Nov 22 1974
From The Space Library
22 November-6 January 1975: NASA launched Skynet IIB, a U.K. military communications satellite, for the U.S. Air Force Space and Missile Systems Office as agents for the U.K. Ministry of Defense. The satellite was launched on a three-stage Thor-Delta launch vehicle from Eastern Test Range at 7:28 pm EST into an orbit with a 36 965-km apogee, 185-km perigee, and 24.6° inclination. The apogee kick motor, fired at 8:10 pm EST on 24 Nov. circularized the orbit with an apogee of 36 595 km, perigee of 35 896 km, period of 24 hrs 19.4 min, and inclination of 2.2°. The spacecraft then drifted to its geosynchronous station at 50° E longitude over the Indian Ocean. NASA adjudged the launch a success 6 Jan. 1975.
The first-generation Skynet A and B had been developed for the U.K. in the USAF'S Initial Defense Communications Satellite Program (IDCSP) and launched by NASA 21 Nov. 1969 and 18 Aug. 1970. Skynet IIA failed to achieve a satisfactory orbit when launched 18 Jan. 1974 and reentered 25 Jan. The launch of Skynet IIB had been delayed from 19 Nov. by a defective component in the Delta 2nd-stage attitude control system. (NASA. MORs, 7 Nov, 5 Dec 74; 6 Jan 75; GSFC Wkly SSR, 21-26 Nov 74; NASA Release 74-303; AP, W Post, 12 Nov 74, C5)
22 November: NASA and the National Science Foundation (NSF) had signed a Memorandum of Understanding for collaboration in research on terrestial uses of solar energy, NASA announced. NSF, the lead Federal agency in solar energy research, chaired the 20-member Interagency Panel for Terrestrial Applications of Solar Energy. NASA's role in the National Solar Energy Program would be directed to projects in which NASA had special capabilities, although this participation was expected to touch the full range of solar energy research. (NASA Release 74-302)
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