Jul 20 1975
From The Space Library
The Apollo-Soyuz Test Project docking system functioned well even though "conditions were not too favorable in the second docking," spacecraft designer Vladimir Syromyatnikov said at a Moscow press conference. Although he said he was not yet familiar with all the details, Syromyatnikov said there had been a great deal of pitch between the two craft. "We know that the Soyuz system, after capture, is turned off, while the manual operation of the Apollo ship... should have been turned into a different mode." At point of capture Soyuz began to turn on its axis at approximately 3° per sec, and the shock absorbers on the Soyuz "were very strained in order to absorb this strain." All the pitch was '"quelled" after about 40 sec, Syromyatnikov added.
When a reporter asked why this happened, flight engineer Sergei Tsibin said, "We know that at one moment on the Apollo there was a folding of the gyroscopic system. We also know that at the moment of locking and latching the Apollo and Soyuz were rolling at approximately 1 degree a second. This should not have taken place." The Los Angeles Times reported on 21 July that the Russians were worried about a pressure drop in Soyuz and had voiced concern over possible damage to the Soyuz by the hard docking. However, the Times quoted NASA officials in Moscow as saying that the docking had been within prescribed limits though conceding that "it may have been a little harder" than the first one. (USSR press briefing transcript, 20 July 75; Toth, LA Times, 21 July 75)
Pope Paul VI told a crowd of 5000 at the papal palace near Rome that he was enchanted by the unique encounter of the Apollo and Soyuz crews in space [see 15-24 July]. He said, "We too, our eyes dazzled by sky light or wide open toward the depths of nighttime space, will shout out, long live the heroic men of such a fantastic feat. Man has won and we cannot refrain from foretelling more wonderful advances in the dominance of nature beyond the heavenly sphere. Man will win." (ASTP air-to-ground transcripts, 20 July 75)
The fierce rivalry between the U.S. and U.S.S.R. was not confined to ground, air, and sea, but extended to space, the People's Republic of China's The People's Daily said in an article entitled "Competition in Space and Hardship on Earth." Both superpowers had invested huge amounts of money, manpower, and materials to turn cosmic space into an arena for arms expansion and war preparations as well as espionage. U.S. and U.S.S.R. military satellites, which accounted for most satellite launchings, were used mostly to spy on each other. In recent years their rivalry in space had become more and more acute, disturbing tranquillity in space. (Peking NCNA, FBIS-PRC, 21 July 75, Al)
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
