May 21 1969
From The Space Library
May 21-23: Intelsat-III F-4 was successfully launched by NASA for ComSatCorp on behalf of International Telecommunications Satellite Consortium. The 632-1 cylindrical satellite, launched from ETR by Long-Tank, Thrust-Augmented Thor (LTTAT) -Delta (DSV-3E) booster, entered elliptical transfer orbit with 22,802.7-mi (36,689.5-km) apogee, 183-mi (294.4-km) perigee, and 29.1° inclination. All systems were functioning normally. On May 23 apogee motor was fired to kick satellite into planned near-synchronous orbit over Pacific with 22,164.3-mi (35,644.2-km) apogee, 21,887.2-mi (35,216.5-km) perigee, and 5° inclination. Intelsat-III F-4 was third successful launch in Intelsat III series. Intelsat-III F-3 had been launched Feb. 5, and Intelsat-III F-2, Dec. 18, 1968. Intelsat-III F-1 had been destroyed minutes after launch Sept 18, 1968. New satellite was scheduled to begin commercial service June 1, handling up to 1,200 voice circuits or four TV channels. (NASA Proj Off; ComSatCorp Release 69-27)
May 21: USAF's C-5A Galaxy jet became heaviest aircraft flown, in test flight from Dobbins AFB, Ga., with 728,100-lb takeoff weight. Manufacturer, Lockheed-Georgia Co., said weight exceeded design gross takeoff load by 100 lbs. Its previous record was 703,826 lbs. (AP, W Star, 5/22/69, A5)
NASA announced it had issued 12 REPS for definition and design of Earth Resources Technology Satellite system including study of ground data-processing system. Responses were due June 18. First of two planned spacecraft, ERTS-A was scheduled for late 1971 or early 1972 launch as R&D satellite to test new technology to verify effectiveness of earth resources survey from space. ERTS-A sensors would obtain image data in regions of near and infrared spectrum. Satellite, weighing 1,000 lbs, would also carry experimental data-collection system for measurements of remote, unattended sites. It would be placed in sun-synchronous, near-polar orbit at 500-mi altitude to view entire earth in 100-mi-wide increments in less than three weeks for at least one year. (NASA Release, 69-73)
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Click here to listen to Apollo 10 Mission Audio T+71.19 through T+72.31 TV Pass and end of Press conference
Click here to listen to Apollo 10 Mission Audio T+72.31 through T+73.30 end of TV Pass
Click here to listen to Apollo 10 Mission Audio T+75.30 through T+76.19 LOI May 21
Click here to listen to Apollo 10 Mission Audio T+76.19 through T+76.40 LOI May 21
Click here to listen to Apollo 10 Mission Audio T+76.41 through T+77.06 Observations May 21
Click here to listen to Apollo 10 Mission Audio T+77.38 through T+78.51 Lunar Orbit May 21
Click here to listen to Apollo 10 Mission Audio T+78.51 through T+79.16 Lunar Orbit May 21
Click here to listen to Apollo 10 Mission Audio T+79.16 through T+79.51 Lunar Orbit May 21
Click here to listen to Apollo 10 Mission Audio T+79.51 through T+80.11 TV Pass May 21
Click here to listen to Apollo 10 Mission Audio T+80.11 through T+81.25 May 21
Click here to listen to Apollo 10 Mission Audio T+81.27 through T+81.57 Harrison Schmitt Press Conference May 21
AIAA submitted to President Nixon's Science Advisory Committee The Post-Apollo Space Program: An AIAA View. While "remarkable progress of the Apollo-Saturn lunar program has erased almost all doubt about man's ability to travel in space and return safely," program's magnitude had overshadowed "very solid accomplishments" of unmanned satellites. It was based largely on technology available at its inception; neglected "growing accumulation of feasible, but undeveloped technology" in space vehicle design that could affect space transportation costs; and failed to specify goals beyond manned lunar landing. Report rejected single national space objective for next decade. It recommended programs to determine man's usefulness in space over prolonged periods and to reduce cost of manned operations and urged Government to give high priority to multifaceted applications satellite program. It urged planning and funding for communications data relay, meteorology data, earth resources data, and navigational aids satellite programs and "well-integrated inter-agency plan to develop data-management subsystems." AIAA considered Apollo Applications program and MOL of "substantially greater importance" than last four or five lunar landing missions and encouraged "their timely continuance." It urged designs proceed for extensions of capability in AA and MOL orbital hardware to permit continuation of manned orbital program after 1973, supported retention of at least one crew-carrying vehicle with increased capability for 1973-1975; encouraged early steps to commit to flight demonstration partially reusable low-cost space transportation system for 1974-4976; encouraged accelerated study of space station hardware to succeed AA program and MOL ; and encouraged early steps toward commonality of NASA and DOD subsystems. It considered "commitment to an entirely new station" was "less urgent than commitment to a new logistics system." AIAA recommended continued Apollo lunar program through at least two or three missions and then evaluation, as well as immediate beginning of "vigorous study and controlled funding" of advanced subsystems for 1973-1975 to permit continuation if early success provided support for extension. It recommended manned planetary exploration commitments await evaluation of current programs. Search for extraterrestrial life was "perhaps the most exciting and spectacular of all space-science program objectives" and might well serve as one of "central themes for set of balanced space goals for the 1970s." (ASIA, 6/69, 39-46)
U.S.S.R. publicly demonstrated Tu-144 supersonic airliner in 90-min test flight from Moscow's Sheremetyevo Airport. Test pilot Eduard V. Yelyan said aircraft had not yet exceeded speed of sound although it was designed for speeds to 1,600 mph (mach 2). At airport press conference Boris Savchenko, head of U.S.S.R. aircraft export agency, said production had started on 120-seat, 130-ton airliner. In New York Times, Bernard Gwertzman said observers believed purpose of demonstration was to dispel Western reports of accident to aircraft. (NYT, 5/22/69, 94; UPI, W Post, 5/21/69, C11)
Vice President Spiro T. Agnew, Chairman of NASC, issued statement on Administration's attitude toward space program: "In response to those who would denigrate our space effort, I think it is clear that this Administration has already demonstrated its belief in the strength and potential of America's space program." Administration was taking steps to "evaluate the costs and alternatives available to us in extending the program once man has been placed on the moon and returns." (AP, W Post, 5/22/69, A5)
Pope Paul VI hailed Apollo 10 flight and said man's presence in cosmos was sign of God's presence "in our world and our life." Pope told 30,000 persons at St. Peter's Basilica in Rome, "Even more than the face of the moon, the face of man shines before us; no other being known to us, no animal, even the strongest and most perfect in its vital instincts, can be compared to the prodigious beings we men are." (NYT, 5/22/69)
Press commented on Apollo 10 mission: Washington Post editorial: "The mission of Messrs. Cernan, Stafford and Young, as dramatic and daring as it is, is only an interim step between the first trip to the moon and the first landing on the moon. It is, however, a crucial step since any major problems in this mission or any major unanticipated discoveries about the moon's gravity might well delay the ultimate landing. Because it is both so crucial and so risky, the Nation will wait with special concern when they disappear behind the moon for the first time this afternoon and when the lunar landing craft breaks away from the mother ship tomorrow afternoon for its descent toward the moon's surface. The hope hardly needs to be expressed that these maneuvers, like those in the other Apollo flights, will be executed with the same precision that marked the early stages of this trip." (W Post, 5/22/69, A24)
John Lannan in Washington Evening Star: "Where manned space flight once was fraught with fright and peril, it seems to have moved into an era of fun and games. . . . The astronauts have learned to fly their spacecraft, the ground crews to launch them and the Defense Department to recover them. What remains is to use this accumulated knowledge, and that's what NASA is attempting to do." It all pointed to fact that "space flight has come of age." (W Star, 5/21/69, A4)
Marquis Childs in Washington Post: "When the moon landing... is completed the cost to the government will be just under $24 billion. The achievement represents an unprecedented orchestration of the resources of science and technology. The contrast with the failures here on earth to begin to try to cure rudimentary ills could hardly at this moment of grave uncertainty be sharper." (W Post, 5/21/69, A25)
Christian Science Monitor editorial: Apollo 10 mission "has again posed the old, old question: If mankind can achieve so spectacularly in space, why cannot we improve matters faster here on earth? The answer, surely, is that it is simpler to mobilize the complex electronics and space-science gadgetry to rocket a spacecraft to the moon than it is to coordinate the manifold and conflicting human emotions, ambitions, and processes necessary for cleaning up the cities, thrusting the black revolution forward with a minimum of friction, and banishing earth's pollutants. The earth problem is more complex than the moon problem. Yet success in the moon venture will offer assurance that the earth challenge can be met. "So let no one call the moon venture a waste of ambition, treasure, achievement. The whole brilliant enterprise is immensely horizon-widening, thought-expanding." (CSM, 5/21/69)
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