Sep 27 1973
From The Space Library
The Air Force launched an unidentified satellite on a Titan IIIB-Agena launch vehicle from Vandenberg Air Force Base into an orbit with a 384.6-km (239-mi) apogee, 128.8-km (80-mi) perigee, 89.8-min period, and 110.5° inclination. The satellite reentered Oct. 29. (Pres Rpt 74; Wilson, W Post, 10/16/73, A7)
Skylab 3 Astronauts Alan L. Bean, Jack R. Lousma, and Dr. Owen K. Garriott arrived in San Diego, Calif., aboard the recovery ship U.S.S. New Orleans and were flown to Houston, Tex., on an Air Force C-141 troop carrier aircraft. Blood samples from all three astronauts were flown to Johnson Space Center for analysis. The astronauts were under limited quarantine for one week to protect them from infection. (W Post, 9/28/73; AP, B Sun, 9/28/73)
In a Skylab 3 postflight medical briefing at Johnson Space Center, Dr. Willard R. Hawkins, JSC Deputy Director of Life Sciences for Medical Operations, said that the condition of the Skylab 3 astronauts, who splashed down Sept. 25 after a 59-day mission aboard the Skylab 1 Orbital Workshop, "did slightly exceed our expectations." They were in better shape than the Skylab 2 crew (launched May 25 on a 28-day mission). Alan L. Bean had lost just over 3.6 kg (8 lbs) ; Dr. Owen K. Garriott and Jack R. Lousma had both lost between 2.7 and 3.6 kg (6 and 8 lbs). All three crew members had lost between 2.5 and 3.8 cm (1 and 1.5 in) in calf circumference. They had been able to complete the full routine through the maximum stress level of -50 mm of mercury in the lower-body pressure experiment. Heart rates and blood rates were well above their preflight measurements. The crew was experiencing slight vestibular disturbances, particularly associated with any head movement, but these were gradually disappearing. (Tran-script)
Newspaper editorials commented on the safe Sept. 25 return of Skylab 3. Baltimore Sun: The mission had been "an immense scientific success which produced unprecedented and extremely valuable data especially on solar activity." It would be "mere superstition to believe nature is co-operating with man by producing solar flares and comets just when we would most like to have them. But the Skylab missions so far have had a lot of good luck." (B Sun, 9/27/73, A14)
Miami Herald: "All told, the Skylab missions appear to promise rewards even greater than the enlargement of knowledge created by the Apollo moon voyages. The outreach of the human mind is inexorable." (M Her, 9/27/73)
Chicago Sun-Times: "With casual aplomb, the astronauts performed their sophisticated experiments, floated weightlessly through, outside and around the Skylab, and fixed their spacecraft like mundane mechanics when something went haywire. It all seemed so routine. In the austere domain of space, as on Earth, how quickly does the miraculous become absorbed into the commonplace." (C Sun-Times, 9/27/73)
Christian Science Monitor: "Even those most intimately involved with the space program, slated now for more international participation as well as applause, would admit we may now but dimly grasp the full significance of our space sorties." The names of the Skylab 3 astronauts would, nonetheless, be added "to the list of welcomed home heroes of mankind's young space chapter." (CSM, 9/27/73)
Philadelphia Inquirer: "Space exploration has matured to space work. During 59 days in earth orbit-more than doubling the space flight record set earlier this year by three astronauts in the same Skylab-assignments were carried out with diligence and precision. Scientific experiments and observations could produce long-range dividends, not immediately apparent." Despite NASA'S extraordinary safety record space was "a hostile environment posing hazardous challenges to courageous men. But the richest rewards in space will come not from derring do but from workmanlike execution of assignments with down-to-earth relevance to needs of mankind." (P Inq, 9/27/73)
General Dynamics Corp. Chairman and Chief Executive Officer David S. Lewis told the press in St. Louis, Mo., that he had signed an agreement with Dzherman M. Givishiany, Vice-chairman of the Soviet Committee for Science and Technology, for scientific and technical cooperation. The agreement covered commercial shipping, telecommunications equipment, asbestos mining, aircraft, computer-operated microfilm equipment, and navigation and weather buoys. (AP, Today, 9/28/73)
L/C Harold E. Turner (USAF, Ret.), the first commanding officer of White Sands Proving Ground (which became White Sands Missile Range in 1958) died in El Paso, Tex., at age 75. He had been transferred from White Sands to Patrick Air Force Base, Fla., where a proving ground was to be built on Cape Canaveral. There Col. Turner supervised the firing of Cape Canaveral's first rocket, the two-stage Bumper 8 (a V-2 first stage with a Wac Corporal 2nd stage) July 24, 1950. He was later medically retired after suffering cerebral damage during an accident at the Cape. (AP, W Post, 9/29/73, Dl; A&A 1915-60)
September 27-29: The U.S.S.R. launched Soyuz 12, carrying cosmonauts L/C Vasily G. Lazarev and flight engineer Oleg G. Makarov, from Baykonur Cosmodrome at 5:18 pm local time (3:18 pm Moscow time; 8:18 am EDT) into earth orbit with 229-km (142.3-mi) apogee, 180-km (111.8-mi) perigee, 88.6-min period, and 513° inclination. Soviet news agency Tass announced the objectives of the two-day mission were to test improved flight systems, test manual and automatic control in various flight conditions, and obtain spectrographic data of separate sections of the earth "for the solution of economic problems."
The flight would further improve development of manned spacecraft. After six hours in flight the cosmonauts reported they had adjusted to weightlessness and were carrying out all scheduled activities. All spacecraft systems were functioning normally. During the first day, Lazarov-45-yr-old air force test pilot and physician-and Makarov- 40-yr-old engineer who had taken part in developing the control board and flight program for Yuri A. Gagarin's Vostok 1 mission of April 12, 1961-maneuvered their spacecraft in orbit to test manual and automatic control and piloting techniques. The spacecraft was moved into a higher and nearly circular orbit, with parameters reported by Tass as 345-km (214.4-mi) apogee, 326-km (202.6-mi) perigee, 91-min period, and 51.6° inclination.
The cosmonauts also made spectrographs of natural formations of the earth's surface. They were reported Sept. 28 to be in high spirits and good physical condition. Tass reported a new spacecraft design and a new spacesuit, "very simple and comfortable," were being tested. Spacesuits were worn for launch and descent but not during the flight itself.
On Sept. 29 the crew oriented their spacecraft and fired the braking engine. The landing module separated from the spacecraft and entered descent trajectory. The parachute system was deployed at 7.6 km (4.7 mi) above the earth and engines softlanded the craft 400 km (250 mi) southwest of Karaganda in the Kazakhstan Steppe at 2:34 pm Moscow time (7:34 am EDT) . A medical check at the landing site showed "the state of [the cosmonauts'] health is good." Soyuz 12 was the first Soviet manned space flight since the 1971 Salyut 1-Soyuz 11 mission. Soyuz 10 (launched April 23, 1971, carrying three cosmonauts) had docked with the orbiting Salyut 1 space laboratory (launched April 19) but the cosmonauts had not boarded. American observers believed the Soyuz spacecraft had spun out of control, causing the cosmonauts to become ill and necessitating an early return to earth. Three cosmonauts launched June 6, 1971, on Soyuz 11 had docked with and boarded Salyut 1. They worked successfully in orbit for 24 days but were found dead on landing, from pressure loss in the landing craft. (GSFC SSR, 9/30/73; FBIS-Sov, 9/28/73, U1-4; 10/1/73, U1-3; SBD, 9/28/73, 138; Kaiser, W Post, 9/28/73, Al; Shabad, NYT, 9/30/73, 1; Seeger, W Post, 9/30/73, 145)
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
