Oct 17 1971
From The Space Library
USAF launched Sesp 1971-2 Space Experiments Support Program satellite from Vandenberg AFB by Thorad-Agena booster. Orbital parameters : 801,5-km (498-mi) apogee, 774.1-km (481-mi) perigee, 100.5-min period, and 92.7° inclination. Objectives of mission were to test advanced development payloads-including celestial mapping IR scanner, 1500-w flexible roll-up solar cell array, secure command and control system, and energetic particles experiment. (Pres Rpt 72; SBD, 10/19/71, 174)
Eyewitness to Space by H. Lester Cooke with James H. Dean, published by Harry N. Abrams, Inc., was reviewed by Frank Getlein in Washington Evening Star. Book contained more than 250 paintings and drawings by artists in NASA artist program. "What they have created is an extraordinary record ... because it records more than the eye, even the trained eye, can see. The sketches and many of the paintings do indeed record what any eye can see, but the seeing is special. Beyond that, artist after artist at some point found himself pushed by the material itself into taking an abstract, symbolic view of the space flights themselves, painting a vision, not a view." NASA artists program, "one of the most remarkable ventures in art-government relations," had brought hundreds of artists to NASA facilities to paint or draw what they saw and they were to see whatever they wanted and depict it in whatever manner suited their perceptions." Only requirement was that all work was to be turned over to NASA, which had given it to National Gallery. Coauthor Cooke was National Gallery Curator of Painting. It was "hard to think of anything in art history that quite compares with the NASA program." Getlein re-called Italian TV coverage of first moon walk. "One big response to the event was to convene gatherings of famous Italians-non-scientists all-in studios ... and have them talk about the moon. But at many points in the protracted coverage, against a background of Beethoven, a beautiful Tuscan voice read Dante." Qualities evoked by this "odd response, but an oddly perfect one," were "precisely those that have eluded American television coverage of the space program. They are qualities that this book reaches for constantly and often attains." (W Star, 10/17/71, B5)
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