Mar 10 1972
From The Space Library
Apollo 16 Flight Readiness Review was conducted at Kennedy Space Center to gather status reports on preparation for lunar landing mission scheduled for launch April 16. (KSC Release 55-72)
NASA TF-8A aircraft, equipped with supercritical wing and piloted by Thomas C. McMurtry, resumed flight program at Flight Research Center after three-week halt for improvement of fuselage area distribution and installation of pressure survey rakes. Purpose of flight- 28th in series-was to check out new instrumentation and angle-of- attack and "airspeed calibrations. Aircraft reached 10 700-m (35 000- ft) altitude, instrumentation was activated, and calibrations were made at mach 0.90, 0.95, 0.97, 0.99, and 1.2. (NASA proj off)
U.S.S.R.'s Luna 19 lunar probe completed 1810 orbits of moon and was operating satisfactorily. Spacecraft had conducted 516 radio communications sessions since launch Sept. 28, 1971, and had collected data on moon's gravitational field. (Tass, FBIS-Sov, 3/13/72, Ll)
Lewis Research Center's 60-megawatt reactor, used to study radiation effects on materials and components for future space nuclear systems, was also being used to solve local environmental problems. Reactor was analyzing trace elements in air, coal and other fuel samples, and corn damaged by birds LeRC scientists at Plum Brook Station, Ohio, were making analyses for LeRC Environmental Research Office to identify and catalog trace elements in air. Other government agencies and universities had requested irradiation of samples for environmental studies, (NASA Release 72-49)
NASA announced issuance by Ames Research Center of request for proposals for studies on four proposed Pioneer-class missions to Venus in late 1970s. Proposals would cover design studies for entry probes and orbiting spacecraft. Two contractors would be selected to perform parallel, $500 000 design studies. (NASA Release 72- 53)
Marshall Space Flight Center announced award of $26 923 contract to Huntsville (Ala.) Hospital to equip room with NASA- developed devices to test applications in aiding quadriplegics. When room was completed, immobile patient would be able to open and close doors and windows, control room temperature, change channels and control volume on TV set, dial telephone, adjust bed position, signal nurse at remote station, and turn pages in a book. Devices provided by MSFC included sight switch operated by looking into sensor on eyeglass frame, panel switch operated by touching panel with head, foot switch, breath switch operated by blowing against small paddle, and pneumatic switch operated, by rolling head against pillow to depress airbag behind ear. Contract expenses would be shared, with MSFC contributing $15 450 and hospital and Univ. of Alabama at Huntsville contributing balance. (MSFC Release 72-25)
Progress in nuclear explosion seismology was reported in Science: "Some experts now believe that explosions in hard rock with yields as small as 2 kilotons could be identified on a global scale with no more than a dozen high-quality seismograph stations." In 1958 "there seemed to be little prospect . . . of identifying shots with yields smaller than 50 kilotons" at distances greater than 2500 kilometers (1553 miles) from the center of the blast. (Wick, Science, 3/10/72, 1095-7)
Membership in National Academy of Sciences ranked "second only to the Nobel Prize as recognition of achievement in American science," Univ. of Oklahoma political scientist Dr. Don E. Kash and team said in Science article. Striking aspect of composite picture of NAS membership was "extent to which members are educated in, elected from, and employed by a relatively small number of universities." Academicians from top 10 universities made up 54.8% of NAS membership, averaged 48 yrs at election time, and were nearly 3 yrs younger on election to NAS than those with degrees from other universities. (Kash et at., Science, 3/10/72, 10763)
Catholic Review article by Frank Moriss criticized lack of religious reference on Pioneer 10 plaque: Plaque summarized "our place in the universe, the ingenuity of our escape from our own planet's gravity, the physical nature of man and woman." Unrevealed was "that people sending that probe for the most part acknowledge a Divinity. . . . It includes everything but God, which is to say it includes only that which is irrelevant in the long run." (Catholic Review, 3/10/72)
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
