May 9 1974
From The Space Library
NASA announced the appointment of John F. Yardley as Associate Administrator for Manned Space Flight. Yardley-who had been Vice President and General Manager of McDonnell Douglas Astronautics Co. Eastern Div. since 1972-would replace Dale D. Myers, who had re-turned to private industry. At McDonnell Douglas, Yardley had served as project engineer for Mercury spacecraft design 1958-1960, Launch Operations Manager for Mercury and Gemini Spacecraft 1960-1964, Gemini Technical Director 1964-1967, and as Corporate-wide General Manager for the Skylab project. (NASA Ann, 9 May 74)
Federal Aviation Administrator Alexander P. Butterfield signed in London a Memorandum of Understanding for a joint program to test, evaluate, and demonstrate the Aeronautical Satellite (Aerosat) system, for improved communications and air traffic services over the North Atlantic. Other participants included Canada and European Space Research Organization members Belgium, Denmark, France, West Germany, Great Britain, Italy, The Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland. The space segment would include two synchronous-orbit satellites to be launched in late 1977 or early 1978 and would be jointly owned by ESRO, Canada, and a U.S. private sector coowner to be named later. FAA would lease use of the satellites from the U.S. coowner. (FAA Release 74-70)
The Senate passed by voice vote the $3.267-billion FY 1975 NASA authorization bill H.R. 13998, as reported out by the Senate Committee on Aeronautical and Space Sciences 6 May. The Senate agreed on 22 May to a conference with the House on their differences. (CR, 9 May 74, S7461; NASA LAR, XIII/66)
9-10 May: Two Mariner 10 trajectory correction maneuvers were made by an onboard propulsion system to take the spacecraft within 48 000 km of Mercury, for a second encounter in September. The correction would allow Mariner 10's TV cameras to photograph the full planet from the sun side at a resolution of about 1 km. (NASA MOR, 3 Oct 74; NASA Re-lease 74-121)
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