerospace Award was presented to the NASA Ames-TRW Systems Group Pioneer 10 team for its "historic achievement in obtaining close-up photographs and measurements of the Planet Jupiter, after a 600 million mile [970 million km] journey from Earth, in the process of becoming the first spacecraft to fly beyond the orbit of Mars, the first to penetrate the asteriod belt, and, eventually, the first man-made object to escape the solar system."
Winners of the Dr. Robert H. Goddard Historical Essay Award were Dr. Norriss S. Hetherington of Kansas Univ. for "Winning the Initiative: NASA and the U.S. Space Science Program, 1958-60" and Dr. James A. Malloy, Jr., of American Univ. for "The Dryden-Blagonrarov Era of Space Cooperation, 1962-65." The National Space Club Press Award went to John N. Wilford of the New York Times for "his superlative chronicle of the Space Age from Houston to Zvezdny Gorodok; from the first Gemini rendezvous to the last Skylab Space Station."
The Dr. Hugh L. Dryden Memorial Fellowship was awarded to John W. Edwards of Flight Research Center for his ability to apply new techniques to practical flight research, and the Dr. Robert H. Goddard Scholarship went to Miss Rosemarie Szostak of Georgetown Univ. for her research in inorganic chemistry. (Program)
Analyses of light flashes seen by crew members of the last Apollo missions, tentatively attributed to cosmic ray nuclei penetrating the head and eyes, were reported by Univ. of Houston and Johnson Space Center scientists in Science magazine. Three kinds of flashes-the spot or star-like flash, the streak, and the cloud-had occurred randomly, with no apparent preference for one eye over the other. Astronauts saw many more flashes during translunar coast experiment sessions than in transearth coast, although the cosmic ray flux appeared to be the same inside the space-craft during both coasts. No physiological explanation was found for this difference in frequency of flashes. (Pinsky, et al., Science, 8 March 74, 957-958)
NASA was presented the Principality of Monaco's gold and diamond-studded Silver Jubilee plaque at the Annual Awards Luncheon of the American Astronautical Society in Washington, D.C., for its contribution to world-wide television. The award was presented to Dr. James C. Fletcher, NASA Administrator, by U.S. Information Agency Deputy Director Eugene P. Kopp on behalf of Prince Ranier III of Monaco, who had said that NASA's live telecasts from the moon deserved recognition as "one of the most dramatic television events of the past quarter century." (JSC Roundup, 29 March 74, 1)
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