Oct 24 1973
From The Space Library
Establishment of the Spacelab Program Office in the Office of Manned Space Flight was announced by NASA. The new office, to be headed by Douglas R. Lord, would replace the Sortie Lab Task Force. The reorganization followed the Sept. 24 signing of a cooperative agreement by NASA and the European Space Research Organization which called for European design, development, and manufacture of a Spacelab to be flown in the space shuttle orbiter. (NASA Release 73-228)
Gerald M. Truszynski, NASA Associate Administrator for Tracking and Data Acquisition, said in hearings on NASA'S tracking program before the House Committee on Science and Astronautics' Subcommittee on Aeronautics and Space Technology that the percentage of spacecraft requiring real-time control would increase from 70% to 90% in 1975. With increased number of satellites and volume of data, as well, new tracking capability would be required. NASA proposed a new Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System (TDRSS) for the late 1970s-possibly leased from the private sector-to support low-earth-orbit spacecraft. Two synchronous satellites would relay telemetry, voice, and video data from other spacecraft to a single U.S. earth station, or from the station to the spacecraft. TDRSS would support all spacecraft below 5000 km (3100 mi), including shuttle, Spacelab, and automated spacecraft. The new system would give 88% continuous contact with spacecraft, real-time interactive experiments, and reduced dependence on foreign-based tracking stations. Half the Spaceflight Tracking and Data Network sta-tions could be closed, saving "tens of millions of dollars." (Transcript)
NASA announced it had granted a five-year exclusive patent license for the automated visual sensitivity tester (AVST), a device to detect eye abnormalities, to Consultants Unlimited. The device-an 8-mm motion picture projector with an electronic control unit and an automatic response plotter-had been developed by Ames Research Center scientists for astronaut eye examinations during long-duration space missions. (NASA Release 73-226)
NASA launched an Aerobee 200 sounding rocket from White Sands Missile Range carrying a Johns Hopkins Univ. planetary atmosphere experiment. The rocket and instrumentation performed satisfactorily. (GSFC proj off)
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