December 1984
From The Space Library
NASA announced that a publication of infrared celestial objects, presented in a series of catalogs and maps of 96% of the entire sky, was completed by the international science team of the IRAS. This was a milestone in the history of astronomy and would provide a wealth of new in-formation about the universe in a wavelength region that was nearly impossible to study from the Earth's surface.
The IRAS catalogs printed nearly a quarter-million infrared sources-stars, galaxies, and newly forming stars-in addition to entirely new classes of objects. The catalogs and sky maps would be used for decades by astronomers investigating the nature of celestial objects that emitted much of their energy in infrared wavelengths as well as by astronomers seeking to understand objects at other wavelength regions of the electromagnetic spectrum. The catalog contained roughly 130,000 stars, 20,000 galaxies, 50,000 dense condensations within the infrared cirrus, and 40,000 objects of all types within the plane of the Milky Way galaxy. The catalogs were presented in several formats, including a five-volume book containing 5,000 pages of computer printout information on the location and infrared characteristics of 245,839 individual point sources found by the telescopes. The catalogs were also available on microfiche (24 cards) and magnetic tape comprising 60 megabytes of data.
IRAS was a joint project of the space agencies of the United States, United Kingdom, and the Netherlands. The telescope satellite was launched by January 25, 1983, and conducted a 10-month all-sky survey of infrared objects from Earth orbit until its supply of liquid helium coolant was depleted November 23, 1984. (NASA Release 84-169)
Paul F. Holloway would become deputy director of LaRC, effective February 3, 1985, succeeding Richard H. Petersen. Holloway had been director for space at LaRC since May 1975 and had joined NASA in June 1960 as an aerospace research engineer. Since that time he had held various agency positions, including acting deputy associate administrator of the Office of Aeronautics and Space Technology at NASA Headquarters and chief of the Space Systems Division at Langley. He received the NASA Outstanding Leadership Medal in 1980 and the NASA Exceptional Service Medal in 1981. (NASA anno, Dec 10/84; LaRC Release 84-114)
Krafft A. Ehricke, 67, father of the space-launched Centaur interplanetary vehicle and a leading space scientist for more than 40 years, died December 11 in La Jolla, Calif. Born in Berlin, Ehricke was brought to the United States with other members of the German V-2 rocket team after World War II to launch the U.S. space program. Ehricke worked briefly for Bell Air-craft Company in Buffalo, N.Y., after the war and later for Consolidated Vultee Corporation, which had a contract with the Air Force to develop the Atlas intercontinental ballistic missile. Vultee eventually became part of General Dynamics. The Atlas project produced the United State's first ICMB, and versions of it were still flying as space boosters. (W Times, Dec 13/84, 8C; W Post, Dec 13/84, D-7; NY Times, Dec 13/84, D-30)
Vladimir N. Chelomei, 70, a rocketry expert who designed the Soviet Union's first jet engine, died December 8 in Moscow. Tass, which carried the news of his death, did not report the cause. His work was closely connected with the Soviet space program and aircraft design, and he is credited by The Great Soviet Encyclopedia with the 1942 design of the Soviet's first jet engine. He had headed a major scientific research, design, and development organization for 29 years. (W Post, Dec 13/84, D-7)
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