Oct 25 1973
From The Space Library
October 25-31: NASA launched Explorer 50 (IMP-J) Interplanetary Moni-toring Platform by a long-tank, thrust-augmented Thor-Delta launch vehicle from Eastern Test Range at 10:26 pm EDT to study the cislunar environment during a period of decreasing solar activity. The spacecraft entered orbit halfway to the moon, with a 228 808-km (142 174.7-mi) apogee, 197.5-km (122.7-mi) perigee, 117.1-hr period, and 28.7° in-clination The apogee kick motor was fired at 1:00 am EST Oct. 29, placing Explorer 50 in its mission orbit with 288 857-km (179 487.4-mi) apogee, 141 184-km (87 727.7-mi) perigee, 12-day period, and 28.7° inclination. The spacecraft was oriented to the ecliptic and spun up to 23 rpm. Explorer 50 would make detailed and near-continuous studies of the interplanetary environment for orbital periods comparable to several rotations of active solar regions and study particle and field interactions in the distant magnetotail, including cross-sectional mapping of the tail and neutral sheet. Over a two-day period beginning Oct. 30, 11 of the 12 experiments were turned on. On Nov. 12 they would be turned off while four 60-m (200-ft) antennas would be deployed. The experiments would be turned back on Nov. 13 and 14 along with the 12th experiment. The experi-ments were supplied by Goddard Space Flight Center, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Atomic Energy Commission, and uni-versities. Explorer 50 was the 10th and final spacecraft in the IMP series, which had monitored solar radiation during an entire solar cycle. The series had provided the first accurate measurements of the interplanetary magnetic field, the magnetosphere boundary, and the collisionless mag-netohydrodynamic shock wave associated with the interaction of solar wind with the geomagnetic field. The first spacecraft in the IMP series, Explorer 18, was launched Nov. 26, 1963; the most recent, Explorer 47, was launched Sept. 22, 1972. The IMP program was directed by NASA'S Office of Space Science and managed by GSFC. Tracking and data acquisition was managed by GSFC under the direction of the Office of Tracking and Data Acquisition. GSFC was also responsible for the Thor-Delta launch vehicle. (NASA prog off; NASA Release 73-211; KSC Release 231-73)
October 25: Two buckled fuel tanks on the Skylab 4 Saturn IB launch vehicle [see Oct. 23], scheduled for a Nov. 10 launch, were snapped back into shape by using the pressure of kerosene fuel and helium. Skylab engineers were testing the aluminum tanks to ensure the buckling had caused no structural damage. (UPI, LA Times, 10/26/73)
NASA'S 15th Annual Awards Ceremony was held in Washington, D.C. Dr. James C. Fletcher, NASA Administrator, presented NASA'S highest award, the Distinguished Service Medal, to Arnold W. Frutkin, Assistant Ad-ministrator for International Affairs; Robert H. Gray, Kennedy Space Center Director of Launch Operations; S. Neil Hosenball, Deputy Gen-eral Counsel; Roy P. Jackson, Associate Administrator for Aeronautics and Space Technology; and William E. Lilly, Comptroller. The NASA Distinguished Public Service Medal, the agency's highest award to non-Government personnel, was presented to Dr. Leo Goldberg, Director of Kitt Peak National Observatory, and Dr. Frank Press, Massachusetts Institute of Technology lunar geophysicist. The Group Achievement Award went to the Apollo Lunar Sounder Investigator Team, Jet Propulsion Laboratory; the Communications Cost Reduction Team, NASA Hq.; the Mariner Venus/Mercury 1973 Program Team, JPL; the Scout Project Team, Langley Research Center; and the YF-12 Thermal Loads Calibration Team, Flight Research Center. Other awards included the Exceptional Service Medal to 35 persons and the Exceptional Scientific Achievement Medal to 32. (Program; NASA Re-lease 73-219)
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