Jan 6 1977
From The Space Library
NASA formally adjudged the Viking 75 mission, launched toward Mars on Aug. 20 and Sept. 9, 1975, successful, according to the post-landing mission operations report. All Viking instruments except the seismometer on the first lander (which failed to uncage itself) operated successfully and were continuing to send data to earth. The prelaunch mission objectives (advancing knowledge of Mars by orbital observation and by direct measurements in the atmosphere and on the planet's surface) had been realized, the report said. (MOR S-815-75-01/02)
NASA announced that a test model of Pioneer 10, first spacecraft to reached Jupiter, would be on display at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C., beginning Jan. 11. The actual spacecraft, launched March 3, 1972, had reached Jupiter in Dec. 1973 and was now about 1.6 billion km (about a billion miles) from earth headed for the orbit of Uranus, which it should reach in Sept. 1979, by the time its sister spacecraft Pioneer 11 would reach Saturn.
Headed generally toward Aldebaran in the constellation Taurus, Pioneer 10 would reach the orbit of Pluto (about 4 billion miles out) in 1987, but radio-signal reception would be doubtful beyond the orbit of Uranus. The model of the first spacecraft scheduled to leave the earth's solar system would appear in the Milestones of Flight hall with the Wright Flyer, the Spirit of St. Louis, and the Apollo 11. (NASA Release 77-1; ARC Release 77-1)
NASA Hq announced appointment of Curtis M. Graves as director of the Community Affairs Division, effective Jan. 3. Graves came to NASA from the Natl. Civil Service League, where he was managing associate for continuing education from 1973 to 1977. For 6yr he was a member of the Texas legislature, representing a Houston district beginning in 1966 as the first black elected to that body since 1891. Born in New Orleans, he received a bachelor's degree from Texas Southern University and an honorary doctorate from Union Baptist Bible College in Houston. He also served as branch manager of a savings and loan association and as advertising manager and editor of two Houston newspapers. In his new assignment with NASA he would supervise the agency's relations with communities where NASA centers and installations are located, promoting understanding of NASA's economic and social impact on these areas among local citizens and NASA personnel nationwide. (NASA Release 77-3)
India and the Soviet Union had reached agreement on coordinating their satellite systems, said the Indian news agency Samachar, as reported by the Foreign Broadcast Information Service. The agreement resulted from a recent visit to Moscow by a team of experts from India's Ministry of Communications and Department of Space. The problem arose because of possible interference between the proposed India domestic comsat Insat, to be placed in geostationary orbit over the Indian Ocean, and existing or proposed satellite systems: of the USSR. The aim of the talks was to ensure avoidance of satellite interference through discussion of the technical aspects of the systems, including the distance between satellites. Satellites already in operation in that area included those of the Intl. Telecommunications Satellite Organization, Indonesia, and others. (FBIS, Delhi Patriot, Dec 26/76, 1)
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