May 23 1973
From The Space Library
Dr. James C. Fletcher, NASA Administrator, testified on the status of the Skylab missions before the Senate Committee on Aeronautics and Space Sciences hearing on the difficulties that had postponed Skylab 2, as the countdown resumed at Kennedy Space Center for May 25 launch: The micrometeoroid shield around the Skylab 1 Orbital Workshop had been torn off about one minute after liftoff on May 14, during the time of maximum aerodynamic pressure. "At the same time, some of the solar panels used to generate electricity for the laboratory were apparently also damaged, jammed, or torn away. We don't know which. The full impact of this malfunction was not known until several hours after launch; we still do not know the specifics of the actual damage. The net result was that Skylab was in a good orbit, but had only approximately one-half of its power-generating capability in operation and also was overheating badly." The overheating occurred because the damaged micrometeoroid shield was also to have provided thermal balance. It was painted "to reflect the proper amount of sunlight so that the laboratory would stay cool." The Skylab 2 astronauts hoped to repair the damage and then carry out a 28-day mission. "If the planned repairs are successful, we will also be able to accomplish most of the activities scheduled for the two subsequent missions, each lasting 56 days." Skylab 2 would carry several sunshades. "We don't know whether the micrometeoroid shield is completely severed or whether parts of it are obstructing some of the areas where the sunshade might be fixed, but . . . by carrying several different shades, we should at least have one which will be suitable."
Dr. Fletcher described steps to be taken to deploy the solar panels. "If it looks like an easy thing to do, if one of the panels ... is partially deployed and is hung up on something and all it needs is a little tug, we will put a loop of twine around the end of it, play it out so that we are well away from the panel in case it starts to deploy, and give a little tug on the twine. If it deploys, fine; but if it does not, we will go on without it. But we are not going to spend too much time on that fix. There are too many uncertainties and we do not really need the power." (Transcript)
The U.S.S.R. launched Cosmos 560 from Plesetsk into orbit with a 325-km (201.9-mi) apogee, 178-km (110.6-mi) perigee, 89.5-min period, and 72.8ΓΈ inclination. The satellite reentered June 5. (GSFC SSR, 5/31/73; 6/30/73; SBD, 5/30/73, 162)
The House passed H.R. 7528, the $3.074-billion NASA FY 1974 authorization bill [see May 9], by a vote of 322 to 73. Rejected were a motion to recommit the bill to the Committee on Science and Astronautics, an amendment by Rep. Bella S. Abzug (D-N.Y.) to delete $567 million for space shuttle programs, and an amendment by Rep. John Conyers, Jr. (D-Mich.), to prohibit use of tracking and data acquisition funds in South Africa because of South Africa's apartheid policy. (CR, 5/23/73, H3921-51)
Success of an Ames Research Center project to provide the California Div. of Forestry a daily fire index measurement via ERTS 1 Earth Resources Technology Satellite (launched July 23, 1972)-from an unmanned re-mote station in a Sunol, Calif., fire area-announced by NASA. The project had enabled foresters to pinpoint probably sources of fires and had eliminated the necessity of using scarce fire-fighting personnel for monitoring. The system was being considered for monitoring air pollution. (NASA Release 73-104)
Rep. Olin E. Teague (D-Tex.), Chairman of the House Committee on Science and Astronautics and Rep. Don Fuqua (D-Fla.), Committee member, introduced H. Con. Res. 223 requesting the President to pro-claim July 16-22 of each year as "U.S. Space Week." The resolution was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary. (CR, 5/23/73, H3976)
NASA launched an Aerobee 150A sounding rocket from White Sands Missile Range carrying a National Center for Atmospheric Research aeronomy payload to a 111.4-km (69.2-mi) altitude. The rocket and instrumentation performed satisfactorily. (GSFC proj off)
Preliminary data from the May 17 Plowshare underground nuclear blast in western Colorado indicated the blast had not damaged vast oil shale deposits in the area, Atomic Energy Commission spokesman Dr. Charles Williams told the press in Rio Blanco, Colo. Oil industry officials had claimed the blast could damage the shale, a future energy source. (UPI, W Post, 5/25/73, A3)
May 23-June 6: The 16th Annual Meeting of the Committee on Space Research (COSPAR) was held in Constance, West Germany. Data from the ERTS 1 Earth Resources Technology Satellite launched by NASA July 23, 1972, was presented in a three-day symposium on applications of space techniques to monitoring environmental problems. Recently analyzed data from the Apollo 17 mission (Dec. 7-19, 1972) necessitating changes in existing lunar models were presented during working group meetings. Other topics included space biology, astronomical experiments conducted by space vehicles, and data from planetary explorations.
The National Academy of Sciences-National Research Council's Space Science Board submitted its report United States Space Science Program, including progress in NASA's geodetic satellite program. The program continued to provide essential ingredients in support of the emerging earth and ocean physics applications program (EOPAP), which would make geodetic satellite measurements for a global geometric net-work of reference points to a 10-m (33-ft) accuracy, refine knowledge of the gravity field for determination of geoid features of 1000 km (620 mi) accurately to about 10 m (33 ft), and evaluate the geodetic instruments used. The U.S.S.R. presented its report Space Research Performed in the USSR in 1972, including data from Luna 19 (launched Sept. 28, 1971, to orbit the moon). Meteoric particles near the moon were found not to exceed their density in interplanetary space. The moon's perturbing effect on the earth's magnetic loop and on interplanetary magnetic fields of solar origin were confirmed. Analysis of the sample collected by the Feb. 14-25, 1972, Luna 20 mission showed that the primary rocks of continental regolith were chiefly anorthosite rocks which sharply distinguished "continents" from "maria." The sample contained finely dispersed metal iron of very high corrosion resistance, just as found in material from Luna 16 and Apollo 11 and 12. (NASA Release, 3/23/73; NASA PIO; US text; JPRS 59778, trans Of USSR rpt)
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
