Nov 16 1977
From The Space Library
NASA announced it would join with Canada in a 3-day meeting Nov. 29-Dec. 1 to assess performance of Cts, world's most powerful comsat, now in orbit for nearly 2yr. The meeting would hear experimenters discuss their results and the social, technical, and economic aspects of CTS-type comsats. Canada and the U.S. had shared time on Cts, which used a LeRC-developed transmitter tube to operate in a new frequency band at power levels 10 to 20 times higher than those of other comsats, making it possible to use smaller and less expensive ground receivers. Cts had permitted 2-way TV and voice contact experiments for health, education, business, and similar purposes. Besides managing all U.S. experiments on Cts. LeRC had also used a portable earth terminal in an over-the-road van resembling a TV studio to connect the satellite with local events to be broadcast. (NASA Release 77-237)
MSFC reported that DOD had lent NASA a crew of Navy divers for 2 yrs to support tests in the neutral buoyancy simulator studying weightlessness. All 5 had been fleet-salvage divers for the Navy with 5 to 17 yrs experience in scuba, hard hat, mixed-gas, and other types of diving apparatus. Selected for their ability to use special tools to assemble or dismantle structures or equipment underwater, the crew would help test hardware, instruments, and tools to be used in space and would work underwater in full-scale Shuttle or Spacelab mockups to aid engineers in planning contingency procedures, equipment operation, space construction, and other manned-mission activities.
Each trainee working underwater in a space suit would have 2 Navy divers responsible for his safety,. with others assigned to prepare hardware and ensure the necessary tools were in place before the test started. During the test, divers would stand by to retrieve dropped tools or reset apparatus for repeat testing; between tests, the divers would dismantle, remove, or rearrange hardware under water or install new hardware, Chief Petty Officer Richard Wiebe, a veteran diver with 17 yrs in the Navy, said the crew had found work on the Shuttle program challenging. (Marshall Star, Nov 16/77, 4)
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