Jun 13 1983
From The Space Library
Press reports said that the 10th Shuttle mission originally set for November, first to have a secret mission and first to be flown solely for the U.S. Air Force, was delayed "indefinitely" at the request of the Air Force and that NASA officials had "no idea" when it would be rescheduled. The Air Force confirmed the delay but would not discuss the reasons. NASA and the Air Force had an agreement allowing the service to preempt any scheduled Shuttle mission.
Unidentified sources said that the reason was the Boeing-built upper stage that failed when the TDRS was launched from the Shuttle in April. Postponement indicated that the payload scheduled for the Air Force would have used the type of upper stage that malfunctioned. A special board convened to investigate the matter had not issued a report. (NY Times, June 14/83, C-3; W Post, June 14/83, A-7)
At 8 a.m. EDT June 13, unmanned U.S. spacecraft Pioneer 10 crossed the orbit of Neptune on the way out of the solar system. The 570-pound robot craft 2.81 billion miles from the Sun and traveling 30,558 mph at the time. (NASA Releases 83-39, 83-91; ARC Releases 83-11, 83-18; W Post, June 12/83, A-l; June 14/83, A-1; NY Times, June 14/83, A-1)
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