Apr 7 1978
From The Space Library
American Indians of the Far West had used the Communications Technology Satellite, world's most powerful, in an unusual undertaking: tribes in Mont. and N.M. had linked up via the satellite with each other and federal officials in Washington, D.C., to exchange information and views on health, agriculture, education; and other tribal concerns. ARC said the Cts experimental satellite, operating on a new frequency and at power levels 10 to 20 times higher than current commercial comsats, had provided 2-way interactive video and audio communications between ground sites, allowing participants to view and confer with each other as though in the same room. Lewis Research Center had developed the transmitter (its key component) and would manage U.S. portions of the joint U.S.-Canadian satellite program, the Lewis News reported. Indian nations taking part in the broadcasts over 3days were the Crows and other tribes from the northwestern U.S., and the All-Indian Pueblo Council, Inc., and nearby tribes from the southwest. Government representatives included the assistant secretary of the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, senators, and representatives, the governor of Montana, and the assistant secretary for Indian affairs in the U.S. Dept. of Interior. (ARC Astrogram, Apr 7/78, 2; Lewis News, Apr 14/78, 1)
The Air Force had launched at 7:45pm the previous Thursday a secret payload aboard an Atlas-Agena rocket from Cape Canaveral, Today reported. The launch, not previously announced, resembled previous unannounced launches that had carried various spy satellites. The launch followed 3 consecutive unsuccessful military missions. In Feb., an experimental Trident fleet ballistic missile had failed after launch from a land pad at the Air Force station; in Mar., DOD officials had destroyed both a Titan III-C rocket carrying 2 Triple 7 defense communications satellites and a Poseidon fleet ballistic missile. (Today, April 7/78, IA) NASA had not yet decided when to command the Skylab space station into a cartwheel maneuver that could extend its orbital life by 9 to 14mo, Science magazine reported. The maneuver could increase chances of a Space Shuttle mission either boosting Skylab or propelling it into controlled reentry. Major factor in the decision would be assessment of how long the station's control-moment gyros could sustain the maneuver before failing; without the cartwheel, NASA believed reentry would occur between May 1979 and July 1980. According to Science, however, Skylab's chances of remaining in the sky until NASA could get to it with a Space Shuttle were no better than 1 in 2. (Science, Apr 7/78, 28; Av Wk, Apr 24/78, 15)
The National Aeronautic Association announced the 1977 Collier trophy winners: U.S. Air Force Gen. Robert J. Dixon, and the Tactical Air Command headed by him since 1973. The NAA had awarded the Collier trophy annually for U.S. achievement in aeronautics and astronautics during the preceding yr; the selection committee had made the award for development and implementation in 1977 of the Red Flag combat-simulation flight-training program.
Red Flag, designed to enhance combat readiness of U.S. air crews, had been regarded as a significant contribution to national defense. Encounters in Red Flag, consisting of missions against simulated surface to-air missiles, had been the most realistic undertaken in peaCETIme aerial-combat training. Gen. Dixon had established the program in 1977, conducting ten 4-wk exercises at Nellis Air Force Base, Nev.; more than 8200 air crews had trained during 1977, with 10 000 ground troops participating. (NAA newsletter Apr 7/78)
The plane flown by Amelia Earhart when she disappeared would be the target of a search party headed by Vincent Loomis departing soon for the Marshall Islands, the W Star reported. Loomis, a USAF officer who had conducted aerial surveys to set air-navigation markers in advance of the H-bomb tests at Bikini atoll, said he had spotted plane wreckage but was in a hurry to finish his job. Some yrs later he had read a magazine article on the search for Earhart, and remembered the wreckage. Loomis said a simple navigational error could have put the Earhart plane over the Marshalls, north of her destination at Howland Island. Fred Goerner, who had combed the Pacific for clues to Earhart's fate, called the venture "a very, very, very long shot," especially since the area "has been surveyed and surveyed and every one of the islands has been visited and visited in recent years"; he said it was unlikely that evidence would have remained undiscovered. (W Star, April 7/78, C6)
Flight testing of the Space Shuttle's microwave scanning-beam landing system (MSBLS) had begun at KSC, Today reported, with pilots and technicians using a specially equipped Jetstar aircraft operated by Dryden Flight Research Center to conduct the tests. The system verification tests would be the initial checkout of the airborne MSBLS/ Jetstar system and the ground stations with their laser systems to verify compatibility, and to check out the system processing test data. KSC had scheduled 5 test flights lasting a total of about 12hr. (Today, Apr 7/78, 12A; DFRC X-Press, Apr 7/78, 2)
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