Jul 10 1973
From The Space Library
Dr. James C. Fletcher, NASA Administrator, announced that future spacecraft technical requirements would permit a phasedown beginning in mid-1974 of a Deep Space Network (DSN) facility and a Space- flight Tracking and Data Network (STDN) facility-NASA's two major tracking and data-acquisition facilities near Johannesburg, South Africa. The 64-m (210-ft) antenna facilities at Goldstone, Calif., and the new large-dish facilities in Canberra, Australia, and Madrid, Spain, with smaller 26-m (85-ft) antennas at these stations, would be used for the new planetary spacecraft probing further into the solar system and be-yond after June 1974. (NASA Release 73-128)
President Nixon announced the designation of Dr. H. Guyford Stever, National Science Foundation Director, as Chairman of the Federal Council for Science and Technology. Dr. Stever, who had been Acting Chairman since May 14, would also serve as Presidential Science Adviser, pursuant to the President's Jan. 26 Reorganization Plan No. 1 of 1973, which abolished the Executive Office of Science and Technology effective July 1. A former President of Carnegie-Mellon Univ., Dr. Stever had been NSF Director since 1972. The Federal Council for Science and Technology had been established by Executive Order 10807 of March 13, 1959, to recommend measures for effective implementation of Federal policies on the administration and conduct of Federal programs and science and technology. (Off of White House Press Secy Press Notice)
Sen. Frank E. Moss (D-Utah), Chairman of the Senate Committee on Aero-nautical and Space Sciences, addressed a joint symposium on space program planning of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, and the Society of Automotive Engineers in Denver, Colo. Points paramount for the U.S. space program, in his mind, were; "First, despite a year with all the trappings of potential disaster, NASA is coming through in pretty good shape. Second, now is the time for space planners-inside and out-side the NASA family-to get serious about how best to use the space shuttle. Third, the single most important need for a healthy future space program is a substantially higher NASA budget request for Fiscal Year 1975. Fourth, Congress is willing to leave overall planning for future space options to the Executive Branch, but cavalier disregard for specific congressional decisions-such as we witnessed last January-is not likely to be so lightly accepted in the future." (CR, 7/14/73, S13479)
A NASA investigation board had found an electrical malfunction to be the major factor in the May 10, 1972, accident over Bergstrom Air Force Base, Tex., in which Astronaut Charles Conrad, Jr., had ejected safely from a T-38 jet trainer aircraft, Johnson Space Center announced. The malfunction had caused loss of instruments in severe weather and the aircraft had been destroyed. (JSC Release 73-91)
U.S. Patents Nos. 3 744 480 and 3 744 794 were granted to Marshall Space Flight Center physicist Raymond L. Gause and engineers Raymond A. Spier and Bobby G. Bynum. They had invented the ergometer installed in Skylab 1 (launched May 14) to evaluate the astronauts' muscular output and heart rate and also the harness that held the astronaut to the ergometer in zero-g or earth environment. (Pat Off PIo; Jones, NYT, 7/14/73, 31)
July 10-11: The NASA Committee on Remote Manipulator Systems and Extravehicular Activity met at Marshall Space Flight Center to review technology and discuss using remote manipulator systems and extra-vehicular activity in the space shuttle, Large Space Telescope, and space tug projects. Representatives of the Army, Navy, and Air Force attended. (MSFC Release 73-90; Marshall Star, 7/11/73, 4)
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