Feb 7 1975
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NASA had issued a request for proposals for the procurement of telecommunications services provided by a Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System (TDRSS) developed and operated by industry to meet NASA requirements, NASA announced. TDRSS, consisting of two specialized relay satellites in synchronous earth orbit and a U.S.-based ground terminal, would relay nearly continuous data and voice commands to and from mission spacecraft and the ground control center. The network could support all earth-orbiting spacecraft below 5000 km, including the Space Shuttle and Spacelab, and provide 85% coverage, compared with the current 15% coverage by the conventional ground tracking system. (NASA Release 75-37)
An A-7D aircraft with a DIGITAL digital flight-control system-first of its kind to be flight-tested by the Air Force-made its first flight at Air Force Flight Test Center. DIGITAL was part of a program to investigate the feasibility of installing digital flight-control systems in current and future tactical fighter aircraft.
The system, featuring a pilot-selectable control mode, would increase flight-control reliability with its component self-test capability, improve combat effectiveness by permitting multimode aircraft handling qualities, and cost less because of the system's inherent flexibility and the general availability of its digital components. (AFSC Release 01P 057.75)
Dr. Hertha Firnberg, Austrian Minister of Science and Research, and Roy Gibson, Director General of the European Space Research Organization (ESRO), signed an agreement in Vienna permitting Austria to participate in individual European space programs-including Spacelab-without obligation of membership. (Spacelab Newsletter 75-1)
A decrease in the amount of ozone in the stratosphere would cause an increase in skin cancer in white (the most susceptible) Americans, Walter Sullivan wrote in a New York Times article. The findings were based on the combined results of a 1974 NASA study that used instrumented aircraft to profile ozone and nitrogen oxide in the stratosphere, the National Cancer Institute's 1974 Third National Cancer Survey, and the Dept. of Transportation's 3-yr study "The Effects of Stratospheric Pollution by Aircraft" [see 21 Jan.].
The NASA study, which used high-altitude U-2 aircraft, confirmed that atmospheric ozone increased from the equator to the poles and was also influenced by regional and seasonal variations. Ozone molecules above the latitude of Houston were only three fifths as plentiful as above the latitude of Minneapolis. Correspondingly, the Cancer Institute survey showed an annual incidence of nearly 400 skin-cancer cases per 100 000 whites in Dallas, Tex., and less than half that figure in the Minneapolis area.
These data, when combined with the DOT study, indicated that the number of skin-cancer cases in the U.S. would increase by 6000, or 1%, a year if 120 supersonic transports operated in the stratosphere for 4 hr daily, thus depleting the zone by 0.5%. (Lowenstein et al., Journal of Atmospheric Sciences, Nov 75, 2185- 90; Sullivan, NYT, 7 Feb 75, 11)
7 February-1 March: The eight prime and backup Soviet cosmonauts training for the July Apollo-Soyuz Test Project joined with U.S. prime and backup astronauts in the U.S. to continue training for the joint mission. The cosmonauts-Aleksei A. Leonov, Valery N. Kubasov, Anatoly V. Filipchenko, Nikolay N. Rukavishnikov, Vladimir A. Dzhanebekov, Boris D. Andreyev, Yury V. Romanenko, and Aleksandr S. Ivanchenkov-arrived in Washington, D.C., 7 Feb. and traveled to Kennedy Space Center the following morning.
The group toured KSC 8 Feb. giving the cosmonauts their first glimpse of the U. S. launch complex. Col. Leonov commented that the pad from which Alan B. Shepard was launched in 1961 "is a very simple launch stand compared to the ones we use now." Following a tour of Disney World in Florida 9 Feb., the cosmonauts spent 10 Feb. inspecting the Vehicle Assembly Building, where the Apollo would be stacked on the Saturn IB launch vehicle; the Launch Control Center firing room, from which the rocket would be controlled; and Launch Complex 39 Pad B, from which the Apollo spacecraft would be launched. Press coverage of the first Soviet visit to KSC noted that previous invitations for Soviet officials to visit KSC had been turned down apparently because of Soviet unwillingness to reciprocate with invitations to Baykonur Cosmodrome. But in May U.S. astronauts would return the visit by going to the Soviet launch site.
The astronauts and cosmonauts flew to Johnson Space Center to begin a 2-wk training period that included exercises in command and docking module simulators and mockups; joint language-training sessions; briefings on experiments, contingencies, and mission rules; and practice run-throughs of the planned joint activity days. Following a press conference at which U.S. and Soviet ASTP crew members were introduced to JSC employees, the Soviet cosmonauts returned to the U.S.S.R. in two groups, on 28 Feb. and 1 March. (NASA Release 75-34; JSC Release 75-07; NASA ASTP Status Report No. 7; Spaceport News, 21 Feb 75; JSC Roundup, 28 Feb 75, 1; McElheny, NYT, 10-17 Feb 75)
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