Oct 22 1974
From The Space Library
22 October-12 November: The U.S.S.R. launched Cosmos 690 biological satellite from Plesetsk into an orbit with 366-km apogee, 216-km perigee, 90.3-min period, and 68.8° inclination. The satellite carried white laboratory rats, steppe tortoises, insects, and fungi in a test of the combined effects of weightlessness and radiation. A cesium-137 gamma radiation source within the spacecraft provided an average radiation dose of 32 rads per hr on command from the earth. Beginning on the 10th day of the flight, the rats were exposed to doses of gamma-quantums ranging between 200 and 1000 rads over 24 hrs. After return to the earth 12 Nov., the rats were found to be more pathological and less active than after corresponding control experiments. The change in the hemopoietic and lymphoid organs was more sharply pronounced than in the Cosmos 605 experiments (31 Oct-22 Nov. 1973) . While experiment results were processed, research was continuing on methods of antiradiation protection by deflecting particles with an electric field. Czechoslovak and Romanian specialists cooperated with the U.S.S.R. on the Cosmos 690 project as part of the Intercosmos program. (GSFC Wkly SSR, 17-23, Oct 74; Pravda, FBIS-Sov, 3 Jan 75, U1-4)
22 October: Dr. George M. Low, NASA Deputy Administrator, signed a NASA and Soviet Academy of Sciences agreement on news coverage of the Apollo Soyuz Test Project flight, scheduled for July 1975. The agreement brought a protest from Associated Press President and General Manager J. Wes Gallagher because it excluded American newsmen from the Soviet launching. In a 23 Oct. letter to Gallagher, Dr. James C. Fletcher, NASA Administrator, stated that, while the Soviets were adamant on this question, they had otherwise agreed to provide "the most complete, comprehensive release ever to the U.S. news media of real-time information related to a Soviet space mission." The agreement, Dr. Fletcher noted, covered joint U.S.-U.S.S.R. activities while recognizing the right of each nation to establish policies for their respective independent activities. The U.S. would not exclude Soviet newsmen from the U.S. liftoff.
The Public Affairs Agreement provided that, beginning with the Soyuz launch and ending with the Apollo recovery, onboard information from both spacecraft, voice communications between the spacecraft, and ground communications With both spacecraft, as well as ground-based and onboard TV, would be exchanged immediately. The first real-time TV coverage of a Soviet launch would be released to the West. Factual information on joint activities would be released immediately. Lines from the U.S. public affairs center in Moscow would communicate with technical specialists in the Soviet mission control center. For the first time, Soviet commentators would be at the Soviet control center and launch site during mission operations to describe countdown, launch, and mission events as they occurred, for immediate release. (NASA Int Aff, interview, 30 Sept 75; AP, NYT, 12 Oct 74, 2; 24 Oct 74, 9; NASA press conf transcript, 12 Nov 74)
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