Jan 4 1974
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(New page: Twenty-seven spacecraft on twenty-six vehicles-eleven for NASA and fifteen cost-reimbursable launches for other organizations-were scheduled for launch by NASA during 1974. For the first t...)
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Twenty-seven spacecraft on twenty-six vehicles-eleven for NASA and fifteen cost-reimbursable launches for other organizations-were scheduled for launch by NASA during 1974. For the first time, NASA would launch more spacecraft for other organizations than for itself.
Included in the NASA launches were two Synchronous Meteorological Satellites (SMS) to be launched in cooperation with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration; a proof flight of the Titan-Centaur booster carrying a mass model of Viking spacecraft and a Space Plasma High Voltage Interaction Experiment (SPHINX); Helios-A, a NASA and West German cooperative satellite to study the solar environment; GEOS-C Geodetic Explorer; Nimbus-F experimental weather satellite; San Marco C2, a NASA-Italian cooperative satellite; UK-5, a NASA and United Kingdom cooperative satellite; ATS-F Applications Technology Satellite; a Hawkeye Explorer scientific satellite; and ANS-A, a NASA-Netherlands astronomical satellite.
The 15 NASA launches that would be paid for by domestic and foreign corporations and governments included 2 Skynet communications satellites, the UK-X4 scientific satellite for the United Kingdom, 3 Intelsat and 2 Marisat comsats for Communications Satellite Corp. the first 3 Westar domestic comsats for Western Union Telegraph Corp, Aeros-B scientific satellite for West Germany, ITOS-G operational weather satellite and GOES-A (SMS-C) meteorological satellite for NOAA; and Symphonie A experimental communications satellite for a West German and French consortium. (NASA Release 74-2; NASA Gen Mgt Rev Rpts, 14 Jan 74, A66; 11 Feb 74, A64)
Goddard Space Flight Center launched an Aerobee 200 sounding rocket from White Sands Missile Range to study Comet Kohoutek's ultraviolet rays. The rocket carried cameras, spectrometers, and other instruments to 232.6-km altitude to determine amounts of oxygen, hydrogen, and carbon dioxide in the comet. The flight was "highly successful," Dr. Stephen P. Maran, GSFC Manager of Operation Kohoutek, said.
The comet, discovered 5 May 1973 by Czechoslovak astronomer Dr. Lubos Kohoutek, was once predicted to be the "comet of the century" as it passed near the earth on its 75 000-yr journey around the sun. It was only twice as bright as nearby stars but reflected enough light to permit instruments to be aimed at it precisely. (Maran, interview, July 74; Watson, W Post, 5 Jan 74; Dilts, B Sun, 5 Jan 74, Al)
Pioneer 10, launched 2 March 1972, was 26 070 000 km beyond Jupiter after passing within 130 000 km of the giant planet 3 Dec. 1973 on a course that would carry it past Pluto and out of the solar system in 1987. Pioneer 11, launched 5 April 1973, had been in flight across the Asteroid Belt since August 1973, on its way toward a Jupiter encounter in December 1974. (KSc Release 2-74)
The Shuttle Avionic Integration Laboratory (SAIL) was being established at Johnson Space Center to provide a central facility for testing and evaluating avionics, flight software, flight procedures, and ground equipment for the space shuttle. Testing in SAIL would provide information on system operation before each major step in the shuttle flight tests. (JSC Roundup, 4 Jan 74)
The North American Air Defense Command's count of objects in orbit around the earth totaled 624 payloads and 2349 pieces of debris, left from 7038 objects placed in space by man since the beginning of the space age in 1957. Space debris was falling back into the atmosphere at a rate of one piece a day, but NORAD's tracking and impact prediction pro-gram analyzed the decay trajectory of each satellite that might survive reentry and predicted the time and area of impact, issuing warnings if any were deemed hazardous. Most returning objects were burned up by friction heat on reentry and most of the rest fell into oceans and seas. To date, the only fatality caused by space debris was a cow killed nearly 13 yrs ago when an 88-kg chunk of metal from a U.S. space probe struck the earth near a Cuban village.
Eventually, however, increasing space debris and reentries might require traffic control assistance for supersonic aircraft and spacecraft. "Short of sending up some sort of a celestial vacuum cleaner ... the best approach . . . appears to be tracking and impact prediction," NORAD spokesmen said. (Miles, LA Times, 7 Jan 74)
Marquis Childs commented on Pioneer 10-which had passed within 130 000 km of the planet Jupiter on 3 Dec. 1973-in the Baltimore Sun: "The scientific brains that have gone into the Pioneer project are one of America's greatest resources. They underwrite the technological-scientific lead that is perhaps this country's greatest asset. The momentum must be maintained if our rivals-the Russians, the Germans, the Japanese-are not to pass us." (B Sun, 4 Jan 74)
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