Jan 7 1973
From The Space Library
Astronaut James A. Lovell, Jr., had announced his decision to leave NASA and retire from the Navy effective March to accept a position with private industry, Manned Spacecraft Center announced. Lovell, who had been Deputy Director of Science and Applications at MSC since May 1971, would become Senior Executive Vice President of Bay Houston Towing Co. Lovell was a veteran of four space flights including Gemini 7 (launched Dec. 4, 1965) ; Gemini 12 (launched Nov. 11, 1966) ; Apollo 8 (launched Dec. 21, 1968), the first mission to circle the moon; and Apollo 13 (launched April 11, 1970), the mission scheduled to make the second lunar landing but aborted after an onboard explosion. He held the record for total time in space715 hrs (30 days). (MSC Release 73-01)
The skeleton crew at AEC-NASA Space Nuclear Systems Office at Jackass Flats, Nev., would be disbanded by late June, SNSO Nevada Operations Chief John P. Jewett was quoted as saying. The facility would be shut down June 30 following termination of the nuclear engine for rocket vehicle application (NERVA) program [see Jan. 5]. More than $1.2 billion had been spent on program since its inception in 1959. (UPI, Orlando Sentinel, 1/7/73)
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31
