Jan 14 1974
From The Space Library
Skylab 4 Astronauts Gerald P. Carr, Dr. Edward G. Gibson, and William R. Pogue (launched 16 Nov. 1973 in the final mission to crew the Orbital Workshop) set a new record for the longest manned flight time in space, completing 59 days 11 hrs 9 min at 10:10 pm EDT and surpassing the time set by Skylab 3 on its 28 July-25 Sept. 1973 mission. Skylab 4 had been given a go-ahead 10 Jan. for a seven-day extension, with weekly reviews through the end of a planned 84-day mission. (A&A73)
Three U.S.-U.S.S.R. Apollo Soyuz Test Project working groups began technical meetings at Johnson Space Center on mission plans and experiments, communications and tracking, and life support and crew transfer. Thirty-five Soviet scientists and engineers would work at JSC for periods from 16 to 90 days in preparation for the joint, manned, earth-orbital mission in July 1975 to test compatible rendezvous and docking systems and techniques. (NASA Release 74-9; NASA OMSF, inter-view, 9 July 74)
14-18 January: Final reports on six space tug system studies were presented to NASA at Marshall Space Flight Center by contractors Grumman Air-craft Corp., Martin Marietta Co., McDonnell Douglas Astronautics Co., General Dynamics Corp., and Lockheed Corp. The reports-covering a storable propellant version, a cryogenics propellant version, and a growth stage version-would become the basis for the completion of Phase A studies of the space tug program and recommendations for Phase B definition studies. (Marshall Star, 16 Jan 74)
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