Apr 16 1973
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The Skylab Orbital Workshop atop its Saturn V launch vehicle was moved from the Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy Space Center to Launch Complex 39, Pad A, for May 14 launch. The move marked the first time that both Complex 39 launch pads were occupied simultaneously by space vehicles. The Saturn IB rocket and Apollo spacecraft to convey Skylab's first crew had been positioned on Pad B for May 15 launch. (KSC Release, 4/10/73; KSC PIO)
A lightweight version of the space shuttle was being refined by Rockwell International Corp.'s North American Aerospace Group for the major systems requirement milestone, Aviation Week & Space Technology reported. The lightweight version, with a gross liftoff weight of 1.86 million kg (4.10 million lbs), was scaled down in size from the previous baseline configuration, which had a gross liftoff weight of 2.38 million kg (5:25 million lbs). It had the same maximum payload capability of 29 480 kg (65 000 lbs). The major weight reduction had been achieved by switching to a more efficient double delta wing on the orbitor. Also, a newly designed external fuel tank, which could be separated from the vehicle before orbital velocity was reached, would eliminate the need for a solid-fueled-rocket deorbit motor on the nose of the tank. The solid-fueled boosters were also redesigned to a lighter weight. (Av Wk, 4/16/73, 18-19)
The European Space Research Organization had begun negotiations with Communications Satellite Corp. and RCA Global Communications, Inc., to select a corporate partner that would own the U.S. portion of its proposed experimental communications satellite system, Aviation Week & Space Technology reported. Five companies had submitted bids to the ESRO competition. A final choice would be made before June. (Av Wk, 4/16/73, 9)
Textron Corp.'s Bell Helicopter Div. had been selected to design and build two tilt-rotor aircraft for a joint NASA-Army research project, the Wall Street Journal reported. The aircraft would use large rotors at its wingtips to take off like a helicopter. Airborne, the rotors would be tilted forward and would serve as propellors for cruising. They would be tilted back again for landing. NASA had said the concept combined the longer range and higher speed of conventional aircraft with helicopter utility, factors desirable for Army air-mobile missions and civilian short-haul transport. (WSJ, 4/16/73, 3)
Dr. Dudley G. McConnell, Director of NASA's Scientific and Technical Information Office, became Assistant Administrator for Equal Opportunity Programs, responsible for NASA's internal equal opportunity program and contractor compliance program. Mrs. Ruth Bates Harris, Director of NASA Equal Employment Opportunity and Deputy Director of the Equal Employment Opportunity Office, became Deputy Assistant Administrator for Equal Opportunity Programs. Dr. McConnell also would serve pro tern as Acting Director of the Scientific and Technical Information Office. (NASA Ann, NASA Release 73-73)
The Nixon Administration's proposed Criminal Code Reform Act of 1973 contained language that could make it a felony for aerospace industry representatives in Washington to notify their companies of potential business until the Government officially permitted them to do so, Aviation Week & Space Technology reported. The broadly worded bill would make it illegal "to knowingly communicate information relating to the national defense to a person not authorized to receive it.” (Av Wk, 4/16/73, 11)
Award of a $19 500 000 cost-plus-incentive-fee contract to McDonnell Douglas Astronautics Co. for design, construction, and testing of an electromagnetic pulse simulator for testing large aircraft systems was announced by the Air Force. (DOD Release 190-73)
April 16-17: A joint meeting on the space shuttle Sortie Lab/Spacelab Project at Johnson Space Center and Marshall Space Flight Center was attended by 20 representatives of the European Space Research Organization (ESRO), European Space Research and Technology Center (ESTEC), and European space consortiums headed by MesserschmittBoelkow-Blohm GmbH and ERNo Raumfahrttechnik GmbH. The group was briefed by NASA on the space shuttle and Skylab programs, concept verification testing, and the MSFC sortie lab activities. The consortiums presented a summary of European Spacelab studies. (MSFC Release 7344)
April 16-20: The American Geophysical Union met in Washington, D.C. Cornell Univ. engineers Thomas R. McDonough and Neil M. Bruce propounded the theory that Saturn was encompassed by a great ring of hydrogen gas that had escaped from Titan's gravity pull and drifted into space. The ring was invisible from earth because of atmospheric interference, but should be visible to satellites that could see it with ultraviolet light. Other solar system planets might also have undetected rings.
Dr. Bruce Murray, Cal Tech astronomer and principal 'TV investigator of the Mariner 9 mission (launched May 30, 1971), disputed the theory that ancient floods on Mars had carved the huge canyons shown in the Mariner 9 photos. "Mars' atmosphere, which, at present, is only one-hundredth as dense as the earth's, very probably never has been dense enough for water to run on the planet's surface." There might have: been times "when Mars had virtually no atmosphere at all.” (NYT, 4/22/73, 31; Swaim, Pasadena Star-News, 4/22/73)
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