Dec 13 1973
From The Space Library
The Air Force launched Dscs F-3 and Dscs F-4 communications satellites from Eastern Test Range on one Titan IIIC booster, after two postponements to correct faulty instrumentation in the transtage of the launch vehicle. Dscs F-3 entered orbit with a 36 124.9-km (22 447-mi) apogee, 35 799.9-km (22 245-mi) perigee, 24-hr 5-min period, and 2.0° inclination. Dscs F-4 entered orbit with a 36 137.8-km (22 455-mi) apogee, 35 944.7-km (22 335-mi) perigee, 24-hr 9-min period, and 2.0° inclination. On Dec. 19 the press reported Air Force officials as saying that the satellites-part of the Defense Satellite Communications System Phase 2-were operating well in preliminary tests and would be positioned on operational stations at 13° W and 175° E in synchronous orbit approximately 80 days after launch. They would replace two DSCS 2 satellites launched Nov. 2, 1971, which had ceased operating. (Pres Rpt 74; SBD, 12/13/73, 226; 12/19/73, 250)
The U.S.S.R. launched Cosmos 615 into orbit with a 829-km (515.1-mi) apogee, 269-km (167.2-mi) perigee, 95.6-min period, and 71.0° inclination. (cSFC SSR, 12/31/73)
NASA announced the selection of Grumman Aerospace Corp. for negotiation of a contract to modify two Gulfstream II aircraft for crew trainers for the space shuttle orbiter, The contractor's proposed cost was $19.5 million. (NASA Release 73-278)
Air Force Secretary John L. McLucas outlined the Air Force role in space in a speech before the Military Order of the World Wars in Memphis, Tenn. Twenty-six military communications satellites orbited as a research effort had proved so successful they were converted to a basic operational system in 1967. Half of these were still operational. An experimental tactical communications program was essentially complete; satellites and some receivers for aircraft, ships, trucks, jeeps, and a man-pack had been tested. The first operational Fleet Satellite Communications System would improve control for Navy ships and Air Force strategic aircraft. A second military use of space provided data for weather analysis and forecasting. McLucas had announced in March that information from an advanced meteorological satellite program was being made available to the public through the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Satellites also provided early warning of missile attack, detection of nuclear explosions in the atmosphere, and navigation data. A single satellite system to meet all requirements was under study. (Av Wk, 2/18/74)
Sen. Mike Gravel (D-Alaska) introduced S. 2806, the Energy, Revenue and Development Act of 1973, to establish an energy trust fund funded by a tax on energy sources, to establish a Federal Energy Administration, to provide for the development of domestic sources of energy, and for more efficient use of energy. (CR, 12/13/73, S22725-52)
Reference to the U.S. space program was made in the editorial "In Praise of America" by Canadian commentator Gordon Sinclair, reprinted by the Washington Post. Sinclair had said over Toronto radio: "You talk about American technocracy, and you find men on the moon-not once but several times-and safely home again." The editorial defended the U.S. against foreign critics. (W Post, 12/13/73, A18)
A Philadelphia Inquirer editorial commented on the modesty of Dr. Lubos Kohoutek, Czechslovakian astronomer who had described his discovery as "just a comet": The Kohoutek comet "will be far more eventful than 'something normal in the night.' " Its closeness and brightness were incidental "to the more important fact that astronomers such as Lubos Kohoutek patiently search with telescopes night after night, year upon year-observing the known and looking for the unknown. Their work does not match spaceship launchings in attracting public attention but even in the space age, as for centuries past, it is the patience of astronomers, seeking they're not sure what, that continues to unlock the secrets of the universe." (P Inq, 12/13/73)
Wendell S. Smith, Head of the Experiment Management Office of Goddard Space Flight Center's Laboratory for Meteorology and Earth Sciences, died in Baltimore, Md., of cancer at age 38. He had joined NASA in 1959 and had worked on early investigations of the meteorology of the upper atmosphere. In early 1973 he had headed a NASA group in a cooperative experiment with Soviet scientists to verify corresponding satellite measurements. (W Star-News, 12/16/73, C7)
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