Aug 12 1975
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In the general purpose laboratory (GPL) at Marshall Space Flight Center, investigators from MSFC and Johnson Space Center were conducting experiments in high-energy cosmic-ray astronomy, superfluid helium, optical x-ray astronomy, and life sciences. The objective of the experiments, designated concept verification test (CVT) 5, was to verify operational and integration concepts for their applicability to Spacelab, the reusable manned space laboratory being built by the European Space Agency as a payload for the Space Shuttle..
The purpose of the high-energy astronomy experiment was to demonstrate the use of minicomputers for experiment operation, control, and data management, and the real-time interaction of payload specialists with experiment operations. The superfluid helium experiment examined characteristics of helium droplets at temperatures near 2.2 K (-512'F), which would help in developing cryogenic techniques for use in Spacelab. The optical astronomy experiment, which demonstrated remote experiment operation by obtaining data from a Ferson 40.6-cm telescope 9.2 kilometers away, gave practice in investigator-experiment interaction and helped in developing computer control techniques, display requirements for telescope operation and data management, and astronomy training requirements for crew members. The four life-sciences experiments included studies of sporophore formation, the vestibular function, a clinical diagnostic system, and muscle-like contractile protein. Investigators also participated in an experiment to demonstrate the use of a computer in real-time mission planning, scheduling, and applications.
By involving investigators in the CVT simulations, NASA would be able to plan the most cost-effective use of Spacelab. (MSFC Release 75-178)
The development of space law, which had begun about the time of the launch of U.S.S.R.'s Sputnik 1 in 1957, was a unique process. "The problems are both literally and symbolically out of this world," NASA General Counsel Neil S. Hosenball said in an interview with the Orlando Sentinel Star. Does any state have the right to claim the natural resources of celestial bodies? Were earth's criminal and civil laws applicable in space? What was the difference between establishing a planetary base and planting a nation's flag? Which court would rule on extraterrestrial squabbles? These were some of the questions lawyers and politicians would have to consider in the space age. Few precedents existed, and no judge had yet heard a case in a legal dispute originating outside the earth's atmosphere. In fact, a world court, recognized by all major powers, did not exist.
In 1962, a United Nations ad hoc committee on peaceful uses of outer space had developed principles later incorporated into the 1967 Outer Space Treaty. These included a ban against military activity in outer space and against any nation's claiming a section of space or a planet as its own. Other treaties dealt with specific points such as the rescue of astronauts and the registration of spacecraft and space stations. Hosenball stressed that most charters and treaties were drawn up ahead of time in anticipation of problems likely to occur as space exploration expanded. The Sentinel quoted G. P. Zhukov, chief legal counsel of the U.S.S.R. Academy of Sciences, as saying that détente between. the U.S. and U.S.S.R. had been assisted by the success of "legal regulation in space.... Man's foot had not yet stepped on the surface of-the moon and we had already formulated what man could and could not do on the moon. The law was ahead of science." (Orlando Sentinel Star, 12 Aug 75)
NASA commemorated the 15th anniversary of the 12 Aug. 1960 launch of Echo 1, world's first communications satellite. Visible to millions around the world, the 30-m gas-inflated mylar (0.0013-cm thick aluminum-coated plastic) balloon served as a passive radio reflector in space, bouncing signals from one point on earth to another. Its first transmission sent the recorded voice of President Eisenhower from Goldstone, Calif, to Holmdel, N.J.; during its first year in orbit, it served in approximately 150 experiments, including voice, teletype and facsimile communications. Echo 1's large size, small mass, and extreme sensitivity to solar radiation pressures and aerodynamic drag helped scientists confirm orbital behavior theory.
Despite its original 1-yr life expectancy, Echo 1 remained in orbit for nearly 8 yr until, leaking gas through its skin bombarded by meteorites, it reentered the atmosphere and burned up 23 May 1968. (NASA Releases 61-177, 75-217; A&A 68, 23 May)
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