Aug 17 1971
From The Space Library
U.S.S.R.'s Lunokhod 1 lunar rover completed experiments and was powered down for 11th lunar night on moon. Vehicle had landed on moon on board Luna 17 Nov. 17, 1970. (FBIS-Sov-71- 137-3, 8/13/71, Ll)
High-power radar transmitter was being added to 3000-m-dia (1000-ft- dia) radio telescope near Arecibo, Puerto Rico, in joint NASA-NSF program, NSF announced. Modifications would make telescope most powerful antenna in world for radar studies of planets and satellites. (NSF Release 71-178)
Completion of arrangements for exchange of four computer programs between NASA and Japan's Hitachi Central Research Laboratory was announced by NASA. Exchange, negotiated by NASA OART and Computer Software Management and Information Center (cosmic) operated at Univ, of Georgia under NASA contract, would make two Japanese programs available to U.S. users in exchange for two NASA programs that had been available to U.S. public for several years. (NASA Release 71-148)
OST released Final Report of the Ad Hoc Supersonic Transport Review Committee of the Office of Science and Technology, March 30, 1969. Release of previously secret report was prompted, OST said, "by continued public interest and certain impressions that the government may be concealing factual data on the SST program." Report recommended "termination of the development contracts and the withdrawal of Government support from the SST prototype program." Reasons given were: SST operating costs would exceed those of then-available subsonic aircraft; "attendant surcharge makes the airline market uncertain"; program was unattractive to private financing and "substantial government involvement is likely to be sought in the supply or guarantee of some $3-5 billion of capital for the certification and production of a U.S. SST"; there was "substantial uncertainty regarding the range and payload and the environmental effects" of SST and "costs and duration of the program are both likely to increase" in attempt to develop production aircraft; there was "substantial doubt that the present configurations of the Concorde and the TU-144 will become commercially viable aircraft"; balance of payments argument was not sufficiently strong to warrant Government investment in SST; U.S. leadership in aviation did not depend upon affirmative SST decision in near future; and, "when the right combination of technology and market demand appears, the U.S. aircraft industry may well decide on its own to proceed with the development and production of an SST." (Text)
Precision stepping-drive mechanism to position scale models of spacecraft accurately about horizontal axis in wind tunnels and other testing situations had been used by clock manufacturer to replace gears and other continuous-drive mechanisms in electric clocks, NASA announced. Device, developed from NASA technology, when coupled with high-accuracy oscillator provided accurate time by advancing digital clock in increments of one second or any interval required. (NASA Release 71-153)
U.S. Postal Service public relations officers had asked Astronauts Neil A. Armstrong and Edwin E. Aldrin, Jr., to accompany cancellation of lunar landing commemorative stamp on moon during Apollo 11 mission with dialogue from two "casual, conversational" scripts, Julian W. Scheer, former NASA Assistant Administrator for Public Affairs, said in Washington Post article. "But NASA, figuring the first manned lunar landing was hairy enough without ceremonials, declined politely and, instead, Armstrong and Aldrin quietly canceled the first moon stamp and came home without postal fanfare." Washington Post editorial commented on article: "While we have not cast the roles and read the script aloud, timer in hand, it is our definite impression that this spontaneous little exchange might have been good for the better part of one orbit of the moon and good also for a veritable barrage of phone calls from a flabbergasted public." (W Post, 8/17/71, A14)
George W. Cherry, Director of Aeronautical Operating Systems Div. in NASA OART, received Alan Mechanics and Control of Flight Award in ceremonies at Hempstead, N.Y. Award was for "pioneering the development of the digital control system for space vehicles and the application of these techniques to the Apollo Command and Service Modules and the Lunar Modules." (NASA Activities, 9/15/71, 155)
Dr. James R. Schlesinger was sworn in as AEC Chairman, succeeding Dr. Glenn T. Seaborg, whose resignation became effective Aug. 16. (AEC PTO)
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 31
