June 1975
From The Space Library
“Mariner Unveils Venus and Mercury” article appears in National Geographic Magazine
Activities continued at Kennedy Space Center in preparation for the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project launch in July. During the week of 2-6 June, KSC engineers and technicians checked the Apollo spacecraft for propellant leaks, filled the liquid-oxygen storage tank at the pad, loaded oxygen and nitrogen onto the docking module, and installed conax valves on the Saturn 'III first stage.
Spacecraft ordnance was installed 9-13 June and the command module was checked for leaks and prepared for hypergolic loading. Also during the week the liquid-hydrogen tank was filled.
Prime crew members-Thomas P. Stafford, Vance D. Brand, and Donald K. Slayton-and backup crew members Jack R. Lousma, Alan L. Bean, and Ronald E. Evans-arrived at KSC on 10 June for command and docking-module crew compartment fit and functional checks. The crew also familiarized themselves with stowage arrangements. (Spaceport News, 12 June 75, 5; 26 June 75, 3)
Development of the Spacelab by the European Space Agency for NASA's Space Shuttle continued.
An annual Spacelab status review 4-5 June attended by Dr. James C. Fletcher, NASA Administrator, and Roy Gibson, ESA Director General, established schedule milestones, determined readiness for the preliminary design review, and discussed arrangements for the first Spacelab flight. They also discussed plans for the instrument pointing system and the first Spacelab payload, follow-on Spacelab procurement by NASA, and terms and conditions for use of the Space Shuttle-Spacelab system.
On 6 June, the recommendations of 10 teams-which had met at Marshall Space Flight Center in May to discuss Spacelab systems, avionics, structures, environmental control and life support, software, test and integration, and payload operations and accommodations-were presented to the NASA Office of Manned Space Flight for concurrence. At the same time ESA was preparing similar recommendations at the European Space Research and Technology Center (ESTEC).
Beginning on 9 June, combined NASA-ESA teams met in Noordwijk to consider the 1772 review-item discrepancies prepared by both agencies and, after 2.5 days, had processed all of them. (Spacelab Newsletter 75-2, 3 July 75)
Goddard Space Flight Center's Goddard News reported that the John C. Lindsay Memorial Award, given annually to a GSFC employee in recognition of an outstanding contribution to science and technology, had been presented to Dr. Norman F. Ness. Dr. Ness had received the award for his pioneering work in the investigation of magnetic fields of planetary bodies and the interaction of the solar wind with these magnetic fields. Dr. Ness, who had been a participating scientist on the Explorer Interplanetary Monitoring Platform (IMP) satellites and Mariner 10, and Pioneer satellites, spearheaded the first measurements of the earth's distant magnetic fields and magnetic tail. He was also the first to explore the moon's magnetic field. On the Mariner 10 flybys of Jupiter, Dr. Ness made the surprising discovery of a small, but measurable, intrinsic magnetic field. (Goddard News, June 75, 1)
The Air Force continued its development of the remotely piloted vehicle (RPV), the Air Force Systems Command's Newsreview reported. The Air Force awarded three 1-yr firm-fixed-price contracts for definition studies of an advanced remotely piloted vehicle and associated elements. Rockwell International Corp. received $699 684; Boeing Aerospace Co., $646 750; and Northrop Corp., $499 614, to produce designs of an RPV for use in the 1980s. The system was expected to provide an improved cost-effective capability of carrying out electronic warfare, reconnaissance, and strike missions. The three companies would define the vehicle and its avionics, options of launch and recovery, ground-support elements, and systems maintenance to permit rapid mission turnaround.
The Newsreview reported the award of a $100 000 contract to Aero Co. to study the feasibility of using parafoils, half the size of a C-5 aircraft wing, to recover RPVs returning from missions. Aero Co. would design and build for flight testing two 12- by 24-m parafoils high-glide parachutes that, when deployed like a parachute, take on airfoil characteristics, descending at a rate of 1 m forward for each 0.3-m loss in altitude. (AFSC Newsreview, June 75, 1)
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