Apr 15 1974
From The Space Library
Marshall Space Flight Center had begun a 20-mo investigation of the vibration characteristics of railroad freight cars as part of an extensive study of train dynamics, with the Federal Railroad Administration and the American Association of Railroads, NASA announced. Martin Marietta Corp.-under a $329 000 contract from MSFC-would make a mathematical model of truck-car dynamics for comparison with data from laboratory and operational tests of a freight car and components. (NASA Release 74-86)
The European Space Research Organization was investigating systems for all-weather earth resources observations, Aviation Week & Space Technology reported. Thomson-CSF and British Aircraft Corp. had completed a nine-month study of a synthetic-aperture radar satellite with a 50-m-resolution imaging sensor. (Av Wk, 15 April 74, 11)
"Skylab was an achievement that will ultimately benefit every inhabitant of this planet," Robert Hotz wrote in an Aviation Week & Space Technology editorial. Further, "in addition to their constant work as space mechanics, the Skylab crews demonstrated that man is a valuable addition to the loop of scientific experiments and activities that can be per-formed uniquely from space. . . . There is no doubt that man must be an integral part of any future space reconnaissance system. . . .
"But perhaps the real essence of Skylab's performance and its significance for future space operations were in its tremendous flexibility." Besides design, planning, and extra equipment, "it was a spirit developed between the ground crews with their considerable array of resources and the flight crews who were able to focus these resources on solving their problems aloft." One astronaut had said, "Skylab worked better broken than anybody had hoped for if it was perfect." (Av Wk, 15 April 74, 9)
Radioactive material like that which had leaked from an improperly shielded container on two 5 and 6 April Delta Air Lines, Inc., flights, and germs, bacteria, and nerve gas were shipped routinely on commercial aircraft, the Washington Post reported. The Post quoted an Atomic Energy Commission investigation as saying that 1 million shipments of radioactive material had been made during 1973. Medical isotopes had accounted for 95% of the total. On 20 March the Air Line Pilots Association had asked the Federal Aviation Administration to ban the shipment of radioactive material by air temporarily. (Conlan, W Post, 15 April 74, A6)
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