Jul 2 1975
From The Space Library
Ats 6 Applications Technology Satellite arrived at its new operating station at 35° east longitude over equatorial East Africa where it would relay communications from the docked Apollo and Soyuz spacecraft during the July Apollo-Soyuz Test Project mission. Upon completion of ASTP, Ats 6 would be used by India to transmit educational TV programs to several thousand remote villages.
The satellite had experienced a malfunction in a drive circuit of one of the three momentum wheels used to control spacecraft attitude. A group of hydrazine gas thrusters was being used as a backup system for stabilization while ground controllers at Goddard Space Flight Center were analyzing the problem and developing remedies. (NASA Release 75-194)
Prof. Hyron Spinrad, Univ. of Calif. astronomer, had photographed a galaxy 5 to 10 times larger than the Milky Way. Prof. Spinrad photographed the galaxy, designated 3C'123, using the 120-in telescope at Lick Observatory and a new device that filtered out backlighting. The huge galaxy was moving away from earth at a speed of about 4.3 trillion km per year. (AP, B Sun, 2 July 75, A3)
Three high-speed F-104G aircraft formerly belonging to the German Air Force arrived at Flight Research Center to be used for research purposes. FRC had been flying F-104As, an early version of the same aircraft, but replacement parts were becoming scarce. Parts for the F-104G would be available through the 1980s. The three aircraft left Jever Air Force Base in West Germany on 27 June and made stops in Scotland, Iceland, Greenland, and Labrador before arriving at FRC. (X Press, 18 July 75, 4)
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