Oct 10 1985
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Members of the House of Representatives, former astronauts, and assorted other government people would depart on October 10 for a five-day stay in Moscow to interest Soviet officials and scientists in a joint manned mission to Mars, the NY Times reported. The Soviets invited the group, and the White House cleared the visit.
Heading the 40-member delegation was Rep. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.), who was chairman of the House space science subcommittee and scheduled to fly aboard the Space Shuttle in December. Former astronauts Thomas Stafford and Donald K. (Deke) Slayton, also in the group, would join in a celebration in Moscow of the 10th anniversary of the Apollo-Soyuz space mission.
Nelson noted that the formal space cooperation agreement between the two countries expired in 1982 and said that he hoped the Congressional mission would open the way to a “new spirit of scientific cooperation.” Under the sponsorship of the Soviet Academy of Sciences, the group would visit the space research institute, the cosmonaut training center, and the mission control center in Kaliningrad. A U.S. request to visit the Baikonur Astrodrome, the launching facility in Tyuratam outside the city of Leninsk, was pending. (NYT, Oct 9/85, B14)
The U.S. Air Force announced today the military cargo that would fly aboard the first Space Shuttle flight launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base, citing as its reason public interest in the mission, the NY Times reported. The move was considered a major step toward making available more information about the entire flight, including views of the poles as seen during the Space Shuttle's polar orbit.
Air Force Maj. Ronald Rand said the Department of Defense (DOD) approved dissemination of information about the payload because it was experimental and not designed to carry out an operational mission. He said there were two payloads: an assembly of six space physics experiments that would remain in the Space Shuttle's open cargo bay and an experimental airplane-detecting experiment.
In light of the mounting Congressional and public interest in this historic first manned polar orbit and first west coast shuttle mission, we've made an exception to our policy with the understanding that we'll continue to protect performance data and results of these two experiments,” Rand said. “This doesn't mean we've changed our policy of classifying DOD payloads.” Flying aboard Discovery, which was scheduled for launch March 20, 1986, would be Comdr. Robert Crippen of the Navy; pilot Guy Gardner; astronauts Jerry Ross, Dale Gardner, and Richard Mullane; Under Secretary of the Air Force Edward Aldridge; Air Force Maj. John Brett Watterson; and a DOD specialist to tend the cargo. (NYT, Oct 11/85, A6)
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