May 12 1970
From The Space Library
U.S.S.R. launched Cosmos CCCXLIV into orbit with 326-km (202.6-mi) apogee, 204-km (126.8-mi) perigee, 87.3-min period, and 72.0° inclination. Satellite reentered May 20. (GSFCSSR, 5/31/70)
House passed H.R. 17548, FY 1971 Independent Offices and HUD appropriations bill containing $3.197-billion NASA appropriation. (CR, 5/12/70, H4219=70)
NASA selected McDonnell Douglas Corp. and NR Space Division to negotiate 11-mo, $8-million, fixed-price contracts for parallel definition and preliminary design studies of two-stage reusable Space Shuttle vehicle to transport crew, passengers, and cargo between earth and near space. MSFC would manage McDonnell Douglas work and MSC would manage NR work. (NASA Release 70-68)
Russell E. Train, Chairman of President's Council on Environmental Quality, testified before congressional Joint Economic Committee's Subcommittee on Economy in Government during hearings on SST: "Current design of the U.S. supersonic transport and of the [Anglo-French] Concorde leads to a noise field radiated perpendicular to the runway, called 'sideline noise,' that is substantially greater than that of the conventional subsonic jets." In terms of FAA measures to assess annoyance, "SST would be three to four times louder than current FAA sideline noise standards and four-to five times louder than the Boeing 747. In terms of noise pressure, the sideline noise level would also be substantially higher than that of subsonic jets meeting the FAA requirements." (Testimony)
ComSatCorp had made formal proposal to FAA for satellite system to enable FAA and foreign air controllers to maintain radar surveillance of commercial aircraft over oceans, Washington Post reported. Sys tem would be used exclusively to improve airline communications. (Samuelson, W Post, 5/12/70)
Secretary of Defense Melvin R. Laird testified before Senate Armed Services Committee on strategic balance and arms limitation: "Today, we believe that 64 Moscow ABM launchers are operational. In addition, testing for new and/or improved ABM systems continues, while several of the large surveillance radars, that have an important early warning and tracking function in the Soviet ABM weapons system, are already deployed. The United States has no operational ABM components in place. We have reoriented and slowed down the deployment of the ABM system authorized by Congress in 1967.... '"We are concerned about the future because of the momentum in this Soviet buildup.... Advances in Soviet deployments and technology could threaten the survivability of our ICBMs and bombers." (Testimony)
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