Feb 18 1972
From The Space Library
Space News for this day. (1MB PDF)
Notices to terminate work on NERVA (nuclear engine for rocket vehicle application) program by June 30 were issued by AEC-NASA Space Nuclear Systems Office to major NERVA contractor Aerojet Nuclear Systems Co. and major subcontractor Westinghouse Astronuclear Laboratory. Active development of flight-model 333 600-newton (75000-lb)-thrust nuclear rocket engine for future space missions had been suspended in 1971 because of funding limitations and space program stretchouts. Work on long-lead-time components had continued. NERVA cancellation would affect about 300 Aerojet employees in California and 330 Westinghouse employees in Pennsylvania. Employees at Space Nuclear Rocket Development Station in Nevada would continue reactor testing and nonnuclear component testing. (NASA Release 72-36)
Heos 2 Highly Eccentric Orbit Satellite, launched Jan. 31, was adjudged successful by NASA. Spacecraft had entered planned orbit and all experiments were functioning satisfactorily. (NASA proj off)
U.S.S.R.'s Mars 2 (launched May 19, 1971) had completed 111 revolutions of Mars and Mars 3 (launched May 28, 1971) had completed 6 revolutions, Tass announced. Radio contact with spacecraft remained stable and onboard instruments were continuing to function satisfactorily. (FBIS-Sov, 2/22/72, L2)
Portable, high-intensity light to illuminate Skylab workshop interior for motion picture photography during long space missions was being tested at Marshall Space Flight Center. Developed by IOTA Engineering, 8-kg (17-1b) light produced concentrated illumination of proper color balance for use with fast daylight film scheduled for Skylab. (MSFC Release 72-15)
NASA announced award of 150-day, $199 000 contract under Minority Business Enterprise Program to RO&AS Joint Venture of Houston for construction of trainer hardware support facilities building. RO&AS was partnership formed by Roy Owens Interests, Inc., a Black-owned construction firm, and Advance Systems Construction, Inc., a Mexican-American-owned company. Manned Spacecraft Center's Contractor Equality Opportunity Programs Office had played key role in bringing the two firms together for joint venture, which marked first time in NASA history that two minority businesses had pooled resources for a joint contract effort. (MSC Release 72-45)
Senate confirmed nomination of Apollo 10 Astronaut Thomas P. Stafford as U.S. Air Force brigadier general. (CR, 2/18/72, S2125)
Administration had summoned 400 leading U.S. scientists and engineers to series of White House meetings on nation's domestic and economic problems, Washington Post reported. Presidential Science Adviser, Dr. Edward E. David, Jr., had exchanged ideas with physicists, engineers, chemists, and aerospace officials on urgent situations in meetings intended "to rally the country's science-engineering community behind other goals than weapon- making." (Cohn, W Post, 2/18/72, Al)
Group of 49 industrialists and educators from England, Sweden, Den- mark, Germany, France, Italy, Holland, and Belgium visited Kennedy Space Center during week-long orientation arranged by London Financial Times. Group also visited NASA Hq., Goddard Space Flight Center, Marshall Space Flight Center, and Manned Spacecraft Center. (KSC Release 40- 72)
Fact that all spacecraft orbiting earth or moon traveled "oval shaped path called Keplerian elipse" testified to "durability" of Johannes Kepler's laws of planetary motion, New York Times said. In article on 1971 celebration of 400th anniversary of mathematician- astronomer's birth, Dec. 27, 1571, Times noted, "Whether it is the space program or a new fashion in historical research; the life and works of the sickly son of a mercenary soldier who rose to be Imperial Mathematician of the Holy Roman Empire are undergoing a kind of rehabilitation at the hands of scholars." (Reinhold, NYT, 2/18/72)
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