Sep 26 1976
From The Space Library
Pilot training for the Space Shuttle would begin in October at White Sands Missile Range, the Washington Post reported, with instructors completing their training by mid-October. Two of the instructors-David Griggs and Ted Mendenhall-were scheduled to make practice approaches at the range 29 September; chief instructor Al Manson and copilot Ed Rainey made a similar test in August. Aircraft used in the Shuttle training are modified Grumman Gulfstream 11 jets fitted with Shuttle orbiter controls and instrumentation. (W Post, 26 Sept 76, A20)
Both the United States and the USSR were working on ways to shoot down enemy satellites in earth orbit, reported Henry S. Bradsher in the Washington Star. Commenting on a Department of Defense disclosure of "aggressive basic technology research efforts" to protect U.S. satellites from a potential Soviet threat, Bradsher noted that the DOD previously had refused to comment on U.S. work on so-called satellite killers [see 27 July] and had tended to play down any Soviet danger. With the DOD announcement came word that the USSR had conducted 3 satellite destruction tests this year; it had conducted 5 tests of such systems between 1968 and 1971, but had dropped them, leading Pentagon officials to think the program had been' halted in accordance with 1972 agreements that limited strategic defense armament (SALT 1) and antiballistic-missile systems. The agreements had been based on each side's ability to monitor the other's compliance by means of reconnaissance satellites; however, recent reconnaissance photographs had been interpreted as showing Soviet launch pads carrying satellite-killer systems.
Secretary of the Navy J. William Middendorf had stated 25 Sept. that the Soviet Union was presumed to be working on guidance systems that could destroy targets such as over-the-horizon naval warfare missiles, greatly heightening the threat to U.S. warships. Asked if the U.S. were developing satellite-killers, Middendorf replied, "We're working in that direction." The Pentagon at first refused to comment on a satellite destruction program, but released a statement when pressed about Middendorf's answer. (W Star, 26 Sept 76, A-1)
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