Jul 25 1973
From The Space Library
July 25-26: The U.S.S.R. launched its Mars 5 probe from Baykonur Cosmodrome at 11:56 pm local time (2:56 pm EDT) into an earth parking orbit. At 79 min after launch the spacecraft was inserted into a 470 -million-km (290-million-mi) trajectory for Mars. All systems functioned normally, Tass reported. The spacecraft was similar in design and purpose to Mars 4 launched toward Mars July 22. Simultaneous investigations by the two spacecraft-scheduled to arrive at Mars in February 1974-would make it possible to obtain more data about the planet and the dynamics of physical processes occurring in cosmic space. On July 26, at 4:00 am Baykonur time (7:00 pm EDT, July 25), Mars 5 was 66 000 km (41 000 mi) from the earth. Mars 4 was 1.46 million km (0.9 million mi) from the earth. (FBIS-Sov, 7/26/73, Ll; Reuters, W Post, 7/25/73, B19; SBD, 7/30/73, 147)
July 25: The U.S.S.R. launched Cosmos 577 from Plesetsk into orbit with 308-km (191.4-mi) apogee, 170-km (105.6-mi) perigee, 89.2-min period, and 65.4° inclination. The satellite reentered Aug. 7. (GSFC SSR, 7/31/73; 8/31/73; SBD, 7/30/73, 147)
Skylab 3 Astronauts Alan L. Bean, Jack R. Lousma, and Dr. Owen K. Garriott concluded training for the second manned mission to the Skylab Orbital Workshop, launched May 14. They practiced key flight maneuvers in a spacecraft simulator at Johnson Space Center and the complex countdown procedures to be used during the final two and one half hours before launch July 28. In an interview with the New York Times, Skylab Program Director William C. Schneider said, "Everything seems to be going great." (Wilford, NYT, 7/26/73; AP, B Sun, 7/26/73, A10)
The Senate received the nomination of L/G Samuel C. Phillips, Director of the National Security Agency and former NASA Apollo Program Director, to be a general, USAF. (CR, 7/25/73, S14742)
NASA launched two Aerobee 200 sounding rockets from White Sands Missile Range. The first carried a Goddard Space Flight Center payload to a 30.6-km (19-mi) altitude to test rocket performance. The rocket performed unsatisfactorily. The second carried a GSFC heat-pipe experiment to a 275.7-km (171.3-mi) altitude. The rocket and instrumentation performed satisfactorily. (GSFC proj off)
A New York Times editorial criticized continued nuclear testing by France and the People's Republic of China: "Even underground nuclear tests no longer have real justification. Both the United States and the Soviet Union have more than enough nuclear weapons to devastate the world, and they have been testing so long that at most they can be gaining only marginal increases of knowledge. At this late date the old arguments about the need for on-site inspection seem irrelevant as barriers to a universal halt. If Moscow and Washington want really to demonstrate that the proclaimed Soviet-American detente is real, they have no simpler or more effective means than to announce that they are amending the 1963 Moscow Treaty to ban all nuclear tests." (NYT, 7/25/73, 38)
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