Feb 13 1970
From The Space Library
Space News for this day. (1MB PDF)
MSC announced establishment of Space Shuttle Program Office and appointment of Robert F. Thompson as Manager. Kenneth S. Kleinknecht, Manager for Command and Service Modules, would succeed Thompson as Manager of Apollo Applications program Office. Clifford E. Charlesworth, a flight director, was appointed to new position of Apollo Applications program Deputy Manager. (MSC Release 70-25)
Distribution of 13 kg (28.6 lbs) of Apollo 12 lunar material to 139 U.S. scientists and 54 scientists from 16 foreign countries had begun at MSC, NASA announced. Domestic analysis would be performed in 139 university, industrial, and government laboratories in 25 states and District of Columbia. Foreign investigators represented Australia, Belgium, Canada, Czechoslovakia, Finland, West Germany; Japan, Korea, Spain, Switzerland, U.K., South Africa, Italy, France, Norway, and India. Preliminary investigation at LRL had revealed Apollo 12 samples were similar in characteristics to Apollo 11 samples. Principal investigators would report findings at MSC Lunar Science Conference in January 1971. (NASA Release 70-19)
Aerobee 170 sounding rocket launched by NASA from WSMR, carried Columbia Radiation Laboratories payload to 230.9-km (143.5-mi) altitude to study soft x-ray sources and diffuse background. Rocket and instruments functioned satisfactorily. (NASA Rpt SRL)
White House announced in Key Biscayne, Fla., that President Nixon had asked Apollo 12 Astronauts Charles Conrad, Jr., Richard F. Gordon, Jr., and Alan L. Bean to visit Latin America, Europe, Africa, and Asia as his personal representatives. Tour, to take 40 days, would begin Feb. 16. Astronauts would be accompanied by wives. (PD, 2/1670, 178-9)
NASA awarded $5.7-million contract extension to Aerojet-General Corp. for continued R&D on SNAP-8 nuclear power system. (LeRC Hist Monitor; Pasadena Star-News, 2/21/70)
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