Apr 9 1975
From The Space Library
The House of Representatives, by a vote of 318 to 72, passed H.R. 4700, the bill authorizing NASA $3 585 873 000 in funds for FY 1976 and $922 450 000 for the transition period 1 July through 30 Sept. 1976.
The bill was passed as reported out of the House Committee on Science and Astronautics 14 March. (CR, 9 April 75, H2549-75)
NASA would store $900 million worth of surplus Apollo-Saturn hardware instead of scrapping it as planned earlier, Dr. James C. Fletcher, NASA Administrator, said in a letter to Rep. Olin E. Teague, Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Science and Technology. The flight hardware would be stored in a manner to minimize costs and to permit restoration, if required, to flight condition. Dr. Fletcher also wrote that, as Space Shuttle launch-readiness schedule and program costs required, NASA would convert Launch Complex 39 and its supporting facilities to handle the Space Shuttle.
As requested by the Committee during a 25 March meeting with Associate Administrator for Manned Space Flight John F. Yardley, NASA would supply the Committee with a summary of options for missions that could be flown using the remaining Apollo-Saturn flight hardware.
Dr. Fletcher also stated that, because of the "considerable cost" to the government of storing the equipment, NASA would like to discuss the matter with the committee once again during the FY 1977 authorization hearings. (Text, letter Fletcher to Teague, 9 April 1975; UPI, NYT, 17 April 75, 7)
The Helios 1 (launched 10 Dec. 1974 by NASA for West Germany) mission objectives-to investigate the fundamental solar processes and solar terrestrial relationships by the study of the solar wind, magnetic and electric fields, cosmic rays, and cosmic dust-had been accomplished and the mission was adjudged successful. (NASA MOR, 11 April 75)
NASA announced that Dr. Rocco A. Petrone, Associate Administrator, would leave NASA in May to join the National Center for Resource Recovery as president and chief executive officer, Dr. Petrone, who in 1960 was assigned on loan from the Army to Kennedy Space Center as Saturn project officer, later became Apollo program manager responsible for planning, developing, and activating all launch facilities for the Apollo program. Upon retirement from the Army he served at KSC as director of launch operations from 1966 to 1969, when he was appointed Apollo program director. In 1972 he was assigned additional responsibilities as program director of the NASA portion of the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project. In Dec. 1972 he was appointed Director of Marshall Space Flight Center, a position he held until his appointment in 1974 as Associate Administrator. (NASA Releases 69-124, 75-98)
Sen. William Proxmire (D-Wisc.) said in a speech on the Senate floor that he had asked the Central Intelligence Agency to assess the safety of Soviet manned space technology. "The in launch failure of another Soviet manned satellite last Saturday [7 April] reinforces my deep concern that the upcoming joint Apollo-Soyuz experiment may be dangerous to American astronauts. . . . The history of the Soviet manned program shows an appalling lack of consistency. As soon as one severe problem is solved another occurs." (CR, 9 April 75, 55527)
Johnson Space Center announced the award to Martin Marietta Corp. of a 10-mo $373 000 study contract to investigate current technology and develop several conceptual designs of a manned maneuvering unit.
When the most promising concept was selected, Martin would execute a detailed design and high-fidelity mockup of the unit and its support station. The contract also called for Martin to design and build a prototype hand controller for the unit.
The maneuvering unit, a direct spinoff from the "Buck Rogers" unit that successfully demonstrated on 1973-74 Skylab missions the precision and control with which an astronaut could maneuver in zero g, would allow Space Shuttle crew members to maneuver outside the Shuttle for maintenance, inspection, repair, retrieval, assembly, and photography. (JSC Release 75-24)
9-22 April: NASA launched Geos 3 Geodynamic Experimental Ocean Satellite from Western Test Range at 4:50 pm PDT on a two-stage Thor-Delta 1410 launch vehicle. The satellite entered orbit with an 844-km apogee, 837-km perigee, 101.9-min period, and 115.0° inclination. Forty-one investigators would participate in the mission, whose primary objective was to perform an in-orbit radar altimeter experiment demonstrating the feasibility and utility of mapping the sea surface with a 1- to 2-m precision. Geos 3 would also measure wave heights and contribute to the development of technology for future satellite radar altimeter systems. Other objectives included support of the calibration of NASA and other agencies' ground C-band radar systems; demonstration of a satellite-to-satellite tracking experiment with Ats 6 (launched 30 May 1974); comparison of new and established geodetic and geophysical measuring systems; support investigations in solid-earth dynamic phenomena such as polar motion, earth rotation, earth tides, and continental drift; and further definition of orbit determination techniques using precision. tracking systems such as lasers and doppler ground stations.
All spacecraft subsystems were checked out 9-10 April with telemetry indicating normal performance. Gravity-gradient stabilization maneuvers were also begun with the firing of the squibs that released the end mass and extended the boom to 0.7 m. Additional boom extension and retraction maneuvers were carried out 11 April with the maximum extension of 6 m occurring that day.
The momentum wheel was energized, providing additional three axis stabilization; the desired pitch damping of ± 1° was achieved by 20 April.
By 22 April ground controllers activated doppler and C-band transponders and began tracking. Solid acquisition of return-pulse data was occurring on all passes, and the radar altimeter had operated in the high-intensity mode twice over the Atlantic Ocean. Engineering tests of the Ats 6-Geos 3 satellite-to-satellite tracking experiment were completed. Calibration of radar altimetry began on 21 April and would continue until 20 May.
First of its kind, the satellite-to-satellite tracking experiment by Geos 3 and Ats 6 was expected to provide orbit information more precise than that obtainable by ground observations. From its geosynchronous orbit Ats 6 tracked Geos 3 for more than half its orbit while Geos 3 radioed ranging signals through its S-band transponder to Ats 6, which relayed the signals to ground stations.
Geos 3 carried an array of quartz reflectors that permitted laser ranging measurements accurate to 10 cm. A laser beam sent to the satellite' would be reflected, and then received back at the originating ground site, one of a network of laser ranging stations which would track Geos 3 during its mission lifetime.
Powered by 16 solar cell panels, the 340-kg, 8-sided spacecraft was the third in a series of GEOS spacecraft designed to gain knowledge of the earth's shape and dynamic behavior as part of the National Geodetic Satellite Program (NGSP). The NASA-managed program, begun in 1964 .with the cooperation of the Depts. of Defense and Commerce and several universities and international organizations, was initiated to generate a unified world-survey network and to develop a more precise mathematical model of the earth's gravitational field.
Geos 1 (Explorer 29, launched 6 Nov. 1965) and Geos 2 (Explorer 36, launched 11 Jan. 1968) had demonstrated that the U.S. could make most observations using one satellite and that errors in any system could be discovered and corrected by reference to other systems. Other missions in the NASA geodesy program included Explorer 22 (launched 10 Oct. 1964), Explorer 27 (launched 29 April 1965), Pageos 1 (launched 1 July 1966), and the Earth Resources Experiment Package (EREP, launched 15 May 1973 aboard Skylab 1 ).
The Geos 3 program was managed by Wallops Flight Center under the direction of the Office of Applications at NASA Headquarters. Mission operations and the Thor-Delta launch vehicle were managed by Goddard Space Flight Center. The spacecraft, designed and built by the Applied Physics Laboratory of Johns Hopkins Univ., cost about $12.5 million. (NASA MORs, 8 April 75, 22 April 75; Wkly SSR, 3-9 April 75; NASA Release 75-88)
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