May 5 1975
From The Space Library
The Senate Committee on Aeronautical and Space Sciences favorably reported out H.R. 4700 authorizing FY 1976 appropriations to NASA. Changes recommended by the committee would raise the NASA authorization by $5.7 million to $3.545 billion.
For the transition period 1 July to 30 Sept. 1976, the committee recommended decreasing NASA's total budget request of $958 900 000 to $929 900 000. The requested $730 600 000 for research and development was reduced to $704 600 000, leaving NASA management to apportion the $26 million reduction. The committee reduced funds requested for construction of facilities from $14 500 000 to $11500 000 in a series of minor economies. (Sen Com on Aero & Space Sci Rpt 94-103)
The Apollo-Soyuz Test Project was "one of the few tangible survivors of that champagne-bubble atmosphere of détente along with the badly tarnished SALT [Strategic Arms Limitations Talks) agreements," Aviation Week and Space Technology said in an editorial. From the Soviet viewpoint the goals were obvious: to tap into the mainstream of U.S. technology, to blur the international image of U.S. superiority with the appearance of parity by flying a joint manned mission, and to develop the technical base for international space rescue capability. U.S. goals remained obscure. The mission would provide the answers to some experimental questions: Could the U.S. and U.S.S.R. work together in a joint space program? Could an international rescue capability be developed? Could the ASTP experience be expanded to future joint space ventures? That ASTP had survived to the final countdown was a tribute to the flexibility, stamina, and ingenuity of the technical working groups of both countries. A formidable series of technical, philosophical, - linguistic, and operational problems had been solved and the investment by both countries had been substantial.
ASTP had been "partially worth the effort... to have a sizable group of NASA and industry technicians get some practical hard-headed experience in working with their Soviet counterparts and acquiring a realistic view of their technical capabilities and philosophy. We think the rest of the value of the mission will come from determining just how serious the Soviets are about future joint ventures in space and how much they really want to give and how much they want to take." (Hotz, Av Wk, 5 May 75, 7)
5-22 May: Representatives from the five Apollo-Soyuz Test Project Working Groups, including 55 NASA employees, met in Moscow to conclude preparations for the scheduled 15 July launch date. Part of the U.S. contingent left for the Soviet Union on 5 May and the final group, led by NASA Deputy Administrator George M. Low, departed 16 May.
U.S. communications equipment checkout and docking target alignment tests were completed at the Baykonur cosmodrome by mid-May, in time for Dr. Low and a group of NASA officials to take an inspection and orientation tour of the cosmodrome. The group visited the launch pad from which the ASTP Soyuz spacecraft would be launched and the Soviet equivalent of Kennedy Space Center's Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) where the group inspected the prime launch vehicle and prime backup Soyuz spacecraft.
At the 22 May flight readiness review (FRR) chaired by Dr. Low and Vladimir A. Kotelnikov, acting president of the Soviet Academy of Sciences replacing the ailing Mstislav V. Keldysh, Soviet and U.S. space officials signed the report indicating that the "Apollo-Soyuz Test Project was proceeding in accordance with the agreed schedule and ready to proceed toward the launching planned for July 15,1975." Before the signing, U.S. ASTP Technical Director Glynn S. Lunney and his Soviet counterpart Konstantin D. Bushuyev gave a 5-hr review of the technical histories of their respective spacecraft. Reporting that no major problems remained, Lunney and Bushuyev said that 133 documents had been negotiated and signed and only the postflight review. remained to be prepared.
Working Group chairmen made their final presentations indicating that all major tasks had been completed. (NASA Release 75-156;Ezell et al., The Partnership: A History of the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project, 285-301; Reuters, NYT, 23 May 75, 33)
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