May 20 1975
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NASA's Ats 6 Applications Technology Satellite (launched 30 May 1974 into geosynchronous orbit) began a 6-wk move from its position 35 900 km over the Pacific Ocean west of the Galapagos Islands to a new location above Lake Victoria in eastern Africa. The satellite, which was expected to reach its new location by 1 July, would be checked out in time to participate in the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project in mid-July. During that mission Ats 6 would track the Apollo and Soyuz spacecraft and relay TV and data from the two spacecraft to earth, marking the first time a satellite had been used to relay TV from a manned spacecraft.
The new location also would bring Ats 6 within range of India for the 1-yr Satellite Instructional Television Experiment (SITE) scheduled to begin 1 Aug. During the experiment-a cooperative effort by NASA and the Indian Space Research Organization-the Indian government would relay daily educational TV programs to 5000 villages and cities throughout India. After the experiment, the satellite would be moved back to a position within range of the U.S., where it would be used for further experimentation, (NASA Release 75-153)
Two U.S. Air Force communications satellites, launched from Eastern Test Range, failed to reach orbit when the third stage of the Titan IIIC launch vehicle malfunctioned and tumbled out of control. United Press International quoted an Air Force spokesman as saying the two satellites, valued at $57 million, were to have been placed in geostationary orbits, one over the Pacific Ocean and the other over the Indian Ocean. The 544-kg comsats-designed to handle as many as 13 000 telephone calls or to relay televised or printed messages without danger of jamming or eavesdropping-would have completed the worldwide military communications network begun in 1973. Officials believed that a power problem was responsible for the failure. (UPI, NYT, 21 May 75, 40)
Frank Briscoe Co., Inc., and Santa Fe Engineers, Inc., were the apparent successful bidders on two major Space Shuttle contracts which would be awarded by Kennedy Space Center, KSC announced.
Frank Briscoe Co. had bid $8 733 300 on a contract for the construction of the Orbiter processing facility, Orbiter towway, and associated site work and utilities at KSC. It was in the processing facility that the Orbiters would be sated, serviced, and maintained after returning from flights into space and then prepared for their next mission. Phase 1 of the construction-scheduled for March 1977 completion-included a 5000-sq-m building with a low bay area 88 m long, 30 m wide, and 8 m high and two high bay areas 61 m long, 46 m wide, and 29 m high.
Santa Fe Engineers had bid $3 567 567 on a contract to construct the Shuttle approach and landing test facilities at Flight Research Center. The contract would include site preparation, construction of a maintenance hangar and shops, Shuttle Orbiter mating structure area, hypergolic fuel and oxidizer area, fire protection pump station, concrete towway and service aprons, parking area and road paving, and necessary utilities. The project was scheduled for completion in September 1976. (KSC Release 73-75)
Air Force Systems Command Aerospace Medical Research Laboratory scientists were studying changes in human body weights and sizes as part of a NASA-requested anthropometric study to help engineers design cockpits and crew stations for future use. NASA engineers who wanted to lay out the Space Shuttle work station were concerned that body sizes of the pilots might change before the station was used. The scientists performing the study, using both current data and data that went back as far as the Civil War, estimated that in 1985 a pilot would average nearly 2 kg heavier and 1.5 cm taller than in 1967, when he had weighed 78.5 kg and was 177 cm tall.
In addition to statistics, NASA requested drawing board manikins for designing the Shuttle's work areas. The study had produced two 2dimensional manikins like cardboard dolls with movable joints; each manikin was articulated in nine places to represent typical ranges of body movement. A 95% manikin represented a person 189.0 cm tall; a 5% manikin, representing a 168.3-em astronaut or pilot, was designed so that only 5% of the 1985 pilot-astronaut population would be smaller. An engineer using both manikins could design a crew station or cockpit that would accommodate 90% of all astronauts and pilots. (AFSC Release OIP 072.75)
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