Nov 17 1975
From The Space Library
The U.S.S.R. launched its 76th space mission for 1975, an unmanned Soyuz-20, from Baykonur Cosmodrome near Tyuratam, and established a new procedure by identifying the unmanned flight as a spacecraft designed for manned flight. Reuters quoted Soviet scientist Dr. Konstantin Feoktistov as saying the purpose of the flight was to develop a transport system either to supply a space station with expendables, or to serve as an emergency rescue ship. One possibility would be to automatically dock a Soyuz with the manned station after one of the cosmonauts had removed the original Soyuz, or perhaps a new Soyuz would be used as a new return vehicle: one of these procedures would be required unless the Salyut space station had been designed with two docking positions.
The Soviet director of July's Apollo-Soyuz Test Project, Konstantin Bushuyev, in Houston for a conference, said Soyuz-20 had not been designed to transfer expendables to the current Salyut 4 space station; Christopher S. Wren, reporting from Moscow for the New York Times, pointed out that it was not known how provisions could be transferred from the Soyuz to the space station, since neither craft had been reported to have such an automatic capability. (NYT, 20 Nov 75; 21 Nov 75, 25; SBD, 18 Nov 75, 90; 21 Nov 75, 114)
Dr. Detlev W. Bronk, president emeritus of Rockefeller Univ. and former president of Johns Hopkins Univ., the Natl. Academy of Sciences, and the American Assn. for the Advancement of Science, died at the age of 78. A scientist who had been adviser to Presidents Truman, Eisenhower, and Kennedy, Dr. Bronk had been credited with formulating the modern theory of the science of biophysics-application of physics to the life systems of plants and animals. He had been chairman of the National Research Council from 1946 to 1950, and president of the National Science Foundation for three terms from 1950 to 1960. In 1964 he had received the Medal of Freedom, highest civilian award to be granted by a U.S. President. (B Sun, 18 Nov 75, A13; NYT,18 Nov 75, 38M)
Alexander P. Vinogradov, leading geochemist of the U.S.S.R. and vice president of the Soviet Academy of Sciences, had died at Moscow at the age of 80, according to Tass, the Soviet news agency. Vinogradov had identified 40 chemical elements in earth's soil zones and had developed a new field of investigation called cosmochemistry-the chemical analysis of lunar and Venus composition. He had remained active as the head of Moscow's Institute of Geochemistry and Analytical Chemistry. (Tass, in FBIS, 17 Nov 75; NYT, 19 Nov 75, 38; Aero Daily, 20 Nov 75, 112)
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