Nov 5 1971
From The Space Library
Space News for this day. (1MB PDF)
Europa 2, ELDO (European Launcher Development Organization) multistage rocket, failed to launch test-satellite from Kourou, French Guiana, in first developmental flight. Two minutes forty seconds after liftoff, during separation of 1st stage (British Blue Streak) and 2nd stage (French Coralie), rocket acceleration dropped and rocket fell into Atlantic. Failure was setback for European space organization; Europa 2 was to have launched 363- kg (800-lb) satellite into orbit. Rocket's 3rd stage was West German Astris unit. Belgium had set up ground tracking and control stations and Netherlands had supplied station equipment. Italy had contributed test satellite. (Reuters, NYT, 11/6/71, 14; SBD, 11/8/71, 36)
First combination of modern radar data from observations of inner planets with existing optical observations of sun and planets made between 1750 and 1970 had shown that Pluto's mass could not be determined reliably from existing data, MIT scientists M. E. Ash, Irwin I. Shapiro, and W. B. Smith reported in Science. Total 300 000 measurements had been made during experiment which also included available observations of asteroids Eros and Icarus. Radar data were from MIT'S Millstone Hill and Haystack facilities; optical data were from original observatory reports transformed over six years into machine-readable form. Results had shown "insufficient basis for the widespread conclusion that Pluto's average density is greater than, or even comparable to, the earth's." (Science, 11/5/71, 551-6)
Commercial pilot Elgin L. Long flew from San Francisco International Airport to Fairbanks, Alaska, in twin-engine Piper Navajo aircraft on first sector of 32 000-km (20 000-mi), month-long journey over North and South Poles and prime and 180th meridians at Equator- geographic crossroads of world. If successful, um said, Long would establish eight aviation records, including first flight around the world landing on all seven continents, first solo flight across Antarctica, and first solo from Antarctica to Australia. (W Star, 11/6/71, A2)
National Geographic Society was quoted in Chicago Tribune as saying, Phobos, Martian satellite, was darkest body yet observed in solar system, "possibly because meteoroids had scoured it clean of reflecting dust." (C Trib, 11/5/71)
Issuance by USAF'S SAMSO of $20 932 400 contract to Martin Marietta Corp. for launch services for Titan IIIC launch vehicle at ETR was announced by DOD. Initial increment was $10 701 400. (DOD Release 942-71)
Washington Post editorial commented on AEC's test of five- megaton atomic device on Amchitka Island in Aleutians scheduled for Nov. 6: "The fact that this particular test may have some element of risk involved would not automatically foreclose the question of whether it should be conducted. If the test does involve a risk to the environment, it must then be decided whether that risk is worth taking in view of the knowledge to be gained. In any case, the administration would be in far better shape if it had let the debate on the environmental aspect run free and then made its case for taking the risk. As it is, the administration is in the position of assuring Americans and Canadians alike that all is well-that it knows best. We sincerely hope it is right. But if it is wrong, the onus on the administration will be far greater as a direct result of the evidence we now have of the suppression of high-level reservations about the ecological risks involved." (W Post, 11/5/71, A26)
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30
