May 17 1973
From The Space Library
The U.S.S.R. launched Cosmos 558 from Plesetsk into orbit with a 491-km (305.1-mi) apogee, 267-km (165.9-mi) perigee, 92.1-min period, and 70.9ø inclination. The satellite reentered Dec. 22. (GSFC SSR, 5/31/73; 12/31/73; SBD, 5/18/73, 108)
A Baltimore Sun editorial commented on problems of Skylab 1, launched May 14: "We hope that through astute improvisations much of the Skylab 1 mission can be salvaged. Yet if it has to be scrubbed, then NASA should be encouraged to go ahead with backup plans to send a second space laboratory into earth orbit next year." NASA could find the money "if it is prepared to cut back or postpone other activities, including the controversial $14 billion space shuttle program.... While space shuttles can operate independently, they will approach their full potential only when they can rendezvous with orbital space stations or laboratories." (B Sun, 5/17/73, A18)
A 30-kiloton underground nuclear-gas-stimulation test, the third in the Plowshare program to stimulate recovery of natural gas from a thick geologic section of unconnected gas sand strata, was conducted by the Atomic Energy Commission in the Fawn Creek area, 48 km (30 mi) southwest of Meeker, Colo. Dr. Dixy Lee Ray, AEC Chairman, announced 30 min later that the experiment had proceeded "perfectly." Opponents of the blast had contended that seismic shocks could pour salt water into the drinking water supply throughout the West and Mexico and could make underground mining dangerous and that gas produced by the blasts could contaminate the region and its waters for centuries. (AEC Release R-186; Sterba, NYT, 5/18/73, 1)
Grumman Corp. had submitted a proposal to the Navy for Dept. of Defense purchase of further lots of the F-14 jet fighter aircraft, Grumman Corp. President John C. Bierwirth told the annual shareholders meeting in Bethpage, N.Y. (Andelman, NYT, 5/18/73, 49)
Dr. Paul W. Gast, Chief of Johnson Space Center's Planetary and Earth Sciences Div., died in Houston at age 43. He had contracted a fatal illness in 1971. Dr. Gast had been on leave from Columbia Univ.'s Lamont-Doherty Geological Observatory and, since 1970, had directed the lunar science team studying lunar samples at JSC. He had received the NASA Medal for Exceptional Service in 1970 and the NASA Distinguished Service Medal in 1972. He had been awarded the first Victor Goldschmidt Award of the Geochemical Society in 1972 and had been named to receive the James Furman Kemp Medal of Columbia Univ. in 1973 for directing the lunar rock study. (NYT, 5/18/73, 34; SF, 10/73, 389)
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