Apr 14 1971
From The Space Library
U.S.S.R. launched Cosmos 406 from Plesetsk into orbit with 222-km (137.9-mi) apogee, 199-km (123.7-mi) perigee, 88.6-min period, and 81.3¦ inclination. Satellite reentered April M. (GSFC SSR, 4/30/71)
Representatives of 79 INTELSAT member nations opened negotiating and organizing meeting at Dept. of State. Twelve observers, including representatives from Communist countries, attended. Purpose of meeting was to discuss proposed agreement to base member nation's voting power on its use of INTELSAT and limit U.S. power to 40%. (AP, NYT, 4/15/71, 14)
Communist Party General Secretary Leonid I. Brezhnev had been guiding Soviet space research and rocket engineering since 1963, Wall Street Journal reported. Information had been contained in article circulated to Moscow correspondents by a Soviet news agency. (WSJ, 4/14/71, 1)
Discovery of "first incontrovertible evidence" of existence of natural plutonium 244 by team of Univ. of California at Berkeley scientists was described by Dr. Calvin Alexander in Washington, D.C., press interview. Dr. Alexander and team had baked 15 mg of Pu 244-two thirds of world's supply-in vacuum system at 2144.3 K (3400°F). Pu 244 had been made expressly for experiment by Oak Ridge National Laboratory. It survived experiment almost intact, having lost only "a hundred million atoms of mass" in form of rare gas, xenon. Those atoms had provided "fingerprint" for Pu 244 similar to fingerprint found in certain meteorites. Scientists had suspected meteorite finger-print had been remnant of completely decayed Pu 244, but until Berkeley experiment they had had no "file" against which to check it. (Lannan, W Star, 4/15/71, A6)
AAAS held symposium in Boston on use of long-baseline interferometry antennas thousands of miles apart, working together, to determine angular width and precise direction of distant radio sources. Three teams of astronomers who had worked independently reported observation in distant space of what appeared to be two objects flying apart at 10 times speed of light, but were unable to agree on plausible explanation for phenomenon that defied laws of physics that said such velocity was impossible. Discovery had been made originally by nine-man team of scientists from MIT, GSFC, JPL, and Univ. of Maryland. Team, under direction of Dr. Irwin I. Shapiro of MIT, using MIT Haystack antenna and JPL's Goldstone antenna, had observed two components of quasar 3C-279 accidentally during experiments con-ducted in October 1970 to observe passage of 3C-279 around sun. Discovery also was described by Dr. David L. Chauncey of Cornell Univ. and team from Cal Tech and National Radio Astronomy Observatory. Dr. Alan T. Moffet of Cal Tech reported on joint observations of phenomenon with Australian astronomers. Following symposium, Rumford Premium, oldest scientific prize given in U.S., was presented to 21 scientists from U.S. and Canadian observatories who had pioneered in development of baseline interferometry. (Sullivan, NYT, 4/15/71, 33)
MSC announced signing of $11 577 561 supplemental agreement with Grumman Aerospace Corp. for changes in Apollo LM contract. Agreement brought total value of contract since January 1963 to $1 617 510 000 (MSC -Release 71-18)
Dr. Armand N. Spitz, astronomer and author, died at age 66 after heart attack. Dr. Spitz had founded Spitz Laboratories, organized NASA Moonwatch program of using volunteer astronomers to track satellites, and created Spitz planetarium-small, inexpensive instrument used in schools and small museums. He was member of AAS, fellow of AAAS, consultant to NSF, and author of numerous publications. (W Star, 4/16/71, B5)
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