NASA SP-4021 

ASTRONAUTICS AND 

AERONAUTICS, 1976 

A Chronology 

Eleanor H. Ritchie 

The NASA History Series 

Sczentific and Technical Informarion Branch 1984 

NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION 

Washington, D.C. 
~~~ ~~ ~ 

For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, US. Government Printing Office 

Washington, D.C. 20402 (paper cover) 

Library of Congress (halog Number 65 
C 

....... 

February ............................................................................ 

March ............................................................................... 43 

April ................................................................................ 69 

May ................................................................................. 87 

June ................................................................................. 111 

July .................................................................................. 137 

August .............................................................................. 175 

September .......................................................................... 203 

October ............................................................................. 235 

November .......................................................................... 267 

December .......................................................................... 

Appendix A: Satellites. Space Probes. and Manned Space Flights. 1976 . 

Appendix B: Major NASA Launches. 1976 .................................. 

Appendix C: Manned Space Flights. 1976 ................................... 

Appendix D: NASA Sounding Rocket Launches. 1976 .................... 

Appendix E: Abbreviations of References .................................... 

Index and List of Abbreviations and Acronyms .............................. 

Errata in Earlier Volumes ....................................................... 

285 

307 

337 

341 

343 

351 

355 

397 

Illustrations 

Comsats launched by NASA. 1976 ............................................ 2 

Concorde arrives at Dulles Airport ............................................. 103 

Third Century America exposition opens at KSC ............................ 108 

National Air and Space Museum ............................................... 138 

Enterprise (Shuttle Orbiter 101) rolled out at Rockwell .................... 

XV-15 (tilt-rotor research aircraft) rolled out at Bell ........................ 

223 

258 

... 

111 
January 1976 

1 January: “An impressive record of cost-cutting that could well set an 

example to many agencies” had been achieved by NASA since the midsixties, said Sen. William A. Proxmire (D-Wis.), one of the agency’s 

severest critics. Chairman of the Senate Appropriations subcommittee 

that handles NASA’s appropriation, Proxmire said that NASA had made its 

tight budget go farther by acting as its own prime contractor when 

construction bids were too high; buying electronic parts from a standardized list; providing reimbursable launches to private industry and other 

outside organizations on an “accelerated” basis, although notaccording to Proxmire-charging enough for them; and, in general, 

making “one dollar do the job that it took two dollars to do in the free 

and easy money days.” (Today, 1 Jan 76, 1) * Failure to reach a satisfactory nuclear arms agreement with the Soviet 

Union would result in U.S. development of a new land-based intercontinental missile, according to U.S. government sources quoted by 

Reuters in a Baltimore Sun story. The 5-yr defense plan to be submitted 

to Congress in 3 wk with the new FY 1977 budget would include spending 

$1.07 billion to start work on a larger and more accurate missile called 

MX that could be launched from silos, aircraft, or land-mobile platforms. 

The new missile would be operational by 1985, the report said. (B Sun, 

1 Jan 76, A6) * 2 January: NASA planned 18 major satellite launchings in 1976, 16 from 

Cape Canaveral and 2 from the Western Test Range at Vandenberg Air 

Force Base. First of these, on 13 Jan., would be a US.-Canadian communications technology satellite; second, on 15 Jan., would be the Helios 

satellite built by West Germany. Other NASA launches during the year 

would include 2 comsats for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization; 2 

maritime comsats (Marisats); Palapa, a comsat for the Indonesian government; the second geostationary operational environmental satellite 

(GOES-B); and Lageos, a laser geodynamic satellite to help alleviate 

earthquake hazards. (NYT, 3 Jan 76, 5) 

* As he assumed the presidency of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Dr. William D. McElroy (chancellor of the Univ. 

of Calif. in San Diego, and former director of the National Science 

Foundation) said he planned to reorganize the AAAS journal Science, 

involve the association more deeply in government and industry activity, 

and quadruple the membership. Dr. McElroy, called the “leading world 

authority on the biochemistry of firefly light,” said he hoped to stop the 

publication of pure research papers in Science, as more specialized 

scientific journals could do this more efficiently, and to promote a free 

flow of ideas between the universities and the industrial community by 

1 
January ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 

Four of the cornsats in NASA’s 1976 launch schedule: A, Cornsat General’s Marisat, 

launched 19 Feb.; B, NATO III-A, launched 22 Apr.; c. cornsat General‘s cornstar 1A, 

launched 13 May; D, Indonesia’s Palapa, launched 8 July. 

2 
ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 January 

including more articles of interest to users in industry and engineering, 

and paying more attention to science issues in government policy. He 

referred to the “unfortunate separation” between industry and university after World War 11 when science gained new nonindustrial financial 

support; by increasing the circulation of Science magazine, he would 

expand the AAAS membership, as the magazine is available only to members. (NIT, 2 Jan 76, 10) 

5 January-4 February: Permission to fly the British- and French-built 

Concorde supersonic transport into the U.S. was the subject of a hearing 

called by Transportation Secretary William T. Coleman, Jr., in Washington to help him decide the matter within 30 days. Basic arguments pro 

and con were not new, observers agreed, as they had all been thrashed 

out in a bitter 1971 congressional fight that halted U.S. efforts to build 

an SST after about $1 billion had been spent on the project. The case 

against the Concorde had been that it was too noisy and that its emissions 

polluted the atmosphere and depleted the stratospheric ozone shield. 

Spokesmen for the Concorde cited its benefits in speed of travel and 

technical achievement. At the hearing, representatives of the Va. state 

government called for approval of Concorde landings at Dulles, in view 

of the airport’s significance as Virginia’s international gateway; these 

advocates found themselves opposed to the views of the local Va. jurisdictions which did not want the SST landing there. Gov. Hugh Carey of 

N.Y. opposed the Concorde’s coming into JFK Airport because of the 

noise. On 6 Jan. the Environmental Protection Agency reversed its 

previous stand, calling for a total ban on commercial operations in the 

U.S. of the British-French SST. On 13 Jan., the Aerospace Industries 

Assn.-kl.s. manufacturers of aerospace vehicles and componentssubmitted a letter deploring the cancellation of the US. program and 

supporting Concorde’s application to operate. On 29 Jan., the Am. Inst. 

of Aeronautics and Astronautics, claiming to represent 22 000 engineers 

and scientists, called for a limited-operations trial period to collect data 

as the basis for a final decision on giving Concorde access to U.S. airports. 

The Concorde had begun regular passenger service 2 1 Jan. between 

Paris and Rio de Janeiro, and between London and Bahrain, as the climax 

of 14 yr of technical cooperation between Britain and France and a joint 

investment of more than $3 billion. 

 DO'^ Secy. Coleman announced 4 Feb. that he had granted the Concorde “limited scheduled commercial flights’’ into the U.S. for a period 

not to exceed 16 mo under precise limitations. British Airways and Air 

France could send up to 2 flights per day into JFK and Dulles airports, 

but the permission could be revoked upon 4 mo notice or immediately in 

case of emergency. The limitations included prohibitions on landing or 

takeoff in the US. before 7 am or after 10 pm local time, and on flying 

at supersonic speed over the u.S. or any of its territories. In his 61-page 

decision with 36 pages of appendix, Coleman said the 16-1110 period 

should be long enough to demonstrate the validity of his judgment. Upon 

hearing of the secretary’s decision, 2 members of the Senate Commerce 

Committee were narrowly defeated in an attempt to ban the Concorde 

3 
January ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 

from landing in the U.S. by attaching such a ban to a bill authorizing funds 

for airport development. The Concorde’s only supersonic competitor was 

the IJSSR’S Tupolev-144, in service since 26 Dec. 1975 within the Soviet 

Union as a freight plane. (NYT, 5 Jan 76, 1; Av Wk, 5 Jan 76, 26; 

W Star, 6 Jan 76, A-3; W Post, 6 Jan 76, A-1; AIA Aerospace News 

Release 76-1; text, AIAA letter to DOT, 29 Jan 76; NIT’ 21 Jan 76, 

16-17; WStar, 21 Jan 76, A-3; B Sun, 28 Jan 76, A-6; NYi”, 1 Feb 

76, 3-1; I)oT Release 09-76, 4 Feb. 76; Nfl, 5 Feb 76, 1, 16, 32M; 

W Post, 5 Feb 76, A-1, A-18; B Sun, 5 Feb 76, A14) 

6 January: The Republic of Ireland would become the eleventh member of 

the European Space Agency, ESA announced today, when parliaments of 

the existing member states (Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, 

the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom) 

ratify the agency’s convention. Ratification might take 1 to 2 yr, during 

which time Ireland would retain its observer status. The ambassador of 

the Republic of Ireland in Paris signed the ESA convention 3 1 Dec. 1975. 

(ESA release 5 Jan 76) 

7 January: The U.S. Coast Guard began its Project Icewarn field program 

with the first of a number of daily ice-observation missions by aircraft 

over the Great Lakes during the winter navigation season. The flights 

would continue through 2 Feb., when ice conditions were expected to 

stop all shipping on the Great Lakes, and resume in Mar. with the 

breakup of the ice and continue through Apr. Objective of the program 

was to provide Coast Guard personnel with experience in operating a 

side-looking airborne radar (SLAR) system developed by NASA’s Lewis 

Research Center, which included equipment to convert radar signals to 

ice-cover images transmitted in real time from the aircraft to the ground 

through a relay channel on SmslGoes 1. The system would be demonstrated in a simulation during which ice-cover information would be 

transmitted to captains of lake shipping for use in routing the ships 

through the ice. (Wkly Briefs for Admr, 12 Jan 76) 

A new computer program developed at Johnson Space Center from Landsat 

digital data could compile maps on any scale desired showing water 

surfaces in excess of 0.024 sq km, said specialists in the Earth Observations Division at JSC. Nations needing an inventory of their water 

resources could obtain maps of their lakes and reservoirs, and state 

governments could use the service in choosing between recreational and 

industrial use of available water supplies. The program, called Detection 

and Mapping (DAM) Package, required only $300 worth of computer 

time to map more than 33 800 sq km. As the two Landsats cover about 

95 percent of the earth’s land mass, the system could produce surfacewater maps for virtually all populated regions with almost 100% accuracy for water areas as large as 0.04 sq km; position accuracy-the 

degree to which the maps match the terrain-would be within 90m of 

dead center. User training would be typically no more than a day, and 

the system would need no experts to implement it. (NASA Release 76-4; 

JSC Release 76-01) * The Peoples Republic of China indicated for the first time that it planned 

to put a man into space, according to an article in the Peking Kuang4 
ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 January 

ming Daily entitled “The Launching and the Bringing Back of Artificial 

Satellites from Earth.” As reported by radio from Hong Kong, the article 

recalled that PRC had put 5 satellites into orbit since 1970, emphasizing that China 4 (launched 26 Nov. 75) “returned to earth as scheduled 

after functioning normally.” After explaining how satellites were 

launched and recovered, the article added that recovery was particularly 

significant in “sending men into space.” The radio report said that the 

article-first of its kind in the official PRC press-was even more surprising because the Chinese supposedly had not heard that man had 

walked on the moon, as this had never been reported in the Chinese press. 

(FBIS, Hong Kong AFP in English, by G. Biannic, 7 Jan 76) 

8 January: Goes 1, a new geostationary environmental satellite launched in 

Oct. 1975 for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration 

(NOAA), became operational, replacing Sms 1 above the equator over 

northern Brazil to provide forecasters with visual and infrared pictures 

of the western hemisphere, to monitor solar-flare activity, and to relay 

information from data-collection stations in remote areas. Sms 1 would 

be moved to standby status over the eastern Pacific south of Mexico; a 

prototype satellite, some of whose systems have degraded, it could still 

provide full operational data on an emergenc basis. Sms 2, launched in 

Feb. 1975, was moved in Dec. from 115 W to 135”W to provide 

improved imagery of the Pacific in the Hawaiian Islands area. (NOAA 

Release 76-1) 

0 The Flight Research Center at Edwards, Calif., NASA’s prime site for 

experimental research in aeronautics, was renamed the Hugh L. Dryden 

Flight Research Center in memory of the pioneer aeronautical researcher who was first Deputy Administrator of NASA, a position he held 

until his death in 1965. Dr. Dryden’s contributions to aeronautical 

research included investigation of high-speed airfoils, supersonic 

propeller-tip velocities, boundary layers, and airflow wind turbulence, 

and development of high-speed wind tunnels. He was director of the 

former National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics from 1947 until 

that agency became NASA in 1958. (NASA Release 76-7; FRC Release 

1-76; Goddard News, Feb 76, 6) 

0 In observing the results of Salyut 4’s first year of operation in space, Soviet 

cosmonaut Konstantin Feoktistov in an article in Pravda reviewed the 

research and experiments conducted on board the space station, calling 

it major achievement for Soviet space navigation.” Special mention 

was given to the solar radiation studies and environmental photography 

done from Salyut 4; the first expedition photographed a million sq km 

of Soviet territory, and the second crew also took pictures to enable 

scientists to follow developments in hydrology, vegetation, and climate. 

Medical studies of the crews centered on the effects of long space flights 

and the mechanism of the body’s adaptation to weightlessness. Salyut 4, 

the article noted, was built with an eye to longer activity for the station 

and better facilities for prolonging manned missions. (FBIS, Tass in English, 8 Jan 76) 

9 January: Geos 3, the geodynamics experimental ocean satellite launched 

9 Apr. 1975, completed 9 mo in orbit and the project was judged 

5 

B 
January ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 

successful with respect to the prelaunch mission objectives. Problems 

with orbit definition and revised criteria for data distribution had delayed 

the release of large quantities of data, said a report by Charles W. 

Mathews, Associate Administrator for Applications at NASA, but the first 

batches would be shipped 30 Jan. to principal investigators, and subsequent batches would be released monthly thereafter. (MOR E-855- 

75-01 [postlaunch], 25 Feb 76) 

10 January: An unmanned ground terminal that could operate with several 

satellites in synchronous orbit above the earth was patented by three 

engineers for the Communications Satellite Corporation. Previously, a 

separate earth terminal was needed for each satellite. William K. Sones, 

Laurence F. Gray, and Louis Pollack, of the ComSat staff in Washington, 

D.c., invented the new facility, considered a major advance that would 

add reliability and reduce costs. The structure included a single reflector 

about 9.7m by 15.4m with enough traveling-wave tubes, transmitters, 

receivers, and amplifiers to handle two or more satellites, plus monitors 

and controls; the reliability feature was a system that switched in another 

tube if one became defective. Possible uses would be on offshore rigs or 

at oil-pipeline installations that were unmanned but required constant 

communication by satellite. (NW, 10 Jan 76, 31) 

11 January: The French government halted operations of sounding-rocket 

and scientific satellite launchings from its base at Kourou, French Guiana, after 7 yr of activity that included launches of 275 rockets or 

balloons, many of them under U.S. government or National Science 

Foundation programs. The base had become a victim of European economic problems that had led to the abandonment of ELDO-the European 

Launcher Development Organization formed by several countries in July 

1966-when the first launching in 1971 failed. The head of the operations division at Kourou said there was a complete lack of coordination 

among the countries, although France and its partners had spent about 

$500 million on the site and support facilities at Kourou. Space research 

would resume in about 4 yr with the launch of a 3/4-ton telecommunications satellite sponsored by the French government, under a 

new system in which each project would be under the management of one 

country. Ten European governments would contribute money, and the 

funds would be allocated in the form of contracts for each project. 

(W Post, 11 Jan 76, E 7) 

12 January: Use of dirigibles instead of drifting stations in the Arctic Ocean 

for polar exploration and scientific studies was advocated by Soviet polar 

explorer Nikolay Blinov, a staff member of the Leningrad Arctic and 

Antarctic Institute, as reported by Tass. The USSR had been using observatories set up on ice floes to forecast weather and ice formations on the 

northern sea route for about 40 yr; the 23rd North Pole station was 

established on a large iceberg in the last quarter of 1975. Blinov pointed 

out that the continuously drifting stations, never safe from breakup 

and melting away upon encounter with warm water, offered less reliability than dirigibles, which could remain over a location for an indefinite 

time to register data on the “hydrological regime” of a certain area and 

6 
ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 January 

would be durable and less expensive to maintain. (FBIS, Tass in English, 

12 Jan 76) 

13 January: Eighty percent of the 114 federal research laboratories had not 

adopted cost-cutting activities recommended 6 yr ago by the General 

Accounting’Office. A new GAO survey found that agencies had not made 

periodic inspections of equipment to find unused items that could be sold; 

had not established equipment pools to eliminate duplication and underuse of costly scientific tools; and had not started using “time meters” as 

a check on how often the equipment was used. Agencies following the 

three recommendations could save millions of dollars, said Rep. Les 

Aspin (D-Wis.) in releasing the GAO report, citing an atomic research 

facility that saved $24.2 million by disposing of unneeded equipment. 

Aspin also referred to purchases of expensive sophisticated equipment 

for a single experiment that was never used again, when it could have 

been sold or passed along to another agency. ( W Star, 13 Jan 76, C8) 

* The largest optical telescope in the Southern’ Hemisphere began operation 

on a mountaintop about 483 km north of Santiago, Chile, to give astronomers their best look at objects such as the Magellanic Clouds and the 

brightest globular star clusters visible only from that hemisphere. The 

13.7m-long telescope’s steerable portion weighed 300 tons, so delicately 

balanced that one person could move it by hand. Its mirrors were made 

of Cervit, an optical material insensitive to temperature changes; its 

15-ton main mirror was 4 m in diam. and 6 1 cm thick, and the secondary 

mirror was 1.3 m in diameter. The new Cerro Tololo Inter-American 

Observatory would be run by the Association of Universities for Research 

in Astronomy (AURA), Inc., under contract to the National Science 

Foundation and in cooperation with the Univ. of Chile at Santiago; Cerro 

Tololo and its sister institution, Kitt Peak National Observatory near 

Tucson, Ariz., would be national research centers with 60% of all telescope time available to qualified visiting scientists who would otherwise 

lack access to instruments capable of frontier research in astronomy. 

(NSF Release PR 76-4) 

14 January: The French government had earmarked a preliminary budget 

of $3.6 million for development of a spy satellite that would survey the 

earth’s surface with infrared cameras, the N.Y. Daily News said. Weighing several hundred kg and orbiting at 500 to 600 km altitude, the 

satellite would use several lenses in visible and infrared light to detect 

details at sizes ranging from 10 to 100 m. The government’s representative for armaments, J.-L. Delpech, said that France had “no military 

space policy” because reconnaissance satellites were “not essential” to 

France’s “deterrent strategy.” (FBIS, in French, 13 Jan 76; NY News, 

14 Jan 76, 58) 

15 January: Helios 2, third* cooperative project of the U.S. and the Federal 

Republic of Germany, was launched from Complex 41 of the Eastern 

Test Range at 1234 am EST (0534 GMT) on a Titan-Centaur (TC-5) into 

*First FRG-US. venture was the German research satellite GSR-A, launched 

in Nov. 1969 and titled Azur in orbit. 

7 
January ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 

a solar orbit that would put it between 44 million and 144 million km 

from the sun, 3 million km closer than its twin, Helios 1, launched 10 

Dec. 1974. Each Helios carried 7 experiments of West German scientists and 3 from the US. The experiments would investigate solar processes and events such as coronal, solar-wind, and interplanetary fields 

and waves; cosmic rays, both solar and nonsolar; dust particles and 

zodiacal light; and celestial mechanics. Helios 2 was the first spacecraft 

carrying a detector for gamma-ray bursts in space, whose cause and 

source had not been identified since discovery in 1969. Combining Helios 

data with information from other satellites might pinpoint the direction 

of the sources and permit their identification with visible celestial objects. 

The Helios spacecraft weighed 376 kg, with a 1.75 m cylinder carrying 

conical solar arrays on each end that gave it a spool shape; with deployable booms extended, Helios 2 would measure 32 m tip to tip. The solar 

arrays would provide a minimum of 240 w at aphelion-much more 

when closer to the sun-to power the data handling and transmission. 

Scientists also hoped for more information on the unexpected concentration of micrometeorites found by Helios 1; about 15 times more of 

these particles were detected within 53 million km of the sun than had 

been observed near the earth. Cost of the 2 Helios missions was about 

$260 million, of which the German share was about $180 million for 

spacecraft units, 7 experiments, and command and data-acquisition 

expenses; mission control would be at the German Space Operations 

Center near Munich. The U.S. paid for the 2 launch vehicles and the 3 

U.S. experiments, plus support services, a total of about $80 million. A 

third Helios had been considered for launch in 1980 to measure solar 

activity at the height of the 1 1-yr cycle and to study Comet Encke. (NASA 

Releases 75-317, 76-2; MOR S-823-76-02 [prelaunch] 7 Jan 76, 

[postlaunch] 23 Jan 76; NYT, 16 Jan 76, 27) 

The USSR’s supersonic passenger plane TU-144, in service between Moscow and Alma Ata in Kazhakstan, had flown further on the special test 

bench still being used to operate its engines under varying flight conditions than it had in the skies, according to a story in the newspaper 

Pravda. The bench, designed simultaneously with the aircraft itself, 

could accommodate the 65-m-long plane and simulate conditions such as 

outside-temperature changes from -6OOC to 150°C; oncoming and 

vertical air currents with a velocity of 30 to 50 m per see; and air-current 

impact on skin and control mechanisms in TU-144 takeoff and landing. 

The plane’s wings and fuselage were “wrapped” in 5000 steel rods with 

sensors attached to 12 000 points that signaled the slightest change to 

computers; the bench included 8000 thermometers, as well as 3300 km 

of wires from the TU- 144 to instruments and computers, “equal to the 

distance between Moscow and Alma Ata,” the report said. During the 

tests, the cabin retained normal atmospheric pressure and temperature 

even when exterior conditions imitated those at 18 to 20 km in the 

stratosphere where the plane would be flying. (FBIS, Tass in English, 

14 Jan 76) 

0 Scientists attempting to find a source of unlimited energy like that which 

powers the sutl had taken two potentially significant directions, Walter 

8 
ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 January 

Sullivan reported in the New York Times. Soviet researchers had shifted 

from emphasis on laser beams for crushing nuclear fuel to superdensity, 

to use of electron beams for that purpose. Although 90% of U.S. effort 

had been on converging pulses of laser light, a new system of using ion 

beams had shown advantages over the electron-beam method from which 

it evolved: the apparatus would deliver a vast amount of energy to a fuel 

pellet, causing the shell to explode both inward and outward. The inward 

blast, crushing the pellet core to 1000 times its original density, would 

produce a fusion reaction resulting in helium, and a small amount of mass 

would be converted into a large amount of energy. The U.S. electronbeam study was based at Sandia Laboratories, in N.M., one of three 

research centers operated by the Energy Research and Development 

Administration. Although the US. use of ions was the chief novelty in the 

fusion-energy field, laser fusion was still the front runner, Sullivan noted. 

(NU, 15 Jan 76, 22) 

16 January: An impartial “science court” to weigh controversial national 

issues such as pesticide use or nuclear-reactor safety was one of several 

ideas under consideration by two advisory groups appointed by the 

President last year to give the proposed White House office of science 

and technology a head start in its task of making major policy decisions. 

Dr. Simon Ramo, chairman of the advisory group on technological 

contributions to economic strength, pointed out that no procedure 

existed for dealing with scientific an 

issues. Dr. William 0. Baker, preside 

the other advisory group on advances 

meeting of the groups in Washingt 

science-court idea in an experime 

which a clearcut statement of scientific 

arguing the case with advocates and cross 

with an impartial panel of scientific judge 

Ram0 said the experiment should teach the a 

issue they chose, help the gover 

issue, and demonstrate whether the co 

on which the advisory groups 

included the world problem of 

nological innovation and its e 

government regulation on advancement in science and technology. 

(NW, 16 Jan 76, 32) 

0 The board of directors of Communications Satellite Corporation (ComSat) 

declared a quarterly dividend of 25 cents per share payable 15 Mar. to 

all shareholders of record at close of business 13 Feb. The group’s 22nd 

consecutive quarterly dividend would be the 7th at the 25-cent rate. 

(ComSat Release 76- 1) 

1 7-29 January: The Communications Technology Satellite designed by 

u .s. and Canadian technicians-world’s most powerful comsat-was 

launched from Complex 17, Eastern Test Range, at 6:27:54 pm EST 

(2328 GMT) on a Delta 2914 vehicle, delayed from its scheduled date of 

13 Jan. The 346-kg space craft cost $60 million in Canadian funds and 

$22 million in US. funds. The design departure used on Cts was the 

the decision. Dr. 

9 
Cts was the result of a 5-yr international program of cooperation 

between NASA and CDC to pioneer in new methods of providing communications services by transmitting high-quality color Tv and other data to 

small user-operated ground stations in remote areas. It carried a higheveloped at LeRC that 

higher than those of 

r and less expensive 

w frequency band providing microwave 

197 1, the World Administrative Radio 

g frequencies between 1 1 and 14 ghz and 

and broadcast satellites of the future, in 

t in the 1980s. The 

f transmitting its own 

1 consulting services 

sing small, inexpensive-even portablese 76-9, 75-316; MOR E-610-76-01 

ra that had taken 

nary spacecraft such as Sms 1 and 2 and Goes 1, 

er visual transmission and provided nighttime imagery 

onstrations such as medical and edu10 
ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 January 

e Reviewing the Energy Research and Development Administration’s first 

year of operation, ERDA Administrator Robert C. Seamans Jr. said the 

U.S. had taken major steps to assure adequate energy supplies in the 

future. Establishment of ERDA on 19 Jan. 1976, bringing together energy 

research functions formerly located in other agencies, was itself a milestone. Specific steps cited by Seamans included a major solar-heating 

demonstration and completion of two heating-and-cooling projects; development of a national energy R~D plan emphasizing conservation of 

energy and development of new sources; demonstration and testing of 

more efficient recovery and use of coal, oil, and shale; biohazard screening of 150 compounds in fossil fuels to determine which might cause 

cancer or genetic mutations; and identifying problems in the nuclear-fuel 

cycle, including reprocessing of fuel and disposal of wastes. Describing 

fossil and nuclear energy as the near-term and midterm resources of the 

nation, Seamans said that conservation should enable them to carry the 

u .s. into the next century, when essentially inexhaustible energy sources 

should be available: solar electricity, breeder reactors, and fusion power. 

(ERDA Release 76-5) 

The Apollo lunar scientific experiments package (ALSEP) set up on the moon 

in Feb. 1971 by astronauts Alan B. Shepard and Edgar D. Mitchell 

during the third manned exploration of the moon ceased transmission, 

probably because of failure of electronic components, engineers at Johnson Space Center said. The Apollo 14 instrument, one of five stations on 

the moon, had provided scientists with lunar seismic data in combination 

with stations set up during the Apollo 12, 15, 16, and 17 missions. 

Originally designed with a 1-yr lifetime, the ALSEP 14 was first of the 

stations to fail completely, although it had lost its ability to receive 

commands a year previously. The remaining stations continued to provide data on the moon’s seismic activity, heat flow, interactions with 

earth’s magnetic field, and the solar-wind and cosmic particles that 

continuously bombard the lunar surface. Findings based on ALSEP data 

included measurement of moonquakes, mostly at about 4 on the Richter 

scale; indications of a lunar core at or near the melting point; a thick 

lithosphere that probably prevented mountain-building on the moon; and 

a tenuous atmosphere deriving from solar-wind particles. The seismic 

instruments on the ALSEPs were the most sensitive in existence, and 

the remaining stations were estimated to last for another 3 yr. (JSC 

Roundup, 13 Feb 76, 1) 

Food preparation and packaging techniques developed by NASA to feed 

Apollo and Skylab crews during space flight had been used in a pilot 

program to provide balanced nutrition to elderly persons living alone, the 

Johnson Space Center announced. The program, called Meal Systems for 

the Elderly, was part of JsC’s Technology Utilization program to apply 

space-developed technology to solution of earthbound problems. The 

goal was to provide a meal system that could be opened, cooked, eaten, 

and cleaned up by older people living alone; each meal would provide at 

least a third of the daily diet allowance for an older person, and a field 

demonstration had been scheduled that would evaluate the meal design 

and delivesy methods by the end of 1976. The Jsc team developing the 

11 
January ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 

program would aim at a shelf-stable, multimeal package that could be 

distributed by several methods-even parcel post-to senior citizens 

living beyond the range of hot-meal delivery or to those in areas where 

meals were not provided. (NASA Release 76-6; JSC Release 76-02) 

20 January: Dr. Wernher von Braun, who had retired in 1972 as Deputy 

Associate Administrator for Long-Range Planning at NASA Hq, said in a 

Washington Star interview that he had been brought to Washington in 

1970 to “lend clout to NASA’s ability to get its appropriations.” His 

assignment had been to present to Congress the program of a manned 

expedition to Mars; “so many national problems” had arisen that Congress would not commit itself to another multibillion-dollar space program, and the reusable space shuttle was the only element of the concept 

that survived. Dr. von Braun recalled that NASA’s resources were cut to 

about a third during his last 2 yr at NASA, and the new organization with 

which he was associated-the National Space Institute-was created to 

“reach large numbers of people” and broaden public support of basic 

science, “where it is much more difficult to predict the payoff.” “Remember,” he added, “nuclear energy, which ultimately was used in the 

hydrogen bomb, was discovered because some astrophysicists were interested in what keeps the sun hot.” (W Star, 20 Jan 76, A-1) 

21 January: President Ford sent a t394.2-billion FY 1977 budget request to 

Congress, an increase of $44.8 billion over the FY 1976 request; however, comparisons were distorted by the switch this year to a new federal 

budget calendar. (FY 1976 would end as usual on 30 June, but FY 1977 

would not start until 1 Oct.; for the “transition quarter,” July through 

Sept., the budget would run about $98 billion, revenues at $81.9 billion, 

and the deficit at $16.1 billion. The change appeared in the Budget 

Reform Act of 1974, to give the Congress more time after it convened 

in Jan. each year to adopt a budget for the coming fiscal year.) 

The budget attempted to explain “what went wrong” when an estimated national deficit of $9.4 billion turned out as an actual deficit of 

$43.6 billion; in FY 1975, the last completed fiscal year, spending totaled 

$324.6 billion ($20 billion more than anticipated), whereas receipts were 

only $28 1 billion, compared with an original estimate of $295 billion, the 

difference partly owing to an antirecession tax rebate enacted toward the 

end of the fiscal year. The biggest single factor-$6.5 billion spent in 

unemployment compensation-resulted from the recession unforeseen 

early in 1974; apart from higher unemployment payments under the 

existing program, Congress had extended benefits and coverage, 

accounting for $1.5 billion of the increase.The budget said that most of 

the discrepancy “can be explained by differences between actual and 

assumed economic conditions and the effects of new legislation.’’ The 

NY” commented that “total figures for outlays, receipts, and the deficit 

in the [budget] document submitted at the beginning of each year for the 

fiscal year to follow have become increasingly meaningless.” 

In a press briefing on his budget, President Ford stated his intent to 

“restrain the growth of federal spending and restore the vitality of the 

private economy.” This was expected to be the keystone of his campaign 

for reelection. Total federal outlays under the proposed budget would 

12 
ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 January 

increase 5.5% over the current fiscal year, less than half the average 

annual growth in federal spending over the past 10 yr. Largest percentage increase in the budget again would be in the field of energy 

research; aside from defense, increased spending in areas such as mass 

transit and water pollution would represent work on programs already 

begun rather than new starts. 

Highlights of the budget were: 

0 Increased defense spending of about $10 billion, exceeding $100 

billion for the first time. * Increased Social Security payments by employers and employees, 

to close the gap between income and outgo. 

A proposal for consolidating about 60 current federal programsin areas such as health, education, child nutrition, and social services-into “block grants” to the states, with few strings attached. 

Proposed spending for defense represented a turnaround of sorts: 

defense spending had fallen for a while after Vietnam, then rose again in 

FY 1975 with the end of the draft and conversion to higher priced 

all-volunteer armed forces with an upward pressure on wages. The outlay 

in FY 1977 would be for weapons; more than half the recommended 

increase would go for procurement, research, and development. Defense 

at $101.1 billion would constitute a fourth of the total budget, as in 

recent years, and Social Security about another fifth. Interest on the 

public debt would add a tenth; these three items would account for more 

than half. Five other basic budget items-Medicare-Medicaid, unemployment compensation, civil service retirement, and veterans benefits-would make up three fourths of the total, leaving only a fourth of 

the total budget for all remaining government spending. 

Science, represented by $23.5 billion in federal R((ID spending proposed for FY 1977, would use more than half that amount for military 

projects; the space program would get $3.6 billion, only 4% more than 

the current year and much less than price escalation. Highest priorities 

for increases in civilian spending on science would be colleges and 

universities, which would get $2.6 billion in research funds, and the 

National Science Foundation, which would get $81 2 million. NASA, under 

the proposed budget, would postpone purchase of one of the Space 

Shuttles for a year, and would drop its plan for a Mars-Jupiter-Saturn 

explorer. At the height of spending for the Apollo program 10 yr ago, 

civilian and nonspace science got 20% of RslD funding; in FY 1977, 

it would get 37%. (W Star, 21 Jan 76, A-1, A-10, A-1 1; W Post, 

22 Jan 76, A-1, A-14, A-15, A-16; NYT, 22 Jan 76, 1,24,25,26) 

0 At a hearing on solar power from satellites conducted by the subcommittee 

on aerospace technology and national needs of the Senate Committee on 

Aeronautical and Space Sciences, NASA Deputy Administrator George M. 

Low and Dr. John M. Teem, ERDA’S Assistant Administrator for Solap, 

Geothermal, and Advanced Energy Systems, were questioned closely by 

Sen. Wendell H. Ford (D-Ky), subcommittee chairman, on the ERDA and 

NASA responsibilities for the program. Testimony revealed that ERDA had 

prime responsibility for solar, as well as other, power-generating concepts, and that NASA had not requested funds for developing an indepen13 
January ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 

dent program but was working on solar-power ideas to use in satellite 

missions. Primary goal of ERDA’S program, Dr. Teem testified, was development and demonstration of terrestrial solar-energy applications that 

were commercially attractive and environmentally acceptable: solar 

thermal electric, photovoltaic, wind, and ocean-energy conversion. 

Dr. Teem pointed out that the FY 1977 budget included no direct funding 

for energy R&D for NASA, as the basic responsibility rested with ERDA. 

Dr. Low added that, when ERDA decided that research should proceed, 

NASA would do the work with ERDA funding. (Text, pp. 192-227) 

Flight tests by the Air Force had confirmed the concept called LATAR 

(laser-augmented target acquisition and recognition) that would permit a 

pilot in a high-performance single-seat fighter to fly the aircraft and 

operate its weaponry at the same time. The LATAR pod, mounted under 

the fuselage of an F-5E directly beneath the cockpit, contained a lasertarget designator, a spot tracker, and an electro-optical sensor. The spot 

tracker was a device that finds a laser “spot” from another target 

designator operated from another aircraft or on the ground; initial target 

identification could be either visual, by radar, or by a helmet-mounted 

sight system that integrated sight control with movement of the pilot’s 

head. The flight tests were conducted at the Air Force Flight Test Center, 

Edwards AFB, Calif. (OW Release 308.75) 

22 January: The Aerosat Space Segment Board, representing the European 

Space Agency, Comsat General Corp., and the government of Canada, 

decided to issue requests for proposals for a supply of Aerosat spacecraft 

beginning 1 Mar., with target date for award of contract 15 Nov. The 

Aerosat program, to be carried out by =A, the U.S. Federal Aviation 

Administration, and the government of Canada, would set up an experimental satellite-communications system between transoceanic aircraft 

and the ground to tescfunctions and timing of an operational system for 

the International Civil Aviation Organization. Two satellites designed for 

7-yr lifetime would be launched into geostationary orbit over the Atlantic 

Ocean, probably in 1979-80. (EA release 23 Jan 76; Comsat General 

Release 76- 103) 

0 Commenting on the first 3 mo of operation of the USSR Venus orbiters, Tass 

reported that optical instruments had yielded new data on the planet’s 

cloud layer, much more transparent than earth clouds, and on luminescence of the dark side of Venus, formed in a relatively narrow layer at 

high altitudes. The orbiters were measuring magnetic fields connected 

with the solar wind in the vicinity of Venus, but had not registered a 

magnetic field of the planet itself, the report said. (FBIS, Tass in English, 

22 Jan 76) 

23 January: Three space scientists at Johnson Space Center would begin a 

week-long round-the-clock test of experiments and procedures in a 

mockup of the Spacelab designed for the Space Shuttle. The team, 

headed by astronaut-physician Dr. Story Musgrave, would eat, sleep, 

and perform space-related duties in a mockup of the Shuttle orbiter crew 

compartment, and would carry out more than 20 experiments in space 

medicine and one in space physics inside the 6.8-m-by-4.06-m Spacelab 

14 
ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 January 

mockup. The team inside would be in constant communication with flight 

operations engineers and scientists at control points outside the mockup, 

which had been equipped with both instruments and experiments just as 

the Spacelab would be. The team would demonstrate 14 operational tests 

whose results would serve in planning inflight crew activities, procedures, 

and scheduling, and in studying items such as personal hygiene, general 

housekeeping and special-purpose cleaning and maintenance, and functional utility of the orbiter aft deck from which many of the Spacelab 

experiments would be monitored. The simulation was also designed to 

evaluate ground-support procedures and data-handling techniques. (JSC 

Release 76-04) 

0 INTELSAT-the International Telecommunications Satellite organizationawarded a 9-mo $75 000 contract to Hughes Aircraft Co. for development of improved vibration-test techniques for testing future Intelsat 

spacecraft, leading to reduced spacecraft weight and a lessening of 

Epacecraft fatigue. (INTELSAT Release 76- 1 -M) 

0 The Soviet Union would use artificial satellites and manned orbital stations 

to investigate dynamic processes in the ocean during the new 5-yr plan 

period, Tass reported. Soviet oceanologist Leonid Brekhovskikh in an 

interview forecast a growing number of experiments conducted jointly 

with other countries, among them a “polymode” experiment with the 

US. to study the nature of huge vertical formations in the ocean discovered by Soviet scientists in 1970. The USSR also planned a global satellite 

experiment called “pigap” for concurrent study of dynamic processes in 

the atmosphere and the ocean. (FBIS, Moscow Tass, U 1, 29 Jan 76) 

24 January: The National Transportation Safety Board reported that u.S. 

commercial airlines had the best safety record in 1975 since 1957, with 

only 42 accidents and a total of 124 deaths, 112 of those in the major 

air disaster of the year: the crash of an Eastern Airlines flight short of 

the runway at Kennedy International Airport in New York City on 

24 June 1975. The fatality rate-statistically 0.001 per million air 

miles flown-was especially encouraging as it came after 467 persons 

had been killed a year earlier in commercial aviation accidents. John €I. 

Reed, acting chairman of the safety board, commented that it was 

“as difficult to explain a good year as it is a bad one . . . we’d like to 

feel that all the effort toward safety is a contributing factor.” ( W Post, 

25 Jan 76, A3) 

25 January: The Great Galactic Ghoul struck again, reported Wushington 

Post staff writer Thomas O’Toole, when one of the unmanned Viking 

spacecraft (Viking 2) approached the orbit of Mars and lost one of its 

three ovens designed to heat samples of the Martian surface and look in 

the gases for signs of Martian life. Space scientists found that almost all 

the accidents with Mars-bound spacecraft-three failures and four nearfailures-had occurred in the same region, which had no unusual features such as extra cosmic dust or increased solar wind, magnetic field, 

or background radiation. First “victims of the Ghoul” were Soviet 

spacecraft-Zond 2 in 1964, and Mars 1 a year later-whose batteries 

died when they crossed the area and never came on again. One Mariner 

15 
January ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 

lost its radio in the Ghoul’s orbit but came back on when it reached Mars; 

another lost one or two instruments to cosmic dust; two others lost their 

guidance stars when they reached the Ghoul’s orbit, but locked on them 

again when they left it. Most costly casualty of the Ghoul was Mariner 7, 

whose battery exploded the day in 1969 when it crossed the Ghoul’s 

orbit, damaging the rest of ahe spacecraft so that it was useless by the 

time it flew past Mars. The area was about 56 million km from earth and 

209 million km from the sun, and Viking 2 would not leave it until some 

time in February; scientists at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory were hoping 

for no further damage to it or to the other Viking, which was coming 

along a month behind the first. (W Post, 25 Jan 76, A-3) 

0 Establishment of an Office of Science, Engineering, and Technology Policy 

in the White House, a goal of US. scientists since 1973, would become 

effective within 6 wk or so, the New York Times reported. Since President Nixon had abolished a similar office, the scientific community had 

been concerned over the lack of provision at the top level of government 

for sophisticated advice on science and technology affecting U.S. policies 

on world food supplies, environmental pollution, energy, transportation, 

disarmament, and similar problems. The Ford Administration had encouraged Congress to establish such an office by law rather than set one 

up by executive order, and the House of Representatives had passed an 

Administration-backed bill in Nov. 1975. A Senate bill, “roughly comparable” according to the NIT, had been agreed upon by several committees and was on its way to passage; this measure would establish a 

White House office with a director and as many as 4 associates, who 

would work closely with the Office of Management and Budget on science 

and technology budgets and would prepare an annual report for the 

President to send to Congress on science, engineering, and technology, 

with options on federal investment and priorities in the three related 

fields. The Senate bill would also call for authorization of funds to 

establish science and technology offices in each state; the House bill did 

not have similar provisions. (NW, 25 Jan 76, 26) 

0 The Federal Aviation Administration’s flight service station at Tucumcari, 

N.M., was receiving reports of cigar-shaped flying objects with pulsating 

colored lights dominating the night skies over Clovis, N.M. The objects 

were reported by policemen and residents for 4 nights, and a reporter 

photographed one of the objects showing a curved strip of light against 

a black background. FAA radar had shown nothing unusual, a spokesman 

said. (W Star, 25 Jan 76, A-7) 

26 January: Prompted by the crash of a TWA flight near Dulles Airport that 

took 92 lives in Dec. 1974, the Federal Aviation Administration hired 6 

veteran airline pilots to analyze air traffic-control procedures, but the 

findings were so scathing that the report had not been released, said an 

editorial in the Pashington Star. The National Transportation Safety 

Board this week issued its findings in the case with a “rare dissent” in 

assigning blame for the crash. The Star pointed out that, although the 

Air Line Pilots Assn. disagreed with the majority finding of pilot error and 

the Professional Air Traffic Controllers disagreed with the minority 

16 
ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 January 

finding of ground-control error, leaders of both groups-and members of 

the board-all questioned FAA handling of its responsibilities. The Star 

called on new FAA administrator John McLucas, sworn in in Nov., to 

make air safety his highest priority. (W Star, 26 Jan 76, A-14) * The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) had joined 

in research in Antarctica on stratospheric pollution with a team from the 

Univ. of Wyo. supported by the National Science Foundation. NOAA’S 

Aeronomy Laboratory would launch 2 balloons carrying probes with 

containers that would open at different altitudes to collect a vertical 

profile of fluorocarbons and nitrogen oxides in the relatively clean stratosphere over Antarctica. The measurements would be used in testing two 

theories of ozone destruction in the stratosphere, the first being the 

production of destructive chlorine through breakdown of manmade 

fluorocarbon aerosols migrating into the upper atmosphere. The other 

theory posed a natural ozone-limiting cycle, involving dissaciation in the 

stratosphere of bacterially produced nitrous oxide that became nitric 

oxide harmful to the ozone layer. The Antarctic launches would help to 

explain variations in nitrous oxide measurements as a function of latitude, season, or some other cause. (NOAA Release 76-17) 

27 January: Laser beams had become the latest major tool in manufacturing 

aircraft, the Aerospace Industries Association announced, reporting on 

a year-long series of tests of the numerically controlled laser cutting-arm 

technique. The test objective was to define effects of a laser on physical 

characteristics of the parts produced, such as corrosion and fatigue. The 

cutting arm was coupled with a computer data bank that chose the best 

method of positioning parts on flat thin aluminum sheets, saving both 

time and money and reducing aluminum scrap by 30 to 50%. Usual 

methods such as blanking, routing, and sawing had been used since 

World War 11. The Air Force was funding a program to use thicker sheets 

of metal and higher power lasers in an application of new technology to 

aircraft manufacture. (AIA Release 76-4) 

28 January: The Viking 1 on its way toward Mars might have lost the use 

of one of its ovens just as Viking 2 was reported last week to have done, 

project officials said. Each of the Mars landers carried three ovens to heat 

surface samples for analysis by a gas-chromatograph mass spectrometer 

that would determine atmosphere elements and search for organic material that would indicate biological or nonbiological activity. Loss of one 

oven on each craft would not affect the operation of the instruments, but 

would mean that only two instead of three soil analyses would be done. 

A separate biology instrument on each lander would search directly for 

life forms in soil samples. A monitoring device on the ovens was suspected 

as the cause of the test-data anomaly. (NASA Releases 76-14, 76-15) 

0 The 12th annual meeting of the American Institute of Aeronautics and 

Astronautics opened in Washington with the theme “Aerospace and 

Public Policy,” offering 9 panel discussions beginning with one on the 

Space Shuttle during which John F. Yardley, NASA Deputy Administrator 

for Space Flight, would give the keynote address on shuttle program 

status and flight operations plans. Other panels would discuss domestic 

17 
January ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 

direct-broadcast satellites; inflation, capital formation, and the aerospace 

industry; nqtional transportation policy; military aircraft selection; exporting aerospace technology; aerospace and energy; transition to the 

future; and the environmental impact of aerospace operations. The AIAA 

convention was preceded by a 2-day aerospace sciences meeting during 

which about 200 papers were presented at 75 technical sessions. The 

AIAA’S von KLrmb lecture would be presented by 1.E. Garrick, distinguished research associate at NASA’s Langley Research Center, speaking 

on aeroelasticity. 

At the honors night banquet 29 Jan., 14 major AIAA awards would be 

presented; fellows and honorary fellows of 1975 would be honored; and 

Edgar M. Cortright-former director of hRC and previously Chief of 

Advanced Technology, Assistant Director of Lunar and Planetary Programs, and Deputy Associate Administrator for Space Science and Applications and later for Manned Space Flight at NASA Hq-would be 

installed as AIAA president. Dr. Cortright had left NASA in Sept. 1975 

after 17 yr to become vice president and technical director of 

Owens-Illinois Inc. Speakers at the honors banquet would be Clarence 

“Kelly” Johnson, chief of Johnson Space Center’s spacecraft design 

division, who would receive the spacecraft design award of the year, and 

astronaut Neil A. Armstrong, who commanded Apollo 11 and took the 

first walk on the moon. (AIAA releases 6 to 16 Jan 76) * A communications satellite system to serve more than 200 U.S. public 

television stations within the next 2 yr was proposed by the Public 

Broadcasting Service and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting in a 

report prepared for managers of PBS member stations before the annual 

meeting in Los Angeles next month. If the member stations approved the 

proposal and the Federal Communications Commission followed with its 

approval promptly, the system could be in operation within 21 mo, 

putting PB ahead of commercial networks by renting circuits on satellites 

operated by Western Union Telegraph Co. instead of leasing land lines 

from American Telephone & Telegraph at ‘$12 million a yr. The $38- 

million satellite system would offer 3 or 4 channels instead of the single 

land line; expense of additional land lines had precluded additional transmissions to special audiences, such as Spanish-speaking populations in 

major cities and the US. Southwest; the cost of the land lines would 

increase yearly; and the cost of adding other stations to the PB satellite 

system would be limited to the cost of a simple ground receiver. ( W Star, 

2% Jan 76, A-1; W Post, 29 Jan 76, A-7) 

29 January: Intelsat IV-A F-2, second in a series of improved commercial 

comsats, was launched from Cape Kennedy on an Atlas-Centaur at 

6:56 pm EST (2356 GMT) into a transfer orbit at about 31 000-km 

apogee, aimed at a station over the Atlantic Ocean at 29.5‘W which it 

should reach by April. Working as a backup to lntelsat IV-A F-I, the 

newly launched spacecraft would provide almost two thirds more communications capability than previous Intelsats, by increasing the number of 

transponders from 12 to 20 and by using an improved antenna system 

that permitted frequency reuse by beam separation. The east-pointed 

pm used for transatlantic service would illuminate Europe and Africa; 

18 
ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 January 

the same 320-mhz bandwidth would be reused in the west beam aimed 

at North and South America, doubling the usability of the frequency and 

the satellite’s capacity. The cylindrical spacecraft was about 7 m high 

and 2.38 m in diameter, with a solar panel about 2.8 m long; liftoff weight 

was 1515 kg, and in-orbit weight 825.5 kg. (NASA Release 76-8; MOR 

E-491-633-76-02, 12 Feb 76 [prelaunch], 25 Feb 76 [postlaunch]) 

0 Soon after Rockwell International Corp. was named prime contractor on a 

$5-billion Space-Shuttle program, Rep. Olin E. Teague (D-Tex.), chairman of the House Science and Technology Committee, had accepted an 

invitation for a trip to Rockwell’s resort in the Bahamas. Teague’s name 

was added to a list of senators and representatives who had accepted 

invitations from Rockwell, a prime government contractor; most went to 

hunt at the company’s lodge in Maryland. Three Senate staff members 

had accepted invitations to hunt at the Maryland lodge of another 

contractor, Northrop Corp. During the previous week, the Pentagon had 

rebuked 38 civilian and military officials, including admirals and generals, for accepting similar invitations from Northrop. House rules 

prevented members, officers, or employees from accepting gifts “of 

substantial value, directly or indirectly, from any persons, organization, 

or corporation having a direct interest in legislation before the 

Congress;” the Senate had no similar written regulation. (W Post, 

29 Jan 76, F-5) 

0 A vacuum test facility built near Philadelphia in 1962 by General Electric 

to test satellites would be used to freeze-dry most of New York City’s 

air-pollution control records, damaged in a 16th-floor records office on 

Wall Street by flooding from a ruptured check valve in the 17th-floor 

airconditioning system, the New York Times reported. Hundreds of 

thousands of cards and pages had been shipped in a refrigerator truck to 

Pa. to be dried before mold could form and consume the cellulose fibers 

in the paper. After placement in the chamber, the records would undergo 

a vacuum so that the water would turn into vapor, move to a condenser, 

and turn to ice; after being frozen and dehydrated, the papers would be 

rewarmed. Use of the facility would save “hundreds of thousands of 

dollars” and untold time in attempting to duplicate the records, the 

Commissioner of Air Resources said. (NU, 29 Jan 76, 35) 

30 January: Col. Stuart A. Roosa, 42, an astronaut since 1966, announced 

in Houston that he would retire from the Air Force and from NASA on 1 

Feb., one day after the 5th anniversary of the launch of his only space 

flight, Apollo 14. Roosa had piloted the command module while Capt. 

Alan B. Shepard and Cdr. Edgar D. Mitchell had made the third moon 

landing, and had previously been on the Apollo 9 backup crew. Roosa 

told associates he was exploring “companies involved in new procedures.” (NU, 30 Jan 76, 34; W Star, 30 Jan 76, A-2) 

e Sun Marco C-2, launched from the San Marco platform 18 Feb. 1974 into 

an elliptical orbit to record day-by-day variations in the equatorial atmosphere’s density, composition, and temperature, was declared a success 

after 23 mo in orbit during which it obtained more than 17 diurnal cycles 

of data. The data had been correlated with data from Explorer 51 (AE-C) 

in studying ,the physics and dynamics of the thermosphere, and these 

19 
January ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 

studies would continue as more data from the two satellites were processed and analyzed. Two U.S. scientific instruments were still operating 

normally, but the Italian air-drag balance instrument (which malfunctioned shortly after launch) had not performed properly. (MOR 

S-894-74-04, 30 Jan. 76) 

INTELSAT-the International Telecommunications Satellite organizationawarded an 18-1110 $275 000 fixed-price contract to TRW Systems, he., 

for a skewed reaction-wheel thruster attitude-control and stabilization 

system. A system based on the reaction-wheel principle would offer a 

combination of light weight, high reliability, and accurate performance 

for future comsats. External disturbances of satellite stability would be 

canceled by spinning up the reaction wheels to create offsetting torques, 

then stopping the spin by use of thrusters. (INTELSAT Release 76-4-M) * INTELSAT-the International Telecommunication Satellite organizationawarded a 12-mo $22 000 fixed-price contract to the Republic of 

China’s Government Radio Administration for collection and study of 

ionospheric scintillation data at 4 ghz, to be used as a data base for 

studying satellite-signal fluctuations caused by ionospheric effects. 

(INTELSAT Release 76-5-M) 

During January: Using Landsat imagery of an 85 000-sq-km region from 

the western edge of the Nile to the border of Libya along the Mediterranean coast, the Egyptian Academy of Scientific Research and Technology at the request of President Anwar Sadat made a study of the 

region’s geology, drainage, and ground water. The study resulted from 

problems of a rising ground-water table and salinity on newly reclaimed 

areas west of the Nile Delta. A copy of the report, sent to NASA by the 

Egyptian academy’s remote-sensing research project, said in part, “The 

new maps prepared from Landsat satellite images are more detailed and 

much more elaborate as compared to previous maps prepared by the 

traditional methods . . . It has been possible to construct on the Landsat 

images 14 geological and environmental units in the investigated 

area . . . This work helps to decipher the geological history of northern 

Egypt, the Mediterranean Sea and the Nile Delta . . . It is emphasized 

that additional irrigation waters should not be introduced in the area of 

investigation until detailed geological and hydrogeological studies have 

been carried out.” (Wkly Briefs for Administrator, 12 Jan 76) 

0 Two scientific experiments carried on last July’s Apollo-Soyuz (ASTP) mission had produced spinoffs that would benefit sufferers from phlebitis and 

leukemia. Each of the experiments had used electrophoresis-passing an 

electric current through a solution to separate differing types of cellular 

matter-under the weightless conditions of space flight to produce results unobtainable in earth’s gravity. One experiment used human kidney 

cells in isolating pure samples of the 5% of cells that manufactured an 

enzyme (urokinase) effective in removing blood clots from veins and 

arteries, with major potential for treating persons with conditions such as 

phlebitis. The separated cells, frozen and returned for use as starters in 

a culturing process, provided 6 to 7 times more urokinase than the 

original sample. The other spinoff was the successful testing of a pre20 
ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 January 

servative medium developed for use on the ASTP mission that would make 

it possible to perform transfusions of a certain type of white blood cells 

in the treatment of leukemia; the preservative, used to freeze granulocytes on the mission, actually improved the survivability of the cells so 

that a stock of the material could be kept frozen for use upon demand, 

instead of searching for donors with resultant delay in emergencies. (NASA 

Releases 76-3, 76-5) 

0 Communications via satellite was a science-fiction writer’s dream 30 yr 

ago, but within 2 decades after Arthur C. Clarke predicted it, the first 

comsat-Early Bird, launched 6 Apr. 1965 into synchronous orbitbegan operations 28 June 1965 and opened a new chapter in communications history. In an article in the Telecommunications Journal, 

Santiago Astrain, secretary general of the International Telecommunications Satellite Organization (INTELSAT), viewed the past 10 yr, 

up to the new Intelsat IV-A, largest operational comsat to date. 

The brief history of INTELSAT summarized the organization’s development from 1960, when President Eisenhower called for the creation 

of a global communications system; after the United Nations passed a 

resolution supporting the concept, the u.S. Congress passed the Communications Satellite Act of 1962 that brought the Communications Satellite Corporation (ComSat) into being. On 20 Aug. 1964, 11 countries 

(representing 85% of the world’s telecommunications traffic) created an 

international consortium to be managed by ComSat on an interim basis. 

On 12 Feb. 73, the Definitive Agreements were signed; by the time they 

took effect, the number of member nations had increased to 80. Membership was open to all countries that were members of the International 

Telecommunications Union (ITU); any country, whether or not a member 

of INTELSAT, could have access to the system on a nondiscriminatory 

basis. 

Current planning was geared to meet a traffic demand for capacity to 

handle about 70 000 telephone channels by 1984; this would represent 

a 6-fold increase within 10 yr. Intelsat V satellites due to enter service 

in 1979 would provide more than 23 000 channels. As INTELSAT had the 

object of providing high-quality communications service, its policy had 

been to maintain a “spare” comsat in each ocean to make additional 

capacity always available; this had enabled the organization to provide 

domestic services at a reasonable cost. Since operations began in 1965, 

the number of countries actually participating in operations had increased from 5 to 64; the number of earth stations, from 5 to 90; and 

the number of antennas, from 5 to 115. (Telecommunications Jl, vol42, 

672-677) 

0 NASA issued 2 major reports-s~-386, “Outlook for Space,” and SP-387, 

“A Forecast of Space Technology 1980-2000”-prepared by a task 

group initiated by Administrator James C. Fletcher in June 1974 to 

examine the civilian role of the u.S. space program during the coming 25 

yr. The group included 20 representatives of NASA and 1 from the USAF. 

“Outlook for Space,” according to the foreword by Fletcher, was “an 

impressive analysis of the services that space systems and technology 

21 
January ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 

might provide the world of today and tomorrow,” and related this analysis directly to national needs and human purposes. 

“A Forecast of Space Technology,” according to a preface by study 

director Donald P. Hearth, “was an important element of the study and 

provided key inputs to the study and its conclusions.” The technology 

forecast was conducted by a team from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, 

supported by representatives of other NASA centers; Jack N. James and 

Rob Roy McDonald of JPL led the technology team. This report forecast 

developments in technology of acquiring, processing, transferring, and 

storing information, energy, and matter. 

“Outlook,” on the other hand, identified future objectives of space 

programs and prepared background information that could serve as a 

basis for development of program plans. Objectives were established as 

earth-oriented or extraterrestrial; categories of need were either physical 

(provision of food, shelter, health, security, education, good environment, and the work necessary to obtain these) or needs of mind and spirit 

(the quest for knowledge, the need to explore the unknown, the sense of 

accomplishment in the face of challenge). The 3 conclusions of the report 

were that a space program could help fill the need to improve food 

production and distribution, to develop new energy sources, to meet new 

challenges to the environment, and to predict and deal with natural and 

manmade disasters; that the space program could answer the need for 

intellectual challenge, exploration, and knowledge that would help humanity understand its relation to the universe; and that those in charge 

of the space program must make it recognized as meeting these public 

needs. Efforts recommended by the study group would be in data management, predictive modeling of future missions, advanced communications, space processing, and a permanent space station. (Text) 

22 
February 1976 

1 February: Scientists at Mass. Institute of Technology, using NASA’s Sas 3 

x-ray astronomy satellite, found a stellar object unlike any other and 

were unable to say what it was. The discovery, located by Dutch astronomers in the center of the galaxy in the constellation Sagittarius, gave 

off x-ray bursts that were unevenly spaced, although pulse after pulse 

proved to be identical. The object might be a single new source or a 

combination of old ones, but its distance was millions of light years and 

the source might be nonexistent now, the investigators said. (W Star, 

1 Feb 76, A-6) 

2 February: A “so far secret NASA material” in outfits worn by 3 u.S. skaters 

was credited by an Olympic games official with the clean sweep of the 

international women’s speed-skating championships at Davos, Switzerland. Sheila Young of Detroit, Mich., set a world record of 40.91 sec for 

the 500-m race; Leah Poulos of Northbrook, Ill., set a US. national 

record of 2: 13.98 for the 1500-m event, followed by Young and Nancy 

Swider of Park Ridge, 111. The press chief of the Innsbruck organizing 

committee said a flood of records could be expected because skating 

garments “contain an aerodynamic property which is better than any 

used before,” and attributed the US. victories to a “frog suit” made of 

the new material. US. Olympic Committee officials said they had no 

knowledge of such suits, and team members were not available for 

comment. (W Star, 2 Feb 76, D-1) 

3 February: Tests on the Lageos-a geophysical research satellite expected 

to remain in orbit several million years-concluded at Goddard Space 

Flight Center at the end of Jan., NASA announced, and the satellite would 

be shipped to the Western Test Range in California for launch in late 

April. Called the “cosmic golfball” because of its 426 special reflectors 

designed to return laser pulses to their exact point of origin on the earth, 

Lageos would provide a stable point in the sky to permit measurement of 

the relative locations of participating ground stations within a few centimeters; these measurements would provide scientists with models of 

earth’s crustal motion, useful in predicting earthquakes. Manager of the 

Lageos project would be the Marshall Space Flight Center at Huntsville, 

Ala. (MSFC Release 76- 17) 

@ A team of engineers and scientists at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory had 

devised a way to transfer blood without contamination and lengthen its 

safe storage time, NASA announced. Using a concept developed in spacecraft sterilization, the team-under contract to the National Heart and 

Lung Institute of the National Institutes of Health-worked out an 

aseptic fluid-transfer system on which patents had been applied for by the 

Calif. Institute of Technology, which operates JPL for NASA. Two dualwalled tubes, fused and penetrated by heat, would permit clean transfer 

23 
February ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 

of blood from one container or bag to another; the unique connector 

would be manufactured as part of the container. Outer portions of the 

tubing would be polyvinyl chloride, and the inner parts of heat-resistant 

kapton; application of heat at 2OO0C through a metal clamp to the flat 

end links of each tube would effectively fuse the tube and sterilize the 

adjoining areas. Heat could be applied by a portable device no larger than 

an ordinary hair dryer. The method was reported to kill 99.999% of all 

bacteria and spores, even when surfaces had been purposely contaminated. (NASA Release 76-20) 

0 Pioneer IO-on its way out of the solar system-would cross the orbit of 

Saturn nearly a billion miles from earth on 10 Feb., NASA announced. As 

it crossed Saturn’s orbit, the Pioneer would be 1 384 600 000 km from 

the sun and 1 435 807 000 km from earth; however, the big-dish 

antennas of NASA’s Deep Space Network should be able to hear the 

spacecraft as far out as the orbit of Uranus-3.2 billion km from 

earth-which it should reach in 1979. Systems aboard the 256-kg 

spacecraft were still operating, and the Pioneer was returning valuable 

information on the character of the interplanetary medium in the 

unexplored space beyond the orbit of Jupiter, which it flew past in 

Dec. 1973. Project officials said that communication might be possible 

well beyond Uranus. Pioneer IO carried a message for any intelligent 

beings who might retrieve it on its wanderings through the galaxy; 

scientists calculated that it might encounter a star system once every 

million years, and should remain in good condition even though its 

nuclear power source would die in a few decades. (NASA Release 76-21; 

ARC Release 76-04) 

0 An environmental satellite operated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) had used its capability of measuring ocean 

temperatures to help fishermen on the Calif. coast find tuna and salmon. 

A pilot project using satellite imagery to locate areas of “upwelling” off 

the coast-areas where cold nutrient-rich water would rise from the 

bottom to the surface-had shown that these areas were favored by the 

fish, and the fishermen could save time and fuel by using the data to 

locate them. NOAA’S polar-orbiting satellite passing over the coast twice 

daily would use visual and infrared sensors to relay data including 

sea-surface temperatures to earth, where images of thermal fronts indicated upwelling areas. The fronts transferred to navigation charts would 

be available to fishermen at northern Calif. ports. NOAA’S National Environmental Satellite Service conducted the research through a 

NOAA-supported sea grant program at Humboldt State Univ.; the technique would be applicable to fishing industry in many parts of the world. 

(NOAA Release 76-10) 

A new manmade fiber stronger than nylon for possible use in drogue 

parachutes had been tested in the 5-m transonic tunnel at the Arnold 

Engineering Development Center in Ohio, the Air Force announced. The 

material, called Kevlar, had been developed by DuPont for use in tires, 

and could be woven into parachute materials twice as strong as nylon 

with only half the weight and volume of nylon counterparts. The AEDC 

tests used 4 ribbon-type parachutes 2 m in diameter, tested to destruc24 
ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 February 

tion; one was 100% nylon, another 100% Kevlar, and the remaining two 

were composed of different blends of the two substances. *The tests 

measured dynamic loads as the chutes were deployed at about 966 km 

per hr at simulated altitudes from 15 to 1 15 km; steady-state loads were 

also measured at those altitudes for speeds of from 640 to 1440 km per 

hr. The material-evaluation tests were a novelty for the tunnel, normally 

used for aerodynamic studies of large-scale models or engine compatibility with flight hardware. (AF OIP 003.76) 

4 February: First mainstage test of the Space Shuttle main engine occurred 

at the National Space Technology Laboratories in Hancock County, 

Miss., Marshall Space Flight Center announced. The engine-called the 

Integrated Subsystem Test Bed-was fired for 3.38 sec, reaching and 

stabilizing at its minimum power level: 50% of its rated power level of 

1 668 075 newtons at sea level, or 2 090 654 newtons at altitude. Tests 

were conducted by the prime contractor for the engine, Rocketdyne Div. 

of Rockwell International Corp., under MSFC direction. (MSFC Release 

76-29; Rockwell Release RD-2) 

0 An asteroid more than 3 km across was photographed near earth 27 Jan., 

about 7.5 million km distant, by the Mt. Palomar Observatory, the Calif. 

Institute of Technology reported. The asteroid, of the type that made 

giant craters on planets of‘the solar system, was closer to earth than any 

known celestial body other than the moon. The institute said there was 

no chance that the asteroid-called 1976 AA-would collide with the 

earth on its present path, as the orbits of the earth and the asteroid did 

not touch. (NU, 4 Feb 76, 21) 

5 February: The “Historic Redstone Test Site” at MSFC, neglected since the 

final Redstone test firing in Oct. 1961, would be restored to its original 

appearance as an exhibit for visitors during the Bicentennial celebration, 

MSFC announced. The interim test stand, as it was called, was built by the 

US. Army in 1953 and used to test moderate-range Redstone rockets. 

On 31 Jan. 1958, a modified Redstone renamed Jupiter-C launched into 

orbit the first U.S. satellite, Explorer 1. Another modification of the 

Redstone tested on the stand was the Mercury-Redstone, one of which 

powered the first U.S. manned space flight-that of Alan Shepard in 

May 1961. The stand was the site of 364 test firings between 1953 and 

196 lJafter which it was retired from a space program that had become 

much more sophisticated. Painted in its original colors and designs, and 

with a Redstone borrowed from the Army Missile Command installed on 

it, the site would appear much as it did 15 yr ago in its new role as an 

historical exhibit. (MSFC Release 76-32) 

0 Physicists at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Batavia, Ill., 

discovered a new elementary particle, heaviest ever observed, the annual 

meeting of the American Physical Society was told. The investigators 

from Columbia Univ., the State Univ. of N.Y. at Stony Brook, and the 

Fermi lab said the “upsilon” particle raised the possibility that physics 

might never be able to identify any ultimate or basic building blocks of 

matter. The upsilon was discovered in debris of particles created by 

acceleration of a proton beam aimed at a beryllium target; the resulting 

25 
February ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 

collision produced a cluster of electron-positron pairs with a mass of 

6 billion electron volts, more than 6 times that of the proton and 1.5 

times that of any other particle. The report on the upsilon particle was 

a last-minute addition to the annual meeting’s agenda because the data 

were available only in the last few wk; first observed about 5 mo ago, the 

upsilon had been seen only 12 times so far, but was expected to require 

new thinking in theoretical physics. (B Sun, 6 Feb. 76, A-3; W Post, 

9 Feb 76, A-3) 

0 The accepted explanation of solar energy-fusion of hydrogen atoms into 

helium at the sun’s core-had been challenged by more than one recent 

discovery, the Christian Science Monitor reported. Measurements of 

natural vibrations in the sun, published in the journal Nature by a Soviet 

and British group, had revealed that the sun pulsed steadily every 2 hr 

40 min. Such regularity had not been predicted by the fusion theory. 

Another group, reporting in the journal Science on a 3-yr experiment 

directed by the Brookhaven National Laboratory, found fewer neutrinos 

created by thermonuclear reactions at the sun’s center than was “consistent with standard ideas of stellar evolution.” Suggested explanations 

were a tiny black hole at the sun’s center, which could radiate energy 

outward without creating neutrinos, or a shutoff of the sun’s thermonuclear furnace, which would lower the number of neutrinos long before 

any decrease in heat or light would become apparent. (CSM, 5 Feb 76, 

16; B Sun, 23 Jan 76, A-3; NIT, 23 Jan 76, 1; 18 Feb 76, 32) 

0 Thermal protection fabrics developed for use in the Apollo and Skylab 

programs would be the basis for research into improved clothing and 

equipment for firefighters, under a contract signed between NASA and the 

Department of Commerce’s National Fire Prevention and Control Administration. The agreement assigned management responsibility to 

Marshall Space Flight Center for a 3-yr program funded jointly by NASA 

and NFPCA at a cost of $300 000 in the first year. The program would 

emphasize weight reduction, performance, and cost of equipment to 

improve the chances of a firefighter’s surviving any fire uninjured, in a 

job described as the most hazardous in the US. (MSFC Release 76-31) 

6 February: U.S. airlines suffered a near-record deficit in 1975, according to 

year-end statements recently released that showed declines for nearly all 

the 11 trunk carriers and a total deficit of $87 million, second only 

to 1970’s loss of $100.8 million. In 1974, the group had earned 

$250.8 million. Reasons given included rising fuel prices, costly strikes, 

and proliferating fare discounts. The recession in the first part of 1915 

cut passenger traffic for all lines, and fuel costs continued to soar another 

30% in 1975 after doubling the previous year. Increasing numbers of 

discount fares resulted in an average of 7.04 cents of revenue per 

domestic passenger mile for TWA, down from 7.51 cents for the same 

month a year earlier. Although January 1976 traffic had increased about 

11%, and predicted profits from an increase of 2% in unit revenues 

might produce as much as $140 million for the 11 major carriers, this 

would represent only a 6% return on equity compared to the 12% 

considered fair by the Civil Aeronautics Board. (MT, 6 Feb 76, 39) 

26 
ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 February 

0 A small-scale model of the Space Shuttle and its launch pad would be used 

in a test program begun at MSFC to reduce noise during a Shuttle launch. 

Sound energy could damage sensitive instruments or other payloads 

carried in the Shuttle orbiter, and reducing launch noise by modifying the 

launch facility would be more economical than redesigning the launch 

vehicle itself or its associated payloads to tolerate anticipated levels of 

noise. The model would test various designs that sprayed water into, above, 

and below the rocket exhaust; firing the engines into a water spray would 

convert acoustic (sound) waves into thermal energy, which would dissipate as steam. Use of the water technique had significantly reduced-but 

not eliminated-the damaging noise. (MSFC Release 76-33) 

9 February: An ad hoc committee of 9 prominent astronomers, assisted by 

a group of experts from NASA, ERDA, and the Air Force and the atmospheric and astronomical science communities, reviewed the program of 

solar research being conducted by the U.S. Air Force's Sacramento Peak 

Observatory in N.M., and recommended that the National Science Foundation assume responsibility for its operation after 30 June 1976. The 

Air Force had established the observatory near Alamogordo in 1952 to 

research methods of predicting solar geophysical disturbances that might 

affect military responsibilities of the AF; reduced manpower had forced 

the AF to earmark the observatory for phaseout. Dr. H. Guyford Stever, 

director of NSF, announced that NSF would take over the SPO operation 

and continue its role in solar research at a productive level. Constructed 

at a cost of about $8 million, SPO had an estimated replacement value of 

about $20 million. (NSF Release PR76- 15) 

10 February: Atmosphere Explorer D, second in a series of 3 maneuverable 

unmanned spacecraft designed to explore a specific aea of earth's outer 

atmosphere, had ceased functioning, spacecraft controllers at GSFC said. 

M-D had stopped working 29 Jan. when a power-supply electronics 

malfunction disabled its solar array. Launched 6 Oct. 1975, M-D had 

transmitted important data on energy transfer in the upper atmosphere 

and on processes critical to the atmospheric heat balance; although it did 

not last its design lifetime of 1 yr, it did transmit a full set of lower 

thermosphere data on the daylight side from North to South Pole at 

constant times du&g its 4-mo operation. AE-C, launched in 1973, was 

still functioning normally, returning upper-atmosphere data in the region 

above 128 km; AE-E, launched in Nov. 1975, had a payload similar to 

that of the others but also carried equipment to measure earth's ozone 

layer between 20°N and S. (NASA Release 76-24) 

12 February: The three U.S. astronauts who participated in last summer's 

Apollo-Soyuz project-Thomas P. Stafford, Vance Brand, andbonald K. Slayton-left Saudi Arabia after a 2-day visit in Riyadh and 

headed for Abu Dhabi, capital of the United Arab Emirates, on a goodwill 

tour of the Middle East. (NY News, 12 Feb 76, 96) 

0 NASA announced award of an $8.8-million extension for 1 yr of a contract 

with Northrop Services, Inc., of Houston for operation and maintenance 

of lab and test facilities at Johnson Space Center. Northrop had provided 

these services to JSC for the past 3 yr; the extension would bring the value 

27 
February ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 

of the contract to $37 416 742. Northrop had used 425 employes to 

maintain and operate the life sciences and engineering labs and the lunar 

curatorial lab. 

NASA also announced award of a $6.8-million extension for 2 yr of a 

contract with the Charles Stark Draper Labs., Cambridge, Mass., for 

technical support of Space Shuttle orbiter avionics software development. Draper had provided this support to JSC since 1974. The effort, 

employing 55 people, would include software design, verification, simulation, requirements formulation, and analysis as required for programming the guidance, navigation, and control computer for the Shuttle 

orbiter. (JSC Releases 76- 12, 76- 14) 

@ Louis Morton, one of the foremost US. military historians and chairman of 

NASA’s historical advisory committee from 1970 to 1973, died at the age 

of 63 in Burlington, Vt., after surgery. A member of the National 

Archives advisory council since 1968, he had worked strongly for separation of the National Archives and Records Service from the General 

Services Administration, and had advocated a coordinating office for the 

federal government’s entire historical program with a chief government 

historian. Based at Dartmouth College, where since 1960 he had been 

teacher, writer, and administrator, Morton was active in national 

organizations related to history and had served on history and biography 

juries for the Pulitzer prize. He had been with the Army’s office of 

military history from 1946 to 1959, serving as historian, then as deputy 

chief and chief of the Pacific branch; he was editor of an 1 1-vol. history 

of the U.S. Army in the Pacific during World War 11, and general editor 

of the 17-vol. “Wars and Military Institutions of the US.” (W Post, 

15 Feb 76, B 12) 

13 February: Ceremonies at GSFC honored 45 members of the team responsible for NASA’s Delta rocket, the “workhorse” of the agency’s most 

dependable launching systems. NASA Administrator James C. Fletcher 

and Deputy Administrator George M. Low participated in the event. 

Delta placed NASA’s first communications satellite (Echo 1 ) into orbit 

12 Aug. 1960; through January 1976, 119 Deltas had been launched. 

The Delta’s reliability and economy had made it the primary vehicle for 

commercial spacecraft, international users, and operational meteorological systems. The number of reimbursable launches for non-NASA users 

had increased over the years; of the 11 Delta missions scheduled for 

1976, all but 2 would be launched for foreign or commercial users on a 

reimbursable basis, better than 80% of the total. Delta’s payload capability had risen from 68 kg to 910 kg. As Dr. Fletcher remarked, “Delta 

is becoming a standard against which to measure the conduct of NASA’s 

business in the future.” (NASA Release 76-27) 

Dr. Alexander M. Lippisch, designer of the first operational rocket-powered 

fighter aircraft, died in Cedar Rapids, Ia., at the age of 81. As chief of 

design after 1939 at Germany’s Messerschmitt Company, his speed 

research led to development of the ME 163B, world’s fastest airplane at 

that time, which had a speed of nearly 1015 km per hr and could climb 

to 9 km in 3 min. As director of research at the Airplane Research 

28 
ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 February 

Institute in Vienna after 1943, he was rounded up in Operation Paperclip 

by the Allies, who put him to work for the U.S. Air Force technical 

intelligence section and sent him to the U.S. in 1946 to work at WrightPatterson Field in Ohio. He had left government service in 1957 and 

gone to work for Collins Radio, where he headed the company’s aeronautical laboratory. In 1965 he left Collins to form his own group, the 

Lippisch Research Corp., and at his death was developing an airfoil boat 

and an aerodyne (wingless aircraft) for the West German government. 

(NIT, 13 Feb 76, 34) 

15 February: The long-secret site of USSR space launches-previously 

identified by U.S space experts as Tyuratam, for the name of the local 

railway station-was identified in the newspaper Kazakhstanskaya 

Pravdu as “Leninsk,” in a dispatch on construction of electric powertransmission lines. The dispatch, stating that the Leninsk area had been 

connected to the Central Asian power grid, was believed to be the first 

in which the name appeared in a Soviet publication. US. astronauts who 

visited the space complex last year during Apollo-Soyuz mission preparations had reported that a city of about 50 000 population was associated 

with the launch complex, and was known as Leninsk. Publication of the 

name--which had not appeared on Soviet maps or reference books-was 

considered either an oversight by the censor or a decision to make the 

name public. (NIT, 15 Feb 76, 12) 

0 An around-the-world auto race planned for mid-1976 as part of the US. 

Bicentennial celebration would feature a 1914 Model T Ford, tracked by 

a NASA satellite from the starting point in Paris to its termination in New 

York City, NASA announced. The car, driven by Goddard Space Flight 

Center employee Robert H. Pickard, would carry a 13.6-kg electronics 

package that would transmit the car’s ground speed to the randomaccess measuring system (RAMS) carried on NASA’s Nimbus 6 meteorological satellite that covers the entire globe once every 12 hr. Nimbus 6 

would relay information to GSFC through a ground station in Alaska. The 

auto race would demonstrate use of the RA~S system for ground tracking 

applications where transmissions could encounter various kinds of interference; normally, RAMS would collect data from instruments on moving 

platforms such as balloons or buoys to allow calculation of wind or 

sea-surface movements. Pickard, a car enthusiast, had worked in the 

space program since the Vanguard days and was presently project manager for the comsat-metesat system called GOES (geostationary operational environmental satellite). (NASA Release 76-23) 

17 February: Under an agreement between NASA and ERDA-the Energy 

Research and Development Administration-in the initial phase of 

ERDA’S 5-yr program for solar heating and cooling, Marshall Space 

Flight Center would assist in managing the commercial demonstration 

projects portion that would show the nation’s businesses and industries 

that solar heating, cooling, and hot-water systems could be used economically to relieve the growing demand for fossil fuels. MSFC would 

evaluate responses to Program Opportunity Notices (PONS)-ERDA’S 

equivalent of NASA’s Requests for Proposals-and would administer the 

29 
February ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 

demonstration projects resulting from contracts awarded by ERDA. The 

PONS solicited a variety of commercial projects that would use solar-based 

systems in commercial buildings; of the 308 proposals received from 

industry, ERDA expected to award from 8 to 20 contracts during 1976. 

(MSFC Release 76-42) 

18 February: A “house of the future” incorporating technology from aerospace research would be open to the public at Langley Research Center 

after July 1, NASA announced. The Tech House, a project of NASA’s 

technology utilization program, would demonstrate how an average family could cut fuel consumption by two thirds and water consumption by 

one half, using innovative energy and water management systems integrated with building designs and materials. Building started in late Jan.; 

all equipment and features in the house would be available to the public 

within 5 yr, or are available now. A family selected by NASA would live 

in the house for at least a year, beginning early in 1977; a systems 

engineer would monitor all use of the systems in the normal life of the 

family and record day-to-day savings. The contemporary one-story 

house would have an enclosed living space of about 500 sq m; its major 

feature combined solar collectors with night radiators and heat pump for 

one of the most cost-effective heating and cooling systems now available. 

Contributing to the NASA project were the National Association of Home 

Builders, the National Bureau of Standards, and the Department of 

Housing and Urban Development. (NASA Release 76-26) 

* The Communications Satellite Corporation (ComSat) reported 1975 net 

income of slightly more than $46 million, compared to nearly 145 million 

for 1974, attributing the increase to additional leasing of circuits to the 

corporation’s customers-3833 at the end of 1975, compared to 3510 

in 1974. The report noted the FCC decision of 4 Dec. 1975 ordering lower 

rates for services provided through ComSat’s global system, and warned 

that the decision would have “a substantial adverse impact” on future 

earnings unless modified by judicial review. ComSat had appealed the 

ruling and delayed filing a schedule of lower rates. (ComSat Release 

* More than 25% of all scientists and engineers in the U.S. and the USSR were 

engaged in weapons work of some kind, whereas fewer than one hundredth of 1% were engaged in arms control or disarmament, said William 

Epstein, former director of the U.N. Disarmament Division, in a letter to 

the New York Times. Warning of the “terrible doomsday weapons that 

scientists may yet develop” in the spiraling arms race, Epstein called on 

scientists and engineers to establish nationally and internationally a code 

of conduct that would include educational work on the perils of the arms 

race and political efforts to achieve arms control and disarmament. 

“Science may be neutral and amoral, but scientists are not . . . They 

have a moral duty to use their capabilities for the benefit of humanity and 

not for its destruction.” Uniting their efforts behind a “Hippocratic 

oath” not to engage in means of mass murder, associations of scientists 

and other professional bodies could provide moral support and tangible 

76-3) 

30 
ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 February 

assistance to those “even in dictatorial countries” where imprisonment 

or harassment would be the result of such action. (MT, 18 Feb 76,33) 

19 February: Marisat 1 -first satellite of a privately owned $100-million 

system to provide rapid high-quality communications between ships at 

sea and shore stations-was launched on a Delta for Comsat General 

Corp. from Cape Canaveral at 5:32 pm local time (1032 GMT). The 

655-kg craft was headed for a stationary orbit 35 788 km above the 

Atlantic Ocean at 15OW, about 547 km southwest of the coast of 

Liberia. A second satellite, Marisat B, would be stationed over the Pacific 

later this year. Marisat 1 carried 2 channels each about 4 mhz wide, 

operating in the L and C bands; one would translate shore-to-ship signals 

from 6 to 1.5 ghz, the other would translate ship-to-shore signals from 

1.6 to 4 ghz. Ground stations at Southbury, COM., and Santa Paula, 

Calif., would provide earth-satellite communications links, using 12.8-mdia. antennas to relay tracking, telemetry, and command information 

between the satellites and the Comsat General control center in Washington, D.C. The U.S. government would use three UHF channels on the 

satellite, completely separate from the L- and C-band channels, through 

its own terminal facilities. The satellite system, owned and operated by 

a consortium headed by the Comsat General Corp., would be used by 

commercial shipping lines, as well as by the U.S. Navy pending completion of its own Fleet Satellite Communications System. By early April, 

commercial telephone, telex, and data communications would be available to link ships and offshore facilities with shore stations connected into 

domestic and international communications networks worldwide. Marisat 

mobile terminals had been purchased or leased from Cornsat and installed on ships of a number of nations. (NASA Release 76-22; MOR 

M-492-205-76-01 [prelaunch] 26 Jan 76, [postlaunch] 13 Apr 76; 

Cornsat Release CG 76-107; W Star, 20 Feb 76, A-6) 

A new comet now approaching the sun-named Comet West, after Richard 

M. West of the European Southern Observatory at Geneva, Switzerland, 

who discovered it in Nov. 1975-would be the object of extensive space 

and ground-based study to identify and measure its constituents, NASA 

announced. Comet West would come closest to the sun on 25 Feb., but 

would not be readily visible until about 2 March because of solar brightness; it would provide the first opportunity for extensive comet study 

since the appearance in 1973 of Comet Kouhoutek (a “visual disappointment” from which more had been learned about comets than in all the 

time that had gone before). NASA would participate in the study along with 

the Naval Research Laboratory, and with the Univ. of Colo. at Boulder 

and the Johns Hopkins Univ. (NASA Release 76-31) 

@ Work began on the world’s largest radiotelescope-the “Very Large 

Array,” consisting of 27 dish antennas each 25 m wide and weighing 160 

tons, plus a Y-shaped layout of rail tracks and underground tubing along 

three 21-km legs-and was scheduled for completion in 1981 at a cost 

of $76 million. The plains of St. Augustine, N.M., isolated and desolate, 

had been chosen because a ring of mountains would prevent radio 

interference. The VLA would probe objects such as quasars that appeared 

31 
February ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 

to speed away at more than half the speed of light, as well as other puzzles 

such as black holes, star formation, galactic structures, and interstellar 

molecules. Its design would improve on three weaknesses of current 

telescopes: poor resolution, poor sensitivity, and inability to make images 

or maps quickly. Antenna signals routed through underground waveguides to a control center would be amplified and fed into a computer 

system that could turn out high-resolution images of the radio source in 

8 to 12 hr. The array would be supervised by officials of the National 

Science Foundation, Associated Universities, Inc., and the National 

Radio Astronomy Observatory. (CSM, 19 Feb 76, 16) * The universe had been analyzed and found to be open, a group of astronomers told the annual meeting of the American Association for the 

Advancement of Science in Boston. The director of Cornel1 Univ.’s 

national astronomy and ionosphere center, Dr. Frank Drake, said that 

the most recent astronomical data indicated that in about 30 billion years 

the universe would have changed, and no stars would appear in a night 

sky, having gathered into “Island Universes”-clusters of galaxies 

widely separated from each other. Computer analysis of recent observations indicated that separation of galaxies into islands had not yet 

begun, which meant that the universe might be comparatively young. 

The conclusion that the universe was open had been based on factors 

such as expansion rate, deceleration, and density of the universe. Evidence today would support the “big bang” theory which stated that the 

universe had exploded in the beginning from a single solid mass, and 

would go on expanding. (B Sun, 19 Feb 76, A-3) * US. observers were concerned about spiraling strategic arms programs in 

the USSR, the Christian Science Monitor reported. Heavy payload in the 

Soviet nuclear system and an expanded program of deploying multiple 

warheads had aroused fears of a possible “first strike” by the USSR 

against U.S. intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) systems. Intelligence 

experts estimated the USSR would have 1500 land-based missiles by 

summer, compared with 1054 for the US.; an article in Foreign Affuirs 

magazine by Paul Nitze-Secretary of the Navy in the Johnson 

administration-had stated the Russians believed they could “win” a 

nuclear war, whereas popular feeling in the U.S. was that all participants 

in a nuclear exchange would be destroyed. A Russian “cold launch” 

system for missile launching that did not damage the silo was contrasted 

to the U.S. “hot launch” system that damaged the silo during launch. The 

Pentagon had sought $78 million for development of a new ICBM called 

“MX,” and a FY 1977 budget of $9.4 billion for strategic forces. (CSM, 

19 Feb 76, 6) 

* Extinction of several species of life forms resulted from a weakening of the 

earth’s ozone shield nearly a million years ago, according to a study of 

recorded atmospheric occurrences that had not previously been correlated. In the Jan. issue of the British scientific journal Nature, Drs. 

George 6. Reid and 1.S.A. Isaksen of NOAA and Thomas E. Holzer and 

Paul J. Cruzen of the National Center for Atmospheric Research, 

Boulder, Colo., stated that fears about man-caused destruction of stratospheric ozone might be well founded. Examination of earth-core samples 

32 
ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 February 

showed extinction of species of microscopic sea animals during a reversal 

in polarity in earth‘s magnetic field that weakened magnetic forces 

shielding the atmosphere from solar and cosmic radiation. The resultant 

heavy bombardment of radiation formed nitric oxide in the high atmosphere, in turn destroying part of the ozone shield. Similar increases in 

radiation, recently recorded, would inevitably affect present organisms, 

the report said; aside from direct effects on higher forms of life, indirect 

damage would come from the consequent upset of the ecological life 

cycle. (NU, 19 Feb 76, 21) 

20 February: Astronomical observations and laboratory experiments spanning 16 yr had failed to detect any signals of life in outer space, the 

142nd annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement 

of Science was told. The session in Boston heard reports on a 4-galaxy 

scan using the largest radiotelescope in the world-the 600-m-dia. 

antenna at Arecibo, P.R.-from Dr. Carl Sagan of Cornel1 Univ. and his 

Cornel1 colleague, Dr. Frank Drake, director of the National Astronomy 

and Ionosphere Center at Arecibo. “Of the trillion stars we looked at in 

four galaxies,” Dr. Sagan said, “there is not a single one that at the time 

of our observation was devoting a major effort to communicate with us.” 

Another effort-a 4-yr scan by the National Radio Astronomy Observatory at Green Bank, W.Va., of 659 stars in the region of the Milky 

Way-had yielded negative results after analysis of 90% of the observations. However, fewer than a millionth of the stars in the Milky Way 

had been scanned, for very brief periods, at only a few wavelengths. 

Negative results did not rule out the possibility of receiving the looked-for 

signals some day, the meeting was told. (NU, 21 Feb 76, 40; B Sun, 

21 Feb 76, A-3; W Star, 20 Feb 76, A-3) 

0 NASA announced selection of the Boeing Commercial Airplane co. of Seattle 

for award of a $20-million contract to build an experimental flight 

research aircraft for use in noise-reduction technology. Boeing would 

modify a government-furnished C-8 Buffalo transport aircraft into a 

quiet short-haul research airplane (QSRA) for the Ames Research Center’s 

noise-reduction research program, aimed at reducing aircraft-noise impact on U.S. communities and congestion at major airports. The redesign 

to meet QSRA concepts would enhance aircraft performance and control 

at low speeds, and would demonstrate propulsive-lift technology that 

would permit civil transport aircraft to achieve a short takeoff and 

landing (STOL) capability. STOL aircraft could use runways at existing 

smaller airports to relieve traffic at large metropolitan airports, as well 

as to reduce noise impact. (NASA Release 76-33) 

0 A simple, inexpensive, and effective method of suppressing noise in windtunnel testing of space vehicles would be patented by two MSFC engineers, 

MSFC announced. While developing an acoustic environment for reentry 

of the Space Shuttle solid rocket booster, Paul W. Howard and Luke A. 

Schutzenhofer of MSFC’S Systems Dynamics Lab. found their acoustic 

data distorted by background noise reflected at transonic speeds from the 

walls of the wind tunnel, causing shock waves. The primary aerodynamic 

cause of the background noise was found to be the edgetone effect of 

high-velocity windflow over holes in the perforated walls of the tunnel; 

33 
February ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 

covering the perforated walls with wire screening minimized direct contact between the airstream and the edges of the holes, and the noise was 

greatly reduced. The temporary fix proved so successful that the screens 

were permanently installed, and the patent should be issued to the public 

by early summer. (MSFC Release 76-44) 

21 February: A simple device to reorient an orbiting satellite toward the earth 

stations with which it would communicate had been used successfully on 

Satcom 1, RCA-owned comsat launched by NASA in December 1975. 

Patented by two engineers at the RCA Electronics Div. in N.J., the new 

equipment took advantage of the gyroscopic effect of a wheel normally 

rotated to stabilize a satellite in synchronous orbit; only a simple start 

signal from the earth could activate it. Previous systems needed precision 

controls involving delicate sensors and thrust motors manipulated from 

the ground. Satcom 1, in synchronous orbit at about 35 000-km altitude, had been rotated 90’ by the new system to point its instrumentation at the earth; it would begin regular transmission in March. (NYT, 

21 Feb 76, 31) 

0 A Russian system for intercepting and destroying satellites apparently was 

unsuccessful this week, U.S. intelligence sources said. The test involved 

Russian satellites only, and posed no threat to any U.S. satellites in space. 

A target spacecraft (Cosmos 803) launched from Tyuratam 12 Feb. was 

the object of the test, carried out by an interceptor spacecraft (Cosmos 

804) launched 4 days later. Observers differed on whether the interceptor had been maneuvered close enough to destroy the target, although 

a routine announcement by the USSR said the second launch had successfully completed its mission. In 5 tests between 1968 and 1971, USSR 

interceptor satellites had blown up on radio signal after approaching the 

targets in orbit, and the explosions had destroyed both interceptors and 

targets; Cosmos 804 had not blown up. U.S. Secretary of State Henry 

Kissinger had said that the 1972 nuclear arms limitation agreement with 

Russia forbade the 2 countries from interfering with each other’s satellites, but did not prohibit tests of an antisatellite system. (B Sun, 2 1 Feb 

76, A-1; W Star, 21 Feb 76, A-3) 

22 February: Study of earth’s climate to permit predictions of global climatic 

changes by the end of the century should be the top space priority, said 

a study group formed by NASA last year to assess U.S. progress in space 

and where it should go next. The 3-vol report of the study group did not 

mention manned exploration of Mars, which had been the prime recommendation of a forerunner study 7 yr ago. Citing the dependence of the 

world’s population on a complex system producing food and fiber where 

climate is favorable, the report said the entire system was predicated on 

a constant climate. Understanding of climatic processes would help solve 

earth’s most pressing problems: food shortages, and worldwide weather 

changes caused by pollution. The report estimated that a 1-degree 

cooling of earth’s annual temperature would mean loss of $1 billion in 

grain production, $2.2 billion in timber and fiber output, and $1.4 billion 

in fish catches; the drop would also increase the demand for electrical 

energy by $700 million, with a $2.4 billion rise in health costs other than 

34 
ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 February 

treating skin cancers caused by alterations in earth’s atmosphere. The 

group recommended development of 6 satellites to identify and assess 

worldwide crop conditions; other satellites to study chemical changes in 

the atmosphere and to watch for solar changes affecting earth’s weather; 

and azwork of 4 to 6 large geostationary satellites to observe ice and 

ocean conditions and keep tabs on the earth’s radiation balance. Manned 

flight should develop along the lines of Space Shuttle and space stationto be used partially for climate study-and instrumented craft should be 

sent to explore every solar-system planet except Pluto, the report said. 

Cost of the weather-satellite program was set at $1.7 billion, with operating costs over 20 yr estimated at $4.6 billion; the planetary exploration 

program would cost a total of $5.1 billion to the year 2000. (W Post, 

22 Feb 76, A-3) 

NASA announced plans for a seventh Lunar Science Conference to be held 

15 to 19 March at JSC, bringing together scientists in geology, chemistry, 

physics, astronomy, engineering, and biology under joint sponsorship of 

Jsc and the Lunar Science Institute of Houston. Discoveries about the 

moon would be applied to problems of the origin and early history of the 

solar system, for instance using lunar data to interpret craters and 

volcanoes photographed on the surfaces of Mercury and Mars. Other 

papers would discuss meteorites, satellites of Jupiter (about the size of 

earth’s moon), and use of earth-based telescopes to measure chemical 

composition of asteroids. Lunar science conferences had been held 

yearly since 1970, when the first such assembly heard scientific results 

from the Apollo 11 moon-landing mission. More than 700 scientists 

from as far away as Australia attended the 1975 conference. (NASA 

Release 76-25) 

0 Steam might be the power behind rockets of tomorrow, the annual meeting 

of the American Association for the Advancement of Science was told by 

Dr. Freeman Dyson of the Princeton Institute for Advanced Study. 

Steam engines of the future would be powered not by coal but by laser 

beams so powerful that they could instantly turn water into superheated 

high-velocity steam that could carry a 1-ton spacecraft into earth orbit. 

Basic research on laser propulsion had already been done by Dr. Arthur 

Kantrowitz of the Avco Everett Research Lab. in Cambridge, Mass. A 

laser beam with energy of 1 million kw would be needed to carry a rocket 

and its spacecraft away from earth; this laser would be 10 times more 

powerful than any developed so far. Ideally, the laser and rocket would 

be located on a mountain at 3-km altitude, where air would be free of 

water vapor that would reduce laser efficiency. Development of laser 

propulsion would take money, Kantrowitz said, but not as much as other 

rocket engines have cost. (W Post, 23 Feb 76, A-2) 

23 February: Western &ion filed with the Federal Communications Commission a tariff designating 11 more major metropolitan areas as “Satellite Access Cities.” WU had already placed on line to Westar, the first 

U.S. domestic comsat system,.9 major metropolitan areas-New York, 

Washington, Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, San Francisco, 

Houston, and Pittsburgh-served by 5 ground stations, located near 

35 
February ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 

New York, Chicago, Atlanta, Dallas, and Los Angeles. The Glenwood, 

N.J., station (near N.Y. City) would serve Boston, Buqalo, Philadelphia, 

Baltimore, and Wilmington under the new access. The station at Lake I 

Geneva, Wis. (near Chicago), would serve Detroit, Milwaukee, Cleveland, Cincinnati, and St. Louis; the station at Cedar Hill, Tex., would 

serve Kansas City. In operation for more than a year, the 2-comsat 

Westar system had been used by several hundred corporations for both 

voice and data transmission; Westar also included TV centers in New 

York, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Dallas that had been transmitting 

increasing amounts of US. video news and sports coverage since 

July 1975. (WU news release 24 Feb 76) 

@ In a close race to tame the hydrogen-bomb reaction process-fusion-to 

make electricity, the U.S. and USSR were both ready for larger engineering units to demonstrate the practical production of electricity by 

the mid- 1980s, reporter Robert Toth said in the Los Angeles Times. The 

Kurchatov Institute in Moscow had announced earlier in Feb. a “breakthrough” in the first successful test conducted in its Tokamak-10, the 

last purely experimental machine intended to prove feasibility of the 

approach. Last November, US. had announced a comparable achievement with the Alcator Tokamak at the Mass. Institute of Technology, 

described as a major development in fusion research. Although u.S. 

scientists claimed a fusion process had been first tested at Los Alamos 

20 yr ago, it was not seriously pursued, whereas the late Dr. Lev 

Artsimovich of the USSR had worked along the same line independently 

and given the machine its name-a Russian contraction for currentmachine chamber-upon achieving the first success. 

Advantages of the fusion process were that it was the most efficient 

reaction known, producing 180 times more energy than consumed; fuel, 

the heavy forms of hydrogen, would be as inexhaustible as the seas; and 

the process left no radioactive waste like that from atomic-power plants 

based on the fission reaction. Fusion would require containment of the 

reaction in a magnetic field, which had been accomplished, and continuous production of energy would require temperatures of a million 

degrees Centigrade and a density of 100 trillion ions for a secondconditions beyond the capability of present machines. Both the U.S. and 

USSR results had been 5 to 10 times less than needed, although they were 

5 to 10 times greater than previously achieved. (W Post, 23 Feb 76, 

A- 1) 

24 February: The Apollo lunar scientific experiment package (ALSEP) left on 

the moon’s surface during Apollo 14, reported dead [see 18 Jan.] when 

transmission ceased last month from unknown causes, came to life just 

as unexpectedly 19 Feb. with transmitter, receiver, and experiments 

functioning very well. One experiment-the charged-particle lunar environment experiment-had previously been unable to perform during 

lunar daylight because temperature variations had degraded its power 

supply; since the revival, the experiment had been sending good data 

during lunar daylight. J% scientists and Bendix engineers who designed 

the ALSEPs had no idea what happened to the Apollo 14 station, one of 

36 
ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 February 

5 transmitting data from the moon; one possibility cited was a relay in 

the power system that had stuck and then became unstuck. Estimated 

remaining life of the Apollo 14 station was once again 2 to 3 yr; all the 

stations had performed well, with the oldest-from Apollo 12-nearing 

its 7th year. ALSEP experiments were still providing data on conditions 

inside the moon and on moonquakes; scientists were still hoping for 

seismic signals from a large meteor impact that would identify the moon’s 

core. (NASA Release 76-34; JSC Release 76-17) 

Pure carbon materials originally developed as ablative heatshields on the 

Apollo spacecraft were being used at medical centers across the US. in 

research on artificial limbs and implants in human tissue. The inert 

tendencies and high degree of purity exhibited by the carbon materials 

made them suitable for implantation without causing infection or rejection. Northwestern Univ. in Ill. and the Rancho Los Amigos hospital 

center run by the Univ. of Southern Calif. at Los Angeles had studied the 

materials in skeletal fixation devices that used carbon-button implants to 

connect the devices to nerves. Other projects included carbon implants 

to control pain (especially in the lower back) and neuroelectric stimulators to relax contracted muscles in paralyzed patients. Much of the 

technology used in purifying the carbon materials originated at NASA’s 

Marshall Space Flight Center. (MSFC Release 76-45) 

25 February: Fred W. Haise, Jr., astronaut on the Apollo 13 lunar mission 

of April 1970 that nearly ended in disaster, would command the first 

free-flight test of the Space Shuttle, Johnson Space Center officials 

announced. A research pilot for NASA since 1959, Haise worked at Lewis 

Research Center and the Flight Research Center before his selection as 

a civilian astronaut in 1966. He was technical assistant to the manager 

of the Shuttle orbiter project from April 1973 to January 1976. With 

Haise on the test Shuttle flight would be Air Force Lt. Col. Charles G. 

Fullerton, appointed astronaut in 1969, who had never flown in space. 

The Shuttle was scheduled to fly piggyback in 1977 on a modified Boeing 

747 jet transport, then in free-flight testing and landing after release at 

about 8-km altitude. Haise and Col. Fullerton would guide the Shuttle 

to an unpowered landing at the Dryden Flight Research Center in Calif. 

to demonstrate handling and reusability. (B Sun, 25 Feb 76, A-7; 

w Post, 25 Feb 76, B 5; NASA Release 76-35; JSC Release 76-17) 

Comsat General Corp. announced an agreement with ARCO-the Atlantic 

Richfield Co.-to install a Marisat terminal on the S/S Arco Prudhoe 

Bay, a tanker commissioned in Baltimore in 1971, to evaluate satellite 

communications with an eye to equipping other Arc0 ships if the new 

medium should prove reliable. The tanker would transport crude oil from 

Alaska to US. west-coast ports, and communications via satellite would 

be valuable during periods when the aurora borealis (northern lights) 

made high-frequency communication difficult. Comsat facilities had been 

installed previously on 15 commercial vessels; the Marisat system would 

be the 16th, and would begin operations in commercial service about 

1 April. (Comsat Release 76-105) 

37 
February ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 

26 February: A radio sensing system deployed by the federal government in 

remote areas of the US. since the spring of 1975 to warn of impending 

natural disasters had already passed one test, reported David S. Johnson, 

director of the National Environmental Satellite Service. An impending 

flood upstream from the town of Deming, Wash., had been detected by 

the sensors, and the river had crested an inch above its flood stage as 

predicted. The radio sensors, attached to transmitters, collected and 

relayed data from NOAA geostationary satellites (Goes 1, watching the 

East Coast, and Srns 2 watching the Pacific Coast); the satellites relayed 

the information to NOAA computers in the World Weather Building at 

Suitland, Md. Initial work on the system began in the 1960s, and it was 

already operational. By summer of 1976, 150 to 200 sensor stations 

would be in place; a total of about 10 000 would eventually be situated 

to warn of floods, earthquakes, forest fires, or tidal waves that began in 

unfrequented areas. The system could also be used for keeping track of 

ships at sea or of trucks on the highway. (B Sun, 26 Feb 76, A-1; NOAA 

Release 76-32) 

Recovery of the unmanned Soyuz 20 spacecraft that landed in Kazakhstan 

16 Feb. carrying a “comprehensive biology payload”-including both 

plant and animal life-concluded what the Christian Science Monitor 

described as an impressive 3-mo biology experiment. Results from 

Soyuz 20 would be compared with those of similar experimentsincluding some from the US-carried on the Vostok-type biosat Cosmos 782 which stayed 19.4 days in space last year. Cosmos 782 had 

carried a small centrifuge to test effects of artificial gravity on flora and 

fauna; comparison of the previous tests with those from Soyuz 20 would 

help decide whether-and how much-artificial gravity would be needed 

in future space stations. Soyuz 20 had docked with the Salyut 4 space 

station 19 Nov. 1975, an example of a self-docking biolab that demonstrated the USSR plan for assembling complex space objects ‘from separately launched modules. (CSM, 26 Feb 76, 6) 

27 February: Beginning with the 1976 forest-fire season, a new satellitelinked monitoring system of 23 NASA-designed ground stations would 

monitor forest conditions throughout thousands of sq km in Calif.’s 

Region One redwood area, providing data every 3 hr to foresters in 

Sacramento by means of a geostationary weather satellite. The 90-kg 

self-powered stations developed by NASA’s Ames Research Center in 

cooperation with the state Division of Forestry would transmit continuous 

reports on wind speed and direction, air temperature, solar radiation, 

relative humidity, and the moisture content of forest litter such as pine 

needles and grass. Sensors to be added would measure rainfall and air 

pollution, including particulate matter and ozone concentration. The 

Synchronous Meteorological Satellite 2 (Sms 2) operated by NOAA from 

its vantage point over the equator would receive and relay the data. (JSC 

Roundup, 27 Feb 76, 3; NASA Release 76-28; ARC Release 76-07) 

0 Charles w . Mathews, NASA Associate Administrator of Applications, retired 

after 33 yr of government service with NASA and its parent organization, 

NACA. As a member of the science staff at the Langley Research Center 

since 1943, he was chairman of the group that developed specifications 

38 
ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 February 

for the Mercury spacecraft before NASA was established. When Mercury 

became an official program in 1958, Mathews transferred to Houston 

(now the Johnson Space Center), serving as manager of the Gemini 

program. Upon completion of Gemini, Mathews went to NASA Hq as 

director of the Skylab program (then known as Apollo Applications 

Program); in 1968, he became Deputy Associate Administrator for 

Manned Space Flight, and remained in that position until 197 1. Awarded 

the NASA Distinguished Service Medal by President Johnson in 1966 for 

contributions to the manned space program, Mathews received the award 

a second time in 1969 for contributions to the first manned lunar landing. 

At his retirement, he stated that he would “continue to devote effort to 

the further realization of-the tremendous potential of space . . .” (NASA 

Release 76-38) 

29 February: The concept of a “science court”-an impartial quasi-judicial 

body of scientists to conduct inquiries into conflicting scientific claimswas advanced by Dr. Arthur Kantrowitz, director of Avco-Everett Laboratories, a high-technology industrial firm in Mass. The proposal would 

be a means of assuring a rational and orderly assessment of scientific 

facts underlying highly complex issues of public concern. Although 

hearings had been held by Congress and federal agencies on issues such 

as radiation, automotive safety, air pollution, drugs, and pesticides, these 

had frequently been superficial and led to no resolution of facts. A recent 

Harvard University book on the subject said in part: “The principal 

shortcoming of such hearings can be revealed simply by asking how 

‘adversary’ these adversary hearings are . . . direct battle over facts, if 

it occurs at all, takes place as a free-for-all in the mass media.” 

Conflicting statements by experts had added to confusion and paralyzed 

decision-making processes. A test of the “science coort” concept had 

been recommended as part of the new White House office of science and 

technology policy. (NU, 29 Feb 76, 8) 

0 Information of value to the u.S. Pioneer mission to Venus scheduled for 

1978 was published by the USSR in Pravda after 4 mo of analysis of the 

2 Soviet spacecraft that reached Venus in Oct. 1975. Each of the 

Russian craft, weighing about 5000 kg, separated into an orbiting section 

and a landing capsule; the two landers transmitted the first panoramic 

photographs of the Venus surface to earth. US. scientists had debated the 

angle at which landers should enter the Venus atmosphere; the Russian 

report stated that Venera 9 entered at 20.5” and Venera 10 at 22.5” 

to the horizon. Besides the entry angIe, the report included details of 

descent, amount of sunlight on the surface, wind speeds, rock chemistry, 

and character of surface erosion. Although the 2 landers failed under 

surface temperatures of 482°C and pressure 90 times that of earthVenera 9 lander operated 53 min., Venera 10 65 min-the orbiters 

continued to transmit data on cloud cover and upper atmosphere. The 

US. planned to launch 2 spacecraft, an orbiter and a lander, toward 

Venus in 1978, the lander separating into 4 or 5 probes to relay data via 

the orbiter to the earth. (NW, 29 Feb 76, 34) 

Grover Loening, pioneer aeronautical inventor and first person to receive 

an M.A. degree in aeronautics from an American university, died at the 

39 
February ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 

age of 87 at his home in Fla. after a long illness. In 1913, after working 

for an aeroplane builder in N.Y., Loening became assistant to Orville 

Wright and manager of the Wright brothers’ factory in Dayton, 0. In 

1914 he was appointed chief aeronautical engineer of the Army Signal 

Corps aviation section. As vice president of Sturtevant Aeroplane Co., he 

pioneered the first U.S. steel-frame airplane in 191 5; later he formed his 

own company and developed the M8 2-seat Pursuit monoplane using 

rigid strut bracing, which he patented. After World War I, Loening 

produced the Flying Yacht which established world records and won him 

the Collier Trophy in 192 1 ; his next success was the Loening Amphibian, 

with the first practical retractable carriage. A member of the Aviation 

Hall of Fame, Loening was one of the first directors of Pan American 

Airways and a member of the Smithsonian Institution board for about 

20 yr. Awarded the Presidential Medal of Merit and nearly every U.S. 

aviation medal, he had been selected 3 wk ago to receive the Smithsonian’s Langley gold medal for aerodromics. ( WStar, 3 Mar 76, B-5) 

During February: Water hyacinths thought to be environmentally affected 

by the location of NASA’s National Space Technology Laboratories in 

Miss. proved to have unexpected benefits for space-age processes and 

byproducts, when NASA scientists monitoring the effects of wastes discharged into nearby streams found that the water plants had a peculiar 

ability to absorb and concentrate toxic metals, and to metabolize various 

other chemical pollutants, while they continued to produce massive 

amounts of plant material. For a year, biochemists at NSTL had worked 

with the plants as a filtration system for purifying polluted waters, as a 

source of biogas for fuel, as a protein and mineral additive to cattle feed, 

and as a soil fertilizer and conditioner. The vascular plants could absorb 

and metabolize large quantities of nutrients and pollutants from domestic 

sewage waste waters. An installation of the size needed to meet pollution 

standards at the nearby community of Orange Grove would have cost 

about $500 000; stocking the sewage lagoon with enough water hyacinths to purify up to a half million gallons of sewage outflow daily cost 

only a few thousand dollars. 

Plants taken from sewage lagoons had been dried and ground into 

feeding rations for beef cattle, producing a meal rich in minerals and 

protein, and added to corn silage fed to a herd of steers at the nearby 

agricultural experiment farm operated by Miss. State Univ. A 4-mo 

study resulted in weight gain comparable to that on a diet fortified with 

cottonseed or soybean meal. The high cost of fuel for drying the plants 

after harvesting led to construction of a prototype solar dryer at NSTL 

that was designed to dry 18 tons of wet material each 36 hr; the dryer 

might prove a solution for agricultural problems other than drying of 

grains and forage. 

Another use of the plants was as a source of methane gas and 

fertilizer, using an anaerobic fermentation process with a yield of nearly 

57 000 cu.m. (2 million cu. ft.) of gas from an acre of water hyacinths. 

A state like La., with more than a million acres of unwanted water 

hyacinths, might produce more than enough methane gas to fuel 

40 
ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 February 

2 million homes in the New Orleans region annually. Another study 

showed a remarkable ability of the plants to filter out “heavy” metals 

(cadmium, mercury, nickel, lead, silver) and other toxic organic substances common in industrial waste waters. Although plants harvested 

from these sites could not be used for animal feed or fertilizer, they could 

be used to produce methane gas; researchers found that biogas generated 

from plants containing trace metals yielded a higher percentage of 

methane than plants free from metals. Spinoff projects resulting from 

worldwide interest in the NASA findings included a survey by NASA investigators of water hyacinths blocking up the White Nile, requested by 

the Sudanese government; a plan to use hyacinth plantings as a detection 

system for assessing heavy-metal pollution in waters near thermonuclear 

installations; and use of the plants in a system to recover millions of tons 

of gold “tailings” left over from mining and present in streams near 

disused mines in the western U.S. (NASA Release 76-36) 

0 A 7.6-m radio-controlled model of the dirigible Hindenburg, star of a 

recent motion picture on the last days of the world‘s largest airship, was 

given to the National Air and Space Museum for display along with a 

full-size control car used in interior and exterior filming of the picture. 

Other full-size sets had been constructed to represent the passenger 

compartments, internal engineering and cargo areas, and a complete bow 

section. The radio-controlled model could perform 28 separate functions, from dumping water ballast to operating a complex system of 

interior lighting. (NAA newsletter Feb 76) 

The tlSSR had made good use of observations from its manned space 

stations, Soviet Academician Leonid Sedov said, citing photographs 

taken by Salyut 3 showing 67 locations where oil and natural gas could 

be found in the Caspian Sea region and 84 in Uzbekistan. The satellite 

did in 3 mo a job that had taken 60 yr of ground prospecting to reveal 

102 deposits, he said. Published in the Feb. issue of the British magazine 

Spacejight, the report by Sedov mentioned contributions to agriculture 

from a space survey that revealed millions of gallons of water “just below 

the surface” of arid lands near the Caspian Sea, showing areas that might 

be suitable for “oasis farming” or grazing livestock. Discussing changes 

in the environment made possible by space technology, Sedov said such 

influences should “bear a global character,” to avoid a repetition of the 

notorious experiment” (the so-called West Ford) in which the U.S. 

released a cloud of copper fibers in orbit in 1963 for communications 

experiments; West Ford caused worldwide complaints by radio astronomers. (Spacejight, Feb 76, 54) 

66 

41 

March 1976 

1 March: NASA’s cancellation of a mission to Uranus by withholding funds in 

a severely restricted budget for FY 1977 had produced a “Uranus 

option” plan, sponsored by engineers at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, 

that would take a spacecraft destined for Saturn and give it the ability 

to go the extra distance to Uranus as well. In an interview with the New 

York Times, John R. Casani-deputy project manager of the Mariner 

project at JPL-said the necessary trajectories had been plotted, and 

modification of the spacecraft remote-sensing instruments to use at 

Uranus was already under way. 

Of the two Mariner missions scheduled for launch in Aug. and Sept. 

1977, to fly by Jupiter in 1979 andSaturn in Nov. 1980 and Jan. 1981, 

the first mission would remain unchanged. The second Mariner, trailing 

the first by 9 mo, would fly a lower speed trajectory to allow a bigger 

slingshot effect from Saturn’s gravity for propulsion toward Uranus; the 

slower speed would also allow flight controllers to decide on the basis of 

the first Saturn flyby whether to use the second Mariner for a closer look 

at Saturn or to go for Uranus. The second choice would mean that, by 

1985, U.S. spacecraft would have looked closely at all the planets of the 

solar system except Neptune and Pluto; a Mariner flyby of Uranus 

between Nov. 1985 and Jan. 1986 would take the spacecraft further out 

into the solar system, toward Neptune. Obtaining data on Neptune would 

take “a miracle,” Casani said, although the JPL engineers would not rule 

out the possibility. The infrared spectrometer on the second Mariner 

would be improved in sensitivity to detect the temperature of Uranus, 

twice as far from the sun as Saturn is, and 20 times as far as earth; also, 

the spacecraft would be able to photograph Uranus, 4 times the diameter 

of earth, and gather data on its magnetic field, atmosphere, and other 

physical properties. The Mariner missions to Jupiter and Saturn would 

cost about $305 million; addition of the trip to Uranus would add about 

$21 million to the cost of the mission. (NYT, 1 Mar 76, 11) 

An all-systems simulation of landing Vikings 1 and 2 on the surface of 

Mars, to exercise the entire 750-person Viking flight team so that 

everyone knew exactly what to do when the time came later this year, 

began 20 Feb. and built up to a “Mars landing” 22 Feb., concluding 

today as a “fantastic success” according to James S. Martin, Jr., project 

manager at Viking Control in the Jet Propulsion Laboratory installation 

in the San Gabriel Mts. near Pasadena. The computer program had to 

be redesigned to facilitate uplink command to the spacecraft cameras, 

and more time had to be allowed for certain ground-control and dataprocessing procedures, but no major problems developed. In the room 

where a full-scale model of the Viking lander complete with operational 

43 
March ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 

cameras stood on a simulated Martian surface, prankish team members 

had put three tiny marine fossils from earth’s Paleozoic period on the 

sand within the camera field-of-view. When the camera came on to 

transmit after the simulated landing, the first picture was startling, but 

the fossils were immediately recognized, and the joke demonstrated that 

even tiny objects near the landing site would appear in the pictures 

transmitted from Mars. (NW, 4 Mar 76, 32) 

Lt. Col. Michael A. Love, test pilot of the successful NASA lifting-body 

program, was killed in the crash of an F-4C fighter on a dry lake bed at 

Edwards AFB, Calif., shortly after takeoff in a proficiency flight. Love’s 

navigator, Maj. E.B. Underwood, Jr., ejected from the plane before it 

crashed and was hospitalized in stable condition. Love, 37, was chief AF 

pilot assigned to the X-24B program that tested a wingless aircraft to 

develop a space vehicle that could be flown to earth and landed like a 

plane. After serving in the lifting-body program as a chase pilot for 

various M-2 and X-24A flights, Love made his first X-24B flight on 

4 Oct. 1973 and had piloted the plane to its fastest speed-better than 

1860 kph-before terminating the program 20 Aug. 1975 with a hardsurface landing of the X-24B on the runway at Edwards. ( WStar, 2 Mar 

76, A-5; W Post, 3 Mar 76, A-20; NASA X-Press, 12 Mar 76, 2) 

0 At 0300 CMT (12:30 pm local time) the Japanese ionosphere sounding 

satellite Ume was launched from the Tanegashima site on the 3-stage 

liquid-fuel N rocket to an orbital altitude of about 1000 km. The cylindrical satellite weighed 139 kg, had a diameter of 94 cm, and was 82 cm 

high. Its estimated lifetime was 1.5 yr. This was the second successful 

launch with the new N rocket. (FBIS, Kyodo 29 Feb 76) 

0 A technical management team calla SPICE for Spacelab payload integraSpace Agency as the result of a planning meeting in Paris, ESA announced. The team would work at the Federal Republic of Germany’s 

technical center at Porz-Wahn, with half of its 20 members from the 

center’s staff; the ESA announcement called the center “the European 

organization that has devoted the most effort to forecasting, studying and 

preparing the utilisation of Spacelab.” Max Hauzeur, manager of the 

SPICE team, would be responsible for a number of items for the first 

Spacelab payload: coordination of instrument and experiment development; data management; design and interface specifications; schedule 

monitoring; acceptance of experiments, and approval of integration 

tests; and coordination of training programs. (ESA release, 1 Mar 76) * The European Space Agency (ESA) announced an agreement on loan of a 

radiometer for 2 yr to the Iranian College of Science and Technology at 

Tehran for use in propagation experiments in the 12-ghz band, to be 

used by European relay satellites for long-distance public telecommunications. The experiments would be carried out in “particularly interesting conditions,” E% said, because of Iran’s geographical and climatic 

characteristics. (ESA release, 1 Mar 76) 

2 March: Discovery of a new kind of photosynthesis-a bacterial system 

using purple instead of green pigment to convert sunlight into chemical 

energy and food-was announced by a team of scientists from NASA’s 

tion and coordination in Europe) %( would be established by the European 

44 
ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 March 

Ames Research Center and the Univ. of Calif. medical center at San 

Francisco. Contained in cell membranes of Halobacterium halobium, 

found in salty waters, the pigment when energized by sunlight could 

transfer protons across the membrane. It appeared to increase the 

evaporation rate of salt, with possible applications in desalination of sea 

water; it also seemed to resemble rhodopsin, the little-understood visual 

pigment of the eye, and might aid in understanding the evolution and 

operation of vision. The purple pigment, which acted as a proton pump, 

might also explain the key process of ion transport in all cells. Deposited 

on a flm and exposed to sunlight, it had already been tried out in crude 

solar cells. Scientists were excited by the possibility of practical uses of 

the purple pigment because-although less efficient than chlorophyll-it 

could be purified and was stable over a broad range of temperatures and 

activities. The newly discovered process was the first instance of a system 

other than the one based on green chlorophyll in which cells could use 

light energy to survive, said Dr. Walter Stoeckenius of the University of 

Calif., chief researcher. Bacteria used in the research came from salt 

flats near the Mediterranean, where they had been known for a century 

to cause pinkeye in salted fish and red herrings to become red. The study 

in which the discovery was made was part of research into earth organisms living in extreme environments like those expected to exist 

on other planets. (NASA Release 76-30; ARC Release 76-12; w Post, 

3 Mar 76, A-1; B Sun, 3 Mar 76, A-3) 

* A cooperative use of spaceflight techniques by U.S. and USSR scientists 

might verify the existence of “gravitational waves” that could be used 

to probe quasars and other explosive cosmic events, said an article in the 

Astrophysical Journal. The new technique-proposed by Dr. Kip S. 

Thorne of Calif. Institute of Technology and Prof. Vladimir B. Braginsky 

of Moscow State University-would use a net of radio signals between 

earth and interplanetary spacecraft to monitor sudden unexplained 

fluctuations in the returned radio frequencies. Analysis of changes in the 

length and shape of the waves would reveal what had happened to the 

matter that generated the wave, according to the theory. The idea of 

gravitational waves had grown by analogy with the three types of manifestations of electrical force: the static electric field, static magnetism, 

and radiated waves that took form as visible light, radio waves, x-rays, 

etc. As the extremely precise clocks needed for the experiments had only 

recently become available, the search for gravity waves might not be 

successful for another decade, the scientists said. (NU, 2 Mar 76, 17) 

2-9 March: Comet West, one of the few such objects visible to the unaided 

eye in daylight, reached maximum visibility in the eastern sky before 

sunrise this week. Having skirted the sun a week ago, the comet had 

become less brilliant as its distance from the sun increased, but was more 

easily seen as it moved away from the sun. The comet was said to be the 

brightest such object since Comet Bennett’s appearance in 1970. The 

comet had appeared in photographs taken in August 1975 at an observatory in the Chilean Andes, but was not identified until Richard West, 

a Dane working in Geneva, studied the photographs. Comets are of 

special interest because they are thought to be composed of materials 

45 
March ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 

from the outer fringes of the solar system. Reports from Italy, Switzerland, and elsewhere described the comet’s tail as 2 to 4 times the 

apparent diameter of the moon, unusually short for so bright a comet. 

NASA reported extensive observations of the comet using rockets, highflying aircraft, and ground-based instruments; smog or clouds might 

make ground observation difficult. (NIT, 2 Mar 76, 17; 9 Mar 76, 43; 

B Sun, 3 Mar 76, A-3) 

3 March: Women would definitely be admitted to the US. space program, the 

Chicago Tribune reported, and NASA would make a formal announcement in July. Only one woman-Russia’s Valentina Tereshkova, who 

orbited for 3 days on Vostok 6 in June 1963-had been in space so far. 

The U.S. space women would fly on the Space Shuttle scheduled to be 

operational by 1980; the exact number had not been determined, but 

they would form part of a group of 15 mission specialists who would be 

chosen within the coming year. Screening, evaluation, and physical 

examination of applicants would be completed by Dec. 1977, and selectees would join NASA as candidates for space flight by July 1978. (B Sun, 

3 Mar 76, A-3) 

5 March: First microwave observations of carbon monoxide in the upper 

atmospheres of earth, Venus, and Mars were reported by a team of 

scientists at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory at Pasadena. Establishment of carbon monoxide as a common component of the upper atmospheres of the planets should lead to a better understanding of the delicate 

balances in earth‘s atmosphere, said Dr. Joe W. Waters, who headed the 

team. Carbon monoxide at lower altitudes on Venus and Mars, as well as 

on earth, had previously been measured by infrared techniques that had 

also detected CO on Jupiter last year, according to J~L’s Dr. Reinhold 

Beer. JPL microwave observations used a radiotelescope at Aerospace 

Corp.’s electronic research laboratory to detect the carbon-monoxide 

absorption frequency at high altitudes, well above the smog layer over 

Los Angeles; calculations indicated that the same technique could measure co in the upper atmospheres of the other planets. The Mars experiment used the larger radiotelescope at Kitt Peak, Ariz., to record the 

identifying signal. 60 occurred in 20 parts per million at 80 km altitude 

on earth, and about 1000 parts per million at 100 km above Venus; the 

Mars readings were still being analyzed. (NASA Release 76-40) 

0 Simultaneous measurement of ocean-surface conditions from an aircraft 

and from an altimeter on NASA’s Geos 3 satellite 840 km above the 

surface was the mission of a NASA-Navy team just back from a month’s 

expedition to Newfoundland. Correlation of aircraft data on actual surface conditions with remotely sensed data from Geos 3, launched 9 April 

1975, would demonstrate satellite capability of making accurate and 

rapid sea-state measurements. Newfoundland was chosen for the experiments because it exhibited a wide range of climatic and oceanographic 

conditions within a relatively short time period. Measurements taken 

were sea ice, sea state, swface-wind field, and determination of atmospheric refractivity. Each pass of the satellite-8 to 10 times a daywould produce 10 to 15 min of data relayed to Goddard Space Flight 

Center via tracking stations at Bermuda, Madrid, or Winkfield, England. 

46 
ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 March 

Satellite observations plotted for the North Atlantic would be compared 

with aircraft data and with daily Navy-NOAA forecast maps. The team 

consisted of 8 persons from the Naval Research Laboratory and 11 

representatives of Wallops Flight Center and Lockheed contractors. 

(NASA Release 76-39; WFC Release 76-2) 

NASA selected Grumman Aerospace Corp. and McDonnell Douglas Astronautics Corp. to negotiate fixed-price contracts for parallel systems 

analyses of concepts for space stations in low- and synchronous-altitude 

earth orbits, including orbit-to-orbit transportation. The 2 studies, each 

to last 18 mo and cost about $700 000, would be managed by MSFC for 

Grumman and by Jsc for McDonnell Douglas; the work would begin 

1 Apr. The studies would define an operational base in space to serve as 

a space laboratory, of modular construction with potential for growth 

over the years. Proposals were also received from Rockwell International 

Space Div. and Boeing Aerospace Co. (NASA Release 76-41; JSC Release 

76-19; MSFC Release 76-50) 

0 The Dept. of Defense announced its fmt successful powered flight test of 

a bomber-launched cruise missile, prototype of a weapon the USSR had 

sought to curb in strategic arms talks. The Boeingmade missile, basically 

a pilotless jet drone resembling a small plane with airbreathing engines, 

could carry nuclear warheads at low altitudes to evade detection by 

enemy radar. The successful test, in which the robot-like craft was 

launched from a B-52 at an altitude of about 3 km and flew for 11 min. 

over the White Sands range, was viewed as a step in final development 

of a highly strategic weapon for the U.S. Control of cruise missiles-both 

air- and submarine-launched types-had been a major issue in negotiations with the USSR. The Air Force missile just tested would be an aid to 

bomber penetration of enemy defenses, whereas the Navy’s cruise missile would be a tactical type for use against enemy ships rather than a 

strategic type aimed at land targets. The first test scheduled for 26 Feb. 

had been canceled because of problems with the B-52’s airconditioning 

unit. Later tests would try out the programmed guidance system. 

( W Post, 6 Mar 76, A-12; W Star, 6 Mar 76, A-2; B Sun, 6 Mar 76, 

A-1; NYT, 6 Mar 76, 18) 

0 A new device called an ultrasonic bolt-stress monitor-using ultrasonics to 

measure stress on a bolt-had been developed by LRC physicist Joseph 

S. Heyman, the Langley Researcher announced, and would be submitted to Industrial Research magazine as a candidate for selection among 

the 100 most significant new products developed during the year. The 

bolt-stress monitor would replace equipment now in use to monitor a 

multitude of bolts in a facility or a piece of equipment, as it would detect 

a 1 -psi change in 50 000 psi in measuring stress. Heyman had invented 

a continuous-wave ultrasonic microemboli monitor, used to observe blood 

circulating outside the body during surgery and detect larger than normal particles, that was selected by the magazine as an IR 100 winner in 

1974. (Langley Researcher, 5 Mar 76, 3) 

6 March: U.S. failure to renew the Indian government’s access to the AB 

sate1Jite relaying birth-control and agricultural information to 2400 villages might intensify tensions between Washington and New Delhi, the 

47 
March ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 

Baltimore Sun said in an editorial. An alliance of U.S. scientists and 

environmentalists had already protested the sale to India of uranium for 

a power station near Bombay; the group had asked the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to require India to demonstrate that the substance 

would not be used to make bombs, as India had done in 1974 with 

plutonium derived from Canadian material supplied for a joint atomicenergy project. Combined with Ford Administration efforts to use development aid to force India into a more friendly posture, the Sun said that 

withholding advanced technology used by India for humanitarian purposes would create “an unnecessary blur” between humanitarian and 

development aid and would exacerbate rather than relax existing tensions. (B Sun, 6 Mar 76, A-12) 

7 March: Dr. James B. Pollack, research scientist at Ames Research Center, 

had been named to receive the H. Julian Allen award for 1975, for major 

findings about the atmosphere of Venus. Dr. Pollack and coworkers used 

airborne infrared telescope observations in 1974 to show that the top 

20 km of Venus’s heavy cloud cover consisted of a water solution of 

concentrated sulfuric acid. The heat absorption peculiar to sulfuric acid 

might account for conditions of extreme heat near the surface of Venus. 

Dr. Pollack would share honors with 8 other Ames employees; the award, 

given for outstanding papers written by members of the Ames staff, would 

be accompanied by an honorarium of $1000. (ARC Release 76-1 1) 

8 March: Jan A. Bijvoet (pronounced byfoot) of the Netherlands arrived at 

Marshall Space Flight Center where he would on 1 April become the new 

representative of the European Space Agency (ESA) in the Spacelab 

program office. Most of his career had been with transatlantic cooperative programs; from 1961 to 1970, he had worked for NATO as a senior 

scientist in the evaluation methods section of SHAPE’S technical center. 

Before coming to MSFC he had spent 6 yr in ESA’S aeronautical satellite 

program, a joint activity of ESA and the Federal Aviation Administration. 

At MSFC Bijvoet would be responsible for technical and managerial liaison 

between NASA and E% on the Spacelab program. He succeeded Robert 

Mory, who had been at MSFC since the beginning of the Spacelab program 

in 1973 and had been reassigned to the Paris oflice of ESA. (MSFC Release 

9 March: Former astronaut William A. Anders, serving as chairman of the 

Nuclear Regulatory Commission, was appointed U.S. ambassador to Norway by President Ford. Anders, 42, had served at NRC since Dec. 1974 

and had told the President he wished to remain in the post for only a yr. 

Selected as an astronaut by NASA in 1963, Anders was one of the 3 

crewmen of Apollo 8 to orbit the moon at Christmastime 1968. Anders 

left the corps of astronauts in 1969 to become executive secretary of the 

National Aeronautics and Space Council, a White House post abolished 

by President Nixon 4 yr later; he then was appointed head of the Atomic 

Energy Commission (whose functions were reorganized in 1974 into the 

Energy Research and Development Administration and NRC). He had 

turned down an offer of reappointment at NRC for a 5-yr term. (WSJ, 

9 Mar 76, 3; W Post, 8 Mar 76, A-20) 

76-70) 

48 
ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 March 

12 March: Tests completed in flight on the two Mars-bound Viking spacecraft 

showed that each had 2 ovens of the organic chemistry experiment in 

good working order. JPL spokesmen said they were confident the instruments would carry out the investigations planned on the Mars surface 

later in the year. Earlier data indicated that one oven on each spacecraft 

might have failed, but investigators would not be certain until the Mars 

landings, scheduled for early July and Sept. The ovens-3 on each 

Viking lander-were designed to heat surface samples to 500°C to 

release organic matter in the soil for analysis by the gas chromatograph 

mass spectrometer on each lander. (NASA Release 76-43) 

Dr. Bruce T. Lundin, director of Lewis Research Center, received the 1976 

Astronautics Engineer Award from the National Space Club at its 19th 

annual Dr. Robert H. Goddard memorial dinner in Washington. The 

award, made by a group of judges including former NASA scientist 

Dr. Wernher von Braun, was for outstanding leadership in development 

and operation of the Centaur high-energy rocket stage, and the 

Atlas-Centaur and Titan-Centaur launch vehicles. The Atlas-Centaur 

launched all NASA’s Surveyor spacecraft in the 1960s and many others 

such as OAOS, the recent Intelsats, Mariners, and Pioneers. The TitanCentaur, largest U.S. rocket, launched West Germany’s Helios spacecraft toward the sun and the Viking spacecraft to Mars. A NASA employee 

since 1943, Dr. Lundin became director of LRC in 1969 after a year and 

a half at NASA Hq as Deputy Associate Administrator and Acting Associate Administrator for Advanced Research and Technology. As leader in 

the development and operation of the Centaur vehicle, he built the 

Centaur staff at Lewis and made the decisions that set the character and 

style of the whole project. (Lewis News, 19 Mar 76, 1; LRC Release 

0 First of 4 u.s.-West German rocket launches to investigate the source of 

the aurora borealis, in a study called Project Porcupine, would be fired 

to an altitude of 500 km from northern Sweden, NASA announced. Two 

identical 250-kg payloads would be flown at twilight between 17 Mar. 

and 4 Apr. when moonlight interference would be at a minimum; a 

second pair of rockets would be launched in 1977. The instrument 

packages would have 12 quill-like booms sticking out to gather data for 

aurora-probe experiments beyond the orbits of the U.S. Skylab and USSR 

Salyut space stations. At about 450 km altitude, canisters of barium 

would be exploded to identify magnetic-field lines and plasma drifts; a 

NASA jet from Ames Research Center would be in flight over Greece to 

photograph the clouds released from the rockets. Data from Project 

Porcupine would be compared with energetic-particle and magnetic-field 

data gathered by NASA’s Ats 6. The payloads, largest and most complex 

to be fired on sounding rockets, would be the first flown on the new Aries 

rocket, modified from Minuteman intercontinental ballistic missile parts 

provided by the U.S. Air Force. Project Porcupine would be part of 

the 1976-78 International Magnetospheric Study, a 40-nation effort 

to explore the upper atmosphere. (NASA Release 76-44; NIT, 

28 Mar 76, 21) 

76-1 1) 

49 
March ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 

14 March: US. worldwide predominance in science and technology had 

eroded over the past 15 yr, said a National Science Foundation report 

transmitted to Congress by President Ford. Based on a review of 492 

major technological innovations, the report said the U.S. share of the total 

sank from 75% in 1953-55 to 58% in 1971-73. U.S. spending on 

research and development declined from a peak of 3% of gross national 

product in 1963 to 2.3% in 1974. Since 1960, U.S. receipts for use of 

American inventions abroad had tripled, but payments the other way had 

increased 4.5 times. Foreign inventors receiving U.S. patents now accounted for more than 30% of all those issued by the Patent Office. The 

study was the most specific compilation to date on changes in relative 

support for science in the U.S. and other nations; the USSR, West Germany, France, and Japan had improved their inventiveness and worker 

productivity faster than the U.S. The message to Congress did not 

mention the international comparisons, but said inflation and recession had adversely affected science and technology in the U.S. (NW, 

14 Mar 76, 1) 

15 March: A Titan III-c rocket launched from Kennedy Space Center at 

2:55 am local time (0755 GMT) carried into stationary orbit at about 

36 000 km 2 experimental nuclear-powered comsats for the US. Air 

Force; 23 min later, the Navy’s Solrad 11-A and 11-B riding piggyback on the same rocket were sent toward an orbit more than 

120 000 km up and at opposite sides of the earth, where they would 

monitor solar flares that disrupt communications and navigation systems 

on earth. The Air Force’s Les-8 and Les-9 were designed to guard 

against space jamming of U.S. military communications; spokesmen said 

the satellites were “right on the money” but would undergo various 

tests before they began their experimental message traffic. (NW, 

17 Mar 76, 39) 

0 Insulation systems developed under contract at MSFC for the liquidhydrogen tanks of NASA’s Saturn V launch vehicle had found new uses 

in the shipping industry, MSFC announced. Two firms-McDonnell 

Douglas and Rockwell International Corp.-had developed the 

polyurethane-foam systems for efficient cryogenic (low-temperature) 

insulation. The McDonnell techniques had been used to insulate storage 

tanks on liquefied natural-gas carriers in conjunction with a French naval 

engineering firm; the system, to be marketed jointly by the 2 firms, had 

the advantages of quick and easy installation with high efficiency that 

would reduce boil-off (loss through evaporation) for a given thickness of 

insulation. The Rockwell system was adapted for tuna-boat insulation; 

more than 40 boats had been equipped with the new insulation before 

being sold at prices ranging from $1 million to $4 million. (Marshall 

Star, 31 Mar 76, 4; MSFC Release 76-51) 

Astronaut Eugene A. ’Cernan, last man to leave footprints on the moon’s 

surface when he commanded Apollo 17 in 1972, would leave government service 1 July. Cernan, a Navy captain, would complete 20 yr in 

the Navy in June and would retire from both the Navy and the astronaut 

corps. Selected as a NASA astronaut in 1963, Cernan had had 3 space 

50 
ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 March 

16 

missions (including 2 flights to the moon) and was the second American 

to walk in space, when he was pilot of Gemini 9 in June 1966. As 

lunar-module pilot of Apollo 10 in May 1969, he and Astronaut Thomas 

P. Stafford had flown the module within about 15 km of the moon’s 

surface in a full-scale rehearsal of all but the final moments of the first 

lunar-landing mission 2 mo later. In Dec. 1972, Cernan and Astronaut 

Harrison H. Schmitt landed at Taurus-Littrow during the last scheduled 

manned lunar mission. In 1973, Cernan became special assistant to the 

Apollo program manager, working on the joint U.S.-USSR Apollo-Soyuz 

Test Project; in Sept. 1975, he became chief of training operations in the 

astronaut office. (NASA Release 76-47; J.% Release 76-20; W Star, 

16 Mar 76, A-2) 

March: The 50th anniversary of Dr. Robert Goddard’s successful launch 

of the world’s first liquid-fueled rocket at his aunt’s farm near Auburn, 

Mass., was observed in a re-enactment at the launching site-now 

marked by a granite monument-and in 15th anniversary ceremonies at 

the Goddard Space Flight Center, which also launched a commemorative 

rocket. Dr. Goddard had written on space navigation while still in high 

school; his early theoretical writings prompted the New York Times to 

print an article on its editorial page in 1920 saying that Dr. Goddard was 

ignorant of elementary physics if he thought a rocket would work in the 

vacuum of space. The Times ran a correction on 17 July 1969, the 

morning after the Apollo astronauts were launched toward the first lunar 

landing. 

The original rocket launched by Dr. Goddard in 1926 was about 3 m 

high, traveled a little more than 12 m upward, and attained a speed of 

56 m in 2.5 sec. powered by a combination of gasoline and liquid oxygen. 

By contrast, the Saturn V rocket with its Apollo payload stood over 

110 m tall and could cover 25 km in 2.5 sec powered by a mixture of 

kerosene and liquid oxygen, a fuel remarkably similar to that used by 

Dr. Goddard. Although, as GSFC Director Dr. John F. Clark pointed out 

at the Center re-enactment, “Not a line appeared in a single paper about 

the Auburn flight . . . In fact, the attention he did get in the early 1920s 

was adverse . . .,” Dr. Goddard continued his work in New Mexico in the 

1930s and flew his rockets to heights over 3 km and at speeds up to 

supersonic, 

Of Dr. Goddard’s concepts, Wernher von Braun said: “Goddard did 

most of the basic research and development that made possible rockets 

such as the Saturn V.” Dr. Goddard had died in 1945, but his widow had 

attended the dedication of the Center when it opened in 1961; she had 

planned to attend the re-enactment in Auburn, but a heavy snowstorm 

swept New England 16 Mar. and seriously curtailed attendance at the 

event. Astronaut Eugene Cernan, principal speaker at the Mass. ceremonies, had reached Boston’s Logan Airport only an hour before it was 

closed down by the storm, and was taken by car to the scene as the 

scheduled helicopter could not fly. (NYT, 16 Mar 76, 16; W Post, 

17 Mar 76, C-2; GSFC News, Mar 76, 1; Worcester Telegram, 17 Mar 

76, 1; report of commemorative committee, Auburn Rotary Club, 

19 Mar 76) 

51 
March ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 

0 Timing the rebound of laser pulses aimed at reflectors left on the moon by 

Apollo astronauts had served to reinforce Einstein’s theory of relativity, 

according to a study in Physical Review Letters reported by the New 

York Times. The equivalence principle-that objects of different weight 

fell at essentially the same speed-was tested in the 16th century by 

Galileo, who showed that all bodies responded similarly to gravity regardless of size or composition. Einstein’s theory was based on a related 

assumption, that the mass responsible for an object’s inertia was equivalent to the mass responsible for the gravity that it generated. However, 

if the gravitational pull of the earth were influenced by the sun’s gravity, 

the relationship between a body’s inertia and its gravity would not always 

be uniform, and the report described experiments to test a theoretical 

departure from equivalence. An eclipse of the sun in 1919 had been used 

to test Einsteh’s theory, and showed that light from distant stars was 

bent-as expected-as it passed through powerful gravity near the sun. 

Other experiments-bouncing radar beams off Venus and Mercury to 

see if the beams were bent or lengthened by the sun’s gravity, or 

monitoring round-trip signals to Mariner 9 as it sailed behind the sun or 

radio emissions from quasars in that direction-had narrowed any deviations from Einstein’s formulation to a small margin. 

The experiments reported recently were independent analyses of 

1389 measurements of round-trip travel times of laser pulses aimed at 

moon reflectors, to detect changes in earth-moon distance to within 

127 mm. If earth gravitational energy were influenced by the sun’s 

gravity, the effect would alter the earth’s gravity more than that of the 

moon, and the moon’s motion about the earth would deviate by as much 

as a meter from conventional predictions. The experiments showed no 

such effect. (NY7’, 16 Mar 76, 17) 

The Energy Research and Development Administration requested proposals for what the Wall Street Journal called a “scaled-down’’ Institute for Solar Research, a modest facility with a budget of $4 to 

$6 million in its first year. The National Academy of Sciences months ago 

recommended an institute with a wide research role, a staff of about 

1500, and an annual budget of $50 million; unsolicited proposals had 

been arriving from nearly every state, with many politicians interested 

in having the institute locate in their constituency. ERDA would operate 

the facility through contracts with any organization, including nonprofit 

groups, corporations, universities, or state or local governments, and 

operations should begin by early 1980, according to Robert Hirsch, an 

acting assistant administrator of ERDA, at the press conference. The 

institute was a requirement of a 1974 law calling for various solar-energy 

demonstrations to be financed by the federal government; ERDA wanted 

initial proposals for a 5-yr operation, with future functioning dependent 

on performance and availability of funds. As ERDA currently contracted 

out most of its solar research to private facilities, a reporter asked why 

its work called for a special institute instead of expanding the current 

research program; Hirsch responded, “because the law requires it.” 

(WSJ, 16 Mar 76, 3) 

52 
ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 March 

17 March: NASA asked scientists to submit proposals for scientific experiments to be carried on the first Spacelab mission in late 1980, according 

to Dr. Noel W. Hinners, Associate Administrator for Space Science. 

Primary objective of Spacelab 1 would be to verify performance of 

systems and subsystems and to measure the environment surrounding 

NASA’s Space Shuttle; secondary objectives would be to obtain scientific, 

applications, and technology data and to demonstrate Spacelab’s ability 

to perform space research. The first flight would emphasize stratospheric 

and upper atmosphere research, but proposals from other scientific 

disciplines were also solicited. 

Objectives of the Spacelab 1 mission had been planned jointly by NASA 

and the European Space Agency (ESA); the NASA announcement of opportunity would be sent to U.S. scientists and those in all other nations not 

members of ESA, and ESA would make a separate solicitation to its 11 

member states. Responses would be coordinated between the two agencies. (NASA Release 76-49) 

The [J.S. Navy Dept. selected General Dynamics Corp. to develop its cruise 

missile, under a $34.8-million contract that would cover costs of integrating systems into the prototype. CD won the award after 2 yr of 

competition with Vought Corp., a unit of LTv; the Navy recently finished 

a series of tests comparing prototypes made by the 2 companies. Last 

week the Navy had ordered Vought to stop work on its version, after the 

company had reported cost overruns and the missile performed badly 

under testing. The cruise missile, a jet-powered weapon with an advanced 

guidance system, would fly at low altitudes to make detection difficult. 

The sea-launched version could be put into submarine torpedo tubes and 

fired from under water as well as from ships. In both the Navy version 

and the Boeing missile being tested by the Air Force [see 5 Mar.], 

McDonnell Douglas Corp. was maker of the guidance system and Williams Research Corp. the engine manufacturer. (WSJ, 18 Mar 76, 2) 

18 March: Donald K. (Deke) Slayton, pilot of the docking module on the 

Apollo-Soyuz Test Project, had been appointed to a newly created 

position as Deputy Director of Flight Operations for approach and landing tests of the Space Shuttle at Johnson Space Center, the Spaceport 

News of KSC reported. Slayton would be responsible for planning and 

implementing the shuttle approach and landing test project, under the 

Director of Flight Operations for the Space Shuttle project. (Spaceport 

News, 18 Mar 76, 5) 

NASA announced it had completed negotiations with Owens-Illinois, Inc., 

for replacement of a mirror blank for the Infrared Telescope Facility 

being built at Mauna Kea, Hawaii. The 126-cm-dia. replacement would 

be ready for processing at the Kitt Peak National Observatory that would 

turn it into a telescope mirror. Opticians at Kitt Peak had cut a center 

hole in the original disc preparatory to grinding it when a fracture was 

detected last Sept.; the crack, extending radially more than 86 cm from 

the center hole, rendered the mirror blank useless. The original and 

replacement were cast from Cervit, a transparent ceramic material 

obtained by NASA for testing as part of the Space Telescope. When a 

53 
March ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 

different material was decided on for the Space Telescope, the Cervit 

blank was transferred to the infrared telescope project. Cervit had practically zero thermal expansion, making it ideal for telescope materials, 

and had been used in 2 of the world’s 5 largest telescopes. Under the new 

agreement, Owens-Illinois would provide a replacement lens for 

$200,000 and return of ownership of the damaged blank to the Ohio 

firm. (NASA Release 76-42) 

19 March: Dr. George M. Low, Deputy Administrator of NASA, announced 

that he would leave government service at the end of June to become 

president of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, where he received his 

bachelor’s degree in aeronautical engineering in 1948 and master’s in 

1950. He had been a trustee of the institute since 1971. In 1949 Low 

became an aeronautical research scientist at NACA’s Lewis Flight Propulsion Laboratory in Cleveland. When NASA was formed 9 yr later, he 

came to Hq-as Chief of Manned Space Flight and was chairman of the 

committee that planned the Apollo lunar landing program. He became 

Deputy Associate Administrator for Manned Space Flight before transferring to the NASA Manned Spacecraft center at Houston in Feb. 1964 

as Deputy Director. In April 1967 after the Apollo 204 fire, Low became 

manager of the Apollo spacecraft program; under his leadership, the 

spacecraft was redesigned, manned space missions resumed 23 mo later, 

and Apollo 11 made the first manned lunar landing in July 1969. 

Appointed Deputy Administrator of NASA by the President in Dec. 1969, 

Low negotiated the agreements with the USSR that led to the 

Apollo-Soyuz flight and other cooperative space projects. (NASA Release 

76-54; Admr’s letter, 19 Mar 76; NYT, 20 Mar 76,17; Marshall Star, 

24 Mar 76, 1) * A press briefing following the 7th lunar science conference at Johnson 

Space Center [see 22 Feb.] featured the cochairmen, Dr. Larry Haskins, 

chief of planetary and earth sciences at Jsc, and Dr. Robert Pepin, 

director of the Lunar Science Institute, and Dr. Deter Hayman of Rice 

Univ. Dr. Haskins said the conference aimed at broadening the planetary 

view of people working with lunar samples and data; a substantial interest 

was developing in the lunar polar-orbiter mission among people more 

interested than before in planetology, and aware that orbiting and 

remote-sensing missions would be the principal source for studying 

geoscientific evolution of these bodies. As an example, long-range operation of the lunar-surface packages had produced information that resulted in a lowered value for lunar heatflow; this in turn “constrained” 

the composition of the moon and its evolutionary history-“Whatever 

history it has, the amount of heat in the interior has to match the present 

heat loss from the body.” 

Also, said Dr. Haskins, lunar data were being used widely by scientists 

not previously concerned with lunar research: for example, archived 

data would be used to tell whether the moon was differentiated only in its 

outer extent, or more than 50% of it had undergone chemical separation 

or even developed a core. Another example would be the matching of 

seismic with magnetic data to get a better overall picture of lunar 

evolution. 

54 
ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 March 

Dr. Pepin noted that 740 people had attended the conference, many 

more than the previous year; the program committee had purposely 

included discussions of other planetary and meteorite investigations that 

revealed much about the first 500 million yr of solar-system history, 

whose clues still exist in the moon (although hard to interpret) but no 

longer exist on earth. Experience with other planets had been insufficient 

to say if they had preserved early solar-system records; “best chances 

are not,” he added. Early solar-system history, especially of the inner 

planets, was characterized by enormous bombardment of all solid surfaces by objects now referred to as meteorites, but on a scale in those 

days “that almost suggests we should call them something else.” These 

huge objects clearly left their mark, with evidence that the bombardment 

took place more than 4 billion yr ago, then rapidly tapered off. Data from 

Mercury, Mars, and Venus would be expected to show that the historical 

record had been erased by time, constant impact, and geological activity 

in which the surface was pounded, dispersed, or remelted. 

The intense bombardment had wiped out earth‘s early geological 

record too; terrestrial geologists had tried to put the age of the oldest 

earth rocks farther and farther back, getting in gradual stages as far back 

as 3.7 billion yr in a large anorthosite deposit in Greenland.This boundary condition for earth geology was one reason for the growing interest 

in lunar and general planetary studies: the flow of information had been 

not only from planetary to terrestrial scientists, but also in the other 

direction. Lunar scientists had begun to examine terrestrial craters such 

as the 60-km impact phenomenon called Manicouagan: what would have 

been referred to 5 yr ago as remnants of a Manicouagan volcano had now 

been established as an impact, mainly because the ease of sampling 

(greater there than on the moon) had permitted study of energy partition 

and formation of rock, glass, and melt material in a large-scale impact. 

Comparative planetology means applying results of studying one planetary surface to explain phenomena on other planetary surfaces. Earth, 

unlike other planets we know about, continued as a thermally active 

planet with volcanism, mountain upheaval and wearing down, and had 

obliterated much of its earlier record. The early stages of the lunar and 

planetary program focused attention outward; now these studies had 

provided knowledge applicable to earth, and the generation and development of lunar-surface morphology as a result of external bombardment 

was only one example of this application. 

Over the next 2 to 3 yr, a group of 50 to 100 scientists would be 

studying in detail the phenomenon of volcanism on all the terrestrial 

planets as a fundamental stage of planetary development, in a pilot 

project to defme comparative planetology and relate it to a specific 

aspect. Mercury apparently had basalt flows; Venera pictures suggest 

recent activity on the surface of Venus that produced what seem to be 

basalts. Mars clearly had basalts: it had the largest volcano in the solar 

system, “an enormous structure that would . . . cover the state of Kansas if . . . plunked down there.” In 2 or 3 yr, Dr. Pepin said, we should 

be able to give an integrated picture of the issuing of basalts from the 

55 
March ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 

interior onto the surface, an extremely important process in the development and evolution of a planet. 

Life in the solar system was an exciting subject now, said Dr. Hayman, 

and discoveries were coming in at a pace that would make today’s 

theories outmoded by the time they got into print 6 mo from now. The 

task of scientists, he said, was to include the general public in the 

excitement, and to make it filter through to the colleges and universities, 

to high schools, and even to grade-school levels. 

One thing that had changed in the past 20 yr since the days of Harold 

Urey and Hans Seuss was the concept of the solar nebula and the 

formation of planets and satellites by accretion. The problem was the 

noncondensable material in the nebula, and where it went: the solar 

physicists explained its absence by the theory of a solar upheaval that 

cleaned out the inner parts of the solar system by a superstorm of ions. 

Applying thermodynamics to this theory made it possible to calculate 

which compounds would condense out at what temperature. The Allende 

meteorite that fell in Mexico in 1969 contained compounds similar to 

what had been predicted as a result of condensation of the solar nebula 

at high temperatures. Then, 2 or 3 yr ago the idea arose that the sun and 

planets had formed not only from gases but also from so-called presolar 

grains, which had not been specifically identified; their identity on the 

earth and moon would have been lost over time because of geological 

processes. So the search shifted to meteorites. 

Although none of the grains had been definitely identified, the conference had heard 2 reports that might be interpreted as finding presolar 

grains. Metallic nuggets in the Allende meteorite were found to consist 

of platinum-group metals in extraordinarily small fragments, a millionth 

of a meter, that did not vaporize or melt readily and might be presolar 

grains (although it would take a lot of work to settle the question, 

Dr. Hayman said). Also, a group from Berkeley had dissolved carbonaceous meteorites in hydrofluoric acid to get rid of the silicates; the 

carbon residue was found to be full of gas called “planetary” because its 

composition differed from that of the sun and was much more like that 

of earth. The question was how carbon material could have been of 

planetary origin under the solar-nebula theory: speculation was that the 

carbonaceous material might predate the formation of the sun and have 

originated elsewhere. It could not have undergone great heat without 

being destroyed, so the objects containing the material must have been 

created farther out, not in the inner region of the sun and terrestrial 

planets but in the region of the giant planets. 

If the heavier elements were synthesized in the stars by nuclear 

processes, especially in explosions of novas and supernovas that produced all sorts of elements as they blew away their outer envelopes, all 

the elements are probably represented in this expanding envelope. With 

rapidly dropping temperatures, the condensation of presolar grains 

would occur within 10 yr. It would be possible to look at the product of 

a single event to extrapolate the total of many such events of which all 

the elements around us would be the product. 

56 
ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 March 

Dr. Haskins said in summary that developments in methodology and 

the availability of more precise measurements would make it possible to 

supplant earlier measurements. Geophysicists were learning to extract 

information from bits of material instead of bucketsful or large chunks 

as they had don in the past. The Apollo program had been responsible 

for a steady progr s in the field of measurements: “there simply was not 

the funding and interest correlated together to do it prior to that time.” 

Asked what the scientific community had learned about the moon in 

the 3 yr 3 mo since the last moon mission, Haskins said they were 

beginning to understand the major stages in the evolution of every 

planetary body composed of rocky material; the moon had passed 

through stages that the earth had not reached, and had preserved a 

record of what had happened-for example, a preview of the kind of rock 

that would be formed later in earth history. The findings provided a broad 

framework in which more and different questions could be asked, not just 

investigation of the more obvious characteristics of the many materials 

brought back. Queried on the lunar-sample curatorial facility, Dr. Haskins said that moon rocks from the Apollo expeditions were housed in a 

leaky, flimsy facility that would not protect them for use of future 

generations of scientists. A new facility was desperately needed, because 

the present building was not fireproof and the roof leaked; within the 

building, the rocks had been kept in nitrogen-filled cabinets and handled 

only in clean-room conditions, to prevent contamination. However, moisture in the surroundings might have led to erroneous deductions regarding the moon environment when scientists analyzed the lunar samples. 

(Transdipt, 7th lunar science conf. press briefing, 19 Mar 76; NASA 

Release 76-25; JSC Release 76-15; Science, vol. 185, 346; W Post, 

21 Mar 76, A-3) 

0 Congress’s Joint Committee on Defense Production, inquiring into 

government-contractor activities involving hospitality or gratuities toward federal employees, revealed that Rockwell International Corp. had 

entertained Eugene A. Cernan and Ronald E. Evans, NASA astronauts, at 

a facility on Bimini in the Bahamas, in addition to 11 other NASA employees who had enjoyed hospitality at a hunting lodge in Md. Both Rockwell 

and Northrop Corp., another NASA contractor, ran hunting lodges on the 

eastern shore of Md. where 13 NASA employees and one former employee 

had acknowledged acceptance of entertainment. The DOD had announced 

it would reprimand its chief of research, Dr. Malcolm R. Currie, and dock 

his pay, for accepting a similar weekend from Rockwell. (W Star, 

19 Mar 76, A-1; WSJ, 17 Mar 76, 17) 

22 March: A General Accounting Office review of the Seasat oceanographic 

spacecraft program revealed a lack of formal agreements between NASA 

and potential Seasat users on application of resources, said an article in 

Aviation Wk and Space Technology. CAO said there “should have been 

top-level agreements among NASA, the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration, and the Defense Dept. concerning Seasat 

participation prior to project approval within NASA.” NASA responded that 

it was “of the opinion that there are clear understandings . . . regarding 

\ 

57 
March ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 

roles and responsibilities in the Seasat-A project and that formalized 

agreements are being prepared.” GAO also reported increased costs 

during Seasat spacecraft definition; objections from the user community 

to changes in instrumentation had prompted NASA to raise the cost ceiling 

on the spacecraft rather than fly hardware that would not meet user 

requirements. GAO asked Congress to require that NASA provide specific 

data on how Seasat would produce $350 million yearly in benefits; why 

NASA, rather than users, should pay for Seasat improvements to benefit 

the user community; and what agency responsibilities would be in future 

Seasat operations. (Av E% & Sp Tech, 22 Mar 76, 44) 

0 In a special message to Congress, President Ford requested an increase in 

federal spending to $24.7 billion for scientific research and development 

in the energy, defense, and space programs. Ford said his request for the 

1977 fiscal year, an 11% increase over 1976 estimates, included 

$2.5 billion for basic research. The budget asked $2.6 billion for energy 

a 35% increase over 1976, including funds for nuclear power, 

development of solar and geothermal energy, and fusion power; major 

increases were for energy conservation and for research on fossil fuels 

to improve direct combustion of coal for production of oil and gas. The 

President also asked congressional conferees to act quickly on bills to 

establish the Office of Science and Technology. (FStar, 22 Mar 76,7) 

0 Pioneer 10, on its way out of the solar system, spent 24 hr in an enormous 

magnetic “tail” area of the planet Jupiter, the Ames Research Center 

reported, registering zero on its solar-wind detector during that time 

because the magnetic envelope completely shut out the solar wind. 

Dr. John H. Wolfe, project scientist, said it was conceivable that the solar 

wind “could have died completely for a whole day without our being in 

the tail . . . But we believe we’ve found that Jupiter has a very stretchedout magnetic envelope . . .” Exact shape and size were not known, but 

were estimated as conical and better than 800 billion km long, spanning 

the distance between the orbits of Jupiter and Saturn. Earth’s magnetic 

tail had been measured at more than 6 billion km by previous spacecraft; 

the magnetic tails of the 2 planets had been shown to extend to great 

distances by the force of the solar wind, a supersonic charged-particle 

stream constantly emitted from the sun. (NYT, 26 Mar 76, 19; WPost, 

27 Mar 76, A-5; NASA Release 76-55; ARC Release 76-22) 

0 Cost of the Air Force B- 1 bomber might run more than $1 1 billion over 

original estimates because of inflation and higher prices, said Rep. Les 

Aspin (D-Wis.), adding that total cost increases on the B-1 would be 

around $1 billion while dation would be responsible for another 

$10 billion increase. Three research contracts on the B-1 had already 

run $ 129 million higher than expected, he said, and those represented 

only money spent for models, engines, and electronics. By the end of 

1976, Congress would have to decide whether to go ahead with the 

bomber, intended as a replacement for the aging B-52. (LA Times, 

22 Mar 76, 11C) 

23 March: The House passed, 330 to 35, and sent to the Senate an authorization bill of $3.? billion for the nation’s space programs for FY 1977, 

slightly less than the administration request, but $133 million more than 

58 
ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 March 

for FY 1976. Research and development authorizations totaled 

$2.77 billion, nearly $10 million more than requested. The Space Shuttle would use $1.29 billion in R&D money, plus $40 million for 8 construction projects. (W Post, 23 March 76, 6) 

e A new network of space satellites would replace the existing hotline between 

Washington and Moscow later in 1976, said Willis K. Naeher, Deputy 

Assistant Secretary of State for Communications, on a weeklong working 

visit of U.S. communications specialists to Russia with Soviet counterparts to check Soviet facilities and transmit test messages over both the 

Molniya and the Intelsat networks. The new system was planned to 

provide more reliable emergency communications between the two capitals than had been available for a dozen years using a transatlantic cable 

and radio system. The overland line had been disrupted when parts of the 

cable had been damaged by fire, stolen, and once plowed up by a Finnish 

farmer. Coordination was necessary because the U.S. and Russian systems functioned differently: whereas Intelsat used a “necklace” of satellites around the equator maintaining a fixed attitude toward earth, the 

Molniya traveled in an elliptical north-south orbit and would be visible 

from both countries for periods of 8 hr at most, so that 4 satellites would 

be needed instead of the 3 originally planned. Failure of a Molniya 111 

launch caused the delay from 1974, original starting date. Final test of 

the Intelsat portion would begin in Apr. (NYT, 23 Mar 76, 14) 

0 The 2 USSR spacecraft orbiting Venus had completed their program, the 

Tass news agency announced, stating that further scientific experiments 

would be made “under an additional program.” Tass did not elaborate 

on the further experiments, nor did it indicate how long the two craft 

would remain in operation. Venera 9 had completed 75 orbits since its 

arrival at Venus on 22 Oct. 75, and Venera 10 had completed 71 since 

its arrival 3 days later, Tass said. (NYT, 23 Mar 76, 3) 

24 March: Travelers aboard NASA’s Space Shuttle orbiter in the 1980s would 

use a unique space suit and rescue system, developed at Johnson Space 

Center. The Shuttle suit, a departure from the customized astronaut 

suits, would consist of a two-piece upper and lower torso cover in small, 

medium, and large sizes to accommodate all astronaut candidates or 

crews, including females. Only the pilot and mission specialist would be 

outfitted with the space suit; the commander and payload specialists 

would be provided with a personal rescue system nicknamed the “cosmic 

soccerball,” consisting of a container nearly a meter in diameter constructed of three layers-urethane, Kevlar, and an outside thermal 

protective layer, with a small viewing post of tough Lexan-containing 

its own simplified life-support and communications systems. During a 

rescue operation in space, a space-suited astronaut could transfer the 

rescue balls in one of three ways: using the handle to carry the enclosure 

like a suitcase from one vehicle to another; hooking a device like a 

clothesline between two spaceships and passing the rescue ball with its 

passenger from the disabled ship to the other; or using the remotemanipulator arm in the orbiter’s cargo bay to pluck the rescue ball with 

its passenger from the disabled ship and put it aboard the rescue ship. 

59 
March ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 

Materials to be used in the rescue ball and the Shuttle suit would 

provide longer shelf life, according to technicians who ran pressure and 

abrasion tests on them; use of the fabric to make joints in the space suits 

(instead of the Apollo and Skylab suit use of neoprene rubber molded into 

convolutes containing cables) would provide better mobility and reduce 

cost and weight of each suit. The new suit also featured a module 

construction that closed with a body seal at the waist, considered more 

reliable than the pressure-seal zippers used in the previous suits. The new 

suits also were designed with an integral portable life-support system as 

part of the rigid upper torso, instead of the bulky 34-kg package that 

previously had to be unpacked and connected to the suit. (NASA Release 

76-56; JSC Roundup, 26 Mar 76, 1) 

25 March: The first satellite in the 2-ocean Marisat system inaugurated 

communications services to U.S. Navy ships. However, the scheduled 

1 Apr. start of service to commercial shipping was canceled because of 

malfunctions in C- and L-band transmissions, involving random variations in signal strength. The Navy operations used UHF frequencies. 

Marisat 1 was launched 19 Feb. into synchronous orbit over the Atlantic; Comsat General Corp.-86% owner and manager of the Marisat 

system-said tests indicated that the problems could be solved “with 

respect to the [second] spacecraft’’ awaiting launch at ETR, in time to 

permit its scheduled launch 27 May for service in the Pacific Ocean. The 

difficulty appeared to be associated with a despun C-band triplexer, 

arising from loose metal particles. (Av VIc & Space Tech, 29 Mar 76, 

14; Comsat 1975 rept. to stockholders, 9) 

Space-related technology would serve to monitor municipal water pollution 

and dispose of solid wastes, NASA announced, describing systems for 

electronic monitoring of water quality in cooperation with the Gulf Coast 

Waste Disposal Authority and for sewage treatment at a plant midway 

between Los Angeles and San Diego. Johnson Space Center at Houston 

developed under contract with Boeing a trailer-mounted automated system to process data from up to 40 different water sensors for rapid 

indications of pollution, temperature, turbidity, and similar items. The 

current procedure was to sample city water at regular intervals and send 

the samples to a laboratory for analysis, with results available days later. 

JSC and the Goddard Space Flight Center developed a biosensor to give 

total bacteria count directly, by adding chemicals that caused bacteria 

to radiate light; this sensor could both detect and quantify living or dead 

bacteria in a continuous-flow water sample. 

At Langley Research Center, scientists working on Skylab environmental control had developed an electronic sensor that could detect 

human or nonhuman fecal coliform bacteria in a few hours, rather than 

a few days; the device would permit public health authorities to act 

quickly if large quantities of disease-producing bacteria entered a water 

supply. The automated monitoring system would eventually include a 

device to detect known carcinogenic chemicals-chloroform and carbon 

tetrachloride, for instance-already found in the drinking water of cities 

surveyed for the project. Some of the pollutants were thought to be 

60 
ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 March 

byproducts of chlorine added to city water to guard against waterborne 

diseases. A gas-chromatograph technique developed at Ames Research 

Center to extract minute samples of organic materials from the atmospheres of other planets would be valuable to concentrate the harmful 

chemicals detected in city water for rapid onsite analysis. Another Ames 

system, attaching fluorescent dyes to bacteria so that their presence 

could be recorded by electronic sensors, could be applied to detection of 

waterborne viruses. 

As for sewage disposal, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory used for the 

new million-gallon-per-day treatment plant at Huntington Beach, Cal., a 

process invented by Marshall Humphrey, a JPL engineer working on 

lightweight materials for insulating rocket motors. Using a pyrolytic 

converter to produce activated carbon by chemical changes induced by 

heat, he found that sewage solids were excellent raw material for production of carbon. The new process would convert solid sewage to activated 

carbon, which could then be used to remove impurities from incoming 

waste water and recycled and reactivated with new incoming sewage. 

Gases generated from sewage solids would serve as fuel for the converter. 

Dry black odorless powder of carbon and ash would be the only residue 

from the process. Even the billion-dollar secondary sewage-treatment 

plants in compliance with EPA standards had not solved the problem of 

solid-waste disposal; primary treatment of sewage had left about 40% 

solid waste in water leaving the plants and discharged into rivers and 

offshore waters. The JPL process would exceed EPA standards for ocean 

discharge and reduce capital costs of processing systems as much as 

25%. (NASA Release 76-57; KSC News, 4 Mar 76, 2) 

NASA's reusable Space Shuttle program would produce significant benefits 

for civil aviation, the agency reported in announcing the first operational 

tests of an advanced flight-control system for civil aircraft to be conducted by the Shuttle, together with advances in structural materials technology for aerospace manufacturers. 

Standard heavyweight mechanical backup flight-control systems had 

been required when reliability of electronic control systems was in question; however, aerodynamic requirements for the use of mechanical 

systems had hampered development of flight-efficient aircraft designs. 

Use of the advanced electronic controls would reduce weight, resulting 

in less fuel consumption, and a computer tie-in with ground navigation 

and mission controls would provide constant reliable communication and 

reduce traffic delays. Use of composites-strong lightweight combinations of metals and plastics-would reduce structural weight by more 

than 30% compared to aluminum. Developed by NASA and the Air Force 

in collaboration with industry, the composites would demonstrate in 

Shuttle testing the weight reduction and cost effectiveness needed for 

future designs. (NASA Release 76-58) 

26 March: RCA-B, called Satcorn 2 in orbit, was launched from the Eastern 

Test Range at 5:42 pm EST (2242 GMT) on a Delta 3914 vehicle into a 

synchronous transfer orbit at 35 753-km apogee and 185-km perigee, 

and inclination of 27.25". Second in a series of 3 large 24-transponder 

61 
March ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 

comsats to be launched by NASA on a fully reimbursable basis for the 

Radio Corporation of America, Satcom 2 would transmit voice, data, 

telex, and facsimile messages to and from the continental u.s., Alaska, 

and Hawaii from its geosynchronous orbit at about 35 800-km altitude 

above the equator at 12OoW. The spacecraft was box-shaped, 1.2 x 1.2 

x 1.6 m, weighing at launch about 990 kg;2it was 3-axis-stabilized, 

carrying 2 rectangular solar panels about 7m continuously oriented to 

the sun to provide electric power. After dropping the apogee motor, 

Satcom 2 would weigh about 463 kg in orbit. The communications 

system included a fixed 4-reflector antenna assembly and a lightweight 

transponder of traveling-wave-tube amplifiers; the 24 input and output 

filters were of a graphite-epoxy composite. All 24 channels were simultaneously operable throughout a minimum 8-yr lifetime, each having a 

36-mhz bandwidth within the 5oO-mhz allocation to RCA’S Globcom Inc. 

(NASA Release 76-37; MOR M-492-206-76-02 [prelaunch] 18 Mar 76, 

[postlaunch] 13 Apr 76) 

0 The Hugh L. Dryden Flight Research Center, formerly the Flight Research 

Center at Edwards, Calif., was formally dedicated in a ceremony by NASA 

Administrator James 6. Fletcher; Dr. T. Keith Glennan, first administrator of NASA from 1958-1961; Sen. Frank E. Moss (D-Utah), chairman of the Senate Committee on Aeronautical and Space Sciences; and 

Mrs. Dryden, guest of honor, who unveiled a bust of her late husband that 

would be placed in the Center’s lobby. After the ceremony, visitors were 

invited to a display of aircraft in the main hangar, including the 747 

aircraft that would be used for the Space Shuttle orbiter approach and 

landing tests next year. Center efforts to transfer space technology to 

industry were represented by a solar-energy display and low-drag truck 

exhibits. Dr. Dryden in 1947 had been named to the newly created post 

of director of the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics; when 

Dr. Glennan, then head of the Case Institute of Technology, was selected 

as NASA’s first administrator, he insisted on Dr. Dryden as his deputy. 

When James E. Webb was chosen NASA’s second administrator, he also 

made the condition that Dr. Dryden remain as his deputy; he had served 

in that position until his death in 1965. (NASA X-Press, 26 Mar 76; 

program) 

0 Marshall Space Flight Center forecast completion by 1 April of a unique 

facility-one of the largest and most significant construction jobs undertaken in the past 10 yr-at the Center, an x-ray test facility costing 

about $4 million. The new facility included a 305-m-long stainless steel 

x-ray path guide tube nearly a meter in diameter, connecting the x-ray 

source with a 6-m-diameter instrument chamber housing the telescopes 

and other instruments to be tested. Work began in January 1975, and 

would be completed on schedule. The facility, the only one of its size and 

type, would be used first to test instruments for NASA’s High Energy 

Astronomy Observatory (HEAO) program; later it would be used in x-ray 

verification testing and calibration of mirrors, telescope systems, and 

instruments, for rocket payloads in x-ray stellar studies and similar 

projects. After checkout, the facility would be turned over to MSFC’S 

62 
ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 March 

Science and Engineering Directorate. (Marshall Star, 31 Mar 76, 4; 

MSFC Release 76-53) 

0 NASA’s Technology Utilization Office, publisher since 1963 of more than 

6000 single-page Tech Briefs on new techniques and innovations resulting from advanced research and technology programs in NASA, 

announced it would begin publication of NASA Tech Briefi in April 

1976. The new document would be a two-color journal designed for 

non-aerospace users of NASA technology, containing informatioh on as 

many as 600 items annually that previously appeared in the single-page 

briefs as well as new data that previously appeared in Technology Compilation booklets. The document would sort the information into 9 technical categories to make it accessible as a current-awareness medium, 

and a cumulative index would appear once a year. The journal would be 

free to U.S. citizens. (NASA Release 76-60) 

27-28 March: A series of rocket experiments funded by the National Science 

28 

Foundation and NASA was lauiched from Poker Flat Range, Alaska, to 

measure magnitude and direction of electric fields and neutral winds in 

the auroral atmosphere. Spectrographic observations of the releases of 

barium vapor on 2 successive days indicated that a pulsating aurora was 

induced by vapor releases near 250 km altitude, but only when the 

explosions occurred in the path of precipitating electrons associated with 

the visible aurora. Previous experiments had produced no definite evidence of pulsations, and the experiments would be repeated to clarify the 

results. (Nature, 12 May 77, 135) 

March: A reorganization of the NASA office (NaPO) located at the 

contractor-operated Jet Propulsion Laboratory at Pasadena became 

effective. NuPo would no longer report to the Associate Administrator for 

Center Operations at NASA Hq in Washington, D.C.; a resident legal office 

would report to the NASA General Counsel, and a resident procurement 

office would report to the NASA Assistant Administrator for Procurement 

at Hq. E.S. Groo, the Associate Administrator for Center Operations, said 

the change was made to relate the N~PO functions more directly to the 

functions performed by their Hq counterparts, or by certain NASA field 

centers. NuPo’s cryogenics procurement activities and personnel would be 

relocated to the MSFC resident office at Canoga Park, Calif., and would 

be functionally responsible to MSFC; the Delta procurement activities and 

personnel would remain at JPL but would be functionally transferred to 

GSFC at Greenbelt, Md. (NASA Release 76-50; Groo anno. 15 Mar 76) 

0 A component of the backpack worn by Neil A. Armstrong on the moon’s 

surface had been used by the former astronaut-now professor of aerospace engineering at the Univ. of Cincinnati-in bioengineering experiments testing better blood pumps for heart-lung machines and artificial 

hearts or kidneys. The Apollo double-diaphragm pump that circulated 

cooling water through plastic tubes in the astronaut’s space suit proved 

in the [IC tests to be 10 or more times less damaging to red blood cells 

than pumps previously used. Blood, a delicate substance easily daniaged 

by prolonged mechanical pumping, had lost critical amounts of hemoglobin in procedures such as open-heart surgery when pumps had taken 

63 
March ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 

over the heart’s function for several hours. Armstrong, working on a 

team at the university’s Institute of Engineering and Medicine, recalled 

the Apollo pump’s efficiency from a power and weight standpoint and 

borrowed one from NASA for experiments with animals. The pump, designed to run on minimum power, created little turbulence in the flow of 

fluid and had no moving parts to damage the cells. It would be further 

modified for medical use. (NIT, 28 Mar 76, 64) 

30 March: No immediate serious problem appeared to exist in modification 

of the stratosphere, according to a report released by an interagency task 

force on inadvertent modification of the stratosphere (IMOS) prepared by 

the Interdepartment Committee for Atmospheric Sciences (ICAS). Assessing presently postulated manmade modifiers of the stratosphere other 

than fluorocarbons, the report considered 6 kinds of possible hazards: 

nitrogen fertilizers, brominated compounds, other chlorinated compounds, particles, the Space Shuttle, and carbon monoxide. The report 

concluded that concern over modification of the stratosphere was so far 

speculative, and that it was based on compounds not yet released to the 

upper atmosphere in quantities believed sufficient to produce a hazardous 

effect. Although a large number of substances had been considered, only 

those appearing most potentially harmful were singled out. Also, cumulative effects from several substances might become significant later, the 

report said, even if the effect of any single substance were relatively 

slight. The report urged increased research into stratosphere modifiers 

and prevention of inadvertent modification now and in the future. (IMOS 

report, 30 Mar 76) 

31 March: First test firing of the second Space Shuttle main engine-Engine 

0002, first to have a flight-type engine-mounted controller-achieved 

the programmed 1.5-sec duration, firing through a diffuser used for 

altitude simulation when production engines were throttled in testing. 

Engine 0002, a flight configuration that would not be flown, was a 

developmental engine instrumented for test purposes. It was fired on the 

National Space Technology Lab’s Stand A-2, used in Saturn V tests 

during the 1960s and modified and reactivated for the Space Shuttle 

program. NASA planned to fire each engine on the A-2 throttling test 

position before using it on a Shuttle flight. Stand A-1, the sea-level 

test position, had been used for about a year to test the first SSME, a test 

version known as the integrated subsystem test bed; A-1 was also 

developed for the Saturn program and modified for Shuttle tests. (MSFC 

Release 76-57; Rockwell Release RD-7) 

* Dr. William H. Pickering, director of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory at the 

California Institute of Technology since 1954, retired, announcing that 

he would return- to Caltech as a professor of engineering. He had earned 

all his degrees at that institution and had joined the faculty in 1936, 

becoming a member of the JPL staff in 1944. The staff at that time 

numbered a few hundred; when he became director, the total had 

reached 1000, and numbered about 4000 when he announced his retirement. Born in New Zealand in 1910, Dr. Pickering had become one of 

the world’s foremost experts in space technology. Under his leadership, 

64 
ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 March 

JPL had designed Explorer 1, first successful US. satellite, and went on 

to develop and operate the Ranger, Surveyor, and Mariner space probes. 

Dr. Pickering was first president of the American Institute of Aeronautics 

and Astronautics in 1963, and president of the International Astronautical Federation in 1965-66. NASA’s announcement of his retirement said 

he would work on gaining worldwide scientific support for the proposed 

International Solar System Decade of research and space exploration of 

all aspects of the solar system. (NASA anno. 23 June 75; Ny1; 21 June 

75, 41; LA Times, 31 Mar 76, 1; Pasadena Star-News, 1 Apr 76, 1) 

0 Gerald A. Mossinghoff, NASA’s Assistant General Counsel for general law 

since Jan. 1974, was appointed Deputy General Counsel effective this 

date. He joined NASA in 1963 as a patent attorney in the Office of General 

Counsel; in 1966 he was named director of the Office of Legislative 

Planning at the U.S. Patent Office, and returned to NASA in Dec. 1967 

as Director of Legislative Liaison. He received NASA’s Exceptional Service Medal in 1971. A registered patent attorney, Mossinghoff had 

received a B.S. in electrical engineering from St. Louis University and a 

J.1). with honors fromGeorge Washington University. (Admr.’s announcement, 31 Mar 76) 

During March: Launch of RCA’S Satcom 2 this month was the second launch 

of a Delta vehicle using 9 large Castor IV solid rocket boosters instead of 

the standard 9 Castor 11s. (First to use the larger rockets was the Delta 

that launched Satcom 1 on 12 Dec. 75.) RCA had underwritten development expenses of adapting the NASA ‘Lworkhorse’’ Delta to use the larger 

rockets, in a unique NASA-customer-launch vehicle contractor arrangement that had enabled RCA to design its domestic comsat to be the 

heaviest to date without having to use a larger and more expensive 

launch vehicle. The Castor IV boosters would permit a Delta to put into 

synchronous orbit a payload weighing about 900 kg, compared to about 

700 kg for a vehicle equipped with the Castor 11s. NASA was thinking of 

the more powerful Delta as a standard launch vehicle for other customers 

who could use the increase in permissible weight of about 29% in many 

areas of spacecraft design: weather forecasting, scientific exploration, 

and communications. (Spaceport News, 18 Mar 76, 1) 

More new discoveries would be made in space than on the ground during 

the first 10 to 15 yr of Shuttle operations, a colloquium on bioprocessing 

in space was told by James H. Bredt, NASA program manager for space 

processing. The meeting of more than 200 industrial and academic 

bioscience researchers at Johnson Space Center heard reports on Space 

Shuttle and Spacelab capabilities and status. Noting that Spacelab would 

be able to carry 300 to 400 experiments, more on each flight than all 

other previous manned space missions combined, Bredt urged the audience to submit experiment programs that would make use of the new 

national resource. Participants recommended formation of a small group 

of bioscientists to advise NASA in discussions of space processing suggestions, and scheduling of followup meetings to define areas of interest 

so that programs could be developed before instrumentation development began. NASA spokesmen said more than 1400 experiment proposals 

65 
March ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 

for Shuttle flights were on hand, and Shuttle flight opportunities covering 

the first 2 Spacelab missions would be announced later this year. (Av W7c 

& Sp Tech, 29 Mar 76, 53) @ Endorsed by the state of Colo. as a bicentennial project, a mobile space 

museum prepared by the High Flight Foundation-a nonprofit religious 

organization founded in 1972 by Apollo 15 astronaut Col. James B. 

Irwin-would tour the U.S. to give residents of 30 cities a chance to see 

a large exhibit on national accomplishments in space. The exhibit would 

include tools and photographs, miscellaneous objects and films. During 

the tour, various state governors participating in bicentennial celebrations would receive from the astronauts state flags that had been flown 

to the moon. With Col. Irwin on the board of the High Flight Foundation 

were astronauts Col. William R. Pogue (Skylab 3) and Col. Alfred M. 

Worden (Apollo 15). (Spaceport News, 18 Mar 76, 8) * NASA announced selection of the initial crew of the Boeing 747 shuttlecarrier aircraft that would carry and launch the Space Shuttle orbiter in 

approach and landing tests. Pilots would be Fitzhugh L. Fulton, Jr., and 

Thomas C. McMurtry, both of Dryden Flight Research Center; flight-test 

engineers would be Victor W. Horton, also from Dryden, and Louis E. 

Guidry, Jr., of Johnson Space Center. All the men chosen were civilians. 

The ALT flights, scheduled for early 1977, would carry the orbiter to an 

altitude of 7.5 km, where it would separate from the 747 and the orbiter 

crew would pilot it to a glide landing. Unmanned and manned captive 

flights would precede initial free flights. (DFRC Release 3-76) 

A device used in training Apollo astronauts was adapted to assist persons 

incapable of supporting their entire weight with their legs. Developed at 

Langley Research Center, the flying lunar-excursion experimental platform would exert a constant weight-relieving force during any vertical 

movement by the patient; the supporting force would be selected for a 

particular patient, and could be changed as the patient’s condition improved. Besides its application as a device for exercise during rehabilitation, the apparatus showed potential for use in warehouses and storage 

facilities where heavy equipment was handled. The project was directed by L~RC’S Technology Utilization Office. (Langley Researcher, 

5 Mar 76, 7) 

@ The Federal Aviation Administration would use 15 new twin-jet Sabreliners 

to do a nationwide airways navigation-system checking job that formerly 

took about 50 older aircraft to do, according to a report by Rockwell 

International Corp., makers of the Sabreliner. The old Civil Aeronautics 

Administration (predecessor to FAA) in 1932 had hired 2 pilots in singleengine planes to inspect beacon markers-then the only nightnavigation aids for air travel-as well as to check safety at emergency 

landing fields. The report reviewed the advent of radio-range transmitters, omnidirectional signals, and instrument-landing systems, for 

which the FAA operated a Flight Inspection National Field Office based 

in Oklahoma City with field offices in the continental US., the North 

Atlantic, and the Caribbean. Until recently, safety checks had been the 

job of a fleet of military-surplus C-47s (commercially called DC-3s) 

66 
ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 March 

known in World War II as Gooney Birds. These became unsatisfactory 

with the advent of the jet age, and Sabreliners were added to the fleet in 

1968. FAA officials noted that the new twin-jet could cruise at 435 knots, 

compared to 150 knots for the DC-3s scheduled for retirement in 

June 1976. (Skyline, Spring 76, 34) 

0 Observance of 1976 as the 50th anniversary of US. commercial aviation 

would be established by a resolution introduced in the Senate by 

Sen. Howard Cannon (D-Nev.). The Air Mail Act of 1925-known as 

the Kelly Bill-gave the Postal Dept. authority to contract airmail 

carriage to private carriers, but the first contract airmail flight did not 

take place until 15 Feb 1926 in Detroit, Cleveland, and Chicago. The 

Postal Dept. had laid out a transcontinental route, and the contracted 

routes acted as feeder lines that greatly expanded airmail service around 

the country. Passenger airlines existed, but passengers were few, so that 

carrying the mail could mean the difference between success and failure 

for the airlines of the period. Each of the 46 cities that inaugurated 

commercial airmail service 50 years ago would cancel its special commemorative cover on the date of the first airmail flight to that city. 

Covers were issued by the Aviation Historical Foundation in cooperation 

with the U.S. Postal Service. (NAA News, Mar 76, 2) 

0 On a visit to the ERDA Model Zero 100-kw wind generator installed at 

NASA’s Plum Brook Station near Sandusky, O., a reporter from Popular 

Science magazine climbed the steel tower to get a close look at the 

monster propeller measuring more than 398 m and rotating at maximum 

speed of 40 rpm. The flexible aluminum propeller blades operated downwind of the 30 m steel tower similar to utility rigs, set on a raised concrete 

foundation designed to withstand high wind and rotor-thrust loads and to 

be accessible for maintenance. The NASA approach to generating power 

had been to use large generators rather than groups of small ones; the 

power from wind was said to increase with the square of the rotor 

diameter, so that doubling the rotor diameter would produce 4 times the 

power, besides keeping costs down. Design improvements for future wind 

turbines would include use of composite materials to reduce cost and 

weight and improve reliability, and development of a different hub to 

reduce bending moments of the rotor-blade roots and make them less 

likely to break. (Popular Science, Mar 76, 73) 

0 A new technique of using aircraft to map surface temperatures of bodies 

of water with an accuracy close to 1 “C was announced by Calspan Corp. 

The company said the method could be used to monitor the discharges 

of large volumes of heated water into rivers and lakes by power plants, 

steel mills, and other industries. Ecologists had sought regular monitoring 

of such flows, said to be potentially dangerous to fish and other marine 

life. Like the conventional method of taking water temperatures from 

aircraft, the Calspan method used an infrared thermal mapper to record 

infrared radiation from the surface, but did not require “ground truth” 

readings taken simultaneously at the sites being scanned, using boats, 

equipment, ground personnel, and correlations that were both timeconsuming and expensive. The new system used a radiometer to track 

67 
March ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 

along the image produced by the thermal mapper, extrapolating true 

ground temperatures from a series of passes over sites with identical 

temperature and noting changes in infrared intensity. Maps using this 

technique had been within 1 “C of agreement with temperatures checked 

at the water’s surface. (Calspan News, Second Quarter 76, 3) 

* An FAA test of a new method of conserving energy, to be used when weather 

or other factors caused delays in aircraft landings, saved nearly 

2.5 million liters of fuel in 1 day. The test consisted of holding Chicagobound flights on the ground at 150 airports until they could be accepted 

at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport with a minimum of airborne 

delay. (Aw Wk & Space Tech., 22 Mar 76, 37) * A 3-yr International Magnetospheric Study that began 1 Jan., sponsored 

by the International Council of Scientific Unions, would be coordinated 

by a steering committee set up by the Special Committee on SolarTerrestrial Physics, chaired by Juan G. Roederer, professor and senior 

research physicist at the University of Denver. The 20 or more countries 

participating in the study had already submitted more than 1000 individual research programs, including ground-based, balloon, rocket, aircraft, 

and spacecraft experiments as well as networks of magnetic, auroral, and 

other geophysical observatories. Among major spacecraft projects 

planned by the European Space Agency, Japan, the Soviet Union, and 

the U.S. would be use of ESA’S Geos spacecraft in geostationary orbit. ESA 

and NASA would join in an International Sun-Earth Explorer (ISEE) program to measure properties of different parts of the magnetosphere 

simultaneously. About 40 other spacecraft launched before and during 

the study period were expected to contribute sun-earth physics data to 

the study. Roederer told the National Academy of Sciences that the 

international coordination differed from that used in the International 

Geophysical Year, relying on interlocking spacecraft missions and quick 

and active exchange of information and scheduling. (NAS News Report, 

Mar 76, 1) 

68 
April 1976 

1 April: Dr. Bruce C. Murray, professor of planetary science at California 

Institute of Technology and geologist by training, succeeded Dr. William H. Pickering as director of Caltech’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. 

After earning bachelor’s, master’s, and doctor’s degrees at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dr. Murray became a geologist and later 

served in the Air Force. At the USAF Cambridge Research Lab., trying 

to expand knowledge of the earth’s shape and gravity field by the use of 

earth satellites, he became interested in space technology. First faculty 

appointee at Caltech in the field of planetary astronomy in 1960, 

Dr. Murray and Prof. James Westphal were in 1962 the first observers 

of infrared emission from an object outside the solar system (a star) and 

did infrared mapping of the moon, Venus, and Jupiter. Dr. Murray was 

the author or coauthor of 4 books and more than 60 scientific papers, 

including the recent book “Navigating the Future.” (Pasadena StarNews, 1 Apr 76, 1; Glendale News-Press, 1 Apr 76, 1; Montrose 

Ledger, 1 Apr 76, 1) 

Images from NASA’s Landsat 1 earth-resources survey satellite helped 

Alaskan Indians to choose the best areas of timberland and mineral 

deposits in compliance with the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act of 

197 1, NASA announced. The act set aside 99 million acres from federal 

public lands so that more than 200 native village corporations and 12 

native regional corporations-representing about 100,000 Indians, Eskimos, and Aleuts-could settle claims going back to the US. purchase 

of Alaska from Russia in 1867. A regional corporation-Doyon, 

1nc.-asked the Univ. of Alaska to recommend the best land out of 

inaccessible, irregularly shaped tracts scattered over the huge state. 

Though known to be rich in minerals and commercially profitable forests, 

the area had no detailed maps and few settlements, roads, or airfields. 

Scientists at the university’s Geophysical Inst. used Landsat images, 

combined with limited ground and aerial data, to map 7 million acres of 

which Doyon chose 2 million. The Doyon selections were based heavily 

on the Landsat maps; the university reported that application of Landsat 

data “at least doubled the value of the land selected . . .” (NASA Release 

76-63) 

* Egypt and the Federal Republic of Germany had agreed that Germany 

would supply Egypt with a ground station for receiving transmissions 

from the Symphonie I and Symphonie 2 comsats jointly operated by 

FRG and France, the MENA news service from Cairo announced. The 

stations would use 200 lines initially for telephone contacts between 

Egypt and “each of Germany and France,” as well as between Egypt and 

any other Arab state in which a similar station would be established. The 

69 
April ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 

stations would also be used for television transmissions between France 

or Germany and Egypt. Egyptians would be sent to FRG for training in 

operating the proposed station, and steps toward establishing the stations 

would begin in 1976. (FBIS, MENA in English, 1 Apr 76) 

2 April: Gerald D. Griffin, Deputy Associate Administrator for Operations in 

NASA Hq’s Office of Space Flight, had been named Deputy Director of the 

Dryden Flight Research Center effective 1 May, NASA announced. Griffin 

joined NASA in 1964 and served as a flight controller at Johnson Space 

Center during the Gemini program before being named an Apollo flight 

director in 1968; he served in that position on all 1 1 Apollo missions, and 

was lead flight director on Apollo missions 12, 15, and 17. He went to 

NASA Hq in 1973 and had previously been Assistant Administrator for 

Legislative Affairs. He had served in the Air Force and was an aerospace 

engineer with Lockheed and with General Dynamics before coming to 

NASA. (NASA Release 76-66; DFRC Release 5-76) 

0 Two engineers at Marshall Space Flight Center had developed a solarenergy collector using air rather than water for heat transfer; this might 

be the key to low-cost solar-energy systems. The collector consisted of 

3 parts: a rigid foam structure, a metal collector plate, and a transparent 

cover. The device needed no tools or fasteners, but could be fitted 

together, and required no insulation; it measured 1 by 2 m and weighed 

about 17 kg. The inventors said their collector had shown itself in tests 

to be as efficient as other more costly and complicated collectors, and the 

chief patent counsel at MSFC was considering it for eatenting. An average 

house of about 140 m’ would require about 67 m- of collector area, or 

a 40-collector system, to provide sufficient heating. A solar-energy 

system could save a household about 75% of its normal winter heating 

expense, and could be modified to heat water year round. (NASA Release 76-56) 

The largest American flag ever painted would be exhibited on an outside 

wall of the Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy Space Center as part 

of KSC’s preparation for the Bicentennial exposition Third Century America, scheduled from 20 May through Labor Day 1976. The flag, measuring 64 m by 33.5 m, would be painted on the VAB-world’s second 

largest building-along with a huge Bicentennial symbol 33.5 m in 

diameter. More than 1900 liters of specially formulated paint had been 

donated by the Montgomery Ward paint laboratories, and the Bicentennial administration would pay for the painting. The 160-m-high 

south wall of the VAB would be washed down, rinsed, and primed with 

white before the finishing coat of white could be added and the design 

overlaid in red and blue. KSC had been chosen by President Ford to house 

the Third Century America exposition, featuring exhibits by 16 federal 

agencies and many US. industries, the only such exposition to be sponsored by the government during the Bicentennial year. (KSC Release 

0 Pluto-outermost of the 9 planets circling the sun-might have a surface 

of frozen methane, putting its temperature in its near-vacuum environment at close to absolute zero (total absence of heat) and indicating that 

never since. the ice formed had the sun’s heat been able to boil off the 

112-76) 

70 
ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 April 

covering, according to a team at the Kitt Peak National Observatory in 

Ariz. Dr. David Morrison of the University of Hawaii said that Pluto 

might look and behave just the way it did when it was formed during the 

creation of the solar system; nowhere but on Pluto had methane been 

found as a solid, and nowhere else was it present in such abundance. The 

frozen surface also meant that astronomers might have been fooled since 

Pluto’s discovery in 1930 into thinking it larger than it really was; 

instead of being the size of the earth, Dr. Morrison said, “it might be only 

half our size or even smaller.” Pluto, 4.8 billion km distant, was the last 

planet to have scientists define its surface composition. (NYT, 2 Apr 76, 

37; W Post, 2 Apr 76, A-1; Science, 23 Apr 76, 362) 

4 April: Engineers at the Jet Propulsion Lab. at Pasadena had used equipment identical to that used by NASA’s Deep Space Network to maintain 

comfort conditions in a &tory building at JPL with almost no operation 

of the building’s conventional heating and cooling equipment, the L. A. 

Times reported. Adaptation of a simple 8-station remote-control panel 

allowed remote control of building ventilation, heating, and cooling; 

adaptation of a highly sensitive resistance device to measure return air 

on one of 4 air handlers permitted constant monitoring of the building’s 

average comfort level. Operators demonstrated maintenance of the comfort level by using the thermal storage of the building structure, outside 

weather, heat from lights, and heat generated by occupants. Over a 

month, the building had used less than half the energy required in 

pre-energy crisis days. The program was expected to save more than 

10 percent of JPL’S annual energy costs. (L.A. Times, 4 Apr 76, 1) 

5 April: Harris M. (Bud) Schurmeier, manager since 1972 of the Mariner 

Jupiter/Saturn project at Jet Propulsion Laboratory, was named Assistant Laboratory Director for Civil Systems, JPL Director Bruce C. Murray announced. The new post would direct Civil Systems activities at JPL, 

begun in the 1960s to apply specific JPL capabilities in technical and 

management areas to critical problems of society, including technological transfer to energy, environment, biomedical, and transportation 

systems. Replacing Schurmeier as manager of the Jupiter/Saturn 

project that would send 2 instrumented Mariner spacecraft to the giant 

outer planets next year would be John R. Casani, former manager of JPL’s 

Guidance and Control Division. While serving as Mariner Jupiter/Saturn 

project manager, Schurmeier had also acted as Deputy Assistant Laboratory Director for Flight Projects for the past 6 yr; the latter position 

would not be filled immediately. (JPL release 5 Apr 76) 

0 Howard R. Hughes, 70, aviation pioneer and founder of a financial empire 

that included aerospace and aviation holdings, died en route to Houston. 

He was president of Hughes Aircraft and sole trustee of its owner, the 

Howard Hughes Medical Institute. His estate was estimated to be worth 

between $1.5 and 2 billion. Newspaper accounts of his wealth and years 

of withdrawal from public contact told of his early achievements in flying, 

sparked by his learning to fly during his production in 1930 of “Hell’s 

Angels,” then the most expensive motion picture ever made. On 13 Sept. 

1935 he set a world land-plane speed record, flying the H-1 (his own 

design) at 566 kph; in the same plane, he established a transcontinental 

71 
April ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 

speed record 19 Jan. 1937 of 7 hr 28 min. On 10 July 1938, he took 

off in another Hughes plane from N.Y. and flew around the world with 4 

associates in 91 hr. Although he had no degree, he studied at Caltech and 

Rice Institute and had helped to design several aircraft, including the 

Lockheed P-38 fighter and the same company’s triple-tailfin Constellation transport. (NYT, 6 Apr 76, 1; W Post, 6 Apr 76, A-1; Av Wk, 

12 Apr 76, 23) 

6 April: Marshall Space Flight Center announced award of a contract to 

Ivey’s Plumbing and Electrical Co. of Kosciusko, Miss., for construction 

of a test facility at MSFC for the solar heating and cooling development 

program MSFC is directing for the Energy Research and Development 

Administration. The $647,243 contract was awarded by the U.S. Army 

Corps of Engineers, which would monitor construction activities; completion date set by the contract was 1 Nov. 1976. The facility would be 

located in an area formerly used as a swing-arm test facility for Saturn; 

data-acquisition equipment-instrument terminals and cabling from pad 

to blockhouse-used for Saturn would be available for the heating and 

cooling tests. The facility would consist of 4 test areas, 2 designed for 

complete system or subsystem tests; a third would be used to test liquid 

energy storage subsystems, and the fourth for passively testing solar 

collectors. A solar simulator constructed in a nearby building would be 

linked to the test facility for data collection. 

Subsystems and components to be tested would include solar collectors, thermal-energy storage equipment, and solar heating and cooling 

devices. Testing the hardware against predetermined performance 

standards would produce data for input to analytical programs; the 

analyses in turn would be used to evaluate total systems performance 

under environmental conditions other than those simulated during tests. 

Components of the facility-heat exchangers, cooling towers, chillers, 

fans, pumps, and control valves-would be arranged to permit maximum 

flexibility for future modifications and use of other test positions or 

procedures. (MSFC Release 76-59) 

* New Mexico State University and NASA would sponsor a 3-day symposium 

aimed at motivating Hispanic and Native American college and highschool students to follow science and engineering as career fields, the 

Johnson Space Center announced. The symposium sent invitations to 

faculties of 14 colleges and universities with high numbers of Hispanic 

and Native American students, as well as local area high schools, to hear 

speakers and view exhibits from NASA field centers and from the aerospace industry. The session from 21 to 23 April would highlight career 

opportunities in the aerospace field, including a workshop session on the 

need for additional aerospace courses in the school curriculum and a job 

fair providing information on placement. (Jsc Release 76-23) * The Michoud Assembly Facility operated for NASA by MSFC at New Orleans 

was nearing production capability for the Space Shuttle external tank, 

MSFC announced. Delivery of all required items to Michoud would require 

an estimated 225 trucks, about three fourths of them carrying loads 

classified as oversize. By the time all 225 trucks arrived, total “train” 

length would have reached more than 3 km. Getting the equipment from 

72 
ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 April 

the suppliers located at faraway points such as Dallas, San Diego, Baltimore, and Nashville had presented problems because of the size of the 

loads; special escorts were required for oversized loads, and travel time 

at New Orleans for oversize loads was restricted to the period between 

10 pm and 4 am. Tooling and fixtures being installed at Michoud would 

give Martin Marietta, prime external tank contractor, the capability 

needed to meet flight schedules; each Shuttle flight would require a new 

external tank, and NASA had planned more than 400 flights between 

1979 and 1989. Launches should number 60 per year by 1984. (MSFC 

Release 76-60) 

* Every ruble spent on space research had been returned many times to the 

Soviet national economy, said Cosmonaut Aleksey Leonov in a Tass 

interview during observations of the 15th anniversary of Yuri Gagarin’s 

space flight. Leonov was one of the two USSR participants in the ApolloSoyuz Test Project, and had been the first man to walk in space during 

a Voskhod 2 flight 18 Mar. 1965. He stated that 496 spacecraft had 

been launched from Soviet cosmodromes in the last 5 yrs, 35 of them 

communications satellites, 13 Meteor weather satellites, and several 

Prognoz science satellites, as well as about 400 in the Cosmos series. The 

long-functioning Salyut stations were the main line of Soviet space 

activity, Leonov said, carrying out research in cartography, geology, 

agriculture, forestry, and hydrology as only a few of the many fields of 

knowledge expanded by work on orbital stations. Leonov also stressed the 

importance of the Soviet-American Apollo-Soyuz test project. (FBIS, 

Tass in English, 6 Apr 76) 

6-9 April: Signatories of the International Telecommunications Satellite 

Organization (INTELSAT) held their 4th annual meeting in Singapore, with 

68 of the 93 signatories attending. The meeting adopted the board of 

governors’ recommendation to increase the capital ceiling for the global 

satellite system from $500 million U.S. to $900 million US., to allow 

financial flexibility for the Intelsat v spacecraft program. (The capital 

ceiling was defined as the net capital contributions of signatories and all 

outstanding contractual capital commitments.) The meeting also approved requests from Nigeria and Zaire for use of the Intelsat space 

segment for domestic public telecommunications on the same basis as for 

international services. Intelsat satellites were providing fulltime services 

through 137 antennas at 109 earth stations in 73 countries. (INTELSAT 

Release 76- 12-1) 

7 April: The Rocketdyne Division of Rockwell International Corporation was 

awarded a $6.9 million contract by Goddard Space Flight Center to 

produce Rs-27 engine systems for the Delta launch vehicle. The contract 

called for delivery of 10 engines between March and Sept. 1977. NASA 

had returned 12 Rocketdyne-built H- 1 engines for use in producing the 

new Rs-27 systems. (Rockwell Release RD-6) 

* Tass announced that the CJSSR expedition Polar Experiment North-76 had 

begun work in the high latitudes of the Arctic. Using 10 scientific ships, 

as well as planes, radar, and installations for rocket probing of upper 

atmosphere layers, a team of scientists would observe ice floes in the 

73 
April ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 

polar basin, including the geogdaphic North Pole. The expedition, said to 

be the largest in the history of Arctic exploration, would simultaneously 

determine the heat balance deep in the ocean, in the atmosphere, and in 

floating ice in the North Pole area. Ice floes in the polar basin had been 

found to forecast climate changes in the densely populated and economically developed areas of the northern hemisphere. From the beginning 

of the century to the 1940s, the floes had receded from continental 

coastlines, indicating a relative rise in global temperature; they had 

begun to appear further south again, indicating a cold phase, and the 

appearance had been correlated with difficulties in northern navigation 

and fisheries and unusually snowy winters in western Europe, droughts 

in Asia, and unexpected cyclones and hurricanes. (FBIS, Tass in English, 

7 Apr 76) 

9 April: The Johnson Space Center announced award of a 1 -yr extension of 

the Pan American World Airways contract for plant maintenance and 

operations services at the Center. Pan American had been selected 

13 Feb. 1974 to receive a cost-plus-award-fee contract for operation of 

all utility systems and maintenance of utilities, buildings, roads, ditches, 

and special equipment at JSC; the current award represented the second 

of 2 planned extensions and would extend the effective period through 

12 Feb. 1977. Annual estimated amount of the contract was $7.4 million. 

(JSC Release 76-25) 

A “mysterious force” on the moon had made one of the remote-controlled 

stations set up by Apollo astronauts behave peculiarly, Boyce Rensberger 

reported in the N. Y. Times. After operating without interruption since its 

placement on the lunar surface in Feb. 1971, the station went dead, 

returned to life spontaneously a few weeks later, then went dead again. 

Engineers at JSC were waiting to see if the unknown influence would 

switch the station on again. Called ALSEPS, for Apollo lunar scientific 

experiment packages, the five stations deployed on the moon at intervals 

since Nov. 1969 had been sending a steady stream of scientific data on 

moonquakes, heat flowing from the moon’s interior, and the nature of 

particles in the solar wind; the atomic power supplies, designed for a 1 -yr 

lifetime, had proved more durable. The faulty station, left by the 

Apollo 14 mission, stopped receiving ground commands in March 1975 

when its receiver failed; on 18 Jan. 1976, its transmitter stopped; on 

Feb. 19, the entire station came back to life-both receiver and transmitter working-and one experiment that had never operated during 

lunar daytime began working flawlessly night and day. Then, exactly a 

month later, the entire station shut down again. One theory was that the 

starts and stops might relate to extreme temperature changes on the 

moon, varying from 121OC at lunar noonday to - 184OC at lunar 

midnight. However, as day and night had not originally affected the 

station’s operation, scientists could not explain why temperature change 

did not produce failure from the start. (NYT, 9 Apr 76, 4) 

0 Astronomers at the University of Massachusetts had clocked pulsarssuperdense remnants of collapsed stars-at speeds over 2 million kmh, 

making them the fastest movers in earth‘s galaxy, the National Science 

Foundation reported. Some of the objects exceeded galactic escape 

74 
ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 April 

velocity, meaning they could pull free from the Milky Way and spin off 

into intergalactic space. First discovered in 1968, pulsars were defined 

as dense bodies in which a sun-size mass had been compressed into a 

sphere 16 km in diameter. The material was said to be so dense that a 

teaspoonful would weigh a billion tons. With its collapse, the body would 

spin increasingly faster and its magnetic field would increase in intensity; 

the newly formed pulsar would send out electromagnetic signals that 

pulsed like a radio beacon with each turn (hence the name pulsar). The 

high velocities were thought to be caused by the intense magnetic fields, 

up to a trillion times that of earth‘s magnetic field: a slight displacement 

of the pulsar’s magnetic field could release large amounts of electromagnetic energy in one direction, upon which the pulsar would move 

in the opposite direction as would a rocket. (Pasadena Star-News, 

9 Apr 76, 5) 

12 April: Louis Mogavero was appointed Director of NASA’s Technology 

Utilization Office in the Hq Office of Industry Affairs and Technology 

Utilization, the agency announced. Mogavero, who joined NASA in 1966, 

had held management and planning positions in the former Office of 

Manned Space Flight, and in 1972 had worked with a White House study 

group evaluating new opportunities in technology. Before joining NASA he 

was operations manager for new product development with the Boeing 

Co., and received a master’s degree in engineering administration in 

1970 from George Washington University. (NASA Hq announcement, 

12 Apr 76) 

0 Electricity from outer space to power homes and industry would be not only 

possible, but entirely probable, soon after the turn of the century, said 

Ralph I. LaRock of NASA Hq at a recent meeting held at Marshall Space 

Flight Center. LaRock, director of the Energy Technology Applications 

Division in NASA’s Office of Energy Programs, described a proposed 

satellite power system under study by NASA, industry, the Energy Research and Development Administration, and other groups. MSFC’S share 

of the study was aimed at defining overall systems requirements (including satellite structure, economical size and materials for the solar array, 

new technology needed in satellite and support systems, and transporting, erecting, and maintaining the system in space). LaRock said predictions of technology advancement during the 1980- 1990 time period 

indicated a good chance of “our having a few solar-power satellites in 

operation by the turn of the century.” (MSFC Release 76-75) 

13 April: The House of Representatives passed H.R. 13172, authorizing a 

supplemental $16 800 000 for NASA for the period 1 July 1976 through 

30 Sept. 1976 (the so-called “transition period” after which the 

new government fiscal year would begin on 1 Oct.). The authorization, 

supplementing NASA’s research and program management request, was 

$3 186 000 less than the original request of $19 986 000. (NASA Ofc. 

of Budget Operations, Chron. Hist. FY 76, 16 June 76) 

0 Calling the Space Shuttle “clearly . . . the next logical step” in tapping the 

scientific and commercial possibilities of space, the Baltimore Sun said 

in an editorial that criticisms of the Shuttle program from an economic 

point of view should be balanced with the rewards that would come only 

75 
April ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 

from experience. The first Shuttle was never intended to be selfsupporting, the editorial said, and the rewards would include increased 

knowledge to serve as the basis for more sophisticated programs and the 

increased likelihood of constructing a permanently staffed permanently 

orbiting space station. Complaints from prospective users-ComSat and 

DOD-that Shuttle fees would be too high “before NASA even has announced these fees” were an obvious ploy to keep the fees as low as 

possible, the editorial said. (B Sun, 13 April 76) 

A 2-yr comparative study of data on dust storms on Mars and earth 

revealed that Martian dust storms were much like severe ones on earth, 

bb only more so,” the Jet Propulsion Lab. announced. JPL investigator 

Peter M. Woiceshyn used Lowell Observatory data to conclude that a 

wall of dust more than 50 km high swept down the slopes of the Hellas 

area on Mars in July 1971 at speeds greater than 480 km per hr. 

Mariner 9 occultation data verified that winds of extreme velocity would 

be required to raise surface dust in the low atmospheric pressure of Mars, 

where the air density was only 1/100th that on earth. When Mariner 9 arrived at Mars in Nov. 197 l, another dust storm had been raging 

for several weeks, and dust-cloud tops were estimated to be 50 to 70 km 

above the surface. The JPL report said the two 1971 storms and another 

detected by astronomers in 1956 began in the same location on the slopes 

of Hellas, triggered by a cold jet stream from the Martian north pole 

funneling down a long valley across the planet’s equator. Similar storms 

on earth in Russia, in Iran, and on the U.S. plains east of the Rockies 

caused great damage from soil erosion, similar to that on Mars revealed 

by Mariner 9. More storm data from Mars would be sought by the Viking 

spacecraft scheduled to land there in July and Sept. 76. (JPL release 

13 Apr 76) 

* A celebration in Moscow of the 15th anniversary of Yuri Gagarin’s flight 

into space heard a speech by A.P. Aleksandrov, president of the Academy 

of Sciences, reviewing Soviet firsts in space: launch of the world‘s first 

artificial satellite, first manned flights and walk in open space, first flight 

to the moon and delivery to earth of lunar soil samples by automatic 

devices, creation of orbital stations, and unique experiments in the study 

of solar-system planets. Aleksandrov recalled that the first manned space 

flight occurred only 3.5 yr after launch of the first artificial satellite, 

which he said made the Russian word “sputnik” common to all peoples 

in all languages of the world. He reviewed Soviet progress in space 

research and applications, especially in communications, mentioning 

that the number of Orbita network ground stations to reach remote parts 

of the Soviet Union had now climbed to 6%. He referred to the success 

of the Apollo-Soyuz joint experimental flight as “a significant contribution to the progress of world cosmonautics.” (FBIS, Tass report 

13 Apr 76) 

14 April: A NASA earth-survey aircraft-one of two U-2 high-altitude research planes flown by the agency-had been studying the stratosphere 

over Central America, South America, Canada, the Caribbean, and the 

Pacific Ocean to measure ozone, nitric oxide, and manmade pollutants as 

part of a long-term global effort to understand the effects of pollutants 

76 
ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 April 

on global climate over a long period of time. The data flights used 4 

scientific instruments: a stratospheric air sampler, to measure ozone and 

nitrogen ozide; an aerosol particle sampler, to measure minute aerosols; 

a stratospheric cryogenic sampler to measure halocarbons (freons) and 

methane levels; and a foil sampler, to measure aerosols and trace gases 

for the National Center for Atmospheric Research. The other 3 studies 

were under the direction of NASA’s Ames Research Center. Data from the 

flights would be available to the other governments involved in the 

studies. (NASA Release 76-60) 

15 April: Alternative “super safe” landing sites for the second Viking spacecraft scheduled to arrive on Mars were being investigated by NASA, 

Dr. Harold Masursky told the annual meeting of the American Geophysical Union in Washington. Masursky, an astrogeologist with the U.S. 

Geological Survey, said the prime landing sites had been carefully selected and should present no problem. However, in case of trouble with 

the first lander, scheduled to touch down early in July, the second lander 

now scheduled to descend in a less well known area would proceed to a 

less challenging site to ensure salvaging the mission. The prime site, in 

the Chryse region at the mouth of the largest channel system identified 

on Mars, was of special interest because scientists thought areas with 

highest probabilities of water would be most likely to harbor life as known 

by man. The scheduled second landing area, called Cydonia, had the 

highest recorded atmospheric water content during the season when the 

Viking would land, but was in an area not accessible by radar from earth 

and was therefore not as well known. Giant radar telescopes in the US. 

and at Arecibo, P.R., were scanning areas near the Mars equator that 

would be safer than the prime sites, even if not as scientifically productive. (NU, 18 Apr 76, 25) 

16 April: Dr. John F. Clark would retire 1 July after 10 yr as director of the 

Goddard Space Flight Center, NASA announced. His successor would be 

Dr. Robert S. Cooper, deputy director of GsFC. Dr. Clark had come to 

NASA in 1958, serving from 1963 to 1965 as Deputy Associate Administrator for Space Sciences and Applications, after which he was appointed 

to his post at GSFC. An authority in atmospheric and space sciences, 

Dr. Clark while director at CSFC had been responsible for major advances 

in communications, weather and climate, earth resources, space physics, 

and space astronomy. (NASA Release 76-7 1) 

0 Marshall Space Flight Center announced award of 2 contracts totaling 

$486 388 for fabrication and installation of 2 test towers to be used in 

structural load tests of the Space Shuttle external tank. One contract, 

awarded to the Lucey Boiler Co. of Chattanooga for $344 660, was for 

pickup from MSFC of government-furnished construction materials and 

fabrication and delivery by July 1976 of all sections and components of 

the towers. The other contract, awarded to Teledyne Brown Engineering 

of Huntsville for $141 728, was for installation of the towers by 30 Sept. 

(MSFC Release 76-69) ‘ 

The Communications Satellite Corp. reported net income of $1 1 041 000 

for the first quarter of 1976, compared with $12 692 000 for the same 

period of 1975. Although total income of $37 276 000 for the first 

77 
April ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 

quarter was 2% higher than that for the same period in 1975, higher 

depreciation charges associated with the launch of additional satellitesIntelsat IV-A F-1 and F-2, and the first Marisat-and higher operating costs, together with expenses of operating Satellite Business 

Systems-a partnership formed by subsidiaries of ComSat, IBM, and 

Aetna- accounted for the reduction in income. ComSat had appealed 

the FCC decision of 4 Dec. 75 reducing its rates, and FCC had delayed the 

effective date of the lower rates until the court had ruled on the appeal. 

(ComSat Release 76-7) 

17 April: The $6.2-billion Space Shuttle, “America’s only remaining space 

spectacular,” might come apart at the seams because of unsafe nuts and 

screws, Jack Anderson and Les Whitten reported in the Washington 

Post. Discussion at NASA as early as Apr. 1973 had centered on the 

menace of substandard screws; in July 1973, Johnson Gage-a Bloomfield, Conn. firm-had sent NASA a warning based on tests of individual 

screw and nut threads stating that the standards “provide for a loophole 

that allows [NASA to] accept outright junk.” Computer tests had revealed 

that millions worth of faulty threads reached Rockwell International 

Corp., principal Shuttle contractor, because of low standards and it was 

feared the inferior screws had gotten into Shuttle equipment. Although 

company engineers were worried about the standards and the resultant 

products, the company bought fasteners from outside suppliers and could 

not control quality from 6000 vendors in 47 states, company minutes 

said. Industry had fought to keep the low standards rather than pay the 

estimated $120 million cost of retooling; the American National Standards Institute, led by industry, had blocked every move for tighter 

standards, Anderson and Whitten charged. ( WPost, 17 Apr 76, B-11) 

20 April: India’s second artificial earth satellite would be launched in 1978 

from a USSR cosmodrome, Tass announced. The agreement had been 

made at a Moscow meeting of a working group of Soviet and Indian 

specialists. (FBIS, Tass in English, 20 Apr 76) 

21 April: Kennedy Space Center announced award to Pan American Technical Services, Inc., Cocoa Beach, Fla., of the first contract to modify KSC 

facilities for Spacelab processing as part of the Space Shuttle program. 

The $129 627 contract included architect and engineer services to 

design the modifications of the Operations and Checkout BIdg., including 

changes in utilities (gaseous nitrogen, helium, high-pressure air, water 

and airconditioning) and adaptation of Apollo equipment acceptance and 

checkout rooms to make them compatible with ground-support equipment provided by the European Space Agency for automated Spacelab 

testing. Spacelab-to be carried into space by the Space Shuttle 

orbiter-was being designed, developed, and built by 9 member nations 

of ESA at a cost of $300 to $400 million. At the end of each mission, the 

Spacelab would be removed from the landed orbiter and prepared for the 

next mission. The engineering model to be used for facility and orbiter 

checkout was scheduled to arrive at KSC in July 1978; the first flight 

model was due in June 1979. (KX Release 128-76) 

78 
ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 April 

William A. Anders, former Apollo 8 astronaut who became the first 

chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in 1974, was sworn in 

as U.S. ambassador to Norway [see 9 Mar.]. (NRC Release 76-93) 

* Joseph A. Zinno made aviation history “of a sort,” the National Aeronautic 

Association reported, when his man-powered 68-kg airplane swooped off 

the ground and flew more than 24 m for 5 sec at Quonset Point, R.I. In 

1959 a British industrialist had offered a prize of $24,000 (now grown 

to $92,500) for flight in a machine powered solely by the crew that could 

fly a figure-eight course around 2 pylons set 0.8 km apart and cross the 

starting and finish lines at least 3 m above the ground. So far 16 

Europeans and Zinno had succeeded in flying man-powered planes. 

However, aeronautical experts believed the altitude needed to make a 

figure-eight maneuver (more than 12 m) would undo any aviator striving 

for the prize. (NAA newsletter, June 76, 3) 

e Tass announced the return to Riga of the 20th Soviet Antarctic expedition 

after, completing ‘‘its successful 15-month program of research.” For 

the first time under Antarctic conditions, scientists had operated automatized processing of data from rocket soundings of the atmosphere; also 

for the first time, a shelf glacier had been drilled with 3 holes, one of them 

358 m deep (entirely through the glacier). The Soviet scientists reported 

increasing cooperation with colleagues; the 20th expedition included 

geologists and medical workers from the German Democratic Republic, 

and a US. weather specialist spent the winter at the Soviet station while 

a Soviet glaciologist spent the winter at the US. McMurdo station. (FBIS, 

Tass in English, 21 Apr 76) 

22 April: Nuto ZZZA, first in a series of NATO-USAF military comsats, was 

launched from Eastern Test Range at 3:46 pm EST (1046 GMT) by a Delta 

vehicle into a synchronous transfer orbit at about 35 000 km altitude 

before being positioned above the equator off West Africa at about 

15OW. The comsat would transmit voice, data, facsimile, and telex 

messages among military ground stations; a NATO IIIB spacecraft was 

scheduled for launch later in 1976 into geosynchronous orbit above the 

Indian Ocean. Nuto ZZZA, weighing 310 kg in orbit and designed for a 

7-yr lifetime, was drum-shaped, 2.2 m in diameter and 2.2 m long, and 

extended about 3 m with antennas out. The eventual 3-satellite system 

including 16 major ground terminals had been estimated to cost about 

$340 million. (NASA Release 76-46 and 76-46A; MOR M-492- 

207-76-01 [prelaunch] 19 Apr 76, [postlaunch] 20 May 76; WPost, 

23 Apr 76, A-21) 

e NASA’s Wallops Flight Center received a National Safety Council award for 

its performance in on-the-job safety. The Council selected Wallops for a 

third-place award in its annual contest honoring the lowest disablinginjury frequency achieved by NSC member organizations. Wallops 

qualified for its award with a recorded rate of zero lost-time injuries per 

million man-hours worked, as compared to a rate of 1.4 injuries for all 

competing units in the Aerospace Section, Research and Development 

Division. (WFC Release 76-4) 

79 
April ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 

The European Space Agency’s launch vehicle Ariane during its 5-yr 

development period would use hydrazine fuel supplied by the USSR, 

reported the British journal New Scientist. The u.S. hydrazine plant near 

Baltimore had been closed down because of contamination by nitrosamines, hydrazine sources suspected of causing cancer. Hydrazine, 

highly corrosive and difficult to handle, had not been manufactured in 

Western Europe, and no one wanted to do so, according to the report. 

Ariane’s discontinued predecessor Europa used a less powerful fuelliquid oxygen and kerosene-and the USSR had used hydrazine from the 

plant near Moscow to power the large rockets that launched the Salyut 

space stations and large interplanetary probes. The report said that the 

hydrazine deal stemmed from France’s longstanding cooperation with the 

USSR in aerospace technology; if the Soviets should restrict hydrazine 

supplies, France would build a European plant because its commitments 

would override environmental objections. (W Post, 22 Apr 76, A-52) 

23 April: Addressing the Utah Air Force Association’s Bicentennial program 

in Salt Lake City, NASA’s Deputy Administrator George M. Low gave a 

status report on ongoing projects such as Landsat, Viking, and the Space 

Shuttle, then speculated at length on accomplishments in space that 

might be celebrated on the occasion of the US. Tricentennial. Referring 

to “the beginning of the industrialization of space,” using the firstgeneration reusable space-transportation system called Shuttle to set up 

the first factories in space, he said “the real breakthrough” would come 

with energy collected from the sun and beamed down with microwaves 

to provide all the electrical needs of a major city. None of this technology, he added, was beyond today’s knowledge. He then forecast a 

cleanup of earth’s environment, communications applications of all 

kinds, and exploration of outer space made possible by discoveries using 

the Space Telescope, ending with descriptions of space colonies that 

would “become the real frontier.” He concluded by stating that “all of 

my projections are overly conservative” and could all become reality 

long before the end of America’s third century. (Text) 

26 April: “No useful data” appeared in photographs taken during the 

artificial-eclipse experiment on the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project, reported 

Aviation Week and Space Technology magazine, quoting US. scientists 

who examined the photographs. This view contrasted with earlier Soviet 

statements. The experiment consisted of Apollo’s blocking out the solar 

disk while pictures of the corona were made from the Soyuz. According 

to the magazine, many NASA officials and U.S. scientists “believed privately before the flight that the Soviet experiment would produce only 

marginal results.” (Av Wit, 26 Apr 76, 11) 

0 A $4.5-million structural test data-acquisition system to be used for tests 

on Space Shuttle components was nearing completion of installation and 

checkout at Marshall Space Flight Center, MFSC announced. Developed 

by Avco Electronics, the system included a central facility with a computer system, 6 line printers, 5 graphics display units, a printer-plotter, 

2 card readers, and 4 video hard-copy units; 4 data-selector units; and 

24 static-input units. The central facility, to be located in MSFC’S Test 

Laboratory, was designed for a lifespan of 10 yr and would combine 

80 
ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 April 

extreme accuracy with high reliability and ruggedness. Testing the external tanks, solid-fuel rocket booster, and other parts of the Shuttle for 

structural integrity would require monitoring up to 6000 channels of 

data simultaneously, fed into the computers from test hardware elsewhere at the Center. The Avco contract also provided for training MSFC 

personnel to operate the system when completed late in 1976. (MSFC 

Release 76-73) 

e Rockwell International awarded subcontracts totaling nearly $2 million for 

equipment and material for the US. Air Force’s new B-1 strategic 

bomber development effort. Rockwell was awarded the B-1 system 

contract in 1970, and the first prototype flew for the first time 23 Dec. 

1974. A second B-1 equipped with full offensive avionics made its first 

flight 1 April 1976; a third prototype nearing completion was scheduled 

to begin flight tests this year. Contracts just awarded to 5 Ohio companies 

were for manufacture of the fourth prototype. The companies were: 

Cleveland Pneumatic Co., main landing gear, $1,270,000; TRW Inc., 

fuel pumps, $195,800; Westinghouse Aerospace Electric Div., generator and controls system, $73,000; RMI co., titanium, $165,000; and 

Titanium Metals Corp., titanium, $106,000. The titanium would form 

major B-1 components such as the wing carry-through structure. (Rockwell Intl. Release LA-2) 

e NASA was beginning to make headway in efforts to solve basic problems of 

U.S. aircraft manufacturers caused by a long-term dearth of low-speed 

aeronautical research, reported Aviation Week & Space Technology 

magazine. Industry engineers reporting on discussions at a recent Wichita meeting of the Society of Automotive Engineers said use of the 

workshop technique had been effective in uncovering primary problem 

areas by crosstalk with such specialized segments as aerodynamicists and 

propulsion engineers. NASA research being further refined in industry 

product development included general-aviation aircraft airfoils, aircraft 

drag reduction, propeller efficiency, and reduction of airflow separation 

on wing trailing edges. Lewis Research Center had begun exploration of 

alternatives to conventional reciprocating engines, such as diesel and 

rotary concepts. NASA had also begun studying the application of advanced technology to agricultural aircraft, said to be responsible for 

increasing farm production by about $10 billion annually, to solve problems such as corrosion of aircraft structures by agricultural chemicals 

and control of chemical drift. (Av m, 26 Apr 76, 56) 

e Employment in the U.S. aerospace industry continued downward, the annual employment survey by the Aerospace Industries Association said. 

Employment figures would fall below 900 000 by the end of 1976, 

compared with 925 000 at the start of the year. Peak employment in the 

industry was 1 500 000 in 1968. The predicted decline, amounting to 

3.5%, would be spread among all sectors of the industry; greatest 

decline-about 6000-would be in employment on aircraft programs, 

much of it in plants producing transport aircraft. The continuing erosion 

of the high-technology manpower base was principally due to slackening 

demand for commercial jetliners, uncertainties in export markets, the 

level of government commitment to new or replacement military aircraft, 

81 
April ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 

and reduced investment in the space program, the report said. The 

forecast was based on data provided by 48 major firms representing more 

than 65% of total aerospace employment. (Aerospace News, 26 Apr 76) 

0 Comsat General Corp. signed an agreement with the Water Resources 

Division, IJ .s. Department of Interior’s Geological Survey, to conduct a 

6-mo joint evaluation of the use of satellites to transmit data from remote 

hydrological sensors to a central facility. Comsat General would provide 

11 small data-collection platforms to receive and transmit the data via 

satellite to a central receive facility. The DCPS would be located near 

Survey sensors in the continental US.: 5 in the Pacific Northwest, 5 in 

eastern Pa., and one near Survey headquarters at Reston, Va. Central 

receiving station would be the ComSat station at Southbury, Conn., 

where the data would be stored on magnetic tape and accessed by the 

Survey on interconnecting terrestrial lines. The program would provide 

a chance to evaluate collection of environmental data by satellite under 

operational conditions; it would begin later in 1976 and conclude within 

6 mo, subject to FCC approval. (ComSat Release CG 76-1 12) 

0 The vast spaces between galaxies previously thought to be empty contained 

large clouds of gas, 2 scientists from the University of Arizona said. The 

National Science Foundation, which funded the research using the 2.3m 

telescope at Kitt Peak, announced the discovery as the most solid evidence to date for the presence of substantial amounts of matter between 

the galaxies. The discovery, expected to affect current theories on the 

evolution of galaxies, might contribute to learning whether the universe 

would continue to expand indefinitely; more mass in the universe, with 

resulting greater gravitational forces, would eventually halt and reverse 

the expansi’on. Dr. Robert E. Williams and Dr. Ray J. Weymann studied 

clouds of gas in the vicinity of certain quasars and found that the clouds 

were associated not directly with the quasars but with the cluster of 

galaxies that contained the quasar. (NSF Release PR76-35) 

27 April: Marshall Space Flight Center announced shipment of the first 

production segment of a motor case for the Space Shuttle ‘solid-fuel 

rocket motor from the manufacturer (Ladish Co. of Cudahy, Wis.) to the 

Cal-Doran Metallurgical Services plant at Los Angeles, where it would 

undergo heat treatment and cleaning before being forwarded to Rohr 

Industries at Chula Vista, Calif. Rohr-subcontractor to prime contractor Thiokol Corp.’s Wasatch Div. in Utah-would process the cylindrical segment, with a finished weight of about 5060 kg, for delivery to 

Thiokol in Sept. 1976. Thiokol would load the solid propellants into 4 

motor-case segments over 3 m in dia. and 45.5 m long, each holding 

about 500 000 kg of propellant. The 4 segments joined would stretch to 

more than 35 m and constitute about three fourths of the solid-fuel 

rocket booster. Each launch of the Shuttle would use 2 boosters, burning 

from ignition on the pad to burnout at an altitude of about 42 km; at that 

point, the SRBS would be separated and descend by parachute into the 

ocean for recovery, refueling, and reuse. (MSFC Release 76-76) 

0 Observations from NASA’s airborne Kuiper observatory by a group of Corne11 University scientists reported the first occultation, or eclipse, of a 

star by a planet observed from above the lower layers of earth’s atmos82 
ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 April 

phere. The occultation was observed from an altitude of 12.4 km over 

the Atlantic near Bermuda, using the 1 -m telescope to view the passage 

of Mars between the earth and the star Epsilon in the constellation 

Gemini. Light from the star passed through the Martian atmosphere 

before reaching earth; changes in the light after it passed through the 

planet’s atmosphere would give astronomers new information about the 

density and composition of that atmosphere, thought to consist of argon 

rather than water and carbon dioxide which had been frozen into the 

Martian polar caps. The two unmanned Viking spacecraft scheduled for 

Mars landing later this year would also measure the argon present in the 

Mars atmosphere. (NSF Release ~R76-36) 

28 April: A model of a nuclear reactor developed by NASA for space applications, using a gaseous rather than a solid nuclear fuel, had begun tests 

at the Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory, NASA announced. A reactor 

using gaseous fuel could operate at temperatures that would melt solidfuel rods; the higher operating temperature would make the gaseous 

reactor potentially more efficient than conventional solid-core reactors. 

Also, the gaseous fuel would permit continuous reprocessing of the fuel, 

eliminating the need for a separate reprocessing plant required for solid 

fuel; the predicted efficiency would translate into reduced mass and 

weight in space applications. Nuclear-energized laser research by NASA 

indicated that power from a gaseous reactor could be generated as laser 

beams, offering the prospect of a new space technology by which energy 

from a nuclear-power station in space might be transmitted over large 

distances, using laser beams, to users on space platforms, lunar bases, or 

space ships for propulsion. The tests were designed to use hardware 

salvaged from an earlier NASA-Atomic Energy Commission nuclearrocket program. (NASA Release 76-76) 

29 April: Rear Admiral Stuart J. Evans had been named NASA’s Assistant 

Administrator for Procurement, effective 1 June, NASA announced. Adm. 

Evans, the Deputy Chief of Naval Procurement, would assume his new 

post after retiring from the Navy 31 May 1976. He would succeed Rear 

Admiral Kenneth L. Woodfin (Ret.), present Assistant Administrator for 

Procurement, who had announced his plans to leave NASA after a year’s 

service to join a private firm. Adm. Woodfin had been Deputy Chief of 

Naval Material (Procurement and Production) before coming to NASA. 

(NASA Releases 76-68, 76-78) 

Tass reported a new development in U.S.-Soviet scientific and technical 

cooperation in a joint oceanographic experiment called Polymode to 

study vortex formations in the ocean. Professor Alan Robinson of Harvard University, heading a delegation of U.S. oceanographers to a plenary 

meeting of the Polymode organizing committee, said the mission would 

help crack the secrets of the ocean and place its resources at the service 

of mankind. Scientists had theorized that ocean vortexes, like cyclones 

in the atmosphere, had substantial influence on weather all over the 

globe. Work on Polymode would begin in mid-1977, with the northern 

area of research in the North Atlantic, 1000 km west of the Azores, and 

the southern area 200 to 300 km north of the Antilles. (FBIS, Tass in 

English, 29 Apr 76) 

83 
April ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 

30 April: Venus-whose dense atmosphere had prevented observation of the 

surface, except by radar-might be as tectonically active as Mars, and 

possibly as active as the earth, researchers at JPL’s Goldstone tracking 

station announced. As reported in Science magazine, new highresolution maps from 2 different radiotelescopes disclosed the planet’s 

surface with enough detail to permit a study of its geology. A series of 

8 maps taken by the 64-m steerable dish at Goldstone revealed a 

1500-km-long trough near Venus’s equator comparable to large earth 

rift systems such as the East African, giving “strong evidence of extensional tectonic activity” on Venus. Evidence of a fault movement seemed 

to appear in another Goldstone map showing a long arc-shaped mountain 

range crossed and bowed by another linear feature. A high-resolution 

image obtained at the Arecibo observatory in P.R. showed a large part 

of the Venus northern hemisphere including a basin-like feature 

about 1000 km across with a bright sharp rim; “the shape is wrong” for 

an impact basin, according to the Arecibo report. The new maps raised 

as many questions as they answered, Science commented. (Science, 

30 Apr 76, 454) 

0 Long-term directions and opportunities in civil aviation-including passenger air travel by rotorcraft froin small urban-center airports, or 

intercontinental air transportation on hypersonic craft rated environmentally acceptable-were projected in a NASA study, “Outlook for 

Aeronautics,” announced by the agency as the result of its study on the 

role it should play in research and development of aviation and the 

technical advances that might be needed. Relatively few major new 

developments could be expected through the early 1980s because of 

economic setbacks and environmental pressures, the agency said, but, 

with adequate research and technology investments, new opportunities 

should arise in the period 1985-2000. Demand for passenger transportation should grow from 250 million annually to about 1 billion annually 

by the year 2000; by the late 1980s, air traffic should exceed the 

capacity of the present airport system. Congestion should lead to development of short-haul aircraft using smaller airports; increasing costs 

would result in greater efficiency and economy with improved safety in 

subsonic aircraft, the report said. (NASA Release 76-78) 

During April: Air Force cold-weather tests of an air-cushion landing system 

for use on large transport aircraft were completed after 4 wk at a site in 

Canada. The device, which resembled an upside-down life raft installed 

under the fuselage, was made of rubber and nylon; it measured about 

10 m long and about 4 m wide. The elastic container was filled with air 

from two engines mounted under the wings; air forced out through more 

than 6800 holes on the bottom surface created an air bearing between 

the landing surface and the trunk. The cushion system, successfully 

demonstrated in the late 1960s on a smaller single-engine aircraft, had 

the advantage of exerting a very small amount of pressure over the entire 

landing surface as contrasted to conventional landing systems. Further 

tests of the system would be conducted on the twin-engine short-takeoffand-landing (STOL) aircraft. (AFSC Newsreview, Apr 76, 15) 

84 
ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 April 

0 Bicentennial year 1976 also marked the 50th birthday of scheduled-airline 

service in the U.S., the National Aeronautic Association reported. On 

13 April 1925, Henry Ford had started an air-freight service between 

Detroit and Chicago, first such commercial flights on a regular schedule. 

Upon passage of the Air Commerce Act of 1926, one of NAA’s founding 

members, William P. MacCracken, Jr., took office as the first U.S. 

Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Aeronautics. By 1931, airlines 

were spanning the country; by 1950, US. airlines carried 19 million 

passengers 16 billion km, and in 1975 they carried more than 200 million passengers 263 billion km-amounting to almost 80% of intercity 

public passenger travel in the U.S. Airlines also accounted for 93% of 

travel to overseas destinations. In 1976, the US. scheduled-airline fleet 

included 2200 jet aircraft serving communities nationwide with 13 000 

daily flights. (NAA News, Apr 76, 3) 

85 

May 1976 

1 May: NASA announced issuance of a patent to Richard T. Whitcomb, an 

aerospace technologist at Langley Research Center, for an aircraft wing 

to be used at subsonic speeds. The new wing, called a supercritical or 

“upside down” wing, was described as increasing speed without need for 

additional power and as suitable for any aircraft flying near the speed of 

sound. Whitcomb last year received $25 000 for the invention from 

NASA’s Inventions and Contributions Board. (MT, 1 May 76, 31) 

3 May: The European aerospace industry was frustrated in attempting to 

increase its share of commercial and military aircraft sales, said Robert 

B. Hotz, editor-in-chief, in an editorial in Aviation Week magazine. 

Although maintenance of a viable European aerospace industry would be 

in the best interest of the Western world, Hotz said, attempts to organize 

it on a truly international competitive scale had emphasized inherent 

weaknesses and failed to achieve fiscal success. Recent developmentsnationalization of the British aircraft industry, and French moves toward 

a transatlantic rather than a cross-channel cooperation-had intensified 

the problems, characterized by higher wage scales and lower productivity. Suggestions for improvement included organizations based on commercial and technical considerations, rather than on political boundaries 

and restrictions; marketing goals based on the broadest markets possible, 

rather than on narrow domestic requirements; and controlling labor costs 

that had priced European products out of the export market and had held 

production to a rate below that needed to fill international market requirements. (Av W,4, 3 May 76, 5) 

4 May: NASA launched Lageos -a laser geodynamic satellite-from Western Test Range on a Delta rocket at 3 am CDT (0800 GMT) into a nearcircular orbit with 5940-km apogee, 5845-km perigee, inclination of 

109.8O, and period of 225.5 min. Lageos, resembling a “cosmic golfball” 60 cm in diameter and weighing 41 1 kg, would act in space as a 

sophisticated mirror reflecting laser beams directed at it by stations on 

the ground; scientists timing the round trip of the laser beams would be 

able to detect movement of the earth‘s surface as small as 2 cm. The 

3-yr phase 1 of the Lageos mission would validate laser-ranging techniques as compared with long-baseline interferometry and lunar laser 

ranging; phase 2 would consist of application of phase- 1 techniques 

continuously for the usable life of the passive satellite. Although Lageos 

was not expected to fall back to earth for at least 8 million yr, and 

contained no moving parts or electronics to wear out, the 426 laser 

reflectors on its surface would be eroded in the space environment 

probably within 50 yr. (NASA Release 76-67; WFC Release 76-82; MOR 

87 
May ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 

E-639-76-01 [prelaunch] 28 Apr 76, [postlaunch] 27 May 76; NIT, 

5 May 76, 30; W Post, 5 May 76, A-8) 

5 May: Os0 8, an orbiting solar observatory launched 21 June 1975, had 

performed without failure of any subsystem except a redundant solar 

sensor, and was judged successful, according to a postlaunch mission 

operations report. Primary mission objectives were high-resolution spatial and spectral observations of the solar chromosphere and transition 

regions, obtained by the pointed experiments aboard the observatory; 

secondary mission objectives were met with “substantial numbers” of 

observations of solar x-rays, earth airglow, and cosmic x-ray background 

radiation. At launch, Os0 8 carried the most comprehensive package of 

cosmic x-ray experiments ever included in a single payload, including the 

first satellite instrument containing large-area thin plastic window detectors to measure ultrasoft x-rays; the first high-sensitivity crystal spectrometer flown to measure cosmic x-ray sources with extremely high 

spectral resolution; and the first satellite experiment flown to measure 

x-ray polarization of cosmic sources with high sensitivity. (MOR S-82 1 - 

75-09 [postlaunch], 10 May 76) 

Agreements between the French government and the European Space 

Agency for use of launch facilities at Kourou, French Guiana, were 

signed in Paris by Michel d’ornano, minister for industry and research, 

and Roy Gibson, director general of ESA. The Kourou facilities igclude 

the Guiana Space Centre belonging to France’s Centre National d’Etudes 

Spatiales (CNES) and the Ariane launching site belonging to ESA that 

replaced the former equatorial base belonging to the defunct ELDO organization [see 11 Jan.]. The meeting of the European Space Conference 

in April 1975 had decided that all ESA member states would contribute 

to the costs of the Guiana space center until the end of 1980. Ariane 

(the ESA heavy launcher now under development) would provide Europe 

with a satellite launch capability of its own after 1980. (ESA newsletter, 

Aug 76, 2) 

0 The Energy Research and Development Administration announced 

plans to launch a giant manned and instrumented balloon, Da Vinci IZ, 

between 24 May and mid-June to determine physical and chemical 

changes in air pollutants over distances of several hundred km from their 

source. The helium-filled balloon more than 70 m high-equaling, with 

its gondola, the height of a 15-story building, and carrying the same 

crew of 4 that flew on Da Vinci I in November 1974-would fly for up 

to 36 hr at altitudes from 3 to 9 km from St. Louis, Mo., to a point in 

Ill., Ky., or 0. Da Vinci Z flew from Las Cruces to Wagon Mound, N.M., 

in 12 hr to prove the feasibility of using a manned instrumented balloon 

for lower atmosphere research. Crew members were Dr. Rudolf J. Engelmann of NOAA; Otis Imboden, photographer from the National Geographic 

Society; Jimmie Craig, pilot from the U.S. Naval Weapons Center; and 

Mrs. Vera Simons, project consultant and experienced balloonist, who 

originated the idea for the project. The crew would use a variety of 

instruments to conduct more than 20 experiments to show what happens 

to a plume of polluted air as it moves across several states. (ERDA Release 

76-128) 

88 
ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 

6 Muy: NASA announced award of a grant to Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, 

Troy, N.Y., to establish a center for the study of new composite materials 

and their application to the development of more efficient commercial 

transport aircraft. The grant would continue a relationship that began 

with establishment of a NASA program in materials engineering at RPI in 

196 1. The new grant for research into composites-very strong lightweight materials combining various substances, such as fiberglass bonded 

with epoxy-would emphasize more exotic composites using carbon 

fibers that exhibited high tensile properties. The potential structureweight reduction of up to 30% in future aircraft using composites could 

translate into a 10 to 15% reduction in aircraft fuel consumption. 

First-year funding for the RPI center would be $300 000. (NASA Release 

0 The FAA announced plans to test a computer-based system for predicting 

potential hazards from wake vortices along aircraft approach and departure paths. The tests would take place at Chicago’s O’Hare International 

Airport and would run for several mo in an attempt to validate results of 

thousands of measurements previously taken at Kennedy Airport in New 

York, London’s Heathrow Airport, and Denver’s Stapleton Airport, to 

establish how long vortices linger on runways in relation to wind speed 

and direction. Additional tests at O’Hare would check out a system for 

detecting and tracking wind shear, another hazard to landing and departing aircraft. (FAA Release 76-43) 

7 May: NASA announced plans to launch a second maritime satellite (Marisat) 

for the Comsat General Corp. later this month, as part of a system to 

provide communications to the U.S. Navy, commercial shipping, and 

offshore industries. The first satellite of the system, Marisat 1, was 

successfully launched 19 Feb. into an orbit over the Atlantic at 15OW 

longitude, where it had provided UHF service to the Navy since 25 Mar. 

NASA hoped to inaugurate fulltime commercial voice and data communications, using both Marisats, by 1 July. A third satellite had been constructed as a spare. (NASA Release 76-83) 

0 A launch-abort system for the Space Shuttle, for use in case of malfunction 

during the first 2.5 min of flight, was “quietly” removed by NASA 3 yr 

ago although such a system had been designed into the Shuttle late in 

197 1, according to the Wushington Post. (In 2.5 min the Shuttle would 

reach a 40-km altitude from which it could “fly” to earth.) Staff writer 

Thomas O’Toole said that in 1973 NASA “reversed itself and dropped the 

launch-abort system . . . a decision understood to have met with dissent 

inside the space agency.” The abort system designed for the Shuttle 

consisted of 2 huge solid-fuel rocket motors, one on each side of the 

Shuttle tail, that could be fired to separate the spacecraft and its occupants from the booster engines and main-engine fuel tanks in case of 

trouble; however, the abort motors weighed 43,500 kg-half as heavy 

as the entire 68 000-kg Shuttle carrying an average 18 000-kg payload-and even after they fired, the Shuttle would fall for 2 or 3 sec 

before being lifted away from the boosters. 

Elwood W. Land, director of system operations for the Shuttle program, defended the decision to remove the abort system, saying that it 

76-82) 

89 
May ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 

was not needed because of redundancy built into the spacecraft and its 

engine. Land noted that, in 58 manned space flights, neither the US. nor 

the USSR had resorted to a launch-abort system to rescue spacecraft 

crews, notwithstanding 2 close calls: Gemini 6 astronauts had almost 

fired their ejection seats when their engine shut down on the pad in 1965, 

and the Soyuz 18 cosmonauts never reached earth orbit but flew their 

spacecraft to a landing in southeast Siberia. The 1-man Mercury capsule 

had a rocket-boosted escape system to carry the spacecraft cabin away 

from its rocket engines and fuel tanks; the 2-man Gemini had ejection 

seats to fire astronauts from the cabin like jet pilots from disabled 

aircraft; and the 3-man Apollo carried a large solid-fuel rocket motor 

that could pull the 18 000-kg spacecraft away from its tower of engines 

sec after trouble hit the engines or fuel tanks. Only remaining provision 

for the Shuttle was a pair of ejection seats for pilot and copilot of the first 

4 orbital test flights; the seats would be removed when 5 more crew 

members were added for subsequent tests and for operational flights. 

“There is no way to install 7 ejection seats in the shuttle,” the article 

noted. (W Post, 7 May 76, A-3) 

0 Bradford Johnston was appointed NASA’s Associate Administrator for Applications, succeeding Charles W. Mathews who retired 27 Feb., NASA 

announced. Johnston’s appointment would be effective 7 June. Now a 

private management consultant in Wis., he received a B.A. in economics 

from Wabash College and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School. 

His NASA responsibilities would include planning and directing agency 

programs to identify and demonstrate useful applications of engineering 

and science techniques. (NASA Release 76-84; Hq announcement 

10 May 76) * The Smithsonian Institution awarded its Langley gold medal for aeronautics 

to James E. Webb, former head of the National Aeronautics and Space 

Administration, and the late Grover Loening. Webb was cited for management skills in leading the U.S. to “pre-eminence in space flight research and development.” Loening [see 29 Feb.] was honored as “a 

pioneer aeronautical inventor” who developed the Loening amphibian 

plane and the design of the strut-braced monoplane. (W Post, 8 May 

10 May: NASA announced that a task team headed by Marshall Space Flight 

Center, and including representatives from Kennedy Space Center and 

Johnson Space Center, would assist the Air Force’s Space and Missile 

Systems Organization (SAMSO) in evaluating industry proposals for validating the development of the Space Shuttle interim upper stage (IUS). 

The IUS, an expendable solid-fuel rocket stage capable of launching one 

or more spacecraft, would be carried into low earth orbit in the bay of 

the Space Shuttle orbiter; after deployment, it would be fired to carry the 

spacecraft into orbits of from 800 to 35 000 km, or to earth-escape 

trajectories for interplanetary missions. The basic IUS developed to meet 

DO[) objectives would be altered as needed to meet NASA-unique requirements (planetary missions, or economical delivery of several smaller 

satellites). MSFC would be responsible for establishing the NASA-unique 

76, E-3) 

90 
ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 May 

requirements; its task team would be responsible for planning and coordinating NASA’s IUS activities; KSC would be responsible for IUS launch 

operations, and JX for IUS-orbiter integration and flight operations. The 

Air Force was expected to award a contract for Ius development by Sept. 

1976. (MSFC Release 76-89) 

NASA announced selection of McDonnell Douglas Corp. and the Singer 

Company’s Simulations Products Division for parallel negotiations, leading to award of a contract to one of the companies for maintenance, 

modification, and operational support of Johnson Space Center’s simulator complex to be used in training flight crews for the Space Shuttle. 

The 2-yr contract beginning 1 July would provide for optional additional 

periods of 24 mo and 6 mo respectively. The training complex, consisting 

initially of a Shuttle procedures simulator and a crew procedures evaluation simulator, would have added to it an orbiter aerofight simulator and 

a Shuttle mission simulator. General Electric and Computer Sciences 

Corp. alsosubmitted proposals. (NASA Release 76-87; JsC Release 76-30) 

Sen. John Glenn (D-O.), first American to orbit the earth in Mercury 6, 

said he would be available as a running mate for Jimmy Carter in the 

national elections but would not pursue the vice-presidential nomination. 

Glenn said Carter was clearly front runner in the Ohio primary scheduled 

for 8 June, and that his “ship is already in.” (NYT, 11 May 76, 13) 

0 The European Space Agency announced plans for a NASA presentation on 

current status of the Space Transportation System to be held in Paris 12 

to 14 May, for about 250 representatives of governments, national 

institutes and agencies, and industry of the ESA member states. Opened 

by Roy Gibson, director general of ESA, the program would be introduced 

by Arnold W. Frutkin, NASA’s Assistant Administrator for International 

Affairs. Other NASA speakers would be John F. Yardley, Associate 

Administrator, Office of Space Flight; Chester M. Lee, director of space 

transportation system operations; and Harold E. Gartrell, deputy manager of the Shuttle payload integration’ office. The Space Transportation 

System would include the US. Space Shuttle and the ESA Spacelab, as well 

as a new upper propulsion stage and a u.S.-developed tracking and data 

system. ESA representatives scheduled to present the Spacelab portion of 

the 3-day program would include Bernard Deloffre, director of the 

Spacelab program for ESA; Heinz Stoewer, Spacelab project manager; 

Jan J. Burger, Spacelab payload adviser; and Jacques Collet of ESA’S 

planning directorate. (ESA release 10 May 76) 

10-12 Muy: The Senate considered and passed H.R. 13172 authorizing 

NASA $16 800 000 for increased pay costs for the “interim period” 

1 July through 30 Sept. 1976. The authorization-part of the budget for 

fiscal year 1976-supplemented NASA’s research and program management request, and was $3 186 000 less than the original request of 

$19 986 000. (NASA Ofc of Budget Ops, Chron Hist FY 76, 16 June 76) 

11 May: President Ford signed legislation reestablishing the post of White 

House science adviser, a job abolished by President Nixon 3 yr previously. The signing took place in the White House rose garden, at a 

ceremony attended by leading scientists. President Ford had asked for 

91 
May ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 

legislation to set up the position and the White House Office of Science 

and Technology on the recommendation of Vice President Rockefeller 

and at the urging of major scientific groups; the job had previously 

existed under executive order. Originally established by President Roosevelt during World War 11, the position lapsed until 1957 when President 

Eisenhower reactivated it after the launch of Sputnik. President Ford 

was expected to make a early choice of science adviser, who would direct 

the Office of Science and Technology Policy and would also be a member 

of the Domestic Council and adviser to the National Security Council. 

( W Post, 12 May 76, A-21) 

0 Communications Satellite Corp., the international telecommunications consortium, had begun contract negotiations with US. manufacturers on 

building a new generation of comsats with a capacity of about 12 000 

simultaneous telephone calls plus television, to meet growing demand for 

international communications expected by the early 1980s, the annual 

meeting of ComSat stockholders was told. Joseph V. Charyk, president 

of ComSat, noted that the 2 new Intelsat IV-A satellites scheduled for 

launch this year had a capacity of about 6250 simultaneous telephone 

calls, plus television; the first such satellite-Zntelsat I, the 1965 Early 

Bird-could carry either 200 telephone calls or one Tv channel. Charyk 

said negotiations had been held with Hughes Aircraft (maker of Intelsat 

IV), TRW Inc., and a division of Ford Motor Co. for construction of the 

new satellites. However, he said, ComSat’s share of future international 

satellite operations would depend on the outcome of its appeal from an 

FCC order of last Dec. calling for sharp reductions in rates. Had the FCC 

rates been in effect for all of 1975, ComSat profits would have been 

$1.60 a share rather than $4.62 a share, he said. ( W Post, 12 May 76, 

The Air Force awarded a $1 million supplement of a previous cost-plusincentive-fee contract to General Electric’s Aircraft Engine Group at 

Cincinnati, O., a labor-surplus area, for extended flight-test spare parts 

support for B- 1 aircraft engines, the Department of Defense announced. 

(DOD Release 2 13-76) 

0 Clocking the speed of plasma at 50 km per sec in the active regions of the 

sun was “among the most interesting results” of investigations carried 

out aboard the USSR space station Salyut 4, Dr. Konstantin Feoktistov 

wrote in the Bulletin of the USSR Academy of Sciences. Feoktistov, 

one of the cosmonauts on the flight of Voskhod 1 in Oct. 1964, was 

quoted in a Tass broadcast as saying that data from the two manned 

expeditions to Salyut 4 were still being processed, but that the missions 

had established man’s ability to “work well in conditions of weightlessness” for more than 2 mo. Citing the stay of Pyotr Klimuk and Vitaly 

Sevastyanov aboard the station from 25 May to 25 July last year, and 

describing the use of exercises and pressurized suits to maintain health 

during that time, Feoktistov said the mission results offered hope that 

orbital stations and piloted space flights would be further developed. 

(FBIS, Tass in English, 11 May 76) 

D-9) 

92 
ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 

12 May: NASA announced a first-time use of satellite relay of medical data 

from a moving ambulance to a hospital. Scientists and engineers at the 

National Space Technology Laboratories (NSTL) at Bay St. Louis, Miss., 

worked with General Electric’s Science Services Laboratory to develop 

a special portable transmitter and antenna that could continuously transmit voice and medical data-including electrocardiograms-from a 

moving ambulance to the satellite and down to a hospital receiving 

station. During demonstrations of the system on a highway near Bay St. 

Louis, communications from the ambulance had been received as far 

away as N. Mex. The NSTL system, using the data-collection system on 

Goes 3, was similar to a telemedicine system being demonstrated by 

Johnson Space Center at the Papago Indian Reservation in N. Mex., and 

use of the Ats 6 for medical communications in Alaska. Use of an 

inexpensive receiver at the medical center could make remote health 

care economically feasible; the system might eventually lead to development of a special medical satellite to relay emergency data from 

remote hospitals, ships, offshore oil platforms, and other remote locations 

to major medical centers for consultation. (NASA Release 76-86) * A joint n.S.-British astronomy project to study the remnant of an exploded 

star failed when a rocket-motor malfunction kept the x-ray telescope 

aboard from acquiring its target, a supernova remnant called Puppis A 

some 10 trillion km from earth. An English Skylark sounding rocket fired 

from the Woomera Rocket Range in Australia carried a NASA-designed 

flight telescope, fabricated and assembled at Marshall Space Flight Center, to obtain information on evolution of stars and the formation of 

neutron stars. Although the telescope assembly, as well as the detectors 

and electronics supplied by the United Kingdom, worked perfectly, a 

hole burned through one side of the rocket’s aft end produced more spin 

than the despin device could offset, said Richard Hoover of MSFC, principal US. investigator for the project. “Even with the residual spin, we 

scanned a portion of the sky in the area of the prime target and acquired 

data on the diffuse x-ray background [a secondary objective] . . . but we 

couldn’t lock on Puppis A in order to get a high-resolution map as 

desired.” The payload was recovered by parachute about 160 km downrange in excellent condition, Hoover said. (NASA Releases 76-62, 

76-92; MSFC Release 76-54; MFSC Star, 17 Mar 76, 3) * NASA announced plans for a 2-day course, “Technology Exchange Between the Textile Industry and Government,” to be held at Clemson 

University, Clemson, S.C., to acquaint industry executives with new 

developments in textile research stemming from government-sponsored 

programs. Co-sponsored by NASA’s Technology Utilization Office, the 

College of Industrial Management and Textile Science at Clemson, and 

the Economic Development Administration, the course would offer discussions by experts from industry, government, and the academic community on a wide range of subjects including new fiber developments, 

fire-retardant materials, and innovations in textile manufacture. Course 

themes would include industry -government cooperation, new needs and 

93 
May ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 

opportunities for cooperation, industrial developments adopted by the 

government, industry-government information systems presently available, and consumers’ choices at retail. (NASA Release 76-88) 

13 Muy: Ames Research Center announced award of a $939 000 contract 

to Battelle Memorial Institute of Columbus, O., for aid in administering 

an early-warning aviation safety system for the Federal Aviation Administration. Under the 2-yr contract, Battelle would implement a reporting 

system to obtain from persons in the national aviation system information 

on potential threats to flight safety; the reports would be processed to 

preserve anonymity of the informants and to make the data quickly 

usable to avoid or reduce aircraft accidents. An aviation-safety reporting 

system instituted by FAA in May 1975 had met with reluctance on the 

part of the public to report directly to a regulatory agency. NASA, invited 

to act as a third party, agreed to act as collection point for safety reports 

to encourage participation by pilots, controllers, and others using the 

nation’s airways. (NASA Release 76-52; ARC Release 76-34) 

* Successful testing of a solar receiver developed with heat-transfer technology used by Rocketdyne Division, Rockwell International Corp., for 

the US. space program was “a major step forward in development of 

solar electricity generating systems,” said Dr. Jack Silverman, director 

of energy systems for Rocketdyne. Using a large field of mirrors individually focusing the sun’s rays to a central receiver on a high tower, where 

the concentrated heat served to boil water into superheated steam, the 

system generated the steam at 1366 K and 738 newtons per cm’. The 

central receiver was exposed to high heatflows approaching those encountered in rocket engines, and many times higher than those in conventional steam boilers. The development program was sponsored by the 

Energy Research and Development Administration; Rocketdyne was also 

under contract to McDonnell Douglas and ERDA to develop a similar 

receiver and thermal storage subsystems for a 10 000-kw solar 

electricity-generating pilot plant to be in operation by the end of the 

decade. (Rockwell Release RD-9) 

13-15 May: NASA launched Comstar 1 A-1, first of a series of three Comsat 

General Corp. satellites planned to provide 14 400 two-way high-quality 

voice circuits in a telephone-communications network serving Hawaii, 

Alaska, Puerto Rico, and contiguous U.S. An Atlas-Centaur fired from 

ETR at 6:28 pm EDT 13 May put the Hughes Aircraft-built comsat in an 

elliptical transfer orbit; firing of the apogee motor at 6:42 pm 15 May 

would put the Comstar on station over the equator at 128OW, south of 

San Francisco, at just over 35 000-km altitude, by 4 June. The spinstabilized cylinder 6.1 m high and 2.4 m in diameter, weighing about 

816 kg in orbit, with 14 000 solar cells mounted on the cylinder surface, 

would carry 24 radio repeaters each capable of handling 1200 one-way 

voice channels in the 4- to 6-ghz range, using a technique of cross 

polarization that would double satellite capacity by more efficient use of 

the frequency spectrum. Comsat General Corp. would own and operate 

the satellites and associated earth facilities, leasing to American Telephone and Telegraph Co. and to GTE Satellite Corp., a subsidiary of 

General Telephone and Electronics Corp. The $43-million satellite was 

94 
ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 May 

called Comstar D-1 after achieving orbit. (NASA Release 76-75; NYT, 

13 May 76, 51; Comsat General Release CG 76-115; MOR M-491- 

201-76-01 [postlaunch] 27 May 76) 

14 Muy Dryden Flight Research Center announced it would begin a series 

of YF-17 test flights in mid-May to aid designers of future highly maneuverable aircraft. The YF-17, built by Northrop Corp. for the Air Force’s 

lightweight fighter program, is a twin-engine aircraft incorporating many 

innovations to give it high performance and maneuverability. Objectives 

of the NASA research program would be to collect in-flight data on 

pressure around the engine nozzles and afterbody, for comparison with 

wind-tunnel data to improve prediction techniques for future fighteraircraft design; and to continue NASA studies on improved maneuvering 

for fighter aircraft in the areas of buffet, stability and control, acceleration, and handling. Under a $255 000 contract funded jointly by NASA 

and the U.S. Navy, the Y~-17 would be flown for about 8 wk by Gary 

Krier, 1)FKC’s YF-17 project pilot. (DFRC Release 7-76) 

15 Muy: A U.S.-European Space Shuttle project starting in 1980 would 

recruit 30 more astronauts-including women and participants from the 

USSR-for the planned 200 flights in the project, u.s spokesmen said at 

a Paris news conference held at the end of a 3-day meeting between NASA 

and European Space Agency officials. John F. Yardley, NASA Associate 

Administrator for Manned Space Flight, told newsmen that NASA was 

already training more than 30 astronauts for this program. Each flight, 

carrying 3 U.S. astronauts and up to 4 Europeans on space-science 

missions lasting between a week and a month, would cost between 

$18 million and $2 1 million; European scientists had expressed concern 

that the flights would cost so much that less money would be left for 

scientific experiments than they had hoped. Arnold W. Frutkin, NASA’s 

Assistant Administrator for International Affairs, when asked if the 

Soviets might be involved in the project, said, “We have made it clear 

in informal discussions that this would be available to them.” Those using 

the Shuttle would be expected to foot the bill, officials emphasized. (NYT, 

15 May 76, 2; W Post, 15 May 76, A-15; W Star, 16 May 76, A-3) 

17 Muy: SPAR 11, a Black Brant VC sounding rocket carrying materialsprocessing experiments, was launched from the White Sands Missile 

Range in the second of a series of 15 planned during the next 5 yr in the 

SPAR (space-processing applications rocket) program managed by Marshall Space Flight Center. The 225.7-kg payload consisted of 10 experiments, 6 similar to those carried on SPAR I launched 11 Dec. 1975; the 

rocket reached an altitude of 188 km, providing about 5 min of nearweightlessness during the coast phase, and the payload was recovered by 

parachute and delivered to the investigators for analysis. MSFC employees 

Carolyn Griner and Dr. Mary Helen Johnston were principal investigators for 2 experiments, both on dendrite remelting and macrosegregation. Other experimenters were Robert B. Pond (Johns Hopkins 

University), 2 experimenls on solidification of lead antimony eutectic; 

Dr. James W. Patten (Battelle-Northwest Research Institute), 2 experiments on producing closed-cell metal foams; Dr. SA. Gelles (Battelle 

95 
May ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 

Memorial Institute), agglomeration in immiscible liquids; Dr. H. Ahlborn 

(University of Hamburg), behavior of aluminum alloys under zero gravity; and Dr. Louis Raymond (Aerospace Corp.), 2 experiments in casting 

thoria dispersion-strengthened composites at zero gravity. (MSFC Release 

76-83, 76-94) 

0 Payload responsibilities for the first 6 flights of the Space Shuttle had been 

allocated by NASA, according to Aviation Vk and Space Technology 

magazine. The first 6 orbital missions scheduled for 1979-1980 would 

be verifications of the overall Shuttle system; the first flight would carry 

no payload except a 45 000-kg data-analysis system, but the other 5 

flight-test missions would carry scientifically meaningful payloads. NASA 

had assigned the second and fifth flight tests to its Office of Applications; 

the fourth and sixth, to the Office of Space Science; and the third, to the 

Office of Aeronautics and Space Technology. The Office of Applications 

would be involved with space-processing hardware, and the Office of 

Space Science would oversee the use of existing research instruments; 

the OAST had been considering a space “workbench” on which various 

instruments could be deployed for 3- to 9-mo periods. The orbital 

flight-test missions would begin with a duration of only a few orbits, which 

should increase to about 7 days by the sixth flight mission; the first 4 

flights would land at Dryden Flight Research Center, and the latter 2 at 

Kennedy Space Center. (AvWk, 17 May 76, 21) 

0 Astronaut Paul J. Weitz, Captain, USN, would retire from military service 

1 June but would remain in his present job with the space agency as a 

civilian, NASA announced. Weitz, pilot on Skylab 2 (the first manned 

mission 25 May to 22 June 1973), was part of the crew who saved the 

mission by erecting a “parasol” shade to reduce overheating caused by 

damage to Skylab 1 during its launch, and by unjamming a solar-power 

wing to provide enough electrical power for their mission and 2 follow-on 

missions of 59 and 84 days respectively. Retiring after 22 yr Navy 

service, Weitz was currently working on payloads and flight-crew documentation for the Space Shuttle. (JSC Release 76-33) 

International golfing great Arnold Palmer was scheduled to pilot a Learjet 

36 “business aircraft” from Denver, Colo., for an assault on the speedaround-the-world record that had not been surpassed for 10 yr. A Learjet 

24 had circled the earth in 1966 in 65 hr 38 min 39 sec elapsed time, 

at an average speed of better than 563 kph (50 hr 20 min actual flying 

time) including 17 intermediary stops. The National Aeronautic Association had sanctioned the new attempt, designating journalist Robert 

Serling as official onboard observer. Two additional pilots would accompany Palmer and Serling on their 2-day flight, scheduled to cover nearly 

37 000 km, under the auspices of the Aviation Space Writers Association. Nine stops were planned for the new flight: Logan Airport at 

Boston; LeBourget at Paris; Mehrabad Airport at Tehran, Iran; Bandanaraike International Airport at Colombo, Sri Lanka; Kemayoran Airport, Jakarta, Indonesia; Manila International Airport; Wake Island; 

Honolulu International Airport; and Arapahoe County Airport, Denver. 

Besides NAA sponsorship, the flight was sanctioned by the American 

96 
ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 

Revolution Bicentennial Association and the Aviation Historical Foundation. (NAA newsletter, May 1976, 1) 

18 May: Ames Research Center had contracted with Goodyear Aerospace 

Corp. of Akron, O., for studies of 2 lighter-than-air vehicle concepts for 

civilian use, NASA announced. New requirements for transporting heavy 

loads in power-plant construction, transferring ship cargoes to shore 

points, and providing quiet energy-saving intercity transportation had 

revived interest in lighter-than-air vehicles, formerly the only means of 

nonstop rapid travel across the world‘s oceans. Use of airships for 

military missions also had come under consideration; principal potential 

use was transport of ship cargoes over a beach to shore points. NASA, in 

conjunction with the u.S. Navy, was also studying military applications 

for conventional airships that would use the great endurance potential of 

the airship in activities such as antisubmarine warfare and sea control. 

One of the concepts under study, a feeder airliner 60 m long carrying 

80 passengers, would be used as a short-haul transport system, landing 

and taking off vertically and cruising at 160 knots. The other concept, 

a vehicle to transport large heavy payloads over comparatively short 

distances, would combine features of large dirigibles and helicopter 

rotors to provide lifting capacity far beyond that of either type of vehicle 

alone; the dirigible buoyance would lift the empty weight of the vehicle, 

and the total lifting capacity of the rotor system would lift and support 

the payload. The heavy lifter would be most likely to have immediate 

application, NASA said, because of the need for transport of heavy powergenerating equipment or other outsize industrial equipment to a remote 

destination not served by any other heavy transport systems. Increased 

engineering knowledge and better understanding of weather phenomena, 

as well as substituting inert helium for the volatile hydrogen used in 

German airships of the 1920s, would make a modern airship safe. (NASA 

Release 76-93) 

4 The European Space Agency announced completion of the launcher integration site for its Ariane launch vehicle on schedule. The site-a 

building near Paris measuring 105 m long, 50 m wide, and 33 m 

high-constructed on its own land by Aerospatiale, the contractor called 

“the industrial architect of the Ariane programme,” was for development tests and assembly, integration, and acceptance of the complete 

launcher before its dispatch to the launch site. Four Ariane flight tests 

were scheduled for 1979 and 1980. (ESA release 18 May 76) 

4 Marshall Space Flight Center and Dryden Flight Research Center officials 

signed an agreement to conduct jointly a comprehensive program of tests 

on the parachute recovery system for the Space Shuttle’s solid-fuel 

rocket booster. The program, to begin early in 1977, would consist of 

drogue-parachute tests and main-parachute tests, using single parachutes, and test deployment of the 3-parachute cluster (actual flight 

configuration) to be used in recovery of the solid rockets, largest ever 

flown. The parachutes, some 36.5 m in diameter, would be the largest 

used in the space program; Apollo spacecraft parachutes were about 

24.5 m in diameter. The Dryden center would provide the B-52 aircraft 

97 
May ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 

for the test drops, as well as the flight and maintenance crews, and would 

perform the tests over the National Parachute Test Range about an 

hour’s flight from Edwards AFB in Calif. MSFC engineers would evaluate 

the test data to determine the adequacy of the system. (NASA Release 

76-94; DFRC Release 6-76; MSFC Release 76-87) 

19 May: Arnold Palmer, piloting the Learjet “200 Yankee” named in honor 

of the U.S. Bicentennial, landed at Arapahoe County airport near Denver 

after a record-setting flight around the world that took 57 hr 25 min 42 

sec and covered 37 000 km. Palmer’s flight was 28 hr 43 min 19 sec 

faster than the longstanding record set by Arthur Godfrey and Dick 

Merrill in 1966. Accompanied by the official observer and timer for the 

National Aeronautic Assn., Robert J. Serling, and by copilots James E. 

Bir and L.L. Purkey, Palmer averaged better than 770 kph on the 

2.5-day flight that made 9 stops in 7 countries. In meeting officials at 

each of the stops, Palmer presented Bicentennial flags and bronze replicas of the Declaration of Independence; at Wake Is., he left a silver 

plaque commemorating the U.S. Marine Corps defense of the island in 

World War 11. In addition to the speed-around-the-world record, NAA 

planned to claim for the Palmer flight 18 additional records for speed 

over recognized course: e.g., Boston to Paris, Paris to Tehran, etc. Since 

he took up flying in the 1950s, champion golfer Palmer had logged about 

4500 hr as a pilot. (NAA News, July 76, 1) 

* Ground-based equipment incorporating computers that would work with 

components aboard a Shuttle orbiter to guide it to a safe landing had been 

shipped from the contractor, Cutler Hammer’s AIL Division, NASA announced. The equipment, called a microwave scanning-beam landing 

system (MSBLS), would be installed on a runway at Dryden Research 

Center, where initial flight tests of the orbiter would begin in mid-1977; 

a second set would be installed on a newly constructed runway at 

Kennedy Space Center, where initial Shuttle orbital missions would be 

launched in 1979. Both locations would be equipped for approach from 

either direction, and each system would be fully redundant, including a 

comprehensive monitoring system with automatic switchover and an 

uninterruptible power supply. As the Shuttle orbiter would descend in a 

steep glide moderated to a soft touchdown, onboard computers would 

direct the vehicle through commands to the control surfaces and must 

know the vehicle’s precise position at every instant; standard instrumentlanding electronics could not provide this information, so that the type 

of beam created by the MSBE would be needed. 

The MSBLT system would cover a total field of positions through all 

possible paths the orbiter would take, instead of providing a siigle 

straight path for the orbiter to follow; its scanning beam would sweep a 

wide flat course across the landing sector, and pulses from a ground 

transmitter would be coded to identify the exact angle at which the beam 

pointed at each instant of the sweep. A receiver in the descending orbiter 

would pick up the pulses and decode them to determine the track; the 

onboard computer would accurately compare the orbiter’s location with 

the desired location and automatically correct any discrepancy. The 

98 
ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 May 

MSBLS would provide an unprecedented degree of position-guidance accuracy. (NASA Release 76-97; JSC Release 76-35) 

0 Isaac T. Gillam Iv, NASA Hq Program Manager of Small Launch Vehicles, 

was designated Director of Space Shuttle Qperations at Dryden Flight 

Research Center, effective 23 May. In his new position, Gillam would be 

responsible for development of test support facilities, institutional support of test operations, and flight and industrial safety for test operations 

in support of Shuttle carrier-aircraft testing and orbital approach and 

landing tests conducted at DFRC. Before coming to NASA Hq in 1963, 

Gillam served in the US. Air Force as pilot, missile launch crew commander, and ROTC instructor; he had done graduate work at Tenn. State 

Univ. while serving as assistant professor of military science. From 1963 

to 1966, he was resources management specialist at NASA Hq and was 

then appointed Assistant Delta Program Manager in the Launch Vehicles 

Directorate. Named Delta Program Manager in Sept. 1968, he became 

Program Manager of Small Launch Vehicles (including Delta and Scout) 

in June 1973. He received NASA’s Distinguished Service Medal for his 

work in the launch-vehicle program. (NASA Release 76-96) 

0 The Air Force announced award of a $2 067 1 13 cost-plus-fixed-fee contract to Teledyne McCormick Selph of Hollister, Calif., for unsymmetrical dimethyl hydrazine, a chemical used in Titan missiles and NASA-USAF 

space boosters. The contracting activity was the San Antonio Logistics 

Center at Kelly AFB, Texas. (Don Release 223-76) 

In an address to the American Institute of Industrial Engineers, meeting in 

St. Louis, W.F. Rockwell, Jr., chairman of Rockwell International Corp., 

warned that the u.S. in its search for energy independence should not “go 

driving up the wrong street” but should make use of nuclear power. 

Claiming that solar power, nuclear fusion, or other exotic power sources 

were solutions for the distant future, Rockwell described nuclear energy 

as “the bridge that will allow us to make a smooth transition to those 

future energy sources” and as being “safe, clean, abundant and economical.” Rockwell noted the 6- to IO-yr period needed between the 

concept and the start-up of a power plant, adding that today’s Americans 

have roughly 36 mo to “get it all together if we’re going to have enough 

power in 1990.” (Rockwell Release R-20) 

0 Dr. Wernher von Braun was admitted to hospital in Alexandria, Va., 

14 May and was reported in fair condition yesterday, the Washington 

Post reported. Hospital spokesmen refused comment on von Braun’s 

illness, citing requests from his doctor and family. Von Braun, who left 

the government in 1972 to become a vice president of Fairchild Industries, Inc., in nearby Germantown, Md., underwent an operation for 

cancer last year at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, a hospital 

official there said. The German-born scientist, now 61, had led development of the US. space program in the early 1960s. ( W Post, 19 May 

20 May: The US. Navy launched an experimental ocean-surveillance 

satellite-part of the Whitecloud system developed by the Naval Research Laboratory-on 30 April from Vandenberg AFB aboard an Atlas 

76, B-4) 

99 
May ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 

launch vehicle, reported DefenselSpace Business Daily. The satellite 

was in a near-circular orbit of 1122-km apogee, 1100-km perigee, 

inclined 63.5’, with a period of 107.5 min. (SBD, 20 May 76, 21) 

0 NASA Hq conducted a news conference on the Viking mission to Mars, with 

Dr. Noel Hinners, Associate Administrator for Space Science; Robert 

Kraemer, director of planetary programs; Walter Jakobowski, Viking 

program manager; James Martin, Jr., Viking project manager; and 

Dr. Gerald S. Soffen, Viking project scientist, to review the mission and 

answer questions. Dr. Anthony Calio, NASA’s Deputy Associate Administrator for Space Science, opened the session by recalling the work done 

on Viking over the past 7 yr that would culminate in Viking’s reaching 

Mars within the next few weeks. The U.S. for the first time would be 

operating 4 spacecraft simultaneously, 2 in orbit and 2 on the planet’s 

surface. Kraemer mentioned Galileo’s sighting of Mars in 1609, the 

detection of ‘‘can&” on the planet’s surface by Schiaparelli and others 

in the 1800s, and Percival Lowell’s founding of the Lowell Observatory 

in 1894 followed by his publication of reports on “Mars and Its Canals” 

and “Mars as the Abode of Life.” Edgar Rice Burroughs, author of the 

Tarzan stories and “grandfather of science fiction writers,” began writing stories about civilization on Mars that had kept the public “waiting 

ever since to get down to the surface and see what is there.” Although, 

as Kraemer pointed out, 4 Mariner missions had shown that civilization 

did not actually exist on Mars, nothing had ruled out the existence of life, 

and that was a purpose of the Viking mission. 

Jakobowski reviewed the history of Voyager, Surveyor, and Viking, 

especially the 1971 Mariner flyby that revealed Mars as a dynamic 

planet. Martin, Viking project manager at Langley Research Center, said 

the 2 Viking spacecraft had been flying for a long time and had turned 

in “exceptionally good” performance; this would be the first mission to 

use optical navigation to confirm radio-tracking data, and the first set of 

results had shown the spacecraft to be “right on course.” Martin added 

that-as an expression of confidence in his team-a quiet period had 

been declared the coming week when most of the flight team would be on 

vacation; “the team needs that time off to get ready for a pretty active 

and hectic summer,” he said. A.T. (Tom) Young, Viking mission director 

at LaRC, showed slides of mission operations and possible landing sites, 

reviewing the reasons for site selection and what NASA hoped to learn in 

both scientific and engineering areas, concluding with a summary of 

expected activities during the first 20 days on Mars. Viking-mission 

audio from JPL would be available starting about 15 June. 

Dr. Soffen noted that the scientific questions about Mars covered 

more than the presence of life there, which was only one of 13 investigations to be conducted by Viking, and suggested that the press 

representatives “ought to prepare yourselves from an educational point 

of view about all the experiments other than just the biology.” The first 

question raised by the press was on the indicators of a safe landing; 

Martin replied that there would be 5-telemetry from a footpad switch; 

startup of the lander computer, accompanied by turnoff of the descentengine heaters; drop on equipment-power bus with shutoff of entry 

100 
ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 May 

equipment; and switch in data rate from the orbiter-to-lander 4-kilobit 

rate to a 16-kb rate for sending pictures to the orbiter. A question about 

turning on the backup lander computer got a detailed response involving 

detectors and switches in a complex procedure that occur when “the 

second computer hollers for help,” as Young put it. Other questions 

concerned dust storms, camera resolution, and chances of success; 

Soffen concluded by noting “if we knew the answers, we wouldn’t have 

to do this mission.” (Text, 20 May 76; NASA Releases 76-90, 76-98) 

* NASA announced delivery of experiment hardware for the first of three High 

Energy Astronomy Observatories (HEAO) to the prime contractor, TRW 

Systems of Redondo Beach, Calif. The hardware consisted of 4 experiments to survey and map x-ray sources during the 6-mo mission of 

HEAO-A in 1977. A Naval Research Laboratory experiment (Dr. Herbert 

Friedman, principal investigator) would use a large-area survey instrument to locate x-ray sources and obtain data for studying the physics and 

evolution of energy sources. An experiment built by Goddard Space 

Flight Center with assistance from the Calif. Institute of Technology 

would measure emissions and absorptions of diffuse x-rays and correlate 

results with radio and visible light ray emission; principal investigators 

were GSFC’S Dr. Elihu Boldt and Caltech’s Dr. Gordon Garmire. A third 

experiment, for the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory and MIT, was 

a scanning modulation collimator to determine precise celestial positions 

of selected x-ray sources and investigate their size and structure; principal investigators were SAO’S Dr. Herbert Gursky and MIT’S Dr. Hale 

Bradt. The fourth experiment, for the University of Calif. at San Diego 

and MIT, would determine the position, spectrum, time variations, intensity, and other properties of hard x-rays and low-energy gamma rays; 

principal investigators were UCSD’s Dr. Laurence Peterson and MIT’S 

Dr. Walter Lewin. Data gathered by the HEAO missions could lead to new 

theories about energy production and high-density nuclear matter. Marshall Space Flight Center, which would manage HEAO for the Office of 

Space Science, directed TRW in designing and building the observatories 

and integrating and testing the overall system, including the experiments. (NASA Release 76-100; MSFC Release 76-86) 

NASA announced signature of an agreement between the Universities Space 

Research Association (USRA) and the Langley Research Center to provide 

university participation in the Long Duration Exposure Facility (LDEF) 

space research program managed by L~RC, which would use the Space 

Shuttle to launch and retrieve an earth-orbiting multipurposeexperiment carrier starting late in 1979. USRA was established in 1969 

through the National Academy of Sciences as a consortium of 50 universities in the US., through which the academic community could work with 

NASA on scientific and technological developments in the space program; 

its headquarters was at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. The 

agreement with LaRC called for USRA to solicit, select, and implement 

university experiments for each LDEF mission, with funds provided by the 

sponsoring organizations. NASA would also seek participants in the LDEF 

program through a formal announcement of opportunity inviting private 

101 
May ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 

companies, research and engineering institutes, and other government 

agencies to provide space experiments for LDEF missions. (NASA Release 

22 May: The Air Force’s P76-5 satellite was successfully launched by NASA 

from the Western Test Range on a Scout vehicle at 0041 am PDT. The 

72.6-kg spacecraft, designed to evaluate propagation effects of disturbed plasmas on radar and communications systems, was placed in a 

near-circular sun-synchronous orbit with apogee at 935 km and perigee 

at 863 km, inclination of 99.6’, and period of 105.9 min. The launch 

was requested by the Air Force Nov. 75 and agreed to by NASA 3 Dec. 

1975, under a 1962 memorandum of understanding on joint NASA-DOD 

use of the Scout vehicle, and costs of the launch would be borne by the 

USAF. Mission objectives would be achieved, according to a postlaunch 

report. (MOR M-490-602-76-01, 21 Apr 76, [prelaunch] 5 May 76, 

[postlaunch] 24 Sept 76) 

* NASA announced issuance of a patent to engineers of Scott Aviation for a 

new type of breathing apparatus invented under NASA contract, suitable 

for use as emergency equipment for firemen [see 17 May]. The apparatus included an alarm system working on the compressed air delivered to 

the wearer through a face mask, warning by a whistle audible only to the 

wearer if the air pressure fell. The equipment was also lower in weight 

and bulk, more comfortable, highly visible, and easier to operate. The 

weight of the apparatus, fitting over the face and around the head, was 

supported from the hips. Scott Aviation had planned to deliver 50 sets 

of the equipment to the Boston fire department in July. (NYT, 22 May 

76, 31) 

Two engineers working for Lockheed Aircraft Corp. had reported that 

windmills could supply up to a fifth of US. energy needs by 1995, the 

Wushington Post said. The engineers, Michael Dusey and Ugo Coty, 

reporting on a year-long investigation funded by the Energy Research 

and Development Administration, said that large wind-turbine generators could save 2 billion barrels of oil a year; construction of 54 000 

generators with rotor blades more than 160 m end-to-end could furnish 

1 trillion kw hrs of electricity annually. Other benefits would include 

reduction of air pollution and creation of a new industry that would 

employ thousands, they said. The Lockheed researchers put no price tag 

on their findings, but an earlier study by the University of Hawaii had 

said such windmills could cost up to $50 000; the price would be regained within 7 yr and the windmills could remain in operation up to 

50 yr, according to the 1974 report by Hawaii’s Donald Grace. A 

professor from the Univ. of Mass.-William Heronemus-had proposed 

some years ago a network of 957 windmills each about 113 m high just 

to meet the needs of the state of Vermont. (W Post, 22 May 76, F-1) 

24 Muy: Commercial supersonic transatlantic transport service began with 

the arrival of Concorde aircraft from London and Paris at Dulles airport 

near Washington, D.C. The Anglo-French plane had been barred from 

New York’s John F. Kennedy airport under a ruling by the Port Authority of N.Y. and N.J. after Transportation Secretary william T. Coleman, 

, 

76-99) 

102 
ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 May 

British Airways Concorde rolling out at Dulles Airport near Washington, D.C., after first 

touchdown 24 May 1981. (Photo courtesy British Airways) 

Jr., granted limited scheduled flights into the u.S. for a trial period not 

to exceed 16 mo [see 5 Jan.-4 Feb.]. The Concordes arrived at Dulles 

2 min apart, British Airways arriving at 11:54 am EDT and Air France 

at 11:56, taxiing into a nose-to-nose position in front of the main terminal building. About 8000 persons were on hand for the landing, many of 

them leaving their cars and walking in on the limited-access highway 

because of the traffic backup; of the crowd, airport officialsestimated that 

only about 20 were there to protest the Concorde landings. The French 

flight carried 80 passengers, the British flight 75; both Air France and 

British Airways had limited passenger payloads to 80 on Concorde flights 

until they gained more experience with the aircraft’s fuel consumption. 

The two carriers had selected Monday for the inauguration of North 

Atlantic service because neither would ordinarily offer a Washingtonbound flight that day. Air France planned 3-per-wk flights, leaving Paris 

on Sunday, Wednesday, and Friday and returning to Paris on Monday, 

Thursday, and Saturday. British Airways would offer 2 trips per wk, 

leaving London’s Heathrow on Thursday and Saturday and returning on 

Friday and Sunday. One-way fare London to Washington would be 

$633.60; Paris-Washington, $827. The difference would arise from 

fluctuations in currency exchange. The trip took 3 hr 50 min for the Air 

France plane, spending 2 hr 53 min at supersonic speeds on the way. The 

British plane timed on its return flight took 3 hr 57 min. The Federal 

Aviation Administration had instrumented the Dulles airport with 8 

permanent and 5 portable recorder units to measure the perceived noise 

in decibels (pndb) for a data base on all airport noise and especially 

Concordenoise. (NV, 25 May 76,l; WPost, 25 May 76, A-1, Av Wk, 

24 May 76, 27; 31 May 76, 22) 

24-26 Muy: A “new view of Jupiter,” as the New York Times called it, was 

the subject of a 3-day Ames Research Center symposium on Pioneer 

discoveries. Scientists from NASA, the Smithsonian Institution, and 15 

103 
May ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 

universities were resource persons for 4 news briefings per day, each 

scheduled for an hr or more, and 5 science workshops, meeting in the 

morning and afternoon each day, with a wrapup session the afternoon of 

the third day. Topics discussed were Jupiter’s atmosphere and weather; 

magnetosphere and radiation belts; origins, characteristics, and composition of the planet and its moons; origin of life on the planet; and 

Pioneer 11 targeting toward Saturn upon its departure from the vicinity 

of Jupiter. 

Pioneer findings about Jupiter-characterized by low density and 

high mass, 318 times that of earth, containing three quarters of the 

planetary material in the solar system-included discovery that Jupiter’s 

Great Red Spot, three times the size of earth, was not the only such spot; 

several smaller ones detected in the atmospheric flow around Jupiter 

moved in and out of the area occupied by the Great Red Spot without 

losing their own identity. Pioneer measurements of Jupiter propertiesinternal heat, composition of its moons-permitted the first detailed 

calculations of the process that formed the planet. Its history was apparently that of a failed star: it went from a gas cloud to a body heated 

red-hot by gravitational contraction, then to a 4.5-billion-yr cooling, 

still in process, that made it resemble a “white dwarf.” The four planetsize inner moons-Jupiter’s “Galilean” satellites-proved scientifically 

the most interesting; they exhibited a regular density gradient and composition that constituted the best direct evidence for Jupiter’s history. 

The protostar phases deduced for both Jupiter and Saturn indicated that 

the outer solar system underwent 2 different periods of relatively high 

temperature. Jupiter had retained for 4 billion yr its primordial heat, 

which could be neither radiated nor conducted away because of the 

planet’s composition. A “new metal”-liquid metallic hydrogen, simplest of the alkaline metals-identified only inside Jupiter is thought to 

constitute the planet’s interior, beginning about of a quarter of the 

distance from the surface to the center. As the substance has low thermal 

conductivity and is opaque to radiated energy, the heat cannot be dissipated, and the temperature at Jupiter’s center is about 30 OOOO, 6 times 

that of the surface of the sun. As Jupiter’s liquid regions are too hot for 

life, living organisms would have to exist in its gaseous atmosphere. 

Between the temperatures for freezing and boiling water, Jupiter’s 

atmospheric pressure increases with depth from 5 times earth’s atmospheric pressure to 10 times. 

Pioneer data suggest slow atmosphere-turnover times of months or 

years that would permit survival of atmosphere-borne life, said Dr. Cyril 

Ponnamperuma of the Univ. of Md. Jupiter was 1000 times as large a 

region for forming complex organic molecules as earth, and a wide 

variety of environments would be available. The origin of life on a planet 

would depend less on huge time periods than on how often nature mixed 

the proper ingredients in the proper environment, Dr. Ponnamperuma 

said; enough billions or trillions of attempts could produce a highly 

complex molecule able to replicate itself. The fact that Jupiter’s atmosphere might provide hospitable sites for life raised the problem of con104 
ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 May 

tamination of that atmosphere by earth organisms riding on atmosphere 

probes launched by the U.S. and other countries. 

Pioneer also found that Jupiter acted as a giant vacuum cleaner, 

sucking small dust particles from a vast region of space (comparatively 

little dust was present in the Asteroid Belt), and 170 times as many 

meteoroids were striking Jupiter’s atmosphere as struck the earth in 

areas of similar size. Concentrations of these particles at Jupiter would 

be the result of the planet’s enormous gravity field. Jupiter’s magnetosphere-a million times the volume of earth’s-was found to leak highenergy electrons; Jupiter was the major source of such electrons in the 

solar system, and the sun and Jupiter were the only known important 

sources of high-energy particles in the solar system. The energy of these 

particles was constantly increased by recirculation through the planet’s 

radiation belts, said Dr. James Van Allen of the Univ. of Iowa. Earthorbiting satellites and other spacecraft had detected Jupiter electrons as 

far away as Mercury, said Dr. John Simpson of the Univ. of Chicago; an 

input of more than 100 billion watts would be needed to maintain the 

observed energies. Jupiter was also known to be the strongest radio 

source in the sky, except for the sun; the massive radio bursts were 

caused by the moon Io moving through the Jovian magnetic field, said 

Dr. David Morrison of the Univ. of Hawaii. Scientific detective work 

revealed that the bursts occurred every 21 hr-half of Io’s orbital 

period-and one of 3 places on Jupiter’s visible surface had to face the 

earth, which Pioneer data proved to be true. (NASA Releases 76-80, 

76-91; NYT, 31 May 76, 14) 

25 May: The Environmental Protection Agency, at a Washington briefing for 

science writers, described its techniques of airborne remote sensingcombined use of aerial photography and heat-sensing instruments-to 

detect 98% of water-pollution discharge points in the U.S. John Moran, 

EPA director of monitoring, said the agency had long used aerial photos 

to map the extent of oil spills; other devices in EPA’S “growing arsenal” 

included a laser system to measure ground contours and determine 

whether strip-mined land had been properly restored; an airborne laser 

firing energy pulses toward the ground to define particle layers in the 

atmosphere below the aircraft and thus measure the air -inversion ceiling 

during urban air-pollution alerts; and a system for laser fluorosensing 

that would monitor water pollution by measuring surface oils, dissolved 

organic matter, and even algae, by sensing responses to an ultraviolet 

beam. An earlier EPA report described use of techniques or devices 

developed for other purposes by NASA or DOD, to detect smoke drift in the 

atmosphere, oil spills, runoff from illegal stock feedlots, and sick vegetation. (W Star , 26 May 76, A-l l) 

26 May: NASA announced plans for a 3-mo demonstration this summer of 

using Ats 4-known as the “teacher in the sky”-to help some of the 

world’s poorest people boost food production, improve health and nutrition, expand family planning, and raise income levels, through applications of remote sensing, space communications, and high-resolution 

aerial photography. The program, a joint effort of NASA and the Agency 

105 
May ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 

for International Development, would consist of both filmed and live 

portions broadcast to as many as 30 countries in Asia, Africa, and Latin 

America. AID would provide $3 million to finance the demonstration. At 

a UN conference in Nairobi 6 May on trade and development, Secretary 

of State Kissinger emphasized the use of satellite technology to improve 

cooperation between industrialized and developing nations; depending 

upon the response to the broadcasts, AID would be prepared to propose 

to Congress a long-range follow-up technology program. As-6 was 

completing a year-long program of instructional television for India; 

upon completion of this mission 31 July, NASA would move the satellite 

to a location over the Western Hemisphere where it would beam audio 

or audiovisual presentations in black and white or in color to special 

receivers on the ground. AID officials and NASA specialists would set up 

one transmitter-receiver unit in the capital of each participating country, 

and up to 5 receivers in outlying locations; each receiver terminal would 

be equipped with color-television monitors. The live portion of the 

demonstration would feature 2-way discussions between U.S. personalities and representatives of the recipient countries; a local program would 

be developed in the host country to demonstrate the communications 

abilities of the ATS. NASA would be responsible for moving the equipment 

from country to country and for operation of the satellite and associated 

equipment. (NASA Release 76-101) 

A new device developed by the WAF Rocket Propulsion Laboratory at 

Edwards AFB, Calif., would permit an annual “physical examination” of 

the motors of intercontinental ballistic missiles while the missiles were 

still in the silo. The practice of removing the motors for inspection had 

resulted in high costs for handling and transportation as well as high risk 

of damage to the motors. The AF Space and Missile Systems Organization 

(SAMSO) at Los Angeles asked AFRPL to find a compact, safe, and economical means of inspection, and acoustical holography was selected. 

The system when fully developed would be able to scan the outside of an 

intact missile top to bottom, probing the propellant inside its motors. The 

device worked much like sonar, transmitting high-frequency sound 

waves and registering reflected vibrations; the reflected waves, processed 

electronically, would reproduce any flaws in the propellant on a cathoderay tube for instant viewing or photographing, and the information would 

be stored in a computer for later evaluation. Future uses of acoustical 

holography might be made in medical science, improving on current 

x-ray techniques. (AF Release OIP 174.75) 

26-27 May: John H. Disher, Director of Advanced Programs, NASA Office 

of Manned Space Flight, was keynote speaker at a space industrialization 

symposium at Marshall Space Flight Center sponsored jointly by MSFC 

and the Alabama section of the American Institute of Aeronautics and 

Astronautics. Defining space industrialization as “the use of spacs- to 

produce a salable/profitable product or a service which companies as a 

business expense or citizens through their taxes are willing to pay for,” 

Disher reviewed uses of space for communications, weather prediction, 

navigation and mapping, and earth-resources survey; he then described 

106 
ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 May 

the advantages of space environment-earth overview, zero gravity, 

vacuum, heat and waste disposal, and uninterrupted solar energy-for 

future uses, concluding with a prediction of a growing tourist industry in 

space. The symposium concluded 26 May at the annual banquet of the 

Ala. AlAA with an address on “Space Industrialization as a Concept” by 

Dr. Krafft Ehricke, science advisor for North American Space Division, 

Rockwell International Gorp. Sessions of the symposium dealt with space 

habitation, space transportation, space processing of materials, and 

space power. The symposium was organized to disseminate recent information on expanded space operations after the advent of the Space 

Shuttle to all segments of the scientific and technical community; participants included NASA centers, other government agencies, industry 

and universities. (NASA Release 76-8 1; MSFC Release 76-64, 76-79; 

Disher text) 

28 May: Marshall Space Flight Center announced a new approach to issuance of 2 parallel contracts, to be awarded for studies of a space industrialization effort that would run from 1980 to 2010. One of the study 

contracts would be awarded to an aerospace firm, the other to a research 

or “think-tank” firm, to obtain different viewpoints. The proposed work 

would consist of 2 phases, each lasting about 8 mo, and each contract 

would cost about $200 000. Replies to today’s requests for proposals 

were due 29 June, and contracts were to be awarded this fall. Whereas 

the space program had so far emphasized scientific and other exploratory 

activities, space industrialization would emphasize production of goods 

and services for economic benefit. First phase of the study would define 

goals, establish the rationale for a space program on the basis of terrestrial alternatives, and set up a time frame with options and budgetary 

considerations. The second phase would study future mission opportunities and the optimum role of man in the program, responsiveness of 

the concepts to national and industrial needs and goals, and technological 

implications as against costs. (MSFC Release 76-98; NASA Release 

30 May: Third Century America, the US. Bicentennial exposition on science 

and technology, opened to the public with 30 000 persons attending; 

32 000 employes of the Kennedy Space Center had attended a preview 

the day before. Built within 4 mo, after President Ford in Feb. called on 

NASA to create a Bicentennial fair at Cape Canaveral, the exposition 

occupied 30 acres and 15 geodesic domes clustered around the mammoth Vehicle Assembly Building, so large that the U.N. Secretariat could 

be mounted on wheels and rolled easily through its doors. “The message 

from NASA, 16 other federal agencies, and a conglomeration of defense 

contractors,” said the Washington Post, was that America had spent 

her technology tax dollars well. The show was put together with 

$3 million in grants from the Dept. of Commerce, a $500 000 loan from 

NASA’s budget, and an $800 000 advance from the KSC visitor center 

account. Before it opened, the show was expected to draw 800 000 to 

2 million persons; in July, average daily attendance was about 5000, and 

expectations were reduced to 500 000 before the fair closed 7 Sept. 

76-107) 

107 
May ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 

Many Fla. attractions reported a drop in attendance this summer. 

(W Post, 25 July 76, 6-5) 

During May: Rockwell International Corp. awarded contracts for the Air 

Force B-1 strategic bomber program. On 18 May, Rockwell awarded a 

$2.4-million contract to Hamilton-Standard Division, United Technologies Corp., for air conditioning and pressurization equipment and 

air-recirculation loops for the fourth B-1 in the 4-plane prototype 

program. The firm had supplied similar equipment for 3 earlier B-1s. On 

24 May, Rockwell awarded a $1.8-million subcontract to Martin Marietta Aerospace for tail assemblies, consisting of 2 horizontal stabilizers 

and a single vertical stabilizer, for the fourth B-1 prototype aircraft. 

Martin Marietta had supplied stabilizers for the other 3 B- 1s. Rockwell, 

system contractor on the B-1 program, had developed the B-1 to 

modernize the strategic bomber force; its advantage over previous heavy 

bombers was the design ability to avoid enemy defense by flying at nearly 

sonic speed at treetop height to avoid radar detection. The first 2 

prototypes were in flight test, and the third was scheduled to fly later in 

1976. (Rockwell Releases LA-3, LA-4) * SpaceJlight, publication of the British Interplanetary Society, announced 

that Soviet authorities after a 2-yr delay had released a photograph of 

Capella-the brightest star in the constellation Auriga-obtained by the 

“Orion 2” observatory aboard Soyuz 13. Capella is a yellow giant star 

150 times as luminous as the sun and 47 light-years away. Soviet 

scientists believed they had found a “new association of stars” in the 

several dozen hot stars of extremely low radiation discovered around 

Capella; they claimed this was the first time in the history of astronomy 

that a telescope had obtained a spectrogram of a planetary nebula-a 

huge gaseous formation with a high-temperature star at the center-and 

had obtained pictures of a known star with a gaseous envelope rich in 

Third Century America, sole Bicentennial exposition paid for by the U.S. government, 

opened to the public 30 May 1976 at Kennedy Space Center. (NASA 76-H-445) 

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ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 May 

silicon. The Orion 2 equipment could make precision study of stellar 

objects in the ultraviolet spectrum and provide spectrograms of stars of 

13th magnitude “to extend the limits set by the American Skylab, whose 

crews took pictures of stars down to 7.5th magnitude,” the Russians said. 

(Spacejight, May 1976, 177) * The National Aeronautic Association reported that Karl Striedieck and 

L. Roy McMaster were jointly claiming a world soaring record for outand-return distance of 1299 km, for flights they each made on 17 March 

along the Allegheny Mountains. Striedieck, an Air National Guard pilot 

from Port Matilda, Pa., flew in a Schleicher AS-Wl7 sailplane from Lock 

Haven, Pa., to Mendota, Va., and back, on course for 11 hr averaging 

more than 117 kph, claiming by this flight the world out-and-return 

record for the fifth time. McMaster, an accountant from Elmira Heights, 

N.Y., flew the same course in a Schempp-Hirth Standard Cirrus sailplane, landing about an hour later than Striedieck. If approved by NAA 

and the Federation Aeronautique Internationale, the world-record claims 

would give McMaster a U.S. National Standard Class record for out-andreturn distance; Striedieck‘s AS-W 17 would not qualify under standardclass rules. (NAA Newsletter, May 1976, 3) 

109 

June 1976 

1 June: Recently published criticism by columnist John Keats of “a modest NASA 

effort to provide meals for elderly people” not only “managed to misunderstand just about every aspect of what we are doing” but also “put 

down the elderly and [raised] my ire in the process,” astronaut Joseph P. 

Kerwin wrote in a letter to the New York Times. Kerwin pointed out that 

the NASA program was‘a response to the Texas Governor’s committee on 

Aging, which had asked the agency for help in developing good-tasting 

easy-to-prepare and easy-to-deliver meals for people not reached by programs such as Meals on Wheels or group meals sponsored by Congress in 

various city centers. Kerwin said NASA’s engineers “know a little about 

packaging and shelf life,” and “we care because we have relatives who are 

old, and because we’ll be old ourselves soon-if we’re lucky.” The technology being used to do a job for the old was good, Kerwin concluded, “but 

it’s the caring of which I am most proud.” (NYI’, 1 June 76, 34) * During its 3 most active yr, NASA had awarded only 19% of its procurement 

funding to concerns in the industrialized Northeast, according to a Library 

of Congress study commissioned by Rep. Michael J. Harrington (D-Mass.), 

whereas the Sunbelt states-ranging from Maryland to Texas-received 

33% of the total awards. Of $8.7 billion spent by NASA in procurement 

contracts for 1968, 1971, and 1975, the Northeast received $1.7 billion 

and southern regions received $2.9 billion, the report said. “While the 

aggregate populations in these combined regions are roughly comparable,” 

Harrington said, “the NASA procurement contracts run almost 2 to 1 

against us . . . NASA’s contract award procedures now join that long and 

growing list of federally funded activities which discriminate against the 

industrialized Northeast states.” (NJrl: 2 June 76, 40) 

* NASA announced an agreement with the Indian Space Research Organization 

(ISRO) to add a solar-energy experiment to the cooperative satellite instructional television experiment (SITE) now under way using Ats 6, the applications technology satellite. In May, ISRO was sent 2 solar arrays capable of 

producing 260 watt-hr of power a day under Indian sunlight conditions; the 

arrays would provide electricity to run 2 of the SITE TV receivers during the 

4 hr each day that Indian programming would be broadcast to some 5000 

villages using Ats 6. When India’s National Committee for Space Research 

studied power alternatives for the SITE terminals in 1969, solar cells were 

used almost exclusively in spacecraft and were considered too expensive for 

use on the ground; since that time, demand had increased sharply, the price 

had come down, and the sharp rise in petroleum prices had made the price 

of solar power more attractive. Although current cost of a solar-power 

system for a SITE terminal was estimated as $31 1 per yr (26% higher than 

the $247 cost of kerosene generators), research and production should 

111 
June ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 

bring the cost down to about $139 a yr by 1979, while the price of 

kerosene-generated electricity could well be higher. Also, arrays from solar 

cells could be produced in India and other developing countries by using 

existing technology, which would add to the advantages of solar power for 

use throughout the world. 

Solar power had proved desirable for use in areas not having central 

power stations; the solar-power systems were simple to install, had no 

moving parts, and needed only cleaning of array surfaces and maintenance 

of electrolyte levels as operational maintenance. NASA’s Lewis Research 

Center had demonstrated a solar array as a power source for an Ats 6 

ground station last year; the India project would be one of many conducted 

by LRC to support the U.S. Energy Research and Development Administration (ERDA) in demonstrating terrestrial applications of solar-cell-generated 

electricity. An ISRO engineer would visit LeRC for training in assembly and 

operation of the solar arrays. (NASA Release 76-95) 

2 June: NASA announced selection of IBM Corp., Gaithersburg, Md., for award 

of a $24-million 44-mo cost-plus-award-fee contract to supply a Space 

Shuttle data-processing complex for the mission control center at Johnson Space Center. The complex would consist of 3 computers and peripheral equipment for support of the Shuttle program; work to be performed 

would include design, fabrication, delivery, installation, and checkout of 

the computer complex and associated software. Control Data Corp. of 

Minneapolis also submitted a proposal. (NASA Release 76-104; JSC Release 76-37) 

The USSR would probably put men on the moon within 10 yr to do more 

ambitious exploration than that done by US. astronauts, according to a 

report on Soviet space programs 1971-1975 by the Science Policy 

Research Division of the Library of Congress’s Congressional Research 

Division. Dr. Charles S. Sheldon, 11, chief of the Science Policy Research 

Division, stated in the report that the USSR did not abandon lunar plans 

when Apollo 11 got to the moon in July 1969, but that the Soviet 

program had been plagued with “hardware and systems . . . quite inadequate by our standards.” In a summary of Dr. Sheldon’s report, the 

Washington Star noted his statement that the “race for the moon” was 

closer than many believed at the time; “the Soviets probably wanted to 

send the first manned flight around the moon by November 1967, when 

a test failed.” Although a Soviet Apollo would probably not appear for 

the next 3 yr, Dr. Sheldon said, “within the decade there will probably 

be a Soviet landing on the moon that will be a generation beyond the 

Apollo flights . . . .” Describing the extensive Soviet military uses of 

space in addition to scientific and economic purposes, the report noted 

“the seriousness and steadiness with which the Russians are adding to 

their space facilities and their space operations, building versatility and 

experience in depth.” The report did not mention the absence of this 

element in the u.s., the Star noted. The report would be published later 

in 1976 by the Senate Committee on Aeronautical and Space Sciences, 

for which it was prepared. (V Star, 2 June 76, A-3) 

112 
ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 June 

3 June: NASA announced plans to roll out the first of 2 rotor systems research 

aircraft (RSRA) 7 June at the Sikorsky Aircraft Division in Conn. The 

RSRA, capable of conventional cruise flight as well as typical helicopter 

performance, was the product of a joint NASA-Army research program 

to reduce rotor noise and vibration-with attendant high maintenance 

costs-and improve performance and cruise speed of future civil and 

military helicopters. The RSRA was the first helicopter designed with 

research capability in mind; devices in the main rotor-support structure 

would permit accurate measurement of rotor forces in flight, and forcemeasurement systems were also incorporated in the wing, tail rotor, and 

auxiliary engine to permit measurement and control of the lift and drag 

of the rotor system. The Army, world’s leading user of helicopters, would 

make the RSRA available to the U.S. helicopter industry for rotor-systems 

tests; most of the technology would also be applicable to civil vehicles. 

NASA’s goal would be to meet predictions of increased usage in the civil 

helicopter industry to enable the US. to compete favorably in the growing 

world market. (NASA Release 76-105) 

4 June: Kennedy Space Center announced award of a $40 214 contract 

extension of 12 mo to Ky. State Univ. for continuing its studies of the 

effects of oxygen atmospheres on animals. The animal under study was 

the vinegar fly-Drosophila melanogaster-which was grown and tested 

under 5%, 20%, and 60% oxygen concentrations (normal oxygen content of earth’s atmosphere is 2 1 %). Studies over 2 yr showed that, at the 

5% and 20% oxygen levels, survival rates of the initial generation of the 

flies were the same. Flies in a 60% oxygen environment had a survival 

rate like that of the flies in the 20% environment, for up to 20 days; after 

20 days, flies in the 60% atmosphere died. Tissue studies indicated that 

exposure to a 60% oxygen environment resulted in physical changes, 

including accelerated aging and problems in the nervous system. The 

contract extension would permit studies of the mortality, fertility, and 

gene frequencies of the flies over 10 or more generations. The data would 

aid in establishing proper oxygen content in manned spacecraft atmospheres during future manned missions, and in selecting humans to participate in manned missions and in deep-sea dives. (KSC Release 198-76) 

0 A fully metallic replica of the Spacelab-called a “hard” mockup-had 

begun assembly near Bremen, West Germany, at the plant of ERNO, a 

subsidiary of VFw-Fokker and prime contractor for the Spacelab. The 

role of the replica was to ensure that all nonelectrical elements of the 

complex craft would be compatible; 4 additional Spacelabs would be 

constructed, including the flight unit, only one of which would be constructed. The next model would be the “high fidelity” model, to be built 

after final design details are agreed on later in 1976; it would be used for 

crew training. The next-Engineering Mockup 1-would be sent to the 

U.S. in 1978 for fitting into the Shuttle. The flight unit would be scheduled for shipment to Kennedy Space Center a year later; finally, Engineering Mockup 2 would be built and kept in Europe to help members 

of the European Space Agency (ESA) prepare missions over the 10-yr 

operational period. The single flight version, designed to make at least 50 

113 
June ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 

flights, would carry a wide range of scientific and technological experiments for which the experimenters would be expected to pay a fee. 

The Europeans hoped to modify this policy in view of their nearly 

$400 million investment in the project. (YW, 4 June 76, A-15) 

7 June: NASA announced selection of Computer Sciences Corp. of Falls 

Church, Va., for negotiation of a 2-yr $6 million cost-plus-award-fee 

contract to provide technical support services at the National Space 

Technology Laboratories, Bay St. Louis, Miss. The contractor would 

provide support services for NASA’s on-site launch-vehicle and rocketengine static testing and certification programs, and for NASA and other 

resident agencies working in space and earth-environment programs. 

(NASA Release 76-1 11) 

8 June: The communications Research Centre (CRC) of the Canadian government’s Communications Department in Ottawa announced successful 

demonstration of a new satellite-aided search-and-rescue concept that 

could reduce time, fuel-dollar, and other costs associated with conventional ways of finding downed aircraft. The demonstration was funded 

by the Canadian Department of National Defence. The project, begun in 

May 1975, used the Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation’s Oscar 6 

satellite with simulated distress signals to show that crash sites in 

Canada-and elsewhere in the world-could be pinpointed with accuracies as good as 1.6 km, generally within 3 km, in as little as 15 to 

20 min after the spacecraft first heard the signal. The conventional 

emergency locator transmitter (ELT) mandatory for aircraft in Canada 

and the U.S. would automatically signal on crash impact, as designed, 

providing a signal on the international distress frequency of 121.5 hz for 

at least 100 hr for search-and-rescue aircraft to home into. The search 

range until now had been within 50 km of a crash site, flying crisscross 

patterns involving many planes and dozens of costly as well as risky flying 

hours. 

The satellite system would depend on two things: highly precise orbit 

predictions (knowledge of the satellite’s exact position at any instant) and 

sophisticated computer processing of distress signals relayed to a ground 

station. The system works by measuring the Doppler shift in the ELT 

signal frequency as the satellite at about 1100 km altitude passes over 

the crash site; locations of about 60 “crashes” simulated by transmitters 

as far away as Winnipeg had been fixed by processing Oscar 6 signals 

with increasing degrees of accuracy. An operational system would include 3 satellites with a design lifetime of 7 to 10 yr, with total spacecraft 

and launch costs about $30 million. When the satellite nearest to a crash 

site appeared over the visible horizon, it would alert ground stations that 

it had received an alarm; 15 min later, at the conclusion of its pass, an 

immediate fix accurate within 1 12 km would be possible, and a position 

fixing the site within 3 km would be delivered within 2 to 15 min 

depending on the capacity of the computer. A $3 million annual cost over 

10 yr would be only a small part of what Canada was now spending on 

aerial searches. (CDC release 8 June 76) 

114 
ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 June 

0 Marshall Space Flight Center announced it had used aerial thermalscanning techniques to locate high heat-loss areas as part of its energy 

resources management program to reduce energy consumption agencywide. The Lewis Research Center had made thermal scanning flights for 

all NASA centers, and MSFC had been scanned twice, once in October 1975 

and again in February 1976, using a C-47 aircraft with onboard scanners that recorded on digital tape the average temperature of each area 

covered. Fed into a computer, the digital tape produced printouts and 

live mosaic maps projected on a television monitor to show areas where 

excessive steam-line losses occurred and to identify buildings losing 

excessive heat through roof structures. The MSFC facilities office validated the data through visual inspection of steam lines and roof insulation, and issued work requests for repair and replacement of insulation 

in 88 steam-line locations. Longer range action was planned to repair and 

replace deteriorated roofing and replace sections of the steam lines. (MSFC 

Release 76- 104) 

9 June: NASA launched Marisat 2, second in a series of ComSat maritime 

communications satellites, at 8:09 pm EDT from the Eastern Test Range 

on a Delta vehicle, into a transfer orbit with apogee of 36 924 km, 

perigee of 185 km, and 26O inclination. The apogee boost motor fired 

11 June would put the spacecraft into a 36 000-km-altitude synchronous orbit at 176’E over the Pacific. Marisat was designed to 

transmit voice, data, facsimile, and telex messages to and from ships at 

sea, through special stations in Conn. and Calif. interconnected with 

existing domestic land networks; initially, the system would be used by 

the U.S. Navy, until its requirements terminated in the late 1970s. The 

cylindrical satellite, weighing 655 kg at liftoff and 317 kg in orbit, 

measured 2.1 m in diameter and was 3.6 m long. Like Marisat 1, which 

had been operating over the Atlantic since its launch 19 February, it 

carried 3 UHF channels for government use, activated or deactivated by 

ground command, and 2 4-hz channels operating in the L- and C-bands 

respectively to carry ship-to-shore and shore-to-ship signals; the full 

ship-to-shore capacity would always be available independent of government use of the UHF channels, which would use separate receiving 

facilities. (NASA Release 76-83; MOR 492-205-76-02 [prelaunch] 

7 June 76, [postlaunch] 14 Oct 76) 

0 Johnson Space Center announced “the most successful balloon flight of its 

type ever conducted” when a football-field-sized balloon carried a 

scientific instruments package at a 40-km altitude across the central 

Texas night sky for 12 hr to gather information on far distant giant and 

super-giant stars. The 589-kg package known as BUSS-for balloonborne ultraviolet stellar spectrometer-gathered data on 16 separate 

stars, including Arcturus, a giant star in constellation Bootes; super-giant 

Antares (alpha Scorpii); Vega (alpha Lyrae); and Spica (alpha Virginis), 

super-hot star and one of the brightest observed during the flight. Of 

special interest was super-giant Deneb in constellation Cygnus, 1400 

light years distant, whose light recorded by BUSS was emitted before the 

Anglo-Saxons settled in England; Deneb was so large that, if the sun were 

115 
June ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 

located in its center, the earth would orbit the sun entirely within the 

star’s outer limits. The BUSS payload was the culmination of a 3-yr 

international collaboration between Jsc and the Space Research Laboratory of Utrecht in the Netherlands. Dr. Yoji Kondo of JSC was U.S. 

coprincipal investigator, with Dr. Thomas H. Morgan and Dr. Jerry L. 

Modisette of Houston Baptist University; the Dutch team was led by 

Dr. Cees de Jager. Purpose of the balloon flights in a series of star studies 

that began in 1971 was to evaluate the experiment systems for use on 

the Space Shuttle; the BUSS package was designed to obtain data on 

spectral variations of a variety of stars and aid scientists in determining 

their structure and evolution. Previous flights had obtained some information but only a fiftieth of the spectral range covered by the BUSS 

payload. The package was landed by a parachute about 26 m in diameter, similar to those used on the Apollo command module; the payload, chute, and balloon were recovered between Abilene and Ft. Worth 

by NASA engineers who returned the material to Houston. The data would 

be analyzed by the U.S. team and by the Dutch scientists, who had 

returned to Holland, in preparation for another balloon flight scheduled 

for the fall of 1976. (JSC Release 76-39) 

0 Marshall Space Flight Center announced selection of 11 industrial firms to 

negotiate for award of contracts totaling $200 000 for marketable solarheating and cooling subsystems-solar collectors and control systemsto be tested and evaluated for inclusion in complete solar-heating systems 

that would be installed in residences and commercial buildings throughout the U.S. Data gathered from these installations would be used in a 

national solar-energy development program administered by the Energy 

Research and Development Administration (ERDA), for which MSFC is 

managing the heating and cooling demonstration. Of the 11 companies 

selected, 8 were small businesses. The companies were: Northrup, Inc., 

Hutchins, Tex.; Rho Sigma, Van Nuys, Calif.; Solar Energy Products 

co., Avon Lake, 0.; Solar Energy Systems, Inc., Pennsauken, N.J.; 

Solargenics, Inc., Chatsworth, Calif.; Solaron Corp., Commerce City, 

Colo.; Sunworks, Inc., Guilford, Conn.; Ying Manufacturing Corp., Gardena, Calif.; Honeywell, Inc., Minneapolis, Minn.; Libbey-Owens-Ford 

Co., Toledo, 0.; and Martin Marietta Corp., Denver, Colo. (NASA Release 

76-109; MSFC Release 76-106) 

0 Lewis Research Center announced the first of a number of solar-cell demonstrations it would conduct as part of the national photovoltaic conversion 

program directed by the Energy Research and Development Administration: a solar-powered refrigerator, standard-size camper’s model, 

fitted with 3 panels of photovoltaic cells that convert sunlight into electrical energy. Designed for use in remote locations, the solar cells would 

run the refrigerator during daylight hours and charge conventional 

automobile batteries located under the unit; the batteries would power 

the refrigerator during darkness and on overcast days. With the cooperation of the Interior Department’s National Park Service, the refrigerator was being used for perishable foods at a trail-construction camp 

at Isle Royale National Park in Michigan, a roadless area near northern 

116 
ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 June 

Lake Superior accessible only by boat or floatplane and typical of places 

that have no regular electric power. The solar-cell arrays, although 

relatively expensive, cost less to use in remote locations than the fuel and 

transportation would cost for alternative power sources. (NASA Release 

76-1 10) 

0 Dr. James C. Fletcher, NASA Administrator, named the Ames Research 

Center to lead a program to strengthen helicopter research and development and serve as a focal point for industry participation and program 

management. A special helicopter management advisory group had made 

a presentation to Fletcher 28 May reviewing research needs and stressing the need for improvements in helicopters if the US. industry were to 

get a fair share of the market. Overall direction of the program would 

come from ARC; Lewis Research Center would conduct research on 

propulsion, and Langley Research Center would do research in structures and materials, avionics, and noise. ARC would also conduct research 

in aeromechanics, including technology integration and large-scale testing and simulation. (NASA Release 76-1 12) 

0 Successful completion of the Da Vinci 11 scientific balloon flight by 4 crew 

members was announced by the Energy Research and Development 

Administration. Launched west of St. Louis on 8 June, the balloon had 

flown over the city during the day and moved eastward across the 

Mississippi River toward evening; it had flown across 111. and landed near 

Griffin, Ind., a distance of more than 240 km in 24 hr. Purpose of the 

flight-a joint project of ERDA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration, and the Environmental Protection Agency-was to follow industrial and urban air pollution across the surrounding countryside 

and to record its changing concentration and chemistry. The crew reported excellent scientific data, especially on concentrations of sulfur 

dioxide. The crew, its 3m-square gondola, and more than 900 kg of 

scientific equipment landed safely and in good condition. (ERDA Release 

76- 170) 

0 An article in Moscow’s Krasnaya Zvezda reviewed the increasing use of 

satellites for military communications, especially in the U.S. Space communications had become available in Britain, France, the Federal Republic of Germany, Canada, Brazil, and Norway, as well as other countries, 

and though basically designed for commercial purposes “there is no 

doubt” that most of the channels were used by the military, the article 

said. As an example, the national system of space communications in 

Iran was said to be developed to provide guidance for combat aircraft. 

Not satisfied with the potential of commercial systems, the Pentagon and 

the NATO command had established communications satellites exclusively 

for military purposes, the article said, quoting US. News and World 

Report as saying that since 1960 “the Pentagon has sent 83 communications satellites . . . into orbit but has not got what it wanted. Of all 

these satellites only 13 still continue in orbit, and not all 13 are functioning normally.” The Soviet magazine also pointed out that 6 launches 

of DSCS-2 satellites had been planned, but 2 had been lost during launch 

and 2 more had broken down in orbit; the 2 currently operating were 

117 
June ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 

over the Pacific and the Atlantic at about 36 000 km, and another 6 had 

been ordered, the first pair due for launch in spring 1977. As press 

statements showed that two thirds of the military communications with 

foreign countries were going through commercial systems, “foreign observers” had concluded that the military systems had proven less reliable 

than Intelsat; the Pentagon had explained that requirements on military 

satellites were considerably higher, as they had to work with small mobile 

stations in widely scattered locations, needed increased protection 

against jamming, and must be durable to withstand possible combat 

effects. The Russian commentator said the U.S. had begun developing a 

third generation of military satellites-the DSCS-3-with launch scheduled for 1981, and that these new spacecraft would be powered by 

radioisotope thermoelectric generators with longer working life and 

greater capacity. Elimination of bulky solar panels would also make the 

new craft more difficult to detect in orbit. After describing the Fleetsatcom and Afsatcom systems, the article pointed out that “the creation of 

a manned multipurpose transport spacecraft” [the U.S. Space Shuttle] 

would have a major impact on communications-satellite systems; such 

spacecraft would be able to launch large mass and capacity comsats, 

eliminating “complex operations and devices [needed to prepare] the 

satellite for work following its injection into orbit,” and would simplify 

technical servicing and repair of the comsats while in orbit. Although 

many technical problems remained, space facilities had become the basis 

of military communications abroad, the article concluded. (FBIS, Krasnaya Zvezda, 26 May 76, 3) 

10 June: Johnson Space Center announced delivery of the first of 2 training 

aircraft to Ellington AFB, Tex., for JSC’s use in training Space Shuttle 

crews. The aircraft (STA) was a modified Grumman twin-engine Gulfstream 11 jet designed to simulate flight characteristics of the Space 

Shuttle orbiter, using thrust-reverser engines and direct lift control to 

vary the jet plane’s dynamics to resemble those of the orbiter. After JSC 

personnel conducted a receiving inspection on the plane, it would be 

returned to Grumman at Bethpage, N.Y., for installation of an electric 

aileron-trim system; this modification should take about a week. The 

second STA, scheduled for delivery in late July, would remain at Bethpage 

to ensure that the plane could duplicate the various landing flight modes 

of the orbiter during the flight tests. Remaining tests would verify STA’S 

ability to match orbiter trajectory during the period from 10-11 km 

altitude through touchdown and would check out recent engineering 

changes. (NASA Release 76- 108; JSC Release 76-38) 

11 June: A 2-wk experiment to observe the Gulf Stream about 580 km east 

of NASA’s Wallops Flight Center used a combination of spacecraft, aircraft, and water craft to check the ability of remote sensors to measure 

the magnitude and boundaries of the Gulf Stream from space. Gulf 

Stream measurements would aid in planning more effective use of coastal 

waters, as in cooling nuclear power plants, or in constructing offshore 

drilling rigs or airports located on manmade islands. Scientists also 

wanted more data about the Gulf Stream, which carries heat energy that 

118 
ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 June 

influences the global balance of energy in the atmosphere and the ocean, 

affecting weather and climate as well as coastal water movement, besides 

carrying nutrients important to the fishing industry. Traditional methods 

using closely spaced ship stations or buoys to obtain data had proved 

inadequate for studying fast-changing or large-scale phenomena. Satellite measurements used in the experiment included infrared signatures 

that identified the Gulf Stream boundary from space photographs. A 

precision altimeter on NASA’s Geos 3 (geodynamic experimental ocean 

satellite) measured surface deviations in the ocean within 20 cm, from 

which velocity of a current could be calculated; the experiment also used 

the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Noaa 4 weather 

satellite. A C-54 research plane from Wallops carried instruments on 3 

flights to measure the current by observing wave interactions; surface 

measurements were taken by the research vessel Advance 11 from Cape 

Fear Technical Institute at Wilmington, N.C., manned by ocean scientists 

from N.C. State University at Raleigh. The project was part of a scientific 

research task directed by NASA Hq’s Office of Applications. (NASA Release 

76-1 15; WFC Release 76-7) 

0 Detente, to be meaningful to U.S. scientists, must include progress toward 

more intercommunication and openness, said Dr. Bruce Murray of CalTech and Merton E. Davies of RAND Corp. in an article in Science 

magazine. Noting that for nearly 2 decades the space program of the U.S. 

and the USSR were bound together through rivalry, competition, andmost recently-cooperation, the authors found it appropriate upon completion of the Apollo-Soyuz mission to review relationships between the 

2 countries and focus on areas of possible common interest. The interrelationship with the Soviet space effort had stimulated both societies and 

had influenced the character of individual programs, the authors said. 

Future joint activities could take three forms: data exchange, cooperative experiments, and joint operations. Examples cited were exchanges 

of weather-satellite pictures, lunar soil and rock samples, and limited 

data on Mars obtained during simultaneous missions in 1971; the US. 

biological experiments carried on Cosmos 782, launched and returned 

to earth in 1975; and the joint operation of Apollo-Soyuz, which demonstrated the practicality of such missions despite differences in language, 

institutions, technology, and style. Joint scientific progress in space 

would depend on broader social objectives and activity, supported by 

popular enthusiasm for intellectual and generally human adventure, the 

authors said. (Science, 11 June 76, 1067) 

0 The board of governors of the International Telecommunications Satellite 

Organization (INTELSAT) announced that, at its recent meeting in The 

Hague 19-27 May, it adopted a 10-m class Standard B ground station 

to supplement the Standard A station long the foundation of INTELSAT’S 

global system. Currently, 114 Standard A ground stations with 30-m 

antennas were operating throughout the world, as well as 29 smaller 

stations used for domestic service, telemetry, tracking and control, 

monitoring, and limited telecommunications between 2 or 3 destinations. 

Broadest use of the Standard B station would be in developing countries 

119 
June ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 

that had limited telecommunications requirements. Under study for some 

years, the Standard B.station would use single-channel-per-carrier (SCPC) 

equipment that allowed routing of traffic on a circuit-by-circuit basis 

instead of in large groups or bundles, minimizing the capacity loss 

associated with smaller antennas; it also worked with voice activation, 

which would be mandatory, using satellite capacity for telephone service 

only when activated by voice signals. Adoption of the second standard for 

international service would mean a 40% drop in rates paid for use of the 

satellites, plus ability to route traffic to any ground stations equipped to 

receive the user’s signals, with no restriction on the total amount of 

traffic. Previously, the drain on satellite power limited small ground 

stations to providing service to only 1 or 2 other points. (INTELSAT 

Release 76-17-1) 

11-30 June: The scheduled Fourth of July landing of Viking 1 on the 

planet Mars was briefly complicated by 2 problems announced in the news 

media 11 June: a mechanical problem with a leaky valve in the Viking’s 

fuel tank, and a threatened strike by about 200 technicians at a desert 

tracking station at Goldstone, Calif., one of 3 in the world that relayed 

signals to and from the Viking. Neither proved insuperable; by 18 June, 

John D. Goodlette, chief Viking engineer, was describing the mission as 

“shooting right down the pickle barrel.” “If we do nothing to the 

spacecraft from here on out,” he added, “we’d miss our target by less 

than 60 miles [95 km].” Wushington Post staff writer Thomas O’Toole 

explained that the target was a spot about 9600 km from Mars, where 

the onboard braking engine would slow the spacecraft from about 

14 200 kph to about 9600 kph, putting it into an elliptical orbit to survey 

possible landing sites. 

Viking 1 would scan and map the surface for 2 wk; its cameras would 

photograph the prime landing site near an ancient rift valley, and other 

instruments would measure surface temperatures and search the Mars 

atmosphere for signs of water. The new orbit would bring Viking over the 

planned landing site once each 24.6-hr Mars day (called a sol). The 

2 wk of photographs and measurements were needed so that scientists at 

Jet Propulsion Laboratory, where the flight had been directed since 

launch in April 1975, could choose the safest and most interesting spot 

for their &ton bird to alight. The landing attempt would be the first US. 

try at putting a spacecraft down on another planet; the USSR had made 

5 unmanned attempts, 3 on Venus and 2 on Mars. The 2 Venera 

spacecraft had survived on the surface long enough to send back 1 

picture each; the third crashed. One Mars spacecraft had crashed, and 

the other was blown over after it landed by winds clocked at more than 

300 kph. 

After Viking’s braking engine was fired, the main job of flight directors would be to navigate it into a path where its orbit would be lowered 

again, with apogee reduced from about 19 000 km to 12 500 km. The 

firing was successful 19 June, and the Viking neared the end of a 

690-million-km voyage that began 10 mo ago. William J. O’Neill of JPL 

said the precision of the flight could be likened to “shooting a basketball 

in Los Avgeles and putting it through a hoop in Madison Square Garden 

120 
ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 June 

in New York City.” Viking was following a northeasterly path around 

Mars that would bring it within 1450 km of the planet’s surface; flight 

directors planned a second maneuver to bring it still closer over an area 

20°N of the equator, called Chryse, where Viking would attempt to land 

4 July, selected as a good place to search for signs of life or fossilized life 

that thrived when a river flowed there a billion years ago. Harold S. 

Masursky of the U.S. Geological Survey, chief geologist for Viking, said 

that Chryse resembled California’s Death Valley or the water-worn dry 

valleys of Nevada or Wyoming, where ancient rivers overflowed their 

banks millions of years ago to deposit alluvial soils on the valley floors. 

Rock and soil in the Chryse valley appeared red from millions of years 

of iron oxide deposits brought down by the river overflow; Masursky and 

his colleagues hoped that the red soils would contain organic molecules, 

signs of a once-existent lifs on Mars. 

A photograph taken 19 June and released by JPL on Sunday, 20 June, 

showed the “awesome” Valles Marineris from about 360 000 km upparallel canyons south of the Mars equator that, if extended together on 

earth, would reach from Calif. to Penna. The smaller was about 3 km 

deep, 64 km wide, and 645 km long; the larger was 6 km deep, 96 km 

wide, and more than 3200 km long. (Arizona’s Grand Canyon, largest on 

earth, is about 2 km deep, 21 km wide at its greatest breadth, and only 

350 km long.) The northern hemisphere of Mars appeared covered with 

haze, which scientists said was probably from water vapor misting out of 

the cold surface as the sun warmed it during the longer summer days. 

Successful firing of the braking engine at 1:25 pm EDT Monday, 

2 1 June, put Viking 1 into a lower orbit so that its cameras could begin 

to photograph steep slopes, craters, boulder fields, and other potential 

obstacles. On 27 June, Viking project manager James S. Martin announced that the 4 July landing was off; pictures of the primary landing 

area showed “too many unknowns,” and the site appeared too hazardous 

to risk landing without investigating other sites. As the Viking 1 cameras 

could not distinguish objects “smaller than a football field,” objects as yet 

invisible could endanger the landing. However, as there was no assurance 

of any hazard-free area roughly 20 km by 100 km anywhere on Mars, 

some scientists had wanted to go ahead with the planned landing. Previous closeups taken by Mariner 9 were not as detailed as those from 

Viking, and dangerous details of the primary landing site became more 

obvious with photos from Viking 1 coming in more clearly. 

The New York Times reported that the first alternative site was an 

area called Chryse Phoenicia, a basin about 30 km northwest of the 

original site; if that site appeared too rough, scientists would look at 

Tritonis Lacus, about 6400 km east of Chryse, although if this happened, 

the landing might be delayed until as late as the first wk of August. 

Project Manager Martin suggested delaying the Viking 1 landing, if it 

were not down by 25 July, until the Viking 2 (now 8 million km away) 

arrived in Mars orbit; possibly 2 Viking spacecraft might be orbiting 

simultaneously. JPL said flight tracking and control facilities there were 

insufficient to handle full operations of both spacecraft simultaneously, 

and a number of preorbital maneuvers for Viking 2 would be required 

121 
June ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 

13 

starting about 27 July. John Noble Wilford said in the New York Times 

that the earliest possible Viking 1 landing would be 9 July, and other 

alternatives would take longer. Scientists, he said, were “dismayed by 

the rugged Martian terrain”-the primary landing area being heavily 

pocked with craters, steep escarpments, and a sprinkling of knoblike 

features probably remnants of erosion like that in the Grand Canyon. 

On 28 June, Viking 1 photographed a site about 300 km northwest 

of Chryse-the “northwest territory”-after pictures of the prime site 

showed it to be far more rugged than expected; the scientists wanted a 

landing as close as possible to the original site because they thought it 

offered the best chance of finding signs of existing or fossil life. The 

alternate site would be somewhat flatter and safer, but less interesting 

scientifically, O’Toole said in the Post 29 June. Photographs released 

29 June at JPL showed a plateau in the Chryse valley originally picked 

as the Viking 1 landing site, where a curving and rugged coastline at the 

plateau’s base could have been formed only by an ocean-like surf. 

Pictures taken from an altitude of about 1450 km showed a crater with 

lava-flow traces more than 30 km wide, “a truly enormous scale” 

according to chief geologist Masursky. “The biggest lava flooding . . . on 

earth are the basalt floods on Iceland, which are no bigger than a few 

kilometers across.” 

Temperature changes mapped by Viking were also dramatic: instruments on Viking registered differences of more than 6OoC (140’F) 

between day and night in the same parts of the planet. Dr. Hugh H. 

Kieffer, atmospheric scientist on the Viking team, said that the atmosphere on Mars was almost perfectly transparent to sunlight, as little 

water was present to absorb it; “whatever sunlight reaches the planet 

gets right to the surface, which then radiates the heat back to the 

atmosphere to warm it up.” An instrument aboard Viking could tell when 

day broke on the Mars surface although it had no way of “seeing”; it 

measured water vapor in the atmosphere, and registered its presence 

when the sun warmed the permafrost that “literally pops [water] into the 

atmosphere when that sun hits the surface first thing in the morning,” 

according to Dr. Barney Farmer of JPL. Besides surveying possibilities for 

its own landing, Viking 1 was photographing potential landing sites for 

Viking 2 to give scientists an idea whether they might have to shift sites 

for that spacecraft also. (WPost, 12 June 76, A-12; 19 June, A-3; 

20 June, A-1; 21 June, A-9; 22 June, A-17; 28 June, A-3; 29 June, 

C-4; 30 June, A-27; NYT, 21 June, 10; 28 June, 17; Av W7c, 28 June 

76, 14) 

June: Photographs from US. remote-sensing satellites had revealed the 

existence of water, oil, uranium, and other minerals in the Egyptian 

Sahara and the Sinai peninsula, the Washington Post reported. Egyptian scientist Ahmed Abdel Hady, head of an Egyptian- American scientific team in charge of a remote-sensing project that had been receiving 

data from satellites since 1972, said in an AP interview that the satellites 

revealed enough water in the Sinai desert “to turn most of it green.” 

(Most of Sinai was still occupied by the Israelis, who seized it in 1967.) 

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ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 June 

The Egyptian government, working in cooperation with Okla. State 

Univ. and the Univ. of Mich., had an annual budget of $1.2 million for 

study of the untapped resources, Abdel Hady said. 

Although the satellite data had shown that highlands in northern Sinai 

and the coastal strip of Wadi el Arish, totaling more than 770 km:, 

concealed a huge water potential, he declined to go into details because 

“I don’t want to make it difficult for Egypt when it negotiates the next 

Israeli pullout.” However, he described photographs of an area about 

1350 km’! in Sinai that showed three different areas rich in petroleum 

and natural gas: the Gulf of Suez, with oil reserves already proven; the 

Mediterranean offshore area in northern Sinai, not yet explored; and q 

large area in southern Sinai marked by sedimentary rocks carrying 

natural gas. Uranium was also detected in northwest and southern Sinai, 

and west central Sinai contained huge amounts of silica that could lead 

to a glass industry, Abdel Hady said. Besides the desert potential, he 

added, the images also showed significant food-growing potential in a 

previously unnoted fertile area measuring about 965 km2 near the Nile 

basin; the images were also used to study the Qattara Depression in the 

desert west of the Nile, site of a huge proposed hydroelectric project. 

(W Post, 13 June 76, G-2) 

14 June: Marshall Space Flight Center-lead NASA center for Spacelab 

development-announced that the full-scale model of the Spacelab module developed by the European Space Agency for orbital research and 

applications missions in the Shuttle orbiter had been shipped from Germany and was on display at the U.S. Bicentennial exposition on science 

and technology at Kennedy Space Center, open until 7 Sept. The Spacelab access tunnel and pallet section manufactured at Huntsville for MSFC 

had been shipped to KSC for assembly with the module. The pressurized 

module would be used by U.S. and European scientists working in space 

in a shirtsleeve environment; the unpressurized pallet would contain 

unmanned equipment such as telescopes, antennas, and instruments 

requiring direct exposure to space; and the access tunnel would be used 

by the crew to transfer from the orbiter to the module and return. 

Spacelab was designed to be fully reusable for an operational lifetime of 

50 missions or 5 yr, whichever is reached first; nominal mission duration 

would be 7 days, but could be extended as long as 30 days. Spacelab was 

managed jointly by ESA, NASA Hq, and MSFC. (MSFC Release 76-1 10) 

0 The Air Force announced that its third prototype B-1 bomber successfully 

completed its maiden flight, having left Air Force Plant 42 at Palmdale, 

Calif., at 3:37 pm PDT and landed at nearby Edwards AFB after a flight 

of 2 hr 9 min. Since its rollout 11 May, the prototype built for USAF by 

Rockwell International’s B- 1 Division had undergone fuel and 

propulsion-system checkout, subsystem tests, low- and high-speed taxi 

tests, and a complete review of flight readiness. The B-1 was the first 

large swing-wing aircraft to complete a complex 8-mo series of structural integrity testing so early in its design life. The third B-1’s primary 

flight-test objective was to acquire data to verify predicted design loads 

in test missions at both subsonic and supersonic speeds. Highest altitude 

123 
June ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 

reached during the maiden flight was about 3 km, with top speed at 

.45 mach. Crew members were Doug Benefield of Rockwell, pilot; AF Lt. 

Col. Ed McDowell, copilot; and Rockwell flight-test engineer Jack Baldwin, who was riding in the B-1 for the first time. (USAF release 14 June 

76) 

15 June: Secretary of Transportation William T. Coleman, Jr., proposed a 

$1 billion program to muffle noisy jet engines and replace older planes 

with quieter new ones, the Washington Post reported. The proposed 

program, part of a comprehensive aviation-noise policy submitted to the 

Office of Management and Budget, would be paid for by a surcharge on 

airline tickets-probably 2%--that would go into an escrow fund to be 

used by the nation’s airlines over a 6- to 8-yr period. The “retrofit” 

program-most controversial part of the noise-abatement policywould consist of modifying older 2- and 3-engine jets (such as the 

McDonnell-Douglas DC-9 and Boeing 727) by surrounding them with 

sound-absorbent materials to make them quieter. The fund could be used 

as part of the cost of replacing older 4-engine jets (the Boeing 707 and 

the McDonnell-Douglas Dc-8) with newer, quieter planes. Although the 

Air Transport Association (ATA) representing most U.S. airlines had long 

favored replacement of the 4-engine planes, the Post said, it had vigorously opposed retrofit of 3-engine planes because the cost would outweigh the benefits. Retrofit had been advocated by the Environmental 

Protection Agency, the Federal Aviation Administration, and many 

citizens’ groups to reduce noise levels around airports and take advantage of the useful life left in many of the older planes; however, the Post 

noted that opposition to retrofit in the administration had been based on 

expense, its possible contribution to inflation, and the fact that newer 

quieter planes would eventually solve the problem anyway. The Post 

quoted “no better than 50-50” chances that Congress would go along 

with providing public financing to help privately owned airlines make 

their planes quieter, according to a Capitol Hill source. Under Secretary 

Coleman’s proposal, the 8% surcharge on airfares now going into a trust 

fund for improving terminal and navigational facilities would be reduced 

by2%, which would go into the retrofit fund, so that no actual increase 

in ticket prices would occur. (W Post, 15 June 76, A-3) 

e Marshall Space Flight Center announced development of a solar-simulator 

test facility, believed to be the largest of its kind in existence, to compare 

the efficiency of solar-energy collectors in MSFC’S program of assisting the 

Energy Research and Development Administration in its solar energy 

program. Designed to provide variable levels of energy similar to groundlevel solar radiation, the simulator contained a lamp array with 405 

tungsten halogen 300-watt lamps paired with the same number of Fresnel lenses to provide an illuminated area for solar collectors up to 1.2 by 

2.4 meters. After a 6-wk checkout of the lamp array, power equipment, 

and solar-collector fluid-flow systems, the simulator would serve to test 

solar-energy collectors that used either air or liquid as the heat-transfer 

medium. (MSFC Release 76-1 11) 

e The Energy Research and Development Administration announced selection of 2 firms, one in Mass. and the other in Calif., to study potential 

124 
ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 June 

wind-power use by utilities to generate electricity in their own localities. 

The JBF Scientific Corp., a small research company in Wilmhgton, 

Mass., would study potential wind-power use by the Cambridge Light Go. 

and the New Bedford Gas and Edison Light Co. in New England; the 

utilities would provide information about their power needs and other 

data. The Aerospace Corp. of El Segundo, Calif., would assess potential 

wind-power use by the Hawaiian Electric Co., which serves most of that 

state; the Univ. of Hawaii would also participate in the study. Besides 

examining the utilities and their power needs, the contractors would 

study other ways of generating electricity (such as coal and nuclear 

plants), comparing them with wind energy to see if conversion would be 

practical and economical. The regional studies would last 1 yr each and 

would cost about $500 000 overall. The resulting data would supply a 

model for utilities throughout the country to assess the use of wind 

energy in their own regions. (ERDA Release 76-180) 

16 June: Western Union announced that it had signed a 7-yr contract with 

the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) for transmission services 

via the Westar satellite. Duration of the contract was a possible 15 yr. 

Contingent upon approval by the Federal Communications Commission, 

Western Union would begin 31 December 1978 to provide CPB with 

service on 3 fulltime fully protected transponders for $800 000 per 

transponder per yr, or $2.4 million annually, permitting CPB to offer 

national distribution of programs to 165 public-television stations 

through its manager, the Public Broadcasting Service (PBs). The contract 

would give CPB an option on a fourth Westar transponder and establish 

rates for both scheduled and unscheduled service, and anticipated satellite distribution of radio programs to about 170 public radio stations 

through National Public Radio (NPR). Use of a 3- or 4-channel satellite 

system would serve many of the Congress’s policy goals for public 

broadcasting, CPB officials said: autonomy of local public stations, increased flexibility in programming, and lower cost of expanding public 

broadcasting coverage. (Western Union release, 16 June 76) 

0 Dr. John L. McLucas, head of the Federal Aviation Administration, predicted that the U.S. would produce a second-generation supersonic transport, probably in cooperation with the Europeans, as a followup to the 

Concorde program. Speaking at a luncheon of the Air Force Association 

and in a subsequent interview with the New York Times, Dr. McLucas 

said that Congress probably would enact legislation to sharply reduce 

aircraft noise over the next 6 to 10 yr by modifying and replacing present 

aircraft. Biggest question would be how much financial help the airlines 

would get to carry out the plan: McLucas predicted that the airlines 

would have to settle for loan guarantees rather than outright subsidy. 

Calling the aviation industry “an endangered species,” he said it was 

threatened by low profits, lack of capital for new equipment, and absence 

of a national aviation policy; he asked for more cooperation between 

industry and government, and exploration of joint projects with European partners. “A joint effort to advance . . . the design of the nextgeneration SST would be in keeping with this new spirit of international 

125 
June ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 

cooperation,” he added. Dr. McLucas was secretary of the Air Force 

until President Ford transferred him to head the FAA. (MT, 17 June 

76, 49) 

17 June: NASA studies in the year past had shown that 5 of 6 types of products 

considered for space processing could be expected to become profitable, 

Dr. William R. Lucas, director of Marshall Space Flight Center, told the 

subcommittee on aerospace technology and national needs of the Senate’s Committee on Aeronautical and Space Sciences. NASA’s spaceprocessing program had deliberately pursued a policy of performing 

experiments on available missions and sponsoring formal experiments by 

members of the scientific community, Lucas said; the experiment program had been “reasonably representative” of the scientific potential 

that scientists foresaw for materials processing in space. Although available mission capabilities had severely restricted what could be done, the 

program had included demonstrations of crystal growth, solidification of 

homogeneous mixtures of immersible materials, processing biological 

materials for medical application, and other phenomena relating to physical metallurgy and fluid physics. Potentials identified with glasses and 

ceramics had not yet undergone experimentation. 

Citing the success of experiments in electrophoretic separation and 

crystal growth on the Skylab and Apollo-Soyuz missions, Lucas emphasized the necessity of developing novel techniques for virtually every 

experiment; experience so far had justified the early interest in materials 

processing in space, although many lines of investigation had not been 

completed because of the program’s operational constraints. Wide response to the program both in the U.S. and abroad was evidence of the 

scientific community’s interest, he said. Next steps in development would 

be to finalize payloads for early Shuttle missions, then proceed with design 

and development; “We expect to proceed with research . . . both 

through the SPAR [rocket] project and through an expanded program of 

ground-based research,” he added. “We shall need to reemphasize the 

ground-based program . . . to replenish the fund of new ideas in space 

processing and build a base of technical support with the breadth that 

Shuttle experiment operations will need.” (MSFC Release 76-1 12) 

18 June: NASA launched the Gravitational Probe-A (GP-A) from Wallops Flight 

Center at 7:41 am EDT on a scout vehicle into a trajectory with peak 

altitude of 889 km and total flight time of 6960 sec. The 102.5-kg probe 

was designed to measure the gravitational red shift predicted by the 

equivalence principle laid down by Einstein in 1907 as the cornerstone 

of the general theory of relativity: GP-A would directly determine the 

effect of gravitation on time by comparing the rate of a rocket-borne 

clock to an identical clock on earth. During the flight, the probe clock 

would be in a weaker gravitational field than the identical clock on earth; 

as the probe clock rose through increasingly weaker gravity to its maximum altitude, it would appear to run increasingly faster, and its rate 

would slow as it returned to the stronger gravity at lower altitudes. The 

experiment required not only extremely accurate telemetry throughout 

the probe’s ascent and descent, but also an extremely accurate set of 

126 
ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 June 

clocks; those used were atomic-hydrogen masers of extraordinary stability, according to Dr. R.F.C. Vessot of the Smithsonian Astrophysical 

Observatory, principal investigator. (“Maser” is an acronym for microwave amplification by stimulated emission of radiation.) The clocks were 

expected to provide measurement accuracy within 5 thousandths of 1% 

(5 x of the predicted effect. The experiment and its support 

systems performed normally, but Dr. Vessot said that 1 to 3 mo of data 

reduction would be needed to determine whether the scientific objective 

had been met. (NASA Release 76-106; MOR S-879-76-01 [prelaunch] 

14 June 76, [postlaunch] 23 June 76; MSFC Release 76-1 13) 

A 2-mo study this summer at the Ames Research Center would bring 

together a specially chosen panel of a dozen scientists--“authorities on 

every aspect of space exploration”-to make an in-depth examination of 

problems anticipated in the colonization of space. Sponsored by NASA, the 

group would also consider whether satellite power stations for earth could 

be built by space colonists. In a report by James Barron for the Washington Star, Princeton physicist Gerard K. O’Neill detailed his ideas for a 

kilometer-plus-wide cylinder with living quarters for 10 000 colonists on 

its outer rim, the length to be determined by the number of colonists 

desired; O’Neill emphasized that the colony could be ready by 1990 

using existing technology and materials mined from outer space. O’Neill 

last year took his theories to a NASA-sponsored study group at Stanford 

University that included 28 physicists, engineers, and social scientists; 

the panel recommended that the U.S. move toward the colonization of 

space, saying that it “would represent ‘cashing in’ on the scientific 

information returned to us by Apollo.” (WStar, 18 June 76, A-1) 

0 The USSR Venera 10 spacecraft, launched a year ago and in orbit around 

the planet Venus for the past 8 months, was continuing its research work 

although its companion, Venera 9, had ceased to function, a Tass broadcast announced. Venus was passing behind the sun “from the point of 

view of an observer on earth,” and a radio beam sent to earth by Venera 

10 had passed only 1.5 million km from the sun’s surface. Analysis of 

Venera 10 signals had shown that streams of near-solar plasma were 

very heterogeneous and subject to rapid changes in time; also studied 

were the possibilities of receiving information and controlling spacecraft 

depending on conditions of radio beams passing near the sun. (FBIS, Tass 

in English, 18 June 76) 

18-30 June: Johnson Space Center announced its plan to use a spaceenvironment simulation chamber to dry records and documents damaged 

in Houston’s flood 15 June. The first batch, scheduled to be dried 

19 June, consisted of medical records from Methodist Hospital and 

valuable irreplaceable books from the Contemporary Arts Museum, as 

well as museum records. The material would be put inside the chamber 

on shelves that would be heated to 48OC, and the chamber would be 

pumped to a vacuum; the process would take from 48 to 72 hr. The 

technique was pioneered by McDonnell Douglas Aircraft Corp. for the 

USAF when the latter’s records were water-damaged in a fire. A later 

announcement said the drying was successful and that JX was in process 

127 
June ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 

of drying material from St. Joseph’s Hospital and the Univ. of Houston’s 

law library. (JSC Release 76-42; JSC release 30 June 76) 

20 June: The USSR launched Intercosmos 15 on 19 June, a Tass broadcast 

announced, as an example of “socialist countries’ cooperation” in space 

research. The spacecraft orbital parameters were 52 1-km apogee, 

487-km perigee, 74’ inclination, and 94.6-min period. Intercosmos 15 

was designed to “test new systems and units,” including a telemetry 

system developed and manufactured with the participation of specialists 

from Hungary, Poland, Czechoslovakia, and the German Democratic 

Republic, as well as the USSR. Satellite data would be transmitted to 

receiving stations in Hungary, Czechoslovakia, and the CDR. (FBIS, Tass 

in English, 20 June 76) 

An official Indian government press release broadcast from Bombay said 

that 2 Centaur rockets and 2 M-1008 rockets would be fired from the 

equatorial rocket-launching station at Thumba on 28 or 29 June, and 

1 July respectively. (FBIS, Samachar News Agency in English, 20 June 

21 June: The US. Senate by unanimous vote of 88 ratified the multination 

convention on registration of objects launched into outer space. All 37 

countries now members of the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful 

Uses of Outer Space-which drafted the convention-were expected to 

ratify it; France and Bulgaria had already ratified, and 24 nations 

including the USSR had signed it. Registration would be with the secretary 

general of the UN, reporting was mandatory, and the information to be 

provided “as soon as practicable” included the name of the launching 

state (or states), appropriate designator of the space object (or its registration number), date and territory or location of the launch, basic orbital 

parameters (apogee, perigee, orbital period, inclination), and general 

functions of the space object. The convention embraced objects launched 

into earth orbit or into space transit-lunar or deep-space probes-but 

did not require reporting on objects in brief transit through outer space, 

such as sounding rockets or ballistic-missile test vehicles. The convention 

would supersede the voluntary system that had been in operation since 

1962; the U.S. State Department had told the Senate Foreign Relations 

Committee that, although nearly all countries launching objects into 

outer space had respected the voluntary system, there had never been 

agreement on the kinds of information to be supplied and the information 

conveyed to the secretary general had never been uniform. 

The committee’s only question regarding cooperation was the People’s Republic of China, which had not reported on its outer space 

launchings; Senator Clifford P. Case (R-N.J.) had asked Secretary of State 

Henry A. Kissinger to find out if mainland China would register under the 

new convention. NASA had told the committee that the U.S. would not 

incur substantial costs from the convention’s requirement that participating states with space tracking facilities help in identifying a space 

object, when requested by another participant on the grounds that the 

object to be identified was “hazardous or deleterious.” NASA was already 

tracking nearly 5000 space objects, some as small as a dinner plate, and 

7 6) 

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ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 June 

knew which nation owned most of them. (NASA Ofc Legis. Affairs, report 

for 21 June 76; Av Wk, 28 June 76, 63) * President Ford announced his intention to nominate Alan M. Lovelace, 

NASA’s Associate Administrator for Aeronautics and Space Technology, 

to succeed George M. Low as Deputy Administrator. Lovelace had 

occupied his position since September 1974. Before coming to NASA, he 

had been director of research and development for the Air Force Systems 

Command at Wright-Patterson AFB, o., 1967-1972; director of science 

and technology for Air Force R&D, assigned to Andrews AFB; and acting 

Deputy Assistant Secretary for Research and Development for the Air 

Force in October 1973. The nomination required Senate confirmation, 

but no opposition was expected; if the Senate did not act by the end of 

the week, before its 4 July recess, confirmation might be delayed until 

after 19 July. (Pres Doc, 21 June 76, 1072; Av Wk, 28 June 76, 21; 

NASA Release 76- 1 18) 

0 NASA would buy the Department of Defense’s 2 Space Shuttle orbiters if the 

administration would give NASA an extra $835 million or so for that 

purpose, Aerospace Daily reported after a meeting between George M. 

Low, departing NASA Deputy Administrator, and Dr. Malcolm R. Currie, 

DOD’S chief of research and engineering. The 2 agencies reportedly 

agreed that the nation needed 5 orbiters-2 more than NASA had planned 

to buy-and that NASA should buy them. NASA Administrator James c. 

Fletcher and Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld were reported 

ready to meet to “firm up a proposal” to the Office of Management and 

Budget and to President Ford; OMB might contest the need for 5 orbiters, 

Aerospace Daily said. (Aero Daily, 21 June 76, 22) 

22 June: Tass announced the launch of the Salyut 5 orbital scientific station 

under the program of studying the outer space.” Parameters were 

260-km apogee, 2 19-km perigee, 5 1.6’ inclination, and 89-min period. Control posts inside the Soviet Union as well as vessels of the USSR 

Science Academy “sailing in the waters of the Atlantic Ocean” were 

tracking the flight, receiving telemetry, and controlling the station, the 

announcement said. Although the official announcement did not mention 

manned flights as part of the Salyut 5 program, the Washington Post 

reported that a Western specialist in Moscow had predicted the new 

station would be manned “sooner or later.” The Washington Star noted 

that 2 visiting cosmonauts-Pyotr Klimuk and Vitaly Sevastyanov, who 

lived aboard Salyut 4 for 63 days last summer-speaking at an international meeting in Philadelphia 2 wk ago said the new station would be 

able to accommodate 6 cosmonauts for as long as 3 mo, and would have 

2 entry ports, so that 2 spacecraft could dock with it at the same time. 

The 2-mo flight of Klimuk and Sevastyanov set a Soviet record for time 

spent in space; however, the 84-day flight of 3 Americans (Gerald P. 

Carr, Edward G. Gibson, and William R. Pope) aboard Skylab 4 had 

set the overall endurance record in early 1974. 

A USSR manned mission would be the first launching of cosmonauts 

since the joint Apollo-Soyuz flight with the U.S. in July 1975; the last USSR 

orbital station, Salyut 4, was launched 26 December 1974 and was still 

(6 

129 
June ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 

performing experiments, according to official announcements. The Star 

said that the Soviets were directing their resources toward perfecting 

permanent stations in contrast to the u.S. approach of developing a 

reusable space shuttle. (FBIS, Tass in English, 22 June 76; W Post, 

23 June 76, A-1 1; W Star, 23 June 76, A-15) * Switzerland and the U.K. became the first 2 countries to sign a protocol 

authorizing the European Space Agency to “undertake the exploitation 

phase” of its meteorological satellite Meteosat. The agreement, signed in 

Paris, would remain open until 30 September for signature by the other 

participants (Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, and Sweden) 

and for other countries to participate. Meteosat, being developed for ESA 

by the Cosmos consortium with Aerospatiale (France) as prime contractor, was one of four current ESA applications programs; it covered the 

design, development, construction, launch, management, and control of 

a preoperational satellite. ESA’S responsibility for checking out Meteosat 

in orbit for the first 6 mo after launch (scheduled for the third quarter 

of 1977) would be extended by the protocol to include the subsequent 

2.5-yr “exploitation phase” of the satellite to be carried out with 

meteorological authorities in the participating countries. Other ESA applications programs were OTS (telecommunications), MAROTS (maritime 

communications), and Aerosat (air traffic control). (ESA release 23 June 

23 June: Marshall Space Flight Center announced award of a $209 368 

contract to a small business firm, Northern Research and Engineering 

Corp. of Cambridge, Mass., for designing, assembling, and demonstrating a portable self-contained firefighting module conceived as a joint 

effort of NASA’s Technology Utilization Office and the U.S. Coast Guard. 

The module would be a lightweight unit complete with pump, hose, 

firefighter suits, and other equipment that could be transported by helicopter to the deck of any medium-sized boat in the area of a shipboard 

or dock fire; it would be able to pump about 5700 liters of sea water per 

min for an uninterrupted 3 hr. (MSFC Release 76-1 16) 

0 The USAF Arnold Engineering Development Center operated in Tenn. by 

the Air Force Systems Command announced that it was using infrared 

equipment, designed in Europe to locate tumors in the human body, 

for studying heat patterns on the surface of the Space Shuttle manned 

orbiter vehicle under simulated flight conditions. Infrared cameras 

were known to detect a tumor because its heat-radiation characteristics 

differed from those of normal tissue. In the USAF tests, a model 

heated in a wind tunnel’s supersonic airflow produced infrared 

radiation received by a camera and transferred to a detector that 

could record infrared radiation from 7000 points in the field-of-view. 

Earlier Shuttle tests had shown the need for a protective system when 

the vehicle plunged into the dense atmosphere and for data on expected 

temperature levels, important to the selection of structural materials and 

to the design of internal parts. Ceramic-like tiles had been used in a 

scanning test to see the effect of a slight misalignment on the overall heat 

distribution, on the orbiter’s underside; the resulting data had demon76) 

130 
ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 June 

strated advantages over more traditional methods. Standard procedures 

required the application of surface coatings-either a paint that changed 

from solid to liquid at a specified temperature, or compounds whose 

ultraviolet radiation changed with temperature-but such materials 

could create a surface roughness that would alter the results. Also the 

melting-paint technique required washing and repainting the model after 

each test. The infrared camera could transmit its findings to a computer 

for analysis within minutes, and could provide a permanent color record 

if required. Use of mechanical heat-measuring devices was limited by the 

number of sensors that could be installed, and the time required to do so. 

(Although the infrared system would minimize the need for mechanical 

instrumentation, tests calling for simultaneous temperature data from all 

portions of the model surface would still require installation of sensors.) 

About 90% of the system used at AEDC was off-the-shelf hardware; 

computer programs and methods of interconnecting components were 

devised by ARO, Inc., the center’s operating contractor. (OIP 114.76) 

25 June: NASA announced selection of 8 scientists as a team to develop 

experiments for a proposed unmanned lunar mission in 1980, under 

study at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The mission would use a low-cost 

instrumented polar-orbiting spacecraft with a smaller companion subsatellite, launched together from Cape Canaveral on a single Delta 

vehicle, to orbit the moon for a yr and examine nearly the entire lunar 

surface from pole to pole, on both near and far sides, to expand knowledge gained from the small areas visited by previous u.S. and Soviet 

missions to the whole of the moon. This first US. lunar mission since 

Apollo 17 in 1972 would also be the first global survey of a body other 

than earth. 

The 8 experiment areas would provide measurements for scientists to 

determine the moon’s gravity, magnetism, and heat flow, and the chemical and mineral composition of the moon’s surface. Advanced remote 

sensing-gamma-ray, x-ray, and reflection spectroscopy-would be 

used in 3 of the experiments to create chemical maps of the lunar 

surface; a fourth experiment, spectrostereo imaging, would provide photographic data to match these maps with individual features of the lunar 

landscape. Magnetometer and electron reflector experiments would map 

electrical and magnetic properties of the lunar surface and subsurface; 

the remaining 2 experiments-heat flow and gravity field-would provide information on the deep interior of the moon. The gravity field would 

be mapped by tracking the polar-orbiting spacecraft circling at an altitude of 100 km above the lunar surface; the subsatellite, in a higher orbit 

up to 5000 km, would track the orbiter when it was hidden from earth 

by the moon. Mascons (mass concentrations) on the near side of the moon 

had been discovered by analyzing similar tracking data during the early 

lunar-orbiter flights in the 1960s; the proposed experiment would determine whether such mascons existed on the far side of the moon, besides 

providing information on the lunar interior. 

Principal investigators named were: gamma-ray spectrometry, 

Dr. James R. Arnold, Univ. of Calif. at San Diego; spectrostereo imaging, 

131 
June ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 

Merton E. Davies, RAND Corp.; electron reflection, Dr. Robert P. Lin, 

Univ. of Calif. at Berkeley; infrared spectrometry, Dr. Thomas B. 

McCord, MIT; microwave radiometry, Dr. Duane 0. Muhleman, CalTech; gravity and altimetry, Dr. Roger J. Phillips, JPG magnetometry, 

Dr. Christopher T. Russell, Univ. of Calif. at Los Angeles; x-ray spectrometry, Dr. Jacob L. Trombka, Goddard Space Flight Center. Each of 

the 8 principal investigators would be accompanied by groups of coinvestigators; the 7 1 -member science team would be aided by JPL staff 

members. JPL scientist in charge of the study was Dr. T.V. Johnson. (NASA 

Release 76- 1 19) 

NASA announced it would use starlight that left the surface of a nearby star 

ZOO yr ago to signal the lighting of a giant ZOO-candle Bicentennial 

birthday cake at the new Superdome stadium in New Orleans just before 

midnight on 3 July. Photons of light that left Gamma Bootes just before 

midnight 3 July 1776-when the signers of the Declaration of Independence were officially witnessing the birth of the u.s.-would arrive on 

earth to activate a 1000-cycle tone at the Goddard Space Flight Center. 

The tone, transmitted to New Orleans on commercial telephone lines, 

would signal the lighting of the cake. GSFC’S orbiting astronomical observatory Copernicus, passing over Hawaii in its 740-km orbit, would 

receive the photons on its star detector and transmit a digital signal to 

the NASA ground station in Hawaii; this signal, retransmitted to the West 

Coast and via microwave to GSFC, would activate a relay connecting the 

tone to New Orleans, where it would be heard on the stadium’s public 

address system for 1 min before the candles would be lighted. Astronaut 

Story Musgrave would participate in the Superdome activities. (NASA 

Release 76-121) 

0 Kennedy Space Center announced a broad program of research projects to 

use the KSC spaceport and its resources to obtain information on thunderstorms and the hazards they offered to launch operations. Meteorological 

and electronics scientists from the US. and abroad converged on the 

center for sessions of observing the thunderstorms, whose incidence is 

high in Fla. during the summer months. More than 70 scientists, many 

of them graduate students, would participate in experiments under the 

program; 19 principal investigators would represent organizations such 

as the Naval Research Laboratory, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s environmental research laboratory, the Atlantic 

Science Corporation, Mass. Institute of Technology, N. Mex. Institute of 

Mining and Technology, S. Dak. School of Mines and Technology, and 

the Universities of Miami, Arizona, Florida, New York at Albany, and 

Manchester (England). NASA’s Johnson Space Center and Goddard Space 

Flight center also were participating. 

Experiments would investigate precipitation formation, lightning behavior, air motions in thunderstorm clouds, and intracloud electrical 

discharges, among the numerous projects beginning this June and continuing through the summers of 1977 and 1978. Experimenters would 

provide their own instruments for the experiments, but much KSC equipment and material would be available, such as the instrumented aircraft 

used in previous lightning studies; weather radars; the detection and 

132 
ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 June 

ranging system and electric-field measuring system used to monitor 

buildup of electrical charges that might interfere with launches; a 

weather-information network display; a satellite imagery acquisition system, with equipment for processing weather pictures, and an automatic 

picture-transmission (APT) recording system with timing and camera 

devices. An earlier program in 1948 studied dynamics of thunderstorms; 

the current program would emphasize electrical characteristics. (KSC 

Release 279-76) 

NASA announced that one of its c-54 aircraft based at Wdops Flight 

Center had photographed several Long Island beaches at the request of 

the Environmental Protection Agency. The beaches, recently polluted by 

waterborne trash, were flown over and photographed 23 June with 2 

T-1 1 aerial cameras-one for natural color and one for infrared-and 

the films were developed at m and delivered to EPA’S Region 11 Surveillance and Analysis Division in N.J. EPA would interpret the photographs 

to obtain information about the extent and expected duration of the 

problem; NASA would also determine whether recent Landsat imagery of 

the area would be useful in EPA’S analysis. (NASA Release 76-120) @ Dr. John F. Clark, scheduled to retire 1 July as Director of Goddard Space 

Flight Center, had been selected to serve after that date at NASA Hq as 

specialassistant to the Associate Administrator, according to anannouncement by Dr. Robert S. Cooper, GSFC deputy director and Dr. Clark’s 

successor. Dr. Clark agreed to stay at GSFC through 14 August to review 

actions needed to finalize design activities associated with a stability 

problem in the Delta second-stage engine, Dr. Cooper said, and would 

also serve as adviser on the Delta’s readiness for the Palapa and Itos 

launches later in 1976. (GSFC announcement 1997) 

The European Space Agency announced that Bernard Deloffre, who began 

serving as director of ESA’S Spacelab program 1 March 1975, had 

tendered his resignation 22 June to the chairman of the ESA council, 

through the Director General. A forthcoming meeting of the council 

would discuss a replacement. (ESA release 25 June 76) 

26 June: The USAF launched an early-warning satellite from Cape Canaveral 

at 11 am EDT on a Titan IIIC. The satellite-product of the TRW/Aerojet 

Defense Support Program-was reported to be a replacement for a 

satellite launched 14 Dec. 1975 that malfunctioned. Orbital parameters 

were: apogee, 35 600 km; perigee, 35 600 km; inclination, 0.5O; period, 1433 min. DOD, which had 10 launches in 1975, had launched 7 so 

far in 1976. (SBD, 29 June 76, 6-F) 

28 June: Dr, William H. Pickering, who retired as director of the Jet 

Propulsion Laboratory at CalTech 31 March, was named to receive a 

1975 National Medal of Science, reported Aviation reek & Space 

Technology magazine. The medal is the U.S. government’s highest award 

for distinguished achievement in science and engineering. (Av W7c, 

28 June 76, 11) 

30 June: In a foreword to Volume 2, Program Implementation, of the Energy 

Research and Development Administration’s massive report, A National 

Plan for Energy Research, Development & Demonstration: Creating 

133 
June ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 

Energy Choices for the Future, ERDA Administrator Robert c. Seamans, 

Jr., called attention to the 30% increase in funding for ERDA in the 1977 

budget, whose purpose was to speed the achievement of long-term energy 

independence, encourage cost-sharing with private industry (to avoid 

federal funding of projects “more appropriately the responsibility of the 

private sector”), and support commercial demonstration of synthetic fuel 

production through loan guarantees. The plans contained in the more 

than 400 pages of Vol. 2, he said, represented the agency’s considered 

judgment as to which were reasonable to pursue based on current information, but left room for frequent reassessment in view of technical 

development, economic situations, and environmental and social conditions. (Text, ERDA 76-1) 

0 Bernard Deloffre, director of the European Space Agency’s Spacelab program since 1 March 1975, resigned his position. ESA announced 

that the Director General, Roy Gibson, would personally manage the 

program with the assistance of Prof. Massimo Trella, ESA technical 

inspector, until appointment of a new Spacelab director. (ESA newsletter 

Aug 76, 3) 

During June: Prompted by the crash of an Overseas National Airways DC-10 

at Kennedy International Airport in Nov. 1975, when a General Electric 

CF6 engine on the plane disintegrated after a massive encounter with 

seagulls, Webster B. Todd, Jr., chairman of the National Transportation 

Safety Board, wrote to Federal Aviation Administrator John McLucas 

that the GE engine was the only one in operation that had disintegrated 

completely on several occasions after bird ingestion. Todd asked that the 

CF6 engine be modified and that bird patrols be set up where known 

problems existed at airports served by CF6-powered aircraft. 

FAA bird-ingestion tests allowed certification of engines that could 

absorb the impact of only 10 birds weighing 0.67 kg each (1.5 lb); Todd 

said that the FAA’s birds were too light and that they should have been 

fired into the engine simultaneously instead of one at a time. The gulls 

that caused the ONA crash weighed more than 2.2 kg each (5 lb). 

Although GE immediately protested the letter, only the CF6 had been 

implicated in a massive bird-strike explosion, whereas Pratt & Whitney 

and Rolls Royce engines in similar occurrences did not explode. 

CE said it was planning to use aluminum honeycomb to replace the 

phenolic-resin shroud on the abradable seal around the compressorbooster stages; fan blades detached by bird ingestion had scraped off the 

resin, which accumulated in the combustion chamber and mixed with the 

fuel, creating overpressure and ultimately an explosion. Aircraft using 

the CF6 included the USAF’S C-5A Galaxy, 190 DC-lOs, 6 B-747s, and 

the A300 Airbus. ONA had decided on CF6 engines for a recent order of 

3 m-10s. (hnteruvia, June 76, 502) 

The 50th anniversary of scheduled airline service in the US. had brought 

little or no traffic growth in a declining economy, the Air Transport 

Association reported in its yearly review €or 1975. When airline passenger travel began in 1926, no more than 6000 persons were carried 

between a handful of markets. In 1975, the nation’s scheduled airlines 

134 
ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 June 

carried more than 205 million passengers 0ver.a network of 58 000 

city-pairs (pairs of cities between which a scheduled service carries 

people, mail, or freight on more than 13 000 daily flights). The passenger total in 1975 was 2 million less than for 1974, although miles 

flown remained constant; increased traffic during the last quarter of 

1975 had brightened the outlook for the Bicentennial year, ATA said. 

Freight service in 1975 totaled more than 4.7 billion ton-miles, down 

2.5% from 1974. Airline safety improved, with only 3 fatal accidents in 

1975 (fewest recorded since records began in 1949) and 124 fatalities, 

lowest number since 1957. Scheduled airline travel was statistically 10 

times safer than by private automobile; in the early 1930s, it was 

considered 8 times as dangerous. (ATA report, 1976) 

0 Symphonie 2, the Franco-German telecommunications satellite that 

drifted out of its normal geostationary orbit late last month, was gradually repositioned by using its cold-gas stabilization system, Aviation 

Week and Space Technology magazine reported. French and German 

space technicians determined that the malfunction was caused by a still 

unidentified defect in one of 4 valves feeding the exhaust nozzles of the 

satellite’s hot-gas stabilization system. Transmissions normally handled 

by Symphonie 2 were shifted to Symphonie 1 while the repositioning 

went on; both satellites were reported working normally again. (Av Wk, 

28 June 76, 11) 

0 The USAF announced that use of a new tool made of a graphite-epoxy 

composite material in fabricating 3 YF-16 fuselages of the same material 

had exceeded design requirements and saved both time and money. 

Materials and processes used to make the 227-kg 18.5-m‘ composite 

tool replaced a multiple-step method used to construct large, complex, 

highly contoured aircraft fuselage skins or structural shells of graphiteepoxy materials; the new concept eliminated 2 steps in fabrication, 

saving up to 50% of total tool cost. Steel curing tools used for smaller, 

less complex components were extremely expensive and could damage a 

contoured part because of incompatible thermal expansion; parts made 

with the new tool had mechanical properties and dimensional tolerances 

that exceeded those made with conventional tools. Whereas 23.5 manhours per 0.09m2 were needed to make the previous tool, only 9.7 

man-hours were needed for the new tools, for a total saving of 2660 

man-hours. Elimination of materials used in the multiple-step procedure 

meant additional savings. (OIP Release 096.76) 

Articles in 2 successive issues of Aviation Week & Space Technology 

magazine reviewed progress in changing to the international metric 

system of units, and concluded that industry would look to the U.S. 

government for the spur required to convert, and the funds to defray 

expenses of converting. The Department of Defense, which was preparing a directive that would “fall short of . . . a substantive push to the 

industry” by stating that WD’s aim was to keep pace with industry, was 

said to be reluctant to take the lead-and be presented with a bill for the 

costs-in converting to metrics for a major new weapons system. The 

magazine had surveyed a dozen firms in the aerospace industry, none of 

135 
June ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 

which had plans to “metricate on their own without a requirement by 

their government or commercial customers.” Most industry spokesmen 

said metrication was inevitable, although a mixed system with metricEnglish capabilities would probably be in effect for the period during 

which tools and supplies’ would be used up or replaced with the new 

measurements. (Avm, 7 June 76, 44; 14 June 76, 100) 

lnteravia magazine printed a photograph of Dora, a solar. generator being 

manufactured by AEG-Telefunken under contract to the German Institute €or Space Research to provide power for 1980s communications 

satellites. Dora was designed as a “variably deployable array,” meaning 

that it could begin its service life partially deployed; unfurled gradually 

at intervals, it could maintain a constant output over the years. It could 

also be folded down and brought back to earth at the end of a Spacelab 

mission. It consisted of two 22- by 2.8-m array panels carrying 46 000 

solar cells. (Znteravia, June 26, 504) 

The government of Nigeria awarded a $150-million contract toTCOM Corp., 

a subsidiary of Westinghouse Electric, for a balloon-borne telecommunications and broadcast system to be installed by the end of 1979, and for 

training of Nigerian personnel. Ten tethered balloons supporting transmitting and receiving equipment at altitudes of 3 to 5 km would provide 

an expanded telephone, television, and radio service for the whole of 

Nigeria. (lnteravia, June 1976, 573) 

136 
July 1976 

1 July: In Washington, the Smithsonian Institution’s new National Air and 

Space Museum was opened with a speech by President Ford, in observance of the US. Bicentennial. The President and Vice President Rockefeller were escorted through the $4 1 -million museum by museum 

director Michael J. Collins, who had piloted the Apollo 11 spacecraft. 

At a signal given 18 min previously by the Viking 1 spacecraft in orbit 

around Mars, a 3-m metal arm was activated to cut a red, white, and 

blue ribbon to officially open the building. “That’s the most expensive 

scissors in history,” the President commented as he began his dedication. 

The museum was “a perfect birthday present from the American people 

to themselves.” During the next century, he said, the best of the American adventure lay ahead; it could find out how to harness and preserve 

the forces of nature, explore the “uncharted frontier” of the oceans, turn 

space into a partner for control of pollution and improvement of worldwide communications, draw more energy from the earth and sun, develop 

new agricultural technologies, and conquer cancer and heart disease. 

The President noted that just 100 yr ago Alexander Graham Bell first 

publicly demonstrated his telephone. Progress, he said, can be measured 

“not only by the extent of our knowledge but by increasing awareness of 

all that remains to be discovered.” 

Described by Smithsonian Institution Secretary S. Dillon Ripley as “a 

chic hangar” and by Washington Post architectural writer Wolf von 

Eckardt as “a work of art” with “a beautiful, natural quality” and “a 

modest timelessness about it,” the museum occupied 3 blocks on the 

Mall, stretching more than 200 m and standing about 26 m high. The 

first 2 floors contained more than 10 acres of exhibit space; the third floor 

contained offices, a library, and a cafeteria. The design called for a 

structural-steel frame covered with thin slabs of the same Tennessee pink 

marble used for the National Gallery of Art directly across the Mall; the 

building was divided into 7 bays-4 marble boxes connected by 3 bronzeglass bays facing the Mall. The center entrance bay, ‘LMilestones of 

Flight,” contained the only permanent displays: the Wright brothers’ 

Kitty Hawk flyer, Lindbergh’s Spirit ofst. Louis, the Bell X-1 (first 

supersonic plane), and the North American X- 15. The problem, said the 

New York Times, was to design a building that “couldn’t possibly hold” 

all it was meant to display; the Saturn V rocket measured 4 times as high 

as the building, and a Boeing 747 fuselage was longer than the building’s 

width. “Space Hall” in the east bay contained the full-size rockets 

formerly on display near the Smithsonian “castle”; a pit had been dug 

and the floor lowered to accommodate the 22-m missiles, and the 30-ton 

backup Skylab had been cut out so that visitors could walk through the 

137 
July ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 

astronauts’ living area. The west bay was for “Air Transportation”; more 

than 100 spacecraft and 64 aircraft, nearly 10 times as many as were 

previously on display, would be exhibited in the new building. 

Chartered by Congress in 1945, the new museum had been quartered 

in temporary structures until after the Vietnam war. All the stories on the 

opening noted that it was constructed on time and within its budget. The 

Smithsonian had begun its aeronautical collection 100 yr previously with 

a group of Chinese kites presented for the 1876 Philadelphia centennial 

exposition; its interest in aeronautics had begun even earlier. Joseph 

Henry, first Secretary of the Smithsonian, had sponsored a balloon 

ascension from the Mall in 1861 to encourage President Lincoln to use 

balloons for military observation. In 1916, the Smithsonian had begun 

its 29-year association with Dr. Robert H. Goddard, father of the 

liquid-fuel rocket. 

The museum expected 7 million visitors a year; opening date had been 

changed from 4 July to accommodate the Bicentennial crowds expected 

in D.C., and the museum lobby on Independence Ave. had been open to 

the public since 2 Feb. (CSM, 14 May 76; WStar, 25 June 76, C-1; 

1 July 76, A-1; W Post, 27 June 76, E-1; 1 July 76, B-1; 2 July 76, 

A-1; NIT, 2 July 76, B12; 4 July 76, 22; C Trib, 2 July 76, 4-16; 

Newport News (Va) Daily Press, 25 Apr 76) 

2-12 July: By “unanimous” vote among nearly 30 Viking project scientists, 

Viking 1 would land 17 July in a site called the “Northwest Territory” 

on the Plain of Chryse that would be safer than the original choice, said 

Project Manager James S. Martin, Jr. A mosaic of more than 40 photos 

released by JPL showed the plains area more hospitable than the Valley 

of Chryse, which turned out to be a network of dry riverbeds too steep 

and too rough to risk a landing. The scientists hoped that the new choice 

of site would feature sediments, deposited by ancient Martian rivers, that 

might contain fossils or other traces of life. Being at a lower altitude, the 

site could harbor water in a liquid form; “snow, ice, and even liquid water 

are possible on the site we picked,” said Dr. James C. Fletcher, Administrator of NASA, in announcing the new plan. (W Post, 2 July 76, A-2; 

WStar, 2 July 76, A-8) 

A NY Times editorial mentioned “super technology” in the taking 

and transmitting of Mars photographs that led to selection of an alternaMall view of the National Air and Space Museum, opened to the public 1 July 1976. 

(NASM Photo) 

138 
ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 July 

tive landing site, “an extraordinarily impressive example” of the potential of “robot explorers of the solar system.” (NYT, 3 July 76, 20) 

Argon gas detected by Viking 1 in the Mars atmosphere suggested 

that Mars had experienced major volcanic periods that might still be in 

progress. Carbon dioxide, the only gas previously identified in the Mars 

atmosphere, had obscured the presence of argon, which had a similar 

molecular weight. As Viking instruments had detected a reduction in 

atmospheric temperature approaching the south polar cap, colder than 

had been forecast because of pure carbon dioxide, the explanation was 

a dilution by another gas that would conform to the low temperatures, 

identified as argon. Only about 1% of earth’s atmosphere was argon, but 

Viking had revealed the Mars atmosphere to be as much as 8% argon 

above the south polar cap. (W Post, 3 July 76, A-2) 

The new landing space chosen for Viking 1 in the Chryse region was 

about 80 km north of an island formed millions of yr ago by flood waters 

rushing from the canyon areas near the Martian equator. ( WPost, 4 July 

New data received from Viking 1 had provided more questions than 

answers, such as the reason for unexpected readings of Martian temperature and atmospheric moisture. The Mars south pole proved colder than 

earlier believed, below the condensation point of carbon dioxide, and had 

as much as 40 to 50 microns of water in the atmosphere, more than 

expected. The newly selected landing site would contain sufficient moisture to provide ground fog, frost, or even snow. (W Star, 4 July 76, 

The Viking project demonstrated that man had not lost his “primal 

urge to explore,” said a NY Times editorial 4 July, even with little 

immediate prospect of economic gain or space colonization. People might 

worry about the expenditures and priorities of such endeavors, said 

Dr. Bruce C. Murray, Director of JPL, “but very few say the product 

itself, the discoveries, is unworthy or immoral.” On the Bicentennial Day 

it was proper to remember that the US. was a product of the urge to 

explore. Whatever it learned about Mars, Viking 1 proved that there 

was robust life on earth. (NYT, 4 July 76, 4-1) 

Failure to find life on Mars would mean a cut in funding for the space 

program, NASA biologist Dr. Harold Klein predicted. Although he estimated odds at 50 to 1 against Viking’s finding life on Mars, he noted that 

the issue would not be settled because the experiments had built-in 

limitations. Whether or not life was detected on Mars, most scientists 

believed life existed elsewhere in the universe, the NY Times added. 

(NYT, 6 July 76, 15) 

JPL released the best photographs to date of the “Martian Grand 

Canyon,” a gorge 10 times the size of Ariz.’s Grand Canyon but relatively small by Martian standards. The Capri Chasm was as much as 

32 km wide and nearly 2 km deep, compared to Ariz.’s which was no 

deeper than 1.6 km, no more than 2 1 km wide, and about 350 km end 

to end. The length of the larger canyon of the Valles Marineris on Mars 

had been estimated at more than 3200 km. Rockslides detected in the 

76, A-4) 

A- 12) 

139 
July ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 

Viking 1 photographs indicated either massive quakes on Mars, meteor 

impacts, or effects of winds reaching speeds over 480 kph, JPL scientists 

said. ( W Post, 7 July 76, A- 10) 

The Viking 1 landing on Mars was put off until at least 20 July after 

radar observations indicated the alternative landing site was rougher 

than previous Viking photographs had shown. The spacecraft’s orbit 

would be shifted to permit examination of an area west of the previously 

selected landing point. (W Post, 8 July 76, A-2) 

An altered orbit put Viking 1 over an area called Plateau of the 

Moon, third to be scouted in the search for a smooth landing site. Radar 

echoes, which had revealed dunes or boulders on the Plains of Chryse 

invisible to the Viking cameras, showed the plateau to be “twice as 

smooth as the plains.” (W Post, 7 July 76, A-2) 

A JPL spokesman said preliminary pictures of another landing site 

proposed for Viking 1 showed Martian terrain as rugged as that in 2 

spots previously rejected. Viking 1 was scheduled to take more photographs of a region called West-Northwest, beyond the area that controllers last wk said was too rough for a landing. ( W Star, 12 July 76, A-6) 

6 July-24 Aug.: A 2-man spacecraft, Soyuz 21, was launched from the 

Baykonur cosmodrome at 3:09 pm Moscow time (8:09 am EST) to carry 

out “joint experiments’’ with the USSR’s Salyut 5 station in orbit, 

launched 22 June. Col. Boris Volynov, 41, who flew on Soyuz 5 during 

the first Soviet linkup in 1969, was commander, accompanied by flight 

engineer Lt. Col. Vitaly Zholobov, 39, 35th Russian to fly in space. 

Soyuz 21 orbital elements were: apogee, 253 km; perigee, 193 km; 

inclination, 51.6’; period, 88.7 min. The docking with Salyut 5 occurred 

7 July and the 2 spacecraft would remain linked for 48 days, the crew 

returning safely 24 Aug. On board Salyut 5, the crew performed experiments on the development and behavior of fish, melting of metal and 

growing of crystals in weightlessness, and environmental studies. In April 

1975 a Soyuz crew had failed to link with the Salyut 4 station, reportedly because of a rocket malfunction, but a second crew was successful 

in May and spent 63 days aboard. Although Soviet authorities offered 

few details on mission plans, the Salyut 5 had 2 docking ports, making 

it possible for 2 Soyuz craft to be docked at once. U.S. sources speculated 

that the mission might try to break the record of 84 days in space set by 

the third crew of Skylab in 1974. 

Tass reported 10 July that Volynov and Zholobov were using an 

exercise device that allowed them to “run” in the weightlessness of outer 

space; a report from the cosmonauts recorded on that date described a 

mass-meter installed on Salyut 5 to measure the crew’s weight in space 

through a vibration mechanism. On 28 July a report from the 

flight-control center said the cosmonauts were checking whether their 

training on the running track and other activities producing ‘‘microshocks” would affect the formation of crystals aboard the station. (FBIS, 

Tass in English, 6-30 July 76; W Post, 7 July, A-22; WStar, 7 July 

76, A-2; NYT, 8 July 76, 23; Spacewarn, SPX-273, 20 July 76, 2; 

SpacefEight, Jan 77, 36-37) 

140 
ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 JdY 

8 July: A “Big Bird” reconnaissance satellite, built by Lockheed, was 

launched by the USAF from Vandenberg AFB, Calif., on a Titan IIID. A 

previous Big Bird launched 4 Dec. 1975 had remained in orbit until 1 

Apr. 1976. (Av E%, 19 July 76, 243) 

e NASA launched Palapa I, first of a series of Indonesian comsats, into a 

synchronous transfer orbit from the Eastern Test Range at 7:31 pm EDT 

on a Delta vehicle. Orbital elements were 36 504-km-apogee, 231-km 

perigee, and 24.6’ inclination. At the 10th apogee, the boost motor was 

fired (4:30 pm EDT on 11 July) and the s acecraft was maneuvered into 

a position above the equator at about 83 E. Satellite status was reported 

satisfactory. The satellite’s name came from a 14th-century prime minister, Gaja Mada, who vowed not to eat a popular delicacy called palapa 

until Indonesia was united. The 8 July launch date was selected to ensure 

that the satellite would be operational on 17 Aug., when Indonesia 

celebrated its 3 1st anniversary of independence. Produced by Hughes 

Aircraft, the Palapa satellites would be identical to the Telesat Canada 

and Westar satellites except for antenna modifications; each satellite 

could relay 12 color TV channels or up to 4000 telephone circuits. A 

second Palapa was scheduled for launch in 1977. (NASA Release 76-1 17; 

MOR M-492-208-76-01, [prelaunch] 24 June 76, [postlaunch] 

14 Oct 76) 

0 Marshall Space Flight Center announced that 3 different solar collectors 

procured from industry in an ERDA-sponsored program on technical 

management and support of solar-energy development were undergoing 

tests of efficiency versus cost. The collectors, after exposure to weathering, were put into an active situation in which the heat-transfer medium 

(usually water) passed through them, and measurements were made to 

determine their efficiency. At the same time, 4 low-cost collectors developed by MSFC were being tested to evaluate the thermal performance of 

black-nickel and black-chrome absorber coatings that could reduce the 

amount of collector area required, and thereby lower the cost of a specific 

application. (MSFC Release 76-1 21) 

@ Discrepancies in forecasting the size of the 1976 Soviet grain crop underlined the difficulty of accurately predicting worldwide harvests and food 

needs, the Washington Post reported. The u.S. Dept. of Agriculture 

estimated 22 June that the USSR would produce 190 million tons of grain; 

other sources objected that the estimate was several millions of tons 

below the figure set by the Central Intelligence Agency and between 4 

and 10 million tons higher than estimates by 2 private firms (Cargill 

Investor Services of Chicago, and Schnittker Associates of Washington). 

The size of the Soviet crop was a crucial statistic, the Post noted, 

because-if low enough-it could send world grain prices on a rapid rise; 

the price of grain would affect the U.S. economy, triggering higher food 

prices and adding to domestic inflation. The world had had no excess food 

stocks since 1972, so that faraway droughts or political developments 

affecting food trade could make U.S. grain prices fluctuate wildly. Government and industry had invested millions of dollars to get information 

from satellites, computer banks, private weather consultants, transla2 

141 
July ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 

tions of foreign broadcasts, and tipsters, the Post said. Banks, shipping 

companies, railroads, and other enterprises in agricultural trade or investment had increased their research in crop data to be ready for price 

changes or sudden shifts in markets. Despite the flood of information, 

global agricultural predictions remained inexact. 

A satellite equipped for crop surveys swept across the Soviet Union 

last year and “helped government analysts assess a major Russian crop 

disaster,” the Post noted. The information, fed into complicated computer models that collated soil moisture and temperature data with other 

inputs, produced a projection of Soviet grain production; however, the 

computer models of the Dept. of Agriculture and the CIA last year 

produced differing estimates. (W Post, 8 July 76, A-2) 

0 NASA issued a call for Space Shuttle astronaut candidates-1 5 pilots and 15 

mission specialists-to be selected by Dec. 1977. Applications would be 

accepted through June 1977, and candidates would report to Johnson 

Space Center in July 1978 for 2 yr of training. Appointment as an 

astronaut would depend on satisfactory completion of training. Minority 

and women candidates were encouraged to apply. NASA spokesman Bob 

Gordon said the agency expected no problems if a woman were selected; 

the Space Shuttle was “designed to accommodate women astronauts.. .the waste management system is the only problem really and that 

has been designed for both males and females.” Since the astronaut 

program began in 1959, 73 pilots and scientists had been selected; 31 

persons were available as Space Shuttle crew, 28 astronauts assigned to 

JSC and 3 holding government positions in Washington, D.C. Pilot astronauts would control the Shuttle during launch, orbit, and landing, and 

would maintain vehicle systems; mission-specialist astronauts would coordinate orbiter operations in flight planning, use of consumables, and 

management of the payload. (NASA Release 76- 122; JSC Release 76-44; 

DOD Release 310-76; NYT, 8 July 76, 12) 

9 July: Marshall Space Flight Center announced selection of 3 firms to 

negotiate contracts for development of solar heating and cooling systems 

for residential and commercial use, under an agreement with the Energy 

Research and Development Administration to install and demonstrate 

such systems in a substantial number of residential and commercial 

structures in a wide range of geographic locations [see 1 July]. Firms 

selected were AiResearch Manufacturing Co. of Calif., General Electric 

Co. Space Div., and Honeywell Inc. Each of the contractors would 

deliver prototype solar heating or heating-and-cooling systems, at an 

estimated cost for the 3 contracts of about $14 million over 3 yrs. (MSFC 

Release 76- 125) 

0 NASA announced that Dr. Noel J. Hinners, Associate Administrator for 

Space Science, had selected Drs. Charles R. Chappell and James L. 

Burch of Marshall Space Flight Center as members of the flight team for 

the proposed Electrodynamics Explorer (EE) satellite mission, consisting 

of 2 satellites in polar orbit to study physical processes in the atmosphere, 

ionosphere, and magnetosphere from high and low orbit. Dr. Chappell’s 

proposal for the mission was a cold-plasma instrument, a retarding 

ion-mass .spectrometer; Dr. Burch proposed a high-altitude instrument 

142 
ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 July 

for measuring medium-energy plasma. The 2 scientists participated in 

the project study phase during the past yr, and would work on the flight 

team with the EE study office at Goddard Space Flight Center in preparing 

a project plan for the dual-satellite mission. (NASA Release 76-123) 

9-18 July: NASA announced plans to launch a 4-stage Javelin sounding 

rocket from Wallops Flight Center carrying a 76-kg payload that would 

release red, white, and blue chemical clouds visible along the East Coast 

from Charleston, s.c., to Boston and as far inland as Cleveland, 0. 

Observation of the rocket’s trails would enable the measuring of winds 

and magnetic and electrical fields in space. The rocket, launched at 9:23 

pm local time 18 July from Wallops, fell into the Atlantic before releasing 

its chemicals. According to a spokesman at the center, “We really won’t 

know what happened for several days, after we’ve studied ground trackings, but ground observation indicates there was a mechanical failure of 

some sort.” (NASA Release 76-124; wsc Release 76-9; WPost, 18 July 

76, B-2) 

9-10 July: NASA Administrator Dr. James C. Fletcher, carrying greetings 

from President Ford, was among foreign dignitaries attending the celebration in Yugoslavia of the 120th anniversary of the birth of inventor 

Nikola Tesla. Born in 18% in Croatia (then part of Austria-Hungary), 

Tesla emigrated to the U.S. in 1884, became naturalized, and worked for 

a time at the Edison company in N.J. His concept of a rotating magnetic 

field led to many improvements in the fields of radio and electricity: the 

Tesla coil, the Tesla reduction motor and system of alternating-current 

transmission, generators of high-frequency current, a transformer to 

increase oscillating currents to high potentials, and systems for wireless 

communication and wireless transmission of electric power. Tesla designed the power system at Niagara Falls, N.Y., and lived to be 93. 

At ceremonies in the town of Smiljan, Tesla’s birthplace, President 

Josip Broz Tito of Yugoslavia praised the “orientation” of Tesla and his 

compatriots in the U.S. in their support for Yugoslavia during World War 

11. Later, at a luncheon, Tito reviewed Tesla’s achievements and urged 

the Yugoslavs to create conditions that would induce talented youths to 

remain and not leave their country to go abroad. At an informal meeting 

Dr. Fletcher presented Tito with photographs of Yugoslavia taken by a 

U.S. satellite, and received from the celebration committee a “golden 

plaque” bearing Tesla’s picture to be presented to President Ford. 

President Ford’s message at the ceremonies had stated that Tesla’s work 

?tands as a link between our two countries in the history of notable 

accomplishments in science and engineering.” (FBIS, Tanjug Domestic 

Service, 9-10 July 76, 11-16) 

11 July: Tass announced that the yachts Rodina and Rossiya had left the 

port of Vladivostok in an attempt to repeat the route sailed by Russian 

navigators 250 yr ago on 2 expeditions to Kamchatka under the leadership of Vitus Bering (1681-1741). The 7-man crews of the ships 

would begin by visiting Okhotsk, the port where Bering built the ship that 

went to Kamchatka, then proceed to Kamchatka about 3700 km away. 

In 1977 and 1978, the expedition would cruise to the Bering Strait and 

143 
July ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 

go ashore in North America where Bering’s ship St. Peter visited 17 July 

174 1. (FBIS, Tass in English, 1 1 July 76) 

12 July: First flight tests of a unique oblique-wing aircraft model designed for 

future supersonic use would begin early in Aug. at the Dryden Flight 

Research Center, NASA announced. The remotely piloted research vehicle (RPRV) to be tested had a wingspan of 6.7 m, weighed 400 kg, and 

was powered by a 4-cylinder 90-hp engine; its wing angle relative to the 

fuselage could be varied during flight, and angles up to 45’ would be 

tested. The RPRV would be flown by radio control from a ground cockpit, 

with a TV camera in the aircraft nose giving the ground controller a 

pilot’s-eye view. Use of the oblique wing was a proposal of Dr. Robert T. 

Jones, senior scientist at Ames Research Center, to alleviate sonic boom 

and increase energy effectiveness of supersonic aircraft; positioned at 

right angles to the fuselage in slower flight, the wing would allow landing 

and takeoff with minimum power and less noise, but rotated with respect 

to the fuselage it would provide the high speed possible with the sweptwing design. Studies indicated possible fuel savings even at speeds up to 

1600 kph. (DFRC Release 13-76) 

13 July: Marshall Space Flight Center announced that MSFC engineers had 

developed an optical processing system that could use earth pictures 

taken by satellites such as Landsat or Seasat to survey highway traffic. 

When the New Orleans, La., planning commission asked the Center if 

space technology could provide an automated way to conduct thorough, 

reliable, and inexpensive traffic surveys, MSFC responded with a technique used several years ago of scanning phototransparencies with a 

laser beam; the new laser scanner would sense differences in intensity of 

the filtered beam, recognize vehicle sizes and shapes, and store size and 

location data for later use. Data from an aerial traffic survey using the 

system could be in the hands of users within hours. The new method must 

start with aircraft photographs, said MSFC engineer Joseph H. Kerr, who 

patented the rapid survey system; present Landsat satellites passed over 

a target only once in 18 days, but the project gave NASA a chance to 

refine the method for use on satellites in the 1980s. Whereas processing 

of satellite data might now take months, Kerr said his system could 

produce data 100 times faster. (NASA Release 76-128) 

Solar power would charge batteries in 2 electric vehicles used by the 

National Capital Parks, Dept. of the Interior, during this summer’s 

Bicentennial Festival of American Folklife in Washington, D.C., NASA 

announced. The golfcart-like vehicles, each equipped with 6 standard 

traction batteries, would get energy from photovoltaic cells capable of 

providing 1.7 kwh of electricity during peak sunlight; the array was 

prepared by Lewis Research Center as one of several demonstrations of 

solar energy it was conducting as manager of ERDA’S photovoltaic test and 

demonstration project. Cells were provided by NASA’s Jet Propulsion 

Laboratory, to which ERDA assigned responsibility for the low-cost silicon 

solar-array project. The solar-powered vehicles would be used from July 

through Sept. at the festival, one for transportation of festival workers, 

the other fitted with a vacuum cleaner for refuse pickup. (NASA Release 

76-129;,ERDA Release 76-218) 

144 
ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 July 

14 July: Kennedy Space Center announced award of a $2 250 000 contract 

to the Beech Aircraft Corp., Boulder, Co., for development of a Space 

Shuttle orbiter fuel-cell servicing system. An orbiter would carry 3 fuel 

cells using cryogenically stored hydrogen and oxygen to provide electrical power; each cell would connect to a separate power bus, but only 

2 cells would be used during minimum power load. Peak or average 

power load would use all 3 cells. The contract called for Beech to design, 

fabricate, test, and deliver a complete cryogenic remotely controlled unit 

that would provide liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen for the fuel cells, 

delivery to be completed by 1 Dec. 1977. (KSC Release 333-76) 

15 July: NASA announced appointment of Robert A. Newman as Assistant 

Administrator for Public Affairs, effective 26 July. Newman was vicepresident of community affairs for TRW, Inc., and president of the TRW 

Foundation at Cleveland, 0. In his new NASA post, he would be responsible for all information services of the space agency except for 

technical publications. He had received bachelor’s degrees in journalism 

and sociology from the Univ. of Mo., served in the USAF during the 

Korean War, and had been a member of the board of directors of the Air 

Force Academy Foundation. (NASA Release 76-13 1; Fletcher anno. 

15 July 76) 

16 July: NASA announced selection of Hamilton Standard Division, United 

Aircraft Corp., for negotiations leading to award of contract for development and production of space suits to be used by men and women 

during Space Shuttle flights. The basic cost-plus-award fee contract 

would cost about $15 million through Sept. 1980. The suit system, 

consisting of a basic suit and built-in support system including breathingatmosphere and cooling components, would be adjustable instead of 

custom-made for each astronaut (as in earlier programs) and would come 

in small, medium, and large sizes to fit candidates varying in height from 

1.5 to 2 m. Hamilton Standard would provide hardware and spares 

needed for 7 suits and support equipment, as well as training, manpower, 

and equipment needed to support the program at NASA field centers. 

Johnson Space Center would have technical direction of the contract. (JSC 

Release 76-46) * NASA announced that its Nimbus 6 weather satellite would be monitoring 

the cross-country progress of a 1914 Dodge participating in the Bicentennial world antique auto race that began 15 June in Istanbul, Turkey, 

and wound through 11 countries in Europe. Having crossed the Atlantic 

by ship, the four entrants-all American-were scheduled to rally 

16 July at Times Sq., New York City, to begin the final leg of the raceNew York to San Francisco-that would recreate the first leg of the 

Great Race of 1908. The tracking device carried on the Dodge belonging 

to Ed Schuler of Morrison, Ill., had been checked out last May on a run 

from 111. to the Goddard Space Flight Center in Md. The device, a rugged 

self-powered unit normally carried on balloons, buoys, and ice packs, is 

one of more than 800 such instruments assigned to experimenters since 

the launch of Nimbus 6 in mid-1975. Valued at about $1800, the 

device would be returned to GSFC after the race for checkout and future 

use on another,platform. A similar device used in 1971 to track a light 

145 
July ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 

plane that flew around the global poles had previously been carried 

around the world on a balloon that came down in Central Africa, where 

a French member of the World Health Organization found it hanging in 

a tree and returned it to NASA; after the airplane trip, the unit served 

another year on a buoy before being retired from service. A 19 14 Model 

T Ford originally scheduled to carry the tracking device [see 15 Feb.] 

was withdrawn from the race by its owner. (NASA Release 76-126) 

17-1 9 July: Project scientists said the high proportion of argon in the Mars 

atmosphere might damage the life-detection instruments on Viking 1. In 

March 1974, a spectrometer pump on a Mars-bound spacecraft failed to 

work properly and Russian scientists concluded the problem was caused 

by argon, an element reluctant to form chemical compounds; the Russian 

pump apparently could not handle the high argon content of the Mars 

atmosphere. Viking 1 ’s gas-chromatograph mass spectrometer contained filter material to screen out carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide 

in the search for organic compounds in Mars air and soil samples, which 

would be heated in the instrument to produce gas for analysis by the 

chromatograph; the high argon content might interfere with the readings. (NYT, 17 July 76, 24) 

JPL flight directors were checking out the instruments on Viking 1 for 

its Mars landing scheduled for 20 July. Immediately upon landing, the 

spacecraft would measure air temperature and pressure and wind speed 

and direction, and would detect any interior motions of the planet such 

as moving lava or shaking of the crust. It was also scheduled to take 2 

photographs, one downward to record the terrain of the landing site and 

the other a panorama shot to show the general surface of Mars. Lifedetection experiments would not begin until about a wk after the landing. 

Commands from JPL to turn on the $153-million instrument package 

to be landed by Viking 1 on the Plains of Chryse took between 17 and 

18 min to reach the spacecraft nearly 346 million km away from earth. 

First spacecraft responses to the signals indicated the instruments and 

navigational equipment were in working condition. Landing was scheduled for 8 am EDT on 20 July; Viking 1 would separate early in the 

morning into 2 components, 2300-kg orbiter and 590-kg lander. The 

orbiter, powered by purple solar cells on panels, would remain in orbit to 

serve as a radio relay for the lander and to photograph nearly half the 

Martian surface over the next 12 mo. The lander, powered by an atomic 

battery, would coast for about 3 hr, slowed by a parachute and braking 

engines, and land on 3 aluminum legs at about 8 kph, more gently than 

most parachutists land on earth. (W Post, 19 July 76, A-3) 

Odds were heavily against existence of any form of life on Mars, said 

a Washington Post editorial, and against Viking 1’s finding evidence of 

it even if it were there. The Viking flights were “in some ways more 

remarkable an undertaking’’ than the Apollo flights because the spacecraft was on its own with no humans to correct errors and a sizable time 

lapse between sending and receipt of radioed instructions. The mission, 

said the Post, was “already a stunning accomplishment.” (W Post, 

( W Post, 18 July 76, A-10) 

20 July. 76, A- 16) 

146 
ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 July 

The Viking spacecraft was “a breed apart,” the Wash. Post reported, as different from previous spacecraft “as a Cadillac from a 

Pinto.” Almost nothing on the lander had flown in space before; almost 

everything had to be built super-small to save weight. As the first US. 

spacecraft to land on another planet, the Viking had to be designed to 

withstand chemical and heat sterilization to avoid contaminating Mars 

with earth organisms. The tape recorder, for instance, had to be made 

of bronze coated with phosphor, because no plastic tape could have 

survived the heat. (W Post, 20 July 76, A-2) 

19 July President Ford proclaimed 20 July as “Space Exploration Day” to 

coincide with the date 7 yr ago when US. astronaut Neil Armstrong 

became the first man to set foot on the moon. NASA’s VzXing 1 lander was 

expected to touch down on the surface of Mars about 8 am 20 July,, 

reported nationally on network television; transmission of the first picture from the lander should be completed before 9 am. In his proclamation, the President said, “We begin our third century with . . . the most 

ambitious of all deep space explorations . . . Wherever we reach, we will 

have come in peace for all mankind.” In an accompanying statement to 

NASA employees, Administrator James c. Fletcher said “the President 

has in effect commended all of you who work (for) the national space 

agency.” (Text; NASA Release 76-133; Fletcher anno, 20 July 76) 

First panoramic view ofMars surfacefrom Viking 1, 20 July 1976: upper halfofpicture 

is left halfof view, lower photo joins it on the right. Upper view shows housing for Viking 

sampler arm; lower view shows (at right) high-gain antenna for direct communication 

with earth. (NASA 76-H-557) 

147 
July ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 

Marshall Space Flight Center announced that about 80 scientists from 

universities, medical facilities, and industry, serving as th.e Universities 

Space Research Association, would meet at Huntsville 26-30 July to 

evaluate experiments proposed for the first Spacelab mission. NASA’s 

Space Science Steering Committtee would use the evaluations in selecting experiments to be carried on Spacelab 1, scheduled for launch in the 

3rd quarter of 1980. The 10 categories in which experiments were 

proposed were: astrophysics, upper atmosphere, space plasma, biomedicine, atmospheric observations, biology, technology/behavior, 

communications/navigation, drop dynamics/atmospheric cloud physics, 

and technology experiments. MSFC was assigned management responsibility for defining, integrating, and operating the payloads for the first 3 

Spacelab missions. (MSFC Release 76-130) 

20 July: The Viking 1 lander touched down safely on a plain at the western 

edge of the Chryse region of Mars at 7:53 am EDT, 11 mo to the day after 

its journey of more than 700 million km through space began at KSC 

Launch Complex 4 1. Landing was within 17 sec of the predicted time; 

velocity at impact, predicted to be 2.4 ? 0.9 kps, was actually 2.49 kps. 

Within minutes of the landing, the Viking began relaying a photograph 

of one of its footpads on the nearby surface up to the Viking orbiter for 

transmission to earth; a panoramic view of the landing site followed. 

Distance from earth to Mars at landing time was more than 322 million 

km, and radio waves took 19 additional minutes to travel back to earth 

to signal touchdown. Spacecraft controllers at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory broke into applause and cheers when the data arrived showing a 

successful landing; telemetry showed the descent curve fitting preplanned values as the lander’s aeroshell, supersonic parachute, and 

terminal descent engines braked the descent to the surface of Mars. The 

site at Chryse Planitia was chosen for the landing after Viking orbiter 

data and the giant telescope at Arecibo, P.R., showed that the primary 

landing site and the first alternative were too hazardous. NASA Administrator Dr. James C. Fletcher, who was at JPL for the landing, said that 

the intensive search for a safe landing site “really paid off.” 

The Mars landing came on the 7th anniversary of man’s first landing 

on the moon 20 July 1969 during the Apollo 11 mission. President Ford, 

who telephoned JPL with congratulations after the landing, asked Viking 

Project Manager James S. Martin, Jr., of LaRC if there were plans for a 

Viking 3. Martin replied that there were not, but that his team was 

“ready to take on Viking 3 plus Viking 4, 5, and 6.” The Viking 2 was 

expected to go into orbit around Mars about 7 Aug. (Mission Status 

Bulletin 35, 20 July 76; Spaceport News, 23 July 76, 1) 

The Tass news agency reported the soft latr‘ding of “the automatic interplanetary station” Viking 1 on the surface of Mars, adding that the first 

pictures of the surface showed “a foot-pad of the craft on . . . dustcovered terrain strewn with small sharp stones . . . According to the 

preliminary assessments, the ground consists of basalt rocks and volcanic 

lava. It is believed to be comparatively soft.” Tass noted the postponement of the Viking landing, originally scheduled for 4 July, and the 

148 
ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 July 

search for bacterial life on Mars which was “one of the aims of this 

exploration.” (FBIS, Tass in English, 20 July 76) 

0 Rocketdyne Division of Rockwell International Corp. announced it had 

been awarded a $10.8-million contract by Lewis Research Center for 8 

Atlas MA-5 propulsion systems, with an option for 2 additional systems. 

The contract would run through August 1978. The engines would be 

used to launch high-energy astronomical observatories (HEAO), or commercial comsats for the Communications Satellite Corporation on a 

.reimbursable basis. Originally developed by Rocketdyne for the USAF’S 

first intercontinental ballistic missile, the Atlas had flown space missions 

since 1958 when it launched Echo, first U.S. comsat. Atlas had powered 

more than 400 payloads with launch reliability of more than 99%. 

(Rockwell Release RD- 18) 

“Eventually there will be an American SsT program,” Dr. John L. McLucas 

wrote in a letter to the Phila. Inquirer. Dr. McLucas, Administrator of 

the Federal Aviation Administration, agreed with an Inquirer editorial 

that stated, “Concorde hasn’t made it yet,” but pointed out that costs of 

research and development and other expenses of producing a new 

aircraft had virtually halted the introduction of new aircraft designs 

“suitable to the major airlines.” New transport aircraft would offer 

advantages such as greatly reduced noise, a high level of safety, and 30% 

improvement in fuel efficiency; however, continued development of new 

planes and their purchase by the carriers “is moving beyond the financial 

scope of private investors singly or collectively,” Dr. McLucas wrote. 

Some combination of government and private initiative would be needed 

to finance the next generation of air transports; “it’s more likely to be 

the result of a cooperative American-European effort,” Dr. McLucas 

concluded. (P Inq, 20 July 76, l-E) 

0 India had used deuterium from the U.S. to detonate its first atomic explosion, said acting Assistant Secretary of State Myron Kratzer at an 

“unprecedented” hearing by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission on 

licensing of future sales of reactor fuel to India. The State Dept. said that 

stopping the sale of the reactor fuel would constitute “severe social and 

economic hardship” to 80 million Indians dependent on power generated 

by a plant that had been operating since 1969. Adrian Fisher, “former 

high official in the 11,s. Arms Control and Disarmament Agency,” said 

India had broken its word to Canada and the U.S. by using nuclear 

materials to create an atomic device in 1974; India said the device was 

“peaceful” and did not contravene US. bans on use of the material to 

build weapons. Herbert Scoville, another former disarmament official, 

said India’s nuclear generating stations were producing enough plutonium to build 10 to 20 bombs per year, and that India now had a 4-yr 

stockpile. Scoville and Fisher said India shpuld be required to sell back 

its plutonium and accept further restrictionwn use of nuclear material. 

A strong 715 stand on nuclear materials to India was the only hope- 

“perhaps a vain hope,” Scoville said-of stopping the spread of nuclear 

weapons. Rep. Clarence D. Long (D-Md.) said that Iran, Egypt, South 

Africa, and Argentina were countries that would be encouraged to de149 
July ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 

velop nuclear weapons if the U.S. did not impose sanctions on India and 

restrict the flow of nuclear material. The commission was examining a 

large pile of documents on the history of the U.S. nuclear relationship to 

India; some petitioners (e.g., the Sierra Club) had claimed that evidence 

as far back as 1963 showed India preparing to develop a nuclear explosive device for political purposes. (WStar, 21 July 76, A-8) 

21 July: The Marshall Star reported on a Bicentennial celebration at MSFC’s 

Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans, La., that included planting 

of a “moon” tree to commemorate the 7th anniversary of the first Apollo 

landing. Michoud was the place where giant Saturn moon rockets were 

fabricated. Participating in the program were Lt. Gov. James Fitzmorris 

of La.; MSFC Director Dr. William R. Lucas; and Robert Littlefield, 

manager of the Michoud facility. The tree was a pine grown from seed 

carried to the moon and back in 1971 on the Apollo 14 mission as part 

of research into effects of weightlessness on seed germination. The U.S. 

Dept. of Agriculture had planted the returned seeds, and the seedlings 

had been set out in various public areas over the U.S. such as in Philadelphia’s Washington Square. As the tree was planted in front of the 

Michoud administration building, a time capsule was deposited to be 

opened during the nation’s Tricentennial in 2076. The capsule coptained 

documents, tapes, and pictures relating to the space program. (Marshall 

Star, 21 July 76, 4) 0 Marshall Space Flight Center announced award to Martin Marietta’s 

Denver division of a cost-plus-incentive-fee/award-fee contract for 

$9 282 667 to deliver parachute decelerator subsystems for recovery of 

12 solid-fuel rocket boosters from 6 Space Shuttle flights. The contract, 

effective through Dec. 1980, covers design, development, manufacture, 

and refurbishment of the subsystems. Work was authorized to start 

6 July at Martin’s plant in Colorado and at Pioneer Parachute Co. of 

Manchester, Conn., subcontractor. (MSFC Release 76-1 35) 

0 An enormous radiotelescope “the size of the earth” to be used in studying 

the process of star formation in earth’s galaxy had been constructed by 

linking installations in Washington, D.c., California, Australia, and the 

Soviet Union, the Naval Research Laboratory announced. Four large 

radiotelescopes distributed around the world had joined in using very 

long-baseline interferometry (VLBI) to record microwave signals received 

at each antenna on videotape, and comparing the recordings. The resultant huge antenna would be able to resolve a source less than 

2 ten-thousandths of a second of arc, comparable to the thickness of a 

human hair at a 161 -km distance, or a man’s footprint on the moon. An 

instrument this size would be needed to study primordial clouds in the 

constellation Aquila containing water-vapor molecules that emit intense 

microwave radiation through maser amplification, analogous to the operation of optical lasers. These water-vapor masers seem to be associated 

with star formation taking place in giant clouds in the galaxy; sizes of the 

individual masing sources, which may number more than 100 in a single 

cloud, range from half to 3 times the distance between the sun and the 

earth. The masing radiation offered a way to study the clouds that 

150 
ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 JdY 

obscure radiation at other frequencies and to estimate the physical 

conditions that surround star formation. Installations in the experiment 

were NRL’S 26-m antenna at its Maryland Point, Md., observatory; 

NASA’s Deep Space Network 64-m antenna at Tidbinbilla, Australia; 

the Crimean Astrophysical Observatory’s 22-m antenna at Semeiz, 

USSR; and the Calif. Institute of Technology’s 39-m antenna at Owens 

Valley, Calif. The maximum spacing achievable is the earth’s diameter 

(1 2 600 km), a distance approximating the separation between the Md. 

and Australian antennas (12 091 km). (NRL Release 45-7-76B/HF; 

NYT, 20 July 76, 13) 

22 July: Images from 2 Landsats circling the earth 912 km up had helped 

the state of Md. monitor strip-mining damage and inventory its surface 

coal-mining activities, NASA announced. The state did not know the 

location or extent of orphan mines-those abandoned before 1967-and 

began a mapping program to determine the extent of the disturbed land 

and the procedures and expense that would be required to reclaim it. A 

1967 law required private companies to operate under state-approved 

reclamation plans; acreage disturbed before 1967 would be reclaimed by 

the state. The Landsat images showed from 25 to 30% more acreage 

affected by the mines than anyone had realized. Arthur T. Anderson of 

Goddard Space Flight Center’s information transfer laboratory compared Landsat images taken over a 3-yr period ending in 1974 to 

identify and measure effects of strip mining in Western Md. with an 

accuracy better than that obtainable from aerial photography or 

field-inspection techniques. Other states using Landsat imagery for reclamation projects were Ohio, Tenn., W. Va., Ky., Pa., s.c., Fla., and the 

Great Plains states. (NASA Release 76-1 34) 

President Ford would name Dr. H. Guyford Stever, director of the National 

Science Foundation for the past 4 yr, to head the recently reestablished 

White House Office of Science and Technology, the New York Times 

reported. The post had been abolished by President Nixon 3 yr ago 

“amid reports that he did not like the advice he was getting from it, 

particularly concerning antiballistic missiles and supersonic planes,” the 

Times said. Aviation Week & Space Technology magazine had reported earlier that 4 conservative Republican senators had warned President Ford that Stever’s nomination would be an “affront” to Congress; 

the NSF had been a target of some congressmen because of funding 

projects that Congress considered questionable, Av Wk said. Other 

candidates for the position had shied away because of a possible change 

in administration after the forthcoming elections. Sen. Frank E. Moss 

(D-Utah) urged quick action on the nomination; the Senate Appropriations Committee had just cut $1 million from a $3.3-million budget 

estimate for the Office of Science and Technology. (NYT, 22 July 76,37; 

Av Vk, 5 July 76, 13) 

21 -31 fuly: The Wush. Star “Portfolio” column reported that television 

was “barely there” as the Viking 1 spacecraft touched down on Mars 

and began to relay “those sharp, stark pictures to earth.” Hardly had 

reporters began asking explanations from scientists “who looked stunned 

151 
July ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 

with pleasure at the accomplishment,’’ when “it was commercial 

time . . . and the 9 a.m. pmgrams.” Viewers were “left wondering 

whether theri: was really an event of such magnitude being televised or 

more science fiction,” the Star commented. ( WStar, 21 July 76, B-1) 

Commentary on the Viking landing on Mars: The Chicago Tribune 

hailed the mission as “an epoch-making success . . . The achievement 

is the greater because the world has known from the beginning what we 

were attempting to do. There would have been no way to hide a failure.” 

(C Trib, 21 July 76, 1-7) 

The Phila. Inquirer called the landing “another giant leap for mankind” that “underscores the sophistication of unmanned spacecraft . . . Risks can be taken . . . that could not be justified with persons 

aboard . . . Its performance in the first hours on Mars speaks more 

eloquently than words.” (P lnq, 21 July 76, 5-A) 

The NY Times said the TV networks were criticized for their coverage; 

Dr. J. Richard Keefe, former NASA scientist now at the Univ. of Louisville, said the coverage was “downright disgusting . . . Talk about being 

blase about space exploration, this was just incredible . . . I think the 

population has become apathetic about the whole space program. It’s 

kind of sad, I think.” Spokesmen for the network told the Times they had 

given 20 to 25 min of coverage, showing the 2 pictures transmitted by 

Viking 1 and released by JPL where the transmission was received. NBC 

said its New York City switchboard had about 30 calls asking for more; 

ABC reported 25, and CBS reported 8 or 10. ABC said the number of calls 

was significant “for the time of day.” “What they may not have understood was that we showed whatever we had,” the spokesman said. “That 

was it.” (NIT, 21 July 76, 12) 

The Wall Street Journal said in an editorial that it could not “speculate with any confidence on why yesterday’s Viking 1 landing on Mars 

was important. And yet we are confident that it was.” The TV networks 

that %pent tedious hours broadcasting the dullest political convention on 

record” a wk ago “were preoccupied with game shows” while Viking was 

sending back its first pictures of the surface of another planet. However, 

those who said the $1 billion cost of the project was wasted unless 

Viking’s cameras pick up ‘‘ something interesting, like a local resident,” 

would be missing the point, WSJ added. The project demonstrated 

application of the most advanced technology to a single objective, advanced managerial skills as triumph of human organization,” and left 

mankind with the psychic effects of the visit to another planet. 

LL . . . After each leap deeper into space, nothing is quite the same 

again.” (WSJ, 21 July 76, 22) 

A Washington Star editorial said that Viking 1 may have “ended 

generations of fanciful imaginings” about life on Mars, and asked if it was 

worth 7 yr of effort and $1 billion “to get a rather sobering view of what 

our imaginations told us was a fascinating planet.” Although it was much 

too early to predict the “ultimate scientific harvest,” the Star said “we 

have no doubt that the ultimate payoff will be more than adequate in 

scientific if not in fictional terms.” (W Star, 22 July 76, A-14) 

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ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 July 

The first color photograph of Mars, showing a dramatic blue sky 

against a rust-red soil surface, was in error, Viking project scientists 

announced. Astronomer Carl Sagan said that someone had given the 

wrong weighting to the color filters in reconstructing the electronic image 

on earth, and that corrected photos would show a pinker sky. The 

seismometer on the Viking lander had apparently jammed and would 

impair detection of “marsquakes” unless corrected; Lou Kingsland, 

deputy mission director, said the proper command might not have been 

issued or the problem might be in the electrical circuits. ( WStar, 22 July 

Having successfully set down the Viking 1 lander in a safe spot, 

Project Manager James S. Martin, Jr., announced that Viking 2 would 

be sent to a region likely to be more scientifically interesting even with 

less assurance of safe touchdown. Cydonia, a region halfway between the 

Mars equator and north pole, was considered because of a greater 

likelihood of water, required for the presence of life as we know it. Viking 

project scientists said they were eager to survey a site as different 

physically from the desert Chryse site as possible. Viking 2, still more 

than 1.6 million km from Mars, would arrive in orbit there early in Aug. 

and land about 4 Sept. if all went well. Debate on the second landing site 

focused on possible hazards in the northern region, out of range of the 

radar signals that led to choice of the first site. Astronomer Carl Sagan 

said the first landing was “reasonably lucky,” with chances of success 

calculated at only 60%, and the northern site would be less promising. 

However, he and the other scientists voted overwhelmingly €or Cydonia 

because, as Sagan said, “it is not only the probability of success but the 

significance of success” that merited consideration. ( WStar, 22 July 76, 

A-6) 

Asked about the role of luck in the successful Viking 1 landing on 

Mars, Project Manager James S. Martin, Jr., replied, “I don’t plan on 

luck . . . . I believe that most of what you call luck you make yourself. 

It’s people doing that extra job . . . ” Martin’s management approach 

during his 8 yr with the Viking project had been to “get into the details 

of everything . . . . I’ve never known any other way to be 

successful . . . . It inspires and motivates the next level of management 

to get involved.” (NYT, 22 July 76, 24) 

The “most electrifying new information” received from Mars since 

the Viking 1 landing was that the Martian atmosphere contained 3% 

nitrogen, an element essential to life as we know it, said the NY Times. 

Until this week, the absence of nitrogen on Mars had been the most 

compelling argument against existence of life “in any form” on Mars; 

now this argument had been removed. (NYT, 22 July 76, 30) 

JPL scientists were still hedging on the color of the Martian sky, after 

announcing that photographs released earlier showing a blue sky might 

have been processed wrongly. Astronomer Carl Sagan noted that the 

“boos given to (the) announcement about a pink sky reflect our wish for 

Mars to be just like the earth.” Dr. Thomas Mutch, leader of the Viking 

76, A-1) 

153 
July ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 

imaging team, said computer verification of the filtered signals for color 

reconstruction could take another wk or two. ( WStar, 23 July 76, A-1) 

Viking Mission Director A. Thomas Young told a news conference 

that the problem with the lander’s soil-sampling arm was probably an 

error in the computer command that failed to drop a locking pin near the 

arm’s “wrist.” A new set of commands to extend the arm further and free 

the pin would be sent 24 or 25 July. The arm would scoop up soil and 

drop it in a hopper on the spacecraft that would distribute it to 3 biology 

experiments aimed at detecting signs of life on the planet. Other scoops 

would be used for chemical analysis. (NU, 24 July 76, 1) 

Besides the trouble with its soil sampler, the Viking 1 lander was 

having radio problems, said Project Manager Martin. One of two receivers getting direct communications from earth was not working properly, and the radio for relaying data from the lander to its orbiter was 

operating in a low-power mode. Also, the instrument for detecting “marsquakes” had not been released from its “caged” position on the lander 

despite repeated commands. A special scientific team was checking to see 

if all the problems were related, perhaps in the computer signals to the 

electrical circuitry. ( W Star, 23 July 76, A-3) 

Mars was a very much richer and larger planet than the airless and 

waterless moon, said a NY Times editorial, with a firm surface and 

virtually every essential required for life. Barring the catastrophe of a 

nuclear war, Mars could be sustaining a human population “by the time 

of this nation’s Tricentennial,” the paper said. (NYT, 25 July 76, A-16) 

“I really do not know what the fuss is all about-landing on Mars, I 

mean. I landed there 40 years ago,” said Buster Crabbe, who played both 

Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers in movies of the 1930s. Crabbe, who won 

the 400-m freestyle swimming gold medal in the 1932 Olympic games, 

was hired by Paramount Pictures to do a Tarzan film, and went/on to star 

in space pictures. “People still remember old Flash,” the 68-yr-old 

Crabbe said. “Here I am still around, no ill effects from my space 

travel . . . . I do feel sorry for our space people though, having to go 

through all the things we did years ago. I don’t think they know what’s 

in store for them. Just wait till they run into the clay men and the hawk 

men and the shark men.” (NYT, 25 July 76, E17; Tucson Ariz. Daily 

Star, 30 July 76, A-19) 

Viking 1 did not relay any picture of life-sized Martians to earth 

because it landed in the wrong place, charged columnist Art Buchwald 

in the Wash. Post. Buchwald reported his friend, a science-fiction buff, 

as saying the scientists were interested only in finding “a smooth place 

to set down the camera.” If thelMartians sent a camera to earth, the 

smoothest place to land it would be the Sahara desert. “If you lived on 

Mars you wouldn’t pitch a tent on some barren spot where nothing was 

happening,” argued the friend. “If Viking had landed next to one of their 

canals, the Martians would have sailed their tall ships up to it and given 

us the greatest show ever seen on television.” ( WPost, 25 July 76, H-1) 

A series of simple commands from earth freed the mechanical arm on 

the Viking 1 spacecraft reported to have jammed 22 July. The extend154 
ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 July 

able arm would be able to dig into the Martian soil as planned, and the 

second Viking spacecraft would be able to land in Cydonia now that the 

Chryse area could be explored. The Viking was commanded to extend its 

arm twice as far as previously and to rotate it several times to free a 

locking pin inserted to protect the arm from vibration during its flight in 

space and landing on Mars. The command was timed to precede transmission of a spacecraft camera image taken soon after receipt of the 

command; the boom would not be in the picture if it had not responded 

to the order to extend itself in front of the camera eye. When the picture 

came in a half hour later, the mechanical arm was in clear view, and a 

surface shot clearly showed the locking pin had fallen free. Flight directors had not succeeded in uncaging a seismometer, composed of 3 

delicate balancing beams to detect movements in the planet’s crust, that 

had been wired together for protection from vibrations. Spacecraft computer signals to electrify and burn the wire were not received, and a 

second command bypassing the computer apparently failed also. Detection of marsquakes might have to depend on Viking 2, scheduled to 

land in the Cydonia basin about 4 Sept. (W Post, 26 July 76, A-1) 

The atmosphere of Mars was once 10 times thicker and richer in gas 

than it is today, and L‘we could breathe that atmosphere” if it were richer 

in oxygen, said Dr. Tobias Owen of the State Univ. of N.Y., a member 

of the project science team at JPL, where the first samplings by the Viking 

1 mass spectrometer were analyzed. Mars’s atmosphere was now 95% 

carbon dioxide, 2 to 3% nitrogen, 1 to 2% argon, 0.3% oxygen; earth’s 

atmosphere is 78% nitrogen, 21% oxygen, 0.9% argon-40, and 0.03% 

carbon dioxide. “Mars is an intermediate planet between the earth and 

the moon,” said Dr. Owen. “We do not see a hugely abundant biology, 

but that doesn’t say there’s none at all.” Color pictures of the Martian 

surface near the Viking lander revealed a soil even redder than in the 

original picture received last week. Rocks strewn over the desert sands 

exhibited a red coating laid down years ago when Mars’s atmosphere was 

richer in oxygen and water, “through oxidation of the iron and hydration 

of the minerals,” said Viking geologist Alan S. Binder. “We propose to 

test the hypothesis by cracking open one of the red rocks . . . to see if 

there is any rust inside.” (W Post, 27 July 76, A-1; JV Star, 27 July 

76, A-3; C Trib, 27 July 76, 5) 

Viking 1’s mechanical arm scooped its first sample of the Mars 

surface 28 July, leaving a sharp-edged trench clearly visible in a picture 

transmitted afterward by the unmanned lander. The 3-m arm, a tube 

about 38 mm in diameter, ended in a sharp-edged scoop that could dig 

into the surface with a force of about 13 kg if necessary. When the cover 

snapped shut on the sample, the arm retracted and swiveled to sift the 

sample into a funnel feeding into the “biology box.” This container, 

about the size of a large milk carton, encased the 3 experiments designed 

to detect life. Two other experiments, also located under funnels, were 

the gas chromatograph mass spectrometer to detect organic molecules 

and an x-ray fluorescence spectrometer to identify inorganic materials, 

Sensors inside the funnels would tell whether the samples were sufficient. 

155 
July ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 

The 3 biology experiments were the “pyrolytic release” experiment 

of Dr. Norman Horowitz, to look for microorganisms that used the sun 

as a source of energy like photosynthesis on earth to build organic 

compounds, through exposure of the sample to radioactive carbon dioxide under artificial sunlight; a “labeled release” experiment by Dr. Gilbert 

Levin of Biospherics, Inc., to look for signs of microbial metabolism by 

tracing radioactive organic compounds injected into the Mars sample to 

see if they were consumed, releasing gaseous wastes that could be 

detected; and a “gas exchange” experiment by Vance Oyama of NASA’s 

Ames Research Center to provide a rich variety of foods in a liquid 

form-“chicken soup”-to the Mars sample and look for changes in gas 

composition inside the experiment chamber that would indicate the food 

was being used. 

The biology-box samples would incubate for from 5 to 12 days before 

results were announced, and a positive finding would be confirmed by 

subsequent control experiments. The science team anticipated a long 

wait for any kind of answer, as well as the possibility that the answers 

might be contradictory. Dr. Gerald Soffen, chief scientist for Viking, 

pointed out that results would be difficult to interpret: “you have to put 

yourself on the level of a microbe,” he added. The microbes might drown 

in the liquid, ingest the wrong food, or burn up in the warm experiment 

chambers. ( W Star, 28 July, A-1, A-5) 

One of the five soil-testing experiments on Viking 1 did not receive 

enough soil to actuate it, project officials announced, and two attempts 

to start the gas chromatograph mass spectrometer working on a sample 

apparently failed. Project Manager Martin said the flight engineers were 

not yet able to determine what went wrong, because the sampling arm 

apparently worked as planned but the sample never got into the instrument. The motor driving a stirring rod to brush particles through a 

strainer did not come on, and scientists speculated the sample might still 

be sitting on the strainer. A photograph of the trench dug to obtain the 

sample had shown that the soil was surprisingly cohesive, “like wet 

sand,” according to Princeton Univ. scientist Dr. Robert B. Hargraves. 

After delivering soil to the experiments in the biology box, the mechanical arm made 2 attempts to dig and deliver a sample to the mass spectrometer but the instrument did not signal receipt of the sample either 

time. It was not clear, Martin said, whether the arm lost the soil on the 

swing back or was off the mark when it deposited the soil, or the soil in 

the hopper never filtered down to the instrument. The arm responded 

properly to the following command and delivered a spoonful of soil to the 

x-ray spectrometer with no difficulty. (NY”, 29 July 76, 1; W Post, 29 

July 76, A-3; W Star, 29 July 76, A-3; WSJ, 29 July 76, 1) 

Viking project scientists debated the makeup of the Mars soil sample 

that might have been too thick to filter into an instrument opening. 

Dr. Ronald Scott said that, although the material was somewhat cohesive, “certainly something must have gotten through.” Deputy Mission 

Director Kingsland said the most likely causes of the apparent malfunction were failure of the mechanical scoop to obtain a full sample, or 

156 
ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 July 

failure of the “level full” indicator in the instrument to signal properly. 

Dr. Klaus Biemann of MIT, chief of the gas chromatograph experiment, 

said the arm might have come up empty from the trench after scooping 

for the biology experiments, and that a repeat attempt next week would 

take both possible explanations of the problem into account. Kingsland 

said the material seemed to have a consistency “something like wet 

clay.” Dr. Scott emphasized that this did not indicate water in the soil. 

The other instruments seemed to be processing their samples normally, 

and results from the inorganic-chemistry sampling in the x-ray spectrometer should provide the first assay of Martian soil as early as tomorrow. (Nm, 30 July 76, A-22; WStar, 30 July 76, A-5; C Trib, 31 July 

76, 2) 

The first experimental results from Mars, returned 30 July by Viking 

1’s lander, showed that the surface consisted of iron, calcium, silicon, 

titanium, and aluminum, in amounts that would be determined within a 

few days. The entire surface around the lander was covered with a very 

thin coating of vivid orange-red iron oxides that gave the plant its red or 

rusty appearance. “Mars is a painted desert,” said Dr. Gerald SoiTen, 

one of the project scientists. Dr. Priestly Toulmin, leader of the 

inorganic-chemistry team, noted that Mars soil up to now could be 

analyzed only by long-distance methods such as light reflections from the 

surface; Viking had “picked up a piece of Mars and put it into an 

analytical instrument.” Dr. Benton Clark, also of the inorganicchemistry team, said that Viking had not detected trace elements like 

vanadium or molybdenum considered essential for plant growth on earth; 

this did not mean the elements were not present, nor had elements like 

arsenic been detected that would make earth soil sterile. The results “do 

not rule out the possibility of some form of life,” Dr. Clark added. Results 

from the 3 biology experiments would be transmitted to earth within a 

few days. (NM; 31 July 76, A-1) 

22-24 July: NASA launched the second in a series of Comstar satellites at 

6:04 pm EM’ 22 July from Complex 36 at Cape Canaveral, Fla., on an 

Atlas-Centaur AC-40 into a transfer orbit with 42 17 1-km apogee, 

2930-km perigee, and 21.8” inclination. Like its predecessor launched 

13 May, Comstar-B ( called Comstar 0-2 in orbit) was owned and would 

be operated by Comsat General Gorp. under lease to American Telephone and Telegraph Go. as part of a three-satellite domestic communications system. Comstar 0-2 went into orbit lacking FCC approval for 

its operational use; ATeT engineering director Robert Latter said details 

for use of the system had not been worked out. On 24 July at 6:12 pm 

EDT, Comsat General commanded firing of the apogee kick motor to put 

the Comstar into station at 95OW, above the equator for coverage of the 

southwestern U.S., at approximately 35 793-km altitude. A third Comstar would be launched in 1978 to allow for growth of service, and a 

fourth Comstar would be built as a spare. (NASA Release 76-127; Comsat 

General Release CC-76-1 17; NASA MOR M-491-201-76-02; [prelaunch] 20 July 76, [postlaunch] 13 Dec 76; D/SD 26 July 76, 

127) 

157 
July ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 

23 July: Proponents of the B-1 strategic bomber, “vigorously opposed for 

years by people inside and outside of government,” seemed likely to win 

their struggle to get approval for the $22-billion program, said Science 

magazine. A House-Senate conference committee voted in mid-June to 

spend $960.5 million in procurement funds for the first 3 B-1 planes, 

although the Senate had passed an amendment delaying spending of the 

money until a new administration should take office. 

This year’s fight to procure the B-1 was the culmination of a 15-yr 

effort that began with the shooting down of a U-2 plane over the Soviet 

Union in 1960; the USAF projected the building of a low-flying manned 

bomber, the ideas converging in 1969 with AMSA (advanced manned 

strategic aircraft), a project opposed by then Secretary of Defense 

Robert McNamara. In 1969, when Melvin Laird became President 

Nixon’s Secretary of Defense, AMSA studies were concluded and the final 

design “metamorphosed into the B- 1 ,” Rockwell Intl. Corp. becoming 

prime contractor. At the same time, other Pentagon planners were 

backing a strategic armed cruise missile decoy system (SCAD), assuming 

that Congress would not approve both programs. At the urging of the 

IISAF, Secretary Laird canceled the SCAD program in July 1973, but the 

chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee (Sen. Thomas McIntyre, D-N.H.) ordered it reinstated. 

Both the bomber and the cruise missile had encountered development 

problems and increased expenses; internal Rockwell documents from 

Jan. 1974 showed company concern about “competitive threats in the 

form of the standoff missile and . . . the launch aircraft” that other 

companies might seek to build. A massive public-relations campaign was 

mounted to protect the B-1; ultimately, Science said, the B-1 would win 

but the cruise missile would also have its day, quoting John B. Walsh, 

Deputy Director of Defense Research and Engineering (DDR&E) at the 

Pentagon, as saying “YOU need both bombers and cruise missiles.” 

(Science, 23 July 76, 303) 

0 Marshall Space Flight Center announced that Barbara S. Askins, a chemist 

in MSFC’s Astronomy Branch, had applied for patent on an improved 

process, autoradiographic film intensification, that would improve photographic images after films or plates had been developed. Exposing silver 

or other imaging material on a developed film or plate to a radioactive 

environment would convert the material to a radioactive compound; 

placing the radioactivated material in contact with a receiver emulsion 

on an unexposed film or plate would reproduce the original image with 

increased contrast and density. The hazards and complexity of handling 

radioactive material had limited the use of such a process, but the new 

process did not require special training, expensive equipment, or extraordinary safety precautions, as it used an isotopic organo-sulfur 35 compound and could be adapted easily to an ordinary photographic laboratory. Askins said the process would be used in astronomy and other 

scientific research where low light levels were encountered. (MSFC 

Release 76-1 3) 

0 The U.S. had the smallest Air Force since the beginning of the Korean War, 

General, William J. Evans told a luncheon of the National Security 

158 
ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 July 

Industrial Association in Los Angeles. Gen. Evans, commander of the Air 

Force Systems Command, said that the Air Force, in an effort to reverse 

this trend, was in the midst of the greatest modernization period of its 

short history, citing “the effective combination’, of “land-based terminals and spaceborne satellites to provide attack warning, weather data, 

communication links, and positioning and navigation for American forces 

wherever they may be.” The US. was building a modern Air Force “with 

inefficient equipment that would be at home in a museum,” he said, 

calling on industry for more investment in modern equipment and advanced technology. Contractor testing had not been realistic, and 

performance of contractor products had failed to meet operational requirements; the government presence in contractor plants, to which 

industry objected, could be reduced with better designs, streamlined 

operations with better visibility, and measures such as greater use of 

computers to reduce inefficiencies. (AFSC Release OIP 152.76) 

* The organizational structure of a large earth-orbiting space station was the 

topic of a doctoral study at Fla. State Univ. for Dr. James Ragusa of 

Kennedy Space Center’s Science and Applications Office. The study was 

an offshoot of work on future space projects (with Gene McCoy of KSC’s 

Shuttle Payload Integration Office) before Dr. Ragusa left to work on his 

Ph.D. The topic was one about which little had been written, and was 

timely in that the structure should be included in plans for such a mission. 

Spacelab, with a 7-man crew, needed no complex organizational structure; a space colony with a projected population of thousands would 

require a government rather than an organizational structure. A space 

base housing 50 to 100 persons would bring together people of varying 

backgrounds for extended periods of time-the station being designed 

with a 1 O-yr operating life-and large-group behavior would be a factor 

in considering the best type of organization. Ragusa investigated the 

organizational structures used on submarines and destroyers, interviewing the submarine captains and taking cruises on the nuclear sub 

Nathanael Greene and the research sub Benjamin Franklin. 

Among those interviewed for the study were Dr. Wernher von Braun; 

Arthur Clarke, author of 2001 and father of the communications satellite; several astronauts; and Gene Roddenberry, creator of the TV series 

“Star Trek.” Ragusa found that the organization on Roddenberry’s 

U.S.S. Enterprise was modeled after that used on 18th century English 

ships, which in turn was based on that used on Phoenician ships 2500 

years ago, in which the ship was considered an extension of the country 

itself and abided by the laws and traditions of the homeland; the captain 

was king, and his word was law. The structure best fitting the needs of 

a space base was the “total matrix model” with four levels of hierarchy, 

best for efficient and orderly management of the crew because of its 

adaptability. Of 8 models, the “Star Trek” structure ranked fifth because of it; lack of flexibility and efficiency. (Spaceport News, 23 July 

76. 5) 

* NASA announced that the U.S. Government Printing Office had published the 

3-volume English edition of the joint U.S.-USSR Foundations of Space 

Biology and Medicine, summarizing biological and medical results of 

159 
July ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 

the first 15 yr of space flight. The work was produced by a joint editorial 

board on space biology and medicine formed in Oct. 1965 by NASA and 

the Soviet Academy of Sciences; the USSR had published a Russianlanguage edition in Moscow. The text consisted of 45 chapters, 19 

authored by 0.s. scientists, 20 by USSR scientists, and 6 by teams of 

authors from both nations. Volume I was called “Space as a Habitat”; 

Volume 11, “Ecological and Physiological Foundations of Space Biology 

and Medicine,” responses of man, plants, and animals to space flight; 

Volume 111, “Space Medicine and Biotechnology,” technology and procedures needed to sustain life and permit living creatures to function in 

space. (NASA Release 76-135) 

23-24 July: The scientific balloon Da Vinci 111, launched west of St. Louis, 

Mo., at 7:25 am CI)T on 23 July, landed safely at about 9 am EDT on 

24 July about 80 km east of Lexington, Ky. Purpose of the flight was to 

follow industrial and urban air pollution into the surrounding countryside, recording the changes in concentration and chemistry of the pollutants. Early findings indicated that high levels of ozone and sulfur 

dioxide-2 major air pollutants-persisted throughout the flight. The 

4-member crew of Da Vinci Ill included 3 who manned both the Da 

Vinci I flight in Nov. 1974 and the Da Vinci I1 flight in June 1976: 

Dr. Rudolf J. Engelmann of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration; pilot and project originator Ms. Vera Simons; and pilot 

Jimmie Craig of the U.S. Naval Weapons Center. The new member of the 

crew was Preston B. Herrington of Sandia Laboratories, Energy Research and Development Administration, which would collect and analyze the flight data as well as conduct all flight operations. Da Vinci was 

a joint project of ERDA, NOAA, and the Environmental Protection Agency. 

(ERDA Releases 76-21 1, 76-245) 

25 July: Blueprints for future Mars explorations, triggered by the Viking 1 

landing on Mars, included not only the dispatch of roving robot vehicles 

to the surface of Mars but also collection and return of Mars samples by 

a “sailing ship”-a spacecraft carrying an onionskin-thin sail of 

aluminum-coated plastic measuring more than 185 m‘ and powered by 

the pressure of solar electromagnetic radiation. Space flight would become possible with less reliance on heavy and expensive rockets, said 

John Noble Wilford in the New York Times; a space-sailer could be 

launched from an earth-orbiting Shuttle, deploy landers to collect and 

return samples, and return to earth with larger amounts of Martian 

samples than possible by other methods. JPL’S plans for future missions 

might include a fleet of the sailers (to be called Yankee Clippers) “flying 

the routes from earth orbit to the vicinity of Mars, hauling supplies and 

portable habitats, and finally explorers, to a Mars base.” (NU, 25 July 

76, 44) 

Rep. Les Aspin (D-Wis.) charged that the US. Navy planned to spend 

$187.6 million to repair F-14 Tomcat jet-fighter engines that it planned 

to replace at an additional cost of up to $1.9 billion. “. . . The Navy 

hopes to pull a double whammy on the taxpayers by replacing the 

repaired engine with a brand new one,’’ Aspin said. The Navy conceded 

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ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 JdY 

that replacing engines in the jet fighters would cost $1.6 to $1.9 billion, 

but claimed the planned repairs to current engines would cost only 

$86 million. The Navy said it wanted new engines for installation beginning in 1981. (WPost, 26 July 76, A-1) 

25-31 July: An almost equal division of opinion in the U.S. Senate on whether 

to go ahead with production of the B- 1 bomber was occupying politicians 

and commentators in Washington. The New York Times Magazine 

story headed “Will It Bomb?” asked if the B-1 were really needed and 

concluded that it was not, admitting that the project had a “seemingly irreversible momentum” and already had “a backhanded commitment to 

production.” Election-year oratory was calling for a decision to be 

postponed until a new administration took office. A lobby group called 

Campaign to Stop the B-1 Bomber, claiming to represent 26 national 

organizations, sent a telegram to Democratic presidential nominee 

Jimmy Carter asking him to send back Sen. Walter F. Mondale (DMinn.), vice presidential nominee, who was meeting with Carter in Ga., 

for a “crucial” vote in which Mondale’s presence was “essential.” The 

vote to postpone in the Senate Appropriations Committee was 15 to 14; 

the House of Representatives had voted twice, in April and again in June, 

to proceed with the B-1, but on both votes the nonvoters could have 

changed the outcome. (The April vote in the House was 2 10 to 177, with 

46 not voting; the June vote was 207 to 186, with 37 not voting.) A 

spokesman for Rockwell Intl. Corp., which would be prime contractor for 

the B-1, warned that postponement would increase costs by at least 

$500 million, cost 3000 workers their jobs, and shelve plans to hire 

another 7700 workers. Defense Secretary Donald F. Rumsfeld said delay 

in producing the B-1 would be “unsound from a cost standpoint, from 

a management standpoint,” and Air Force Secretary Thomas C. Reed 

said delay would add “half a million dollars to the cost of the program 

for no purpose.” 

A New York Times story 30 July said that a breakfast meeting with 

Secy. Reed for a group of Senate aides had been paid for by the Air Force 

Association, a private group with 155 000 members-largely retired Air 

Force personnel-and chartered as a veterans organization not required 

to register as a lobbyist. The Air Force Legislative Liaison Office, which 

arranged the breakfast, seemed to have been “concerned that it might 

be engaged in a form of lobbying of doubtful legality,” said the Nfl, 

pointing out that a 1948 law “specifically provides that no funds appropriated by Congress can be used by a Government agency directly or 

indirectly ‘to influence in any manner’ the vote of a member of Congress.” (NYT magazine, 25 July 76, 7; W Post, 26 July 76, A-13; 

C Trib, 29 July 76,lO; NYT, 30 July 76, A6; Av Wk, 26 July 76,23) 

26 July: Johnson Space Center announced delivery and acceptance of the 

Sperry Rand computer system, Univac 110/46, that would drive the 

Shuttle mission simulators. Dr. Bruce B. Johnson, technical manager of 

the contract, said that JSC had tested the computer complex round the 

clock for 30 days before its acceptance, and that the complex had 

demonstrated reliability “far in excess of contractual requirements.” 

161 
July ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 

Completed 3 wk ahead of schedule, the Univac 1100/46 contained 10 

processors, making it one of the most powerful digital computers built to 

date, with 900 000 36-bit words in the main memory and 2 billion 

characters in mass storage capacity. The computer would simulate a wide 

range of mission situations-prelaunch, ascent, aborts, orbit rendezvous 

and docking, entry, and landing-in the process of training flight crews 

and ground personnel in all phases of the Shuttle program. Total cost of 

the computer complex was $7 934 876. (JSC Release 76-47) 

* The US. Air Force announced production of a new material with electrical 

properties suitable for solid-state laser applications: anisotropic yttrium 

aluminate doped with neodymium (Nd:YAlO,,), a substance difficult to 

make into high-quality single crystals. The new material would replace 

neodymium YAG in solid-state lasers because it loses less heat than 

conventional lasing materials, requires no external component to polarize 

the laser light, and stores more energy for electro-optical switched-laser 

operations. The USAF sponsored the research at a pilot plant of LambdaAirtron Division of Litton at Morris Plains, N.J. which produced 40 rods 

of the new material; the longest, about 100 mm long, was valued at 

$4000. The high cost resulted from the cost of the raw materials and the 

iridium crucibles used in production, as well as the large amounts of 

power needed. The Air Force Materials Laboratory at Wright-Patterson 

AFB, O., would lend the tested rods to qualified government agencies and 

contractors. (AFSC Release OIP 118.76) 

27 July: The Viking 1 orbiter photographed a tiny moon of Mars called 

Phobos at a distance of just over 8000 km, providing a picture so clear 

that more than 100 craters were visible on the surface only 22.5 km 

across. At least 6 craters measured nearly 2 km across, meaning that 

meteorites the size of small towns had crashed into Phobos during the last 

3 or 4 billion yr. The face of Phobos in the picture released by JPL was 

the same one photographed in 1971 and 1972 Mariner 9, first spacecraft to orbit Mars. “This means that Phobos always shows its same side 

to Mars,” said Dr. Thomas C. Duxbury of JPL, as earth’s moon always 

shows the same side because of the pull of earth’s gravity. Another 

Viking 1 picture showed small channels in the Argyre basin of Mars’s 

southern highland that were the best evidence yet for heavy rainfall on 

the planet in past ages. Present atmospheric pressure on Mars was only 

about 7.7 millibars, 1/200th of that on earth and insufficient for liquid 

water to form or rain to fall. (W Post, 28 July 76, A-8) * Johnson Space Center announced that NASA had awarded the Singer Co. 

Simulations Products Division, Binghamton, N.Y., a $6.5-million 2-yr 

contract for maintenance, modification, and operational support of JSC’s 

simulation complex at Houston to be used in training flight crews for the 

Space Shuttle program. Initially, the simulation complex would consist of 

the Shuttle procedures simulator and the crew procedures evaluation 

simulator; later, an orbiter aeroflight simulator would be added, followed 

by the Shuttle mission simulator. In addition to systems and hardware 

engineering, configuration control, installation and tests of modifications, 

and development, drafting, and illustration of software, the contract 

162 
ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 July 

would require maintenance, servicing, and operational support of the 

equipment as well as documentation and logistics support. Extensions of 

24 and 6 mo would be optional. McDonnell Douglas Corp. also negotiated 

for this contract (see 10 May). (JSC Release 76-48) * NASA announced the appointment of Harold E. Pryor as Deputy Administrative Assistant for Technology Utilization in the NASA Hq Office of 

Industry Affairs. Pryor had been with NASA since 1964, serving as director of the management systems office, the staff operations division in 

the Office of Procurement, and the NASA/DOD Contract Administration 

Services Office in the Defense Supply Agency Hq. He was also executive 

assistant to the Director, Manned Space Flight Management Operations, 

until July 1973, when he became director of the Scientific and Technical 

Information Office. Pryor earned bachelor’s degrees in naval science and 

tactics and in aeronautical engineering; he served in the U.S. Navy during 

World War 11. He would succeed Clare F. Farley, recently retired from 

NASA. (NASA anno. 27 July 76) 

Tass reported from Moscow the launch of Intercosmos 16, carrying 

scientific apparatus developed in the German Democratic Republic, 

Czechoslovakia, and Sweden, as well as in the USSR. Orbital parameters 

were said to be 523-km apogee, 465-km perigee, 94.4-min period, and 

50.6” inclination. The probe was to study ultraviolet and x-ray radiation 

from the sun and the effects of this radiation on upper-atmosphere 

structure. Observatories in Bulgaria, Hungary, the GDR, and Czechoslovakia were making ground observations of the sun simultaneously with 

measurements taken aboard the satellite. (FBIS, Tass in English, 27 July 

76) 

0 Reporting on the opening of the new National Air and Space Museum in 

Washington, D.c., Pru& mentioned the life-size model of the docked 

Soyuz and Apollo spacecraft, saying that it “arouses the greatest interest 

among the museum’s visitors” and adding, “The USSR and the United 

States must continue cooperation.” The news story, headlined “First 

Anniversary,” quoted both Dr. James Fletcher, NASA Administrator, and 

his deputy Dr. George M. Low on the technical and political importance 

of the ASTP mission. (FBIS, quoting Tass in Pruvda, 16 July 76, 5) * U.S. intelligence sources reported the third failure of the USSR this year in 

testing an antisatellite system, when a Russian Hunter satellite failed to 

stay in orbit 21 July. The Hunter’s mission was to destroy the Cosmos 

839 launched into orbit 12 days earlier; u.S. analysts did not know what 

was causing the Soviet problem. Soviet efforts to develop an antisatellite 

system dated back about 10 yr, with only 5 successful launches out of 

more than 20 attempts before testing stopped in 197 1. All 3 attempts 

since testing resumed in Feb. 1976 had been failures, the U.S. intelligence sources said. The satellite-destroyer was reported to be about 

8 m long and to weigh about 2.5 tons at launch; equipped with 5 main 

rocket engines, the interceptor was said to be able to close on a target 

at about 4 km per sec and to get as close as 30 m to the target before 

exploding on ground command. The Associated Press report noted that 

the U.S. had not tried to develop a similar system since the 1960s; 

163 
July ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 

Dr. Malcolm Currie, DOD Director of Defense Research and Engineering, 

said last winter that “we are very much concerned about satellite vulnerability.” (W Post, 27 July 76, A-2; C Trib, 27 July 76, 2) 

27-28 July: NASA’s Flight Research Center announced that Edwards AFB, 

Calif., was the scene of 3 air records set by pilots in the SR-71. Maj. 

Adolphus (Pat) Bledsoe, Jr., pilot, with Maj. John Fuller as reconnaissance system manager, flew the SR-7 1 at 3400 kph, surpassing the 

previous “absolute” (on a straight course) speed record of 2981 kph as 

well as a world-class speed record of 2920 kph set by Soviet pilots, both 

in Oct. 1967. Next day, Capt. Robert C. Helt, pilot, with Maj. Larry A. 

Elliott as recon officer, flew the SR-7 1 to an altitude of 26 km, surpassing 

the previous record of 24.4 km (in horizontal flight) set in 1965 by USAF 

Col. K.L. Stephens in a Lockheed YF- 12A interceptor (prototype sister 

ship of SR-71). On the same day, Capt. Elden Joersz, pilot, with 

Maj. George T. Morgan, Jr., as recon officer, flew the s~-71 at a speed 

of 3530 kph to surpass the previous record of 3331 kph over a closed 

course set by Col. Stephens in 1965 in the YF-~~A. The National 

Aeronautic Association verified the speed and altitude measurements, 

but the records would be unofficial until accredited by the Paris-based 

Fhd’eration Aeronautique Internationale. (FRC issuance 27-28 July 76; 

WStar, 28 July 76, 5) 

28 July: Kennedy Space Center announced that Mae Walterhouse, coordinator of the Federal Women’s Program at KSC and recently elected 

national president of Federally Employed Women, Inc. (FEW), would 

participate in the 1976-1 977 Career Development Program at NASA Hq. 

Ms. Walterhouse would report to Washington 7 Sept. for a yr of experience in the Office of Resources Management. The NASA program would 

assist the centers in developing potential supervisors and managers at all 

levels throughout the agency, foster understanding of Hq functions on 

the part of center personnel, and provide training in specific disciplines 

or functional areas. Ms. Walterhouse, who received a national award this 

summer for service to the FEW organization, planned to return to KSC and 

join the Administration Directorate after the yr at NASA Hq. (KSC Release 

* The Department of Defense authorized development and testing of 2 prototypes of an improved STOL (short takeoff and landing) aircraft for the 

Marine Corps by McDonnell Douglas Corp. at a cost of about $400 

million, the Wall Street Journal announced. The prototype, called the 

AV8B Harrier, would be an adaptation of the existing AV8AHarrier built 

by Britain’s Hawker Siddeley Aircraft Ltd. The Marine Corps had purchased l 10 earlier Harriers from the British firm; if McDonnell Douglas 

could develop a stronger version, the Corps would buy “several hundred” from that company. The new versions were expected to cost about 

$5 milllion each. The Hawker Siddeley group had been authorized to 

build an improved Harrier for the Royal Navy; the Pentagon said it 

expected “mutual cooperation in the procurement of supplies and the 

exchange of information” as the 2 programs proceeded. (WSJ, 28 July 

76, 6) 

376-76) 

164 
ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 JdY 

@ 1101) announced plans to sell West Germany 500 Sidewinder missiles and 

support equipment valued at $43 million. The announcement was one of 

several made by the Pentagon on foreign weapons sales, since law 

required that Congress must be notified and have 20 days in which to 

disapprove such sales. DOD also planned to provide $26 million in pilot 

training under a Northrop Corp. contract to upgrade the Saudi Arabian 

air force, through the sale of F5E jet fighters and construction of support 

and training facilities. (WSJ, 29 July 76, 3) 

@ Under a 3-nation agreement announced by Britain, West Germany, and 

Italy, the Tornado MRCA (multi-role combat aircraft) dubbed “the spearhead of Europe’s coming offensive against the United States for equality 

in the skies” would go into production and would be operational by 1980. 

The agreement provided for construction at a total cost of $10 billion of 

809 swing-wing “wonder weapon” planes that could fly just under the 

speed of sound at treetop level, and twice the speed of sound at higher 

altitudes; it was designed to replace 2 of the most profitable planes ever 

produced by U.S. makers, the Phantom used by Britain’s RAF and the 

F104 Starfighters used by West Germany and Italy. The Tornado carried terrain-following radar that could fly it under enemy radar, and 

could vary its wingspan from 8.5 to 14m. Panavia (consisting of British 

Aircraft Corp., Messerschmitt-Boelkow-Blohm, and Aeritalia) would 

build the Tornado airframe and Turbo-Union (Rolls Royce, Motorenund-Turbinen Union, and Fiat) would build the engine. The U.S. press 

noted that, for the first time, American aerospace firms would be facing 

a competitor as formidable as themselves. ( W Post, 15 Aug 76, A- 14; 

WStar, 18 Aug 76, A-4) 

29 July: NASA launched ITOS-H, fifth operational spacecraft of the secondgeneration improved Tiros operational satellite (ITOS) series, from the 

Western Test Range at 1:07 pm EDT (10:07 am PDT, local time) on a 

2-stage Delta vehicle into a synchronous polar orbit with 1523.6-km 

apogee, 1512.5-km perigee, 102.1 inclination, and 116.2-min period. After successful injection into orbit, the satellite was redesignated 

Noaa 5; upon completion of in-orbit checkout, spacecraft control would 

be transferred to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration 

(NOAA) as part of that agency’s National Operational Meteorological 

Satellite System (NOMSS). Of 4 previous Noaa polar-orbiting spacecraft, 

2 still provided limited information but had deteriorated after 2.5 and 

1.5 yr in orbit respectively because of harsh environmental conditions in 

space. 

ITOS spacecraft were designed to provide complete global coverage or* 

earth’s cloudcover and atmospheric structure on a daily basis, using both 

daytime and nighttime instrumentation. The 345-kg boxlike spacecraft 

measured roughly 1 x 1 x 1.25 m and carried 3 winglike panels covered with solar cells, as well as earth-orientation devices and 4 communications antennas. Sensor systems included 2 vertical-temperature 

profile radiometers, 2 very high-resolution radiometers, and 2 solarproton monitoring systems, as well as a scanning radiometer system to 

provide both stored picture coverage for transmission on demand and 

165 
July ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 

direct transmission of images to receiving stations within range. Visiblechannel resolution was 3.7 km, infrared resolution 7.4 km. (NASA Release 

76-130; MOR E-601-76-17 [prelaunch] 28 July 76, [postlaunch] 30 

July 76, 1 Oct 76; NOAA Releases 76-143, 76-152) 

* US. airline traffic increased more than 12% in the first half of 1976, the 

Air Transport Association reported; increasing numbers of passengers 

plus increased fares and cost-cutting would produce better profits for the 

airlines. Analysts said Americans were flying in unprecedented numbers 

because they felt the recession was over; even “ailing international 

carriers” like Pan American World Airways and Trans World Airlines 

were trimming their operating losses and might show some profit for the 

year, the Wall Street Journal reported. (WSJ, 29 July 76, 15) 

30 July: NASA announced that its Viking Undergraduate Intern Program, 

permitting U.S. college students to participate in the Viking mission to 

Mars, was under way at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, 

Calif. Fifty-eight students from about 600 applicants had been selected 

to spend 30 days during the summer working with Viking scientists in a 

number of scientific areas at JPL, where more than 72 science teams were 

conducting a detailed examination of the planet, including a search for 

life. The program was the idea of Prof. Thomas Mutch of Brown Univ., 

leader of the Viking imaging team, who was assisted by a teammate, 

Prof. Carl Sagan of Cornel1 Univ.; the 2 professors reviewed each of the 

applicants’ qualifications and selected the 58 students for the summer’s 

work. The program, designed to directly involve undergraduates with a 

strong interest in planetary science, was funded by the Alfred P. Sloan 

Foundation and by NASA’s Planetary Geology Office. (NASA Release 

A “tethered” satellite-suspended by a cable from the Space Shuttle 

orbiter’s cargo bay-could serve to deploy and control materials used in 

constructing a space station, or to transfer articles from one manned 

vehicle to another, said NASA scientists at the Marshall Space Flight 

Center. The orbiter could also “troll” a tethered satellite through a 

low-altitude earth orbit to explore the atmospheric region between 80 

and 120 km above earth’s surface; previous exploration vehiclessounding rockets and low-altitude satellites-could not remain in that 

region long enough for extensive studies before being forced back to 

earth by atmospheric drag and gravity. The Smithsonian Astrophysical 

Observatory would aid NASA in system-dynamics studies for the tethered 

satellite system. MSFC would manage program development, integrate 

experiments, and support orbital operations. If the tethered system 

proved feasible, MSFC would begin spacecraft system design, and the first 

mission could be scheduled as early as 1980. (NASA Release 76-138) * NASA announced it had awarded a $300 000 grant through its Office of 

Aeronautics and Space Technology to the Univ. of Wash., Seattle, 

Division of Ceramic Engineering for research into the nature and properties of ceramic materials. The grant would help educate engineering 

design students in the search for new materials capable of sustaining high 

temperatures and exhibiting physical properties needed in an increasing 

76-139) 

166 
ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 July 

number of applications. Engineering contributions to the field of ceramics had led to improvements in fiberglass, optical communication%, 

nuclear fuels, catalytic converters, self-cleaning ovens and ceramic-top 

ranges, eyeglasses that darken in the sun, and human implants not 

susceptible to reaction with body mechanisms. Principal focus of the 

Univ. of Wash. program would be development of gas-turbine engine 

components that could withstand high temperatures and severe mechanical stress, and economical production of such components. (NASA Release 76-137) 

NASA announced selection of a team consisting of General Electric co. and 

Hamilton Standard Division of United Technology Corp. for negotiating 

with NASA and ERDA a $?-million contract to design, build, and test by 

1978 a 1.5-Mw wind-turbine electricity-generating system, biggest in 

history. The experimental system, a windmill with 2 horizontally rotating 

fiberglass rotor blades about 61 m long mounted on a 45-m tower, could 

produce annually enough energy to supply more than 500 homes at a site 

with average winds of 29 kph. Located at a utility-company site, the 

NASA-ERDA system would supply electricity to the local utility for public 

use, to determine the economics and operating characteristics of large 

wind turbines coupled to conventional power plants. Utility companies 

had proposed 17 sites across the U.S.; ERDA would measure their wind 

characteristics over the coming year and would choose the site late in 

1976. Lewis Research Center would manage the project for ERDA. The 

new system would be bigger than the 1.25-Mw system, 53 m in diameter, built near Rutland, Vt., in the 1940s; that project could not 

compete economically with the then low cost of fossil fuels, and had been 

abandoned. (NASA Release 76- 136) 

0 officials of the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization (PATCO) 

threatened a slowdown at major US. airports in the form of strict adherence to rules on spacing of aircraft, the Chicago Tribune reported. The 

union, in a salary dispute with the US. Civil Service Commission, would 

use the slowdown to protest failure to raise flight controllers’ pay. Federal 

Aviation Administration rules would permit a separation between airplanes of from 4.8 to 8 km; if controllers spaced flights the full 8 km 

apart, schedules could be delayed by as much as 6 hr at busy airports 

such as Chicago’s O’Hare. The tactics, although inconveniencing travelers, would not affect air safety, said PATCO president John Leyden. FAA 

had issued a request that controllers ignore the slowdown. (C Trib, 

30 July 76, 5) 

31 July: Johnson Space Center employees Herbert A. Zook and Richard W. 

High received a patent this week for invention of a “capture cell,” a 

device to capture meteoroids traveling through space and preserve them 

for scientific analysis. The cube-shaped cell had an open side covered by 

a thin membrane; a meteoroid striking the membrane would enter the cell 

and shatter, but the remnants and any vapor created by the heat of 

impact would remain inside the cell, which was constructed of a material 

like polyethylene. Large arrays of the cells would be exposed on a 

spacecraft for a long time, up to a year, to allow time for a number of 

167 
July ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 

strikes to occur. Interest in the composition of meteoroids springs from 

the possible information on larger bodies such as comets or asteroids on 

which they originated. (NYT, 31 July 76, 27) 

During July: Scientists at JPL completed a list of “purple pigeons”-bright 

birds of the future-as unmanned planetary missions considered feasible 

for the period 1980-1 990. In hopes that Viking 1’s successful landing 

on Mars might prompt wider support for such missions, JPL proposed 7 

advanced missions that would probably be reduced to 3 or 4 to be 

forwarded to NASA Hq. The list includes: return to Mars with rover 

vehicles to extend exploration of the Martian surface; a lander for one 

of Jupiter’s moons, accompanied by a satellite around the planet; a 

similar mission to Saturn and its moon Titan; asteroid rendezvous and 

near-range photographic mission; a radar-mapper satellite for Venus; 

flight to Halley’s Comet with a solar-sailer satellite (propelled by solar 

radiation); and establishment of an automated station on the moon for 

extended study of the lunar environment, probably by an international 

scientific group. (Av Wk, 26 July 76, 16) 

Marshall Space Flight Center announced a number of activities, centered 

on the Space Shuttle, including testing, procurement, and completion of 

facilities. 

-During July, MSFC awarded 14 contracts each of which totaled 

more than $50 000. (MSFC Release 76-155) 

-MSFC completed preparation of a 2.8% scale model of the Space 

Shuttle solid-fuel rocket booster (SRB) that would be tested in Ames 

Research Center wind tun els (the 2 supersonic facilities and the 4.2m 

trisonic (over mach 3) widd tunnel to develop preliminary environmental 

data; the smaller tunnel $vas cheaper to operate, and a smaller model was 

cheaper to alter. Data from the ARC tests would be use in SRB component 

vibration and acoustic design and in establishing qualification-test criteria, and finally for generation of data on the acoustic environment for 

reentry of an actual full-scale SRB. (MSFC Release 76-120) 

-Completing the first phase of acoustic testing that used scale models of the Space Shuttle with models of the Kennedy Space Center launch 

pad, MSFC announced that it had begun another test program using a 

scale model of the Vandenberg AFB, Calif., launch pad and a Shuttle 

model having working main engines and solid-fuel rocket boosters to the 

same scale. The Vandenberg launch pad differed from that at KSC, but 

MSFC said that much of the information obtained since Aug. 1974 in 150 

test firings to evaluate different acoustic methods for the KX launch pad 

would be useful in suppressing noise at the Vandenberg site. The tests 

were made to determine the best way to control noise and ignition 

overpressure when Shuttle engines and boosters were ignited at launch; 

uncontrolled pressures and acoustics could damage the Shuttle or its 

payload. Tests were scheduled for completion in Dec. 1976. (MSFC 

Release 76- 1 17) 

-MSFC announced award of a $247 363 contract to Rockwell’s 

Space Div. for a 12-mo study of Shuttle booster and external tank 

transonic facility). MSFC , I! ad used a 0.5% scale model in its smaller 

168 
ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 July 

options that could reduce cost per flight and increase payload weight 

capability. (MSFC Release 76-1 18) 

--MSFC announced that the first flight-configuration nozzle for the 

Shuttle main engine under development by Rockwell’s Rocketdyne Div. 

had been completed and successfully proof-tested. Completion of the 

nozzle represented a significant design and manufacturing achievement; 

the nozzle consisted of 1080 precisely formed tapering tubes brazed to 

a shell and stiffened by bands. It was about 3m tall and 2.7m in diameter, 

weighing about 454 kg. Attached to the main combustion chamber of the 

main engine, the nozzle would allow exhaust gases to expand to obtain 

maximum thrust, contributing to highly efficient burn. (MSFC Release 

-MSFC announced completion of tests conducted with KSC to determine the effects of salty and brackish water on materials used in elements 

of the Space Shuttle. Recovery of 2 Shuttle boosters after each launch 

would require towing the boosters in the salty Atlantic Ocean and into the 

brackish waters of a Fla. river. The studies used an integrated test bed 

constructed from the same materials and covered with the same sealants 

and paints planned for use on flight rockets, carrying samples of electrical and electronic equipment and hydraulic systems being considered 

for Shuttle use. The test bed, shipped to KSC, was put into the ocean for 

7 days and in the Banana River for 3 days, at a depth that closely 

simulated actual booster-recovery conditions. Returned to MSFC, the test 

bed had been subjected to study by engineers and technicians to discover 

the effects of the ocean and river environments, and to look for corrosion 

or marine biological growth. After this study, the refurbished test bed 

would be used again for tests in the ocean by KSC personnel. (MSFC 

Release 76- 13 1) 

-MSFC announced it had requested bids from industry on development of range-safety receivers for the Space Shuttle. Each Shuttle’s 2 

booster solid rockets would carry 2 receivers and the external tank 1, a 

total of 5 for each launch. The receivers would be part of a safety system 

that would let the range safety officer destroy the vehicle in case of a malfunction at launch. NASA planned to reuse the receivers up to 20 times, 

recovering and returning the equipment to the manufacturer for testing 

before it was shipped to the assembly contractor for reuse. (MSFC Release 

-MSFC announced that assembly of the first Space Shuttle external 

tank had begun at the Michoud Assembly Facility near New Orleans. 

Assembly should be completed and the tank delivered to the Natl. Space 

Technology Laboratories at Bay St. Louis, Miss., in mid-1977 for use 

in the test program for the main propulsion engine. The tests would use 

the tank, three Shuttle main engines, and other components in actual 

firings to verify the design and operation of the main propulsion system. 

The program would consist of 15 test firings, 11 at or near the full 8-min 

duration. (MSFC Release 76-137) 

-MSFC announced preparations for the arrival of the first Space 

Shuttle orbiter in mid-July for a series of tests at MSWs dynamic test 

76- 128) 

76-132) 

169. 
July ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 

facility. The orbiter would arrive at the Redstone airfield in 1978 atop 

a modified Boeing 747 and be off-loaded by KSC personnel. On the 

ground, the orbiter would become the responsibility of MSFC personnel, 

who would move it to the test facility and mate it with the rest of the 

Space Shuttle elements for vibration tests. This would be the first time 

all elements of the Shuttle were united. Tests were scheduled to run from 

spring to winter of 1978. (MSFC Release 76-141) 

-MSFC announced completion of tests on minitank 5, a small aluminum tank coated with a spray insulation that would be used to protect the 

Space Shuttle’s external tank and its highly volatile liquid hydrogen 

contents from engine exhaust or aerodynamic heat. This was the fifth of 

13 such tanks to be tested at MSFC. The tests were to determine the 

effectiveness of Martin Marietta’s foam insulation against stress encountered during Shuttle launch and space flight. Besides acoustic and vacuum tests, the minitanks would undergo pressure, boiloff, and holding 

tests with liquid hydrogen; the hold test would determine the effect of a 

7-hr idle period on a full tank‘s insulation system. The test period of 

7 hr was estimated to be the longest time a fueled Shuttle would have to 

wait on a launch pad before lift 

-MSFC announced completi only totally new structure built 

exclusively for testing the Spa external tank: the pneumatic 

test facility at Michoud Assembly Facility near New Orleans, which 

would accommodate the tank measuring 47 m long (more than half the 

length of a football field) and 8.4 m in diameter. Empty, the tank would 

weigh about 34 000 kg. The pneumatic facility would be used for proof 

tests and leak tests of the external tank’s liquid hydrogen tank; the proof 

test would pressurize the tank with gaseous nitrogen and apply a series 

of external loads with 9 hydraulic cylinders. The leak test would verify 

that no out-of-specification leaks existed. Martin Marietta Aerospace was 

prime contractor at Michoud for external tank production. (MSFC Release 

* Johnson Space Center announced it had awarded to Klate Holt Co. of 

Houston a 1 -yr 961.5-million extension of contract for custodial support 

services at JSC. The cost-plus-award-fee contract was originally awarded 

in July 1975. The contractor had provided custodial services in 82 

buildings at JsC and to buildings occupied by JSC at nearby Ellington AFB. 

(JSC Release 76-45) * The Newsreview, published by the Air Force Systems Command, reported 

that a long-winged U-2 aircraft on loan to NASA had successfully completed tests in the “icy grip” of the main chamber at McKinley Climatic 

Laboratory during which it underwent exposure to temperatures as low 

as -57°C. The laboratory, operated by the USAF Armament Development and Test Center at Eglin AFB, Fla., conducted the tests at NASA’s 

request to isolate flight-control malfunctions occurring in the cold temperatures of high altitude. The U-2, a single-seat single-engine jet 

designed to operate at altitudes above 2 1 km, had been used by NASA as 

an earth-resources survey tool, making observations in astronomy, highaltitude atmospheric physics, and geophysics in addition to supporting 

general earth-resources programs. (AFSC Newsreview, July 76, 6) 

170 

FC Release 76- 142) 

76- 143) 
ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 JdY 

Gene Sivertson of Langley Research Center’s Space Systems Div. had 

developed a new idea for search and rescue‘ operations using passive 

reflectors with imaging or side-looking radar to locate persons in 

emergency situations. The passive reflectors could be rigid, inflatable, or 

erectable structures that would show up on a radar system as bright spots 

easily distinguishable from clutter signals of the terrain. The reflectors 

could be carried as standard equipment by aircraft, ships and small boats, 

earth vehicles, and individuals; different packages could be tailored to 

the user’s needs. The inflatable concept would use a balloon containing 

a reflector structure of aluminized mylar, with a small helium or hydrogen gas generator in the canister holding the mylar-saran balloon. Deployed in an emergency situation, the reflector would mark a distress site 

and provide a radar target. The concept had been field-tested in Mich. 

and Fla. .with excellent test films as a result. Sivertson hoped to have the 

imaging radar on satellites with continuous global monitoring, and to test 

the system on the Space Shuttle in the 1980s. (Langley Researcher, 9 

July 76, 3) 

0 Dr. John A. O’Keefe, geophysicist at Goddard Space Flight Center, published a book, Tektites and Their Origin, which noted that a piece of the 

moon could be purchased for a small amount. Tektites, the glass pebbles 

that fall from the sky, are ejecta from lunar volcanoes and not debris of 

meteorite impacts on the moon or the earth as previously suggested. 

Lunar missions that discovered tektite-like glass in the dust at some sites, 

the study of microscopic tektites from the bottom of earth‘s seas, and the 

volcanic appearance of some layered tektites caused the change in ideas. 

(Goddard News, July 76, 3) 

Calling the Landsat photographs “some of the most fascinating, most 

valuable photographs ever taken,” Readers Digest magazine said the 

satellites “will have enormous effect on our lives and on the lives of our 

children,” as they revealed “things never before known about the earth 

and man’s activities on it, vastly improving our ability to make the planet 

more habitable.” The article quoted NASA Administrator James C. 

Fletcher: “If I had to pick one Space Age development most likely to 

save the world, I would pick the Landsats and the satellites that will 

evolve from them later in this decade.” The article described the process 

by which Landsat images were collected, processed, and used for a 

number of purposes: detecting oil and mineral deposits, finding sources 

of fresh water, assessing crops, forcecasting and minimizing damage 

from natural disasters, and monitoring population growth and pollution, 

among others. The Landsats, despite their importance, were still “in 

their infancy,” the article said, looking toward the day when “few 

activities will be undertaken on.. .the globe without first consulting these 

electronic oracles in space.” (RD, July 1976, 13) 

9 An unusually high loss of total blood hemoglobin after the first 16 days of 

flight was one of the medical findings from the Salyut 4-Soyuz 18 

mission reported by Cosmonauts Vitaly I. Sevastyanov and Lt. Col. Pyotr 

Klimuk to the 19th annual meeting of the Committee on Space Research 

(COSPAR) of the International Council of Scientific Unions. If valid, the 

Soviet data would represent a “significant departure” from earlier data 

171 
July ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 

on body mechanisms governing red cells in zero gravity, said Aviation 

Week and Space Technology magazine. Klimuk told the Phila. meeting 

that hemoglobin had decreased 16% in his blood and 25% in Sevastyanov’s by the 16th day of the flight; although past data showed 

hemoglobin loss averaging 1% daily, Sevastyanov must have had a 

mechanism that “destroyed more cells than normal” to achieve the 25% 

deficiency. US. Skylab missions reported that crewmen normally recovered their ability to produce red blood cells with more time in orbit; the 

cosmonauts did not discuss their recovery from the hemoglobin 

deficiency, but reported that nothing medical had ben discovered during 

their 63-day flight to prevent increased duration of Soviet space flight. 

(Av ?T’%, 5 July 76, 49) 

New federal policies deriving from the Occupational Health and Safety Act 

and. the National Environmental Policy Act would affect about 30% of 

the USAF’s Aerospace Medical Division investment in biotechnology research and development, said an article in Aviation Week magazine. 

“WAF has yet to appreciate ... how important these two laws are going to 

be. The day is rapidly coming when even major weapons systems will 

never get through [a Defense System Acquisition Review council] without having to come to grips with ... the occupational safety of the people 

that have to work around the system and the impact of ... noise, electromagnetic radiation effects and toxic effluents,” said Col. George C. Mohr, 

director of AMD research and development. 

Among items of special interest were the rocket fuels-unsymmetrical dimethylhydrazine and monomethylhydrazine-and the hydrochloric-acid fallout expected from Shuttle motor exhaust during launches 

at Vandenberg AFB; effects of laser exposure on eyes and skin; effects of 

multiple stress, including that caused by locating or operating equipment; 

and development of hardware, such as a lightweight 1-kg helmet to 

replace the standard 2-kg helmet that caused “high moment” effects on 

the wearer during sustained high-gravity maneuvers in the new generation of fighter aircraft. Another environmentafsafety hardware item was 

a new 9-layer 25-mm windshield for planes to overcome the bird-strike 

problem, in place of the standard 2-layer 8.5-mm-thick windshield. 

A major problem, Col. Mohr said, has been that biotechnology standards and criteria often were not considered until after the system concept 

had been finalized; another problem is the WD policy of tri-service 

planning, an attempt to ensure that the services do not duplicate research. Use of mathematical modeling in biotechnology had tended to 

“drive aerospace medicine research toward an engineering discipline,” 

the article said; the data output is usable by design engineers, while new 

legislation prevents use of humans in hazardous testing, and cost of 

laboratory animals has soared. (Av E%, 19 July 76, 219) 

“To prove that enthusiastic but untrained high school and college-age 

students can build a 5-kw solar generator,” a project called Sunfire 

managed by JPL’S Space Exploration Post would build such a generator 

for inhabitants of Pitcairn Is. in the South Pacific about 8000 km east 

of Australia. In 1974, Howard Broyles of JPL became interested in using 

solar energy to supply power at low cost, and discovered that the Pitcairn 

172 
ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 JdY 

residents could use the power; he interested a physics teacher at the local 

high school in the actual construction of a solar electric generator, and 

work began as a class project. When the site of construction became 

unavailable at the end of the school year, the project, under the name 

Seep (solar energy experimentation project), was offered to the JPL Space 

Exploration Post and approved by Dr. William H. Pickering, JPL Director. Sunfire-backward acronym for Energy for Remote-Islands From 

the Sun-would be a 5-kw generator converting solar rays into electricity by using a parabolic mirror to focus the rays on a boiler that makes 

steam, turning a double set of turbines that run alternators to produce 

the power. The Pitcairn residents, fewer in number “than JPL’S Building 

180 has employes,” are mostly descendants of the crew of HMs Bounty, 

which mutinied in 1790 and found refuge on the small remote island, 

(Laboratory, 1976-4, 8) 

173 

August 1976 

1 August: Scientists at JPL, where the Viking 1 mission was being directed, 

were startled at responses from 2 of 3 instruments reporting on the first 

Mars surface samplings. The labeled-release instrument, designed to 

count radioactive molecules released by a process feeding tagged nutrients to a soil sample, had counted 4 times as many radioactive releases 

as would have resulted from a similar earth sample: 4537 per min for the 

first 9 hr 20 min it counted, compared to about 100 counts per min from 

Calif. soil sampled in a prelaunch test, and no more than 750 per min 

fiom soil gathered in the dry valleys of Antarctica. The rapidity and 

magnitude of the response were “quite surprising,” said Dr. Gilbert 

Levin of Biospherics, Inc., which built the instrument. 

Another Viking instrument, the gas-exchange experiment that dampened a surface sample with nutrients and monitored the resultant release 

of gas, detected an increase in oxygen released by the sample 15 times 

greater than was explainable by the Mars atmosphere or by oxidation of 

minerals similar to earth soils. The same instrument 24 hr later reported 

an increase in oxygen release 30% greater than that detected the first 

day. Scientists said the results might be attributed to superoxides, produced by intense ultraviolet solar radiation on the Mars surface, reacting 

with the extemely iron-rich Martian soil, not shielded by atmosphere as 

earth’s surface is. Further information would be needed to reach firm 

conclusions, said Dr. Harold Klein of Ames Research Center, chief 

Viking biologist. (W Post, 1 Aug 76, A-1; NYT, 1 Aug 76, 4-8) 

@ Having completed a yr of service to India’s Satellite Instructional Television Experiment (SITE), Ats 6 began a 4-mo journey back to an orbital 

location over the Western Hemisphere to take part in experiments using 

direct broadcasting for education and health care. During its journey, it 

would be used by NASA in a project with the U.S. Agency for Intl. 

Development (AID) to demonstrate the potential of direct broadcasting to 

officials in more than 24 developing countries. 

The first set of demonstrations-known as AIDSAT, for AID space-age 

technology-would begin between 1 and 26 Aug. for 11 developing 

countries and one international conference; the program would consist of 

3 films created especially for the purpose, one on communications technology for national development, one on use of satellites for natural 

resources monitoring, and one on use of satellites for disaster prediction 

and relief. After these films the host country would transmit a 30-min 

program originated in the terminal in each nation’s capital; then a 2-way 

discussion would be shown in which US. officials conversant with space 

technology and US. assistance would talk with representatives of the host 

175 
August ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 

country. President Ford would present an initial greeting, and astronaut 

Owen K. Garriott would be moderator of the first 5 programs. 

Of the 12 programs planned, those to Thailand, Pakistan, and Bangladesh were broadcast first, and subsequent ones were scheduled 9 Aug. 

to the United Arab Emirates, 10 Aug. to Oman, 16 Aug. to Jordan, 17 

Aug. to Kenya, and 18 Aug. to Yemen. On 23 Aug. the program would 

address the Conference on Applied Science and Technology in the Arab 

World at Rabat, Morocco; programs to Libya, Sudan, and Morocco 

would be broadcast during the remainder of August. A second group of 

demonstrations would begin in late Sept., and 15 more countries in 

Africa, Central and South America, and the Caribbean had been invited 

to participate. (NASA Release 76-140) 

0 By the yr 2000, mankind would have chosen between global cooperation 

and mutual destruction, said biochemist Isaac Asimov, professor at the 

Boston Univ. School of Medicine and one of the most prolific sciencefiction writers. In an article copyrighted by the Phila. Bulletin, Asimov 

set forth his predictions which envisioned a single world power: a global 

community would grow in which more and more of the world’s activities 

would be under control of multinational organizations, approaching a 

2 1st-century global government, unless the nations were willing to settle 

for mutual suicide. The U.S. population would be less than now predicted, 

Asimov said, about 265 million, with government policies keeping growth 

to a minimum. The world population would have reached about 6 billion, 

a 50% increase from that of 1976. The U.S. would be searching for ways 

to use its food supplies to encourage a saner population policy; it would 

not be able to hoard its food for profitable sales because the welfare of 

the U.S. would depend on a strong world economy and “as non-desperate 

a world population as possible.” The U.S. would be more nearly a vegetarian nation, both because of the higher yield per acre of grain and other 

plant food than if used for animal raising and because of the adverse 

effect on world opinion if the U.S. continued its wasteful eating habits 

while others starved. 

World opinion would have more power to affect national policy in the 

yr 2000; improved electronic communications would hring peoples 

closer and make them effectively part of a global community. Petroleum 

fuels would diminish and no longer serve as the major energy source; coal 

would become more important, as would windpower and solar and geothermal energy. By the yr 2000 the world would embark on new technological advance, whatever the apparent benefit, with more caution and 

foresight. A space colony would be under construction, to serve both as 

a human habitat and as a solar-power station. As the number of such 

colonies increased, population expansion might again be possible, plus 

sufficient energy to satisfy a hungry world. The yr 2000 would probably 

be a dark time, Asimov said, but would offer hope to all those alive for 

a brighter future for their children. (C Trib, 1 Aug 76, 23) 

* Tass, the official Soviet press agency, said that permanent monitoring of 

earth from space would soon be a possibility because of advances in 

manned space missions, citing a prgress report on the cosmonauts (Boris 

176 
ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 August 

Volynov and Vitaly Zholobov) who had been orbiting the earth in the 

Salyut 5 space laboratory since 7 July. Major tasks of the cosmonauts, 

Tass said, were to survey Soviet territory below the 52nd parallel and 

compile detailed maps; analyze geological formations for possible gas, oil, 

and ore deposits; and study seismic activity or storms and forest fires. A 

previous report described a photographic search for minerals by the two 

cosmonauts, who photographed the southern Ukraine, Moldavia, the 

Altai territory of Soviet Central Asia, and the Caspian lowlands. Tass did 

not say whether a permanent monitoring service would be automatic or 

man-operated, or if the USSR planned to inaugurate such a service. (LA 

Times, 31 July 76, 1 Aug 76) 

2 August: An early burst of activity recorded by an instrument aboard Viking 

1 on the surface of Mars had begun to slow down, said biologists at JPL 

who had been startled by the high rate of reaction indicated by the 

labeled-release experiment. The instrument used a sample of Martian 

surface, fed with a nutrient of amino acids, sugar, and vitamins, plus a 

radioactive-carbon tracer that would produce radioactive carbon dioxide 

if the sample used the nutrient to grow or metabolize. A geiger counter 

in the instrument had counted as many as 4500 radioactive molecules 

per minute being released from the sampler over 8 hr, going as high as 

8000 per min over the period of a day. Dr. Harold P. Klein of Ames 

Research Center, head of the Viking biology team, said the origins of the 

activity were not clear, and scientists were not sure whether “something 

is metabolizing” or not. It would take a wk to reach any conclusion from 

these results or those of the other two biology experiments, team members said. (NYT, 1 Aug 76, 1; WPost, 1 Aug 76, 1; 2 Aug 76, C-5; 

W Star, 2 Aug 76, A-1; WSJ, 2 Aug 76, 1) 

3 August: Cloud-brightness images from orbiting satellites would enable the 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to predict the 

difference between relatively “dry” hurricanes and destructively wet 

ones such as Agnes (1972), Fifi (1974), and Eloise (1975), said Dr. Neil 

Frank of the Dept. of Commerce’s National Hurricane Center. For years, 

said Dr. Frank, meteorologists had known that some hurricanes were 

wetter than others, with those having highest potential rainfall also 

highest in damage over land. A new technique would estimate hurricanerainfall potential from cloud images calibrated with computer models of 

river-basin flooding; the technique would be “a predictive tool” for 

inclusion in hurricane warnings. Heavy rains from Fifi in 1974 caused 

one of the worst natural disasters of the Western Hemisphere when 

heavy rains brought unexpected flash flooding that killed thousands in 

and around Honduras. Besides killing 118 people, Agnes caused an 

estimated $2.1 billion in property damage from torrential rains and 

flooding; Eloise caused an estimated $200 million in property damage, 

again mainly from rain-caused flooding. 

The satellite technique was used retrospectively to estimate the rainfall from 7 hurricanes for which radar and rain-gauge measurements 

were available; results disclosed little or no relationship between the 

volume or intensity of a storm and its rainfall. However, the rainfall 

177 
August ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 

potential calculated by the new procedure for the 7 hurricanes in the 

study agreed well with actual experience. Although estimates obtained 

through the new technique were relative, not absolute, the NOAA 

scientists viewed the procedure as a valuable tool for developing nations, 

an inexpensive system to monitor rainfall and improve the meteorological 

basis of agricultural and water-management planning. (NOAA Release 

The rate of production of radioactive gas from a Mars sample monitored 

by an instrument on Viking 1 had “plateaued,” said Dr. Gilbert V. 

Levin, who designed the instrument, and the slowdown in activity was 

puzzling from both a biological and a chemical standpoint. A biological 

response would generally evolve gas for a longer period, whereas the 

count-if recording a merely chemical reaction--“took place at a very 

rapid rate initially and then, uncharacteristically, slowed down and took 

a long time to plateau.” A special team of scientists from several fields 

was convened to consider all possible nonbiological explanations for the 

unusual readings from Viking 1, and various laboratories around the 

US. were being enlisted to help test the theories. (NIT, 3 Aug 76, 18; 

WStar, 3 Aug 76, A-7; WSJ, 2 Aug 76, 1) 

0 Edwin E. (Buzz) Aldrin, Jr., second person to walk on the moon, told an 

audience at Orange, Calif., that he had become an alcoholic several years 

before the 1969 Apollo 11 moon mission and stopped drinking only 2 

days before the flight. He had resumed drinking shortly after the mission. 

Aldrin said that, as a West Point cadet, he had been “caught in the 

alcohol trap”: having decided to give up alcohol when he was sent to 

Korea as a combat officer, he resumed drinking when he perceived that 

his military image was measured by “who could drink the most.” Aldrin 

spoke at a hospital where he stayed during a month-long recovery 

program in the summer of 1975; he had not mentioned his alcoholism in 

his 1973 book “Return to Earth” although he did discuss his post-Apollo 

psychiatric treatment, confirmed by the Air ,Force in 1972. (W Star, 

3 Aug 76, A-2; NIT, 3 Aug 76; W Post Parade, 26 Sept. 76, 6) 

NASA announced that a French team of experimenters, using very highresolution sensors on the Os0 8, had observed an oscillation in the sun’s 

atmosphere every 14 min very like seismic activity on the earth, during 

which the atmosphere moves up and down as much as 1300 km. No one 

had expected “this huge movement of gas which might well involve the 

entire solar atmosphere,” said Dr. Roger Thomas of GSFC, one of the Os0 

8 project scientists. “However, it may prove possible to use the waves 

to learn more about the sun’s interior, in a manner analogous to using 

seismic activity to study the structure of the earth or moon.” Dr. Roger 

Bonnet of the Centre National de la R’echerche Scientifique in Paris, 

principal investigator, agreed that the discovery could be one of the most 

important results from the French instrumentation. Os0 8 was launched 

21 June 1975 carrying 8 onboard instruments for solar research-the 

most sophisticated and ambitious ever flown, according to NASA-and 

preliminary results indicated the spacecraft’s mission could be considered successful. (NASA Release 76-1 41) 

76-158) 

178 
ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 August 

Lockheed Aircraft Corp. reported a 24.2% decline of earnings in the 2nd 

quarter, and 10.1% decline in the first half of 1976, blaming the drop 

on substantial writeoffs and costs related to the TriStar L-1011 and 

reduced levels of production. The company had hoped to apportion 

startup costs of tooling and production over sales of an estimated 300 

TriStars; only 13 planes were delivered in the first 6 mo of 1976 and only 

3 more were scheduled for delivery during 1976, with firm orders for 22 

more. However, 3 of the remaining order were subject to approval by the 

Japanese government, which was investigating Lockheed bribes paid in 

Japan to promote its sales there. Robert W. Haack, Lockheed chairman, 

said that the company was in an “overall stronger position” this year 

despite the lower earnings, pointing to debt reduction, a new banklending agreement, and contracts signed during the second quarter of 

1976, which included a $625-million contract with Saudi Arabia for an 

air-traffic control system and a $697-million order from Canada for 18 

of its F3 Orion aircraft. (NYT, 4 Aug 76, 41; WSJ, 4 Aug 76, 9) 

INTELSAT-the International Telecommunications Satellite organizationannounced award of an $8840 contract to the Univ. of Oulu, Finland, 

for measurements of low-elevation-angle scintillation. The 1 -yr contract 

covered investigation of the slow fluctuation in received-signal strength 

from a satellite to earth stations in humid localities, at elevation angles 

of 5” above the horizon. Water vapor in the lower atmosphere could 

cause fluctuations in signal strength, intensified where the look-angle 

from station to satellite is as low as 5”, causing the signal to pass through 

more of earth’s atmosphere than if the elevation angle were greater. 

(INTELSAT Release 76-2 1 -M) 

4 August: Johnson Space Center announced signing of a supplemental agreement with Lockheed Electronics Co. of Houston for $2.57 million, for 

additional scientific and technical support at the Slidell Computer 

Complex of the Earth Resources Laboratory in La. The supplemental 

agreement brought the total value of the contract to $7.1 million. (JSC 

Release 76-49) 

MSFC reported an unprecedented amount of data distributed to and used by 

the scientific community as a result of rapport, established under an 

arrangement known as the Skylab solar workshops, among principal 

investigators in the Skylab Apollo telescope mount (ATM) project and 

other scientists. The workshops, supported by NASA, had provided a 

means of “intense interaction and collaboration” by the participants, 

MSFC said. 

The first workshop, held in Oct. 1975 on coronal holes, was attended 

by 60 scientists representing 19 universities and other institutions; a 

second workshop in Feb. and the last this wk would conclude the series. 

The workshops met near the High Altitude Observatory at Boulder, 

Colo., under fairly isolated conditions; the scientists were together most 

of the time, passing on information, explaining discoveries, and talking 

shop from breakfast until late at night. Jack Zirker of the Univ. of 

Hawaii’s Institute of Astronomy, director of the first workshop series, 

said the workshop procedure was “an ideal way to deal with the topic” 

179 
August ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 

because participants collaborated closely between meetings, planning 

and carrying out projects that otherwise might have languished. 

The next workshop in the series, on solar flares, was scheduled to 

begin with a first meeting in the last week of Oct. 1976. Discussions at 

the first meeting would define the total effort; participants would return 

home to work on individual pieces of the problem. A second meeting 4 

or 5 mo later would be a midterm status review and working meeting, 

with participants contributing information relevant to the total project. 

At the final workshop, participants would sum up their findings and 

identify unsolved problems, preparatory to publishing their results. The 

workshop would produce a monograph summarizing the state of the art 

at that point. Scientists taking part in the solar workshop series said the 

system could be adapted readily to research in other scientific fields and 

was highly productive. (MSFC Release 76-1 45) 

6 August: The jumbo jet-“a revolutionary class of elephantine airliner” 

carrying twice as many passengers as the biggest narrowbodied aircraft-was a jumbo bust, said the Wall Street Journal reporting on 

declining business in the aircraft industry, especially on a 3-way battle 

among U.S. manufacturers for British Airways orders. The governmentowned British airline would buy 6 widebody jet liners valued at about 

$165 million with possible options on 3 more, to replace an aging fleet 

of Boeing 707s and Vickers WOs on its long-distance routes, and there 

was no British-made aircraft of the size British Airways needed. 

McDonnell Douglas had been advertising in London papers “the 

difference to Britain” of $537 million and 13,000 jobs if the DC-10 were 

chosen, because it would use the Rolls Royce engine now used in Lockheed’s slightly smaller TriStars. Lockheed, also competing for the order, 

said the engines on its L- 10 1 1 TriStars had already provided more than 

$750 million of business for Britain, and buying a long-range version of 

the TriStar for overseas routes would be simply an extension of a proven 

relationship. The Boeing Company had also been competing for the 

order, although its 747 was said to be too big for the British Airways’ 

long-distance routes: it would carry about 400 passengers, compared to 

260 for the Dc-10 and 240 for the L-1011. Boeing, however, had been 

talking with Aerospatiale of France on a smaller version of the latter’s 

widebody twin-engine jet, to be marketed in the US. with a revised 

Boeing-built wing in return for French participation in a bigger version 

of Boeing’s 737; the French were reported wary of Boeing and leaning 

toward an agreement with McDonnell Douglas on a modification of the 

French 150-seat Mercure. 

The WSJ reported 10 Aug. that U.S. manufacturers’ sales of widebody aircraft had fallen “billions of dollars behind original projections.” 

McDonnell was producing DC- 1 Os at only 20% of capacity; Boeing had 

cut output of 747s from 84 a yr to 18; and Lockheed’s production of 

L-101 1s was “even lower.” U.S. airlines, for which the widebodies were 

originally designed, had not placed a single new order for passenger 

jumbos since 1973, and planned to buy “only a handful” before 1980. 

The jumbo was industry’s answer to the problem of carrying the passenger load predicted for 2 decades without clogging runways, skyways, 

180 
ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 August 

and-airports; the traffic growth had been curtailed by economic recession 

and the oil embargo that increased fuel prices unexpectedly. Also, the 

rise in nonstop service between medium-size cities whose traffic formerly 

was funnelled through major airports had cut into the traffic of the jumbo 

jets. Makers of the widebodies were far from breaking even on their 

design and development costs, which had run over $4 billion; about 1200 

planes would have to be sold to cover that investment, the WSJ said, and 

so far the 3 makers reported only about 700 firm orders and deliveries, 

with another 80 options that might or might not materialize. (WSJ, 

6 Aug 76, 12; 10 Aug 76, 1) * NASA announced award of a $7-million contract to General Electric Co. and 

the Hamilton Standard Div. of United Technologies Corp. for design and 

construction of the world’s largest windmill to be located at one of 17 

possible utility-company sites where it could produce energy for as many 

as 500 homes a yr [see 30 July]. Sponsored by the Energy Research and 

Development Administration and NASA, the project would be directed by 

LeRC’s wind-power office. Richard L. Puthoff, program manager of LeRC’s 

wind-power office, said that wind as an energy source could provide 5 to 

10% of U.S. needs at maximum efficiency and usage. The 100-kw 

system built in 1975 at LeRC’s Plum Brook test area had been used as an 

experimental apparatus in developing the large windmill. (NU, 8 Aug 

76, 20; WSJ, 6 Aug 76, 6) * INTELSAT (International Telecommunications Satellite Organization) announced that its board of governors, meeting in Washington 21-28 July, 

had approved the loan of a cesium ion thruster to NASA under a I-yr 

no-cost arrangement, for use in research on inert gases (argon and 

xenon) as propellants for auxiliary propulsion in spacecraft and groundbased applications. Like the nickel-hydrogen battery for the Navy’s 

navigation-technology satellite to be launched later this year and an echo 

canceller to be licensed for use in satellite communications, the INTELSAT 

thruster was developed under a series of contracts managed by COMSAT 

Laboratories at Clarksburg, Md. It had exhibited higher electrical and 

propellant efficiency than other thrusters of comparable size. (INTELSAT 

Release 76-22-M) 

The board of governors of INTELSAT-the International Telecommunications Satellite Organization-announced award of a 14-mo 

$2.9 million contract to the Sociht’e Des T616comrnunications Internationales du Cameroun for additional tracking, telemetry, command, 

and monitoring services to be provided by a new antenna collocated at 

Zamengoe, Cameroon, with existing standard communications and antennas. The new facilities, to be operational by October 1977, would 

augment service as the global satellite system became more complex, 

providing redundant service especially in the Atlantic and Indian Ocean 

areas. The contract included an option for extended service for an 

additional 24 mo. The Cameroon facilities had monitored lntelsat IV-A 

satellites since 1 April 76. (INTELSAT Release 76-23-1) 

8 August: A new political-economic battle between the U.S. and Britain was 

expected as bilateral talks were scheduled in London for Sept. on renegotiation of the “Bermuda Agreement” of 1946 regulating airline oper181 
August ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 

ations between the U.S. and Britain, in the Caribbean, and in and out of 

Hong Kong. Britain had announced 22 June it would withdraw from the 

agreement. The pact (which originally settled wrangling between wartime 

allies over peacetime air commerce, and served as model for more than 

60 bilateral air-travel agreements between the U.S. and other nations) 

specified the routes the two countries’ airlines could fly and prevented 

competition on prices. At the time, U.S. carriers had the advantage of new 

equipment to fly the North Atlantic, and Britain and other war-poor 

European countries were looking to tourism to bolster their economies. 

Britain’s objectives in renegotiation would be an equal share of traffic 

instead of the present 65 to 35% split in favor of the US., as well as a 

cutback in the number of North Atlantic flights. Constantine Menges, 

director of the international division of the U.S. Civil Aeronautics Board, 

said the British were interested in equality of results rather than equality 

of competition, and warned that encouraging airlines to equalize their 

shares of the market would endanger consumer interests by allowing the 

airlines to neglect measures that would increase their markets. Political 

factors would govern any decision: most non-American airlines (including Britain’s) were state-owned and symbols of national prestige. On 

many international air routes, competing airlines pooled operations and 

shared revenues and expenses. This cartel philosophy had not applied to 

North Atlantic routes because of the Bermuda principles; however, 

Britain now wanted to reduce the number of flights (now involving 28 

airlines) that had became destructively competitive, with an estimated 

equivalent of 8 jumbo jets flying empty between the US. and Britain 

every day. The British view was that restricting the number of flights 

would enable each nation’s airlines to fly more profitably, eventually 

benefitting the consumer by easing the pressure for higher fares. 

On the other hand, U.S. legislation that created the CAB in 1938 had 

exempted international routes from regulation by subjecting CAB decisions affecting them to presidential review, leaving room for political 

influences. Whereas the U.S. airlines would be sympathetic to restrictions 

on flight numbers, the u.S. ideological commitment would uphold free 

enterprise and unrestricted competition. However, renegotiation might 

offer the U.S. some advantages: changes on other transatlantic routes 

where it was now at a disadvantage against European national carriers, 

increasing the use of charter groups to fill empty seats on scheduled 

flights, and securing greater equality in so-called fifth and sixth freedoms 

that permitted European carriers to lure transatlantic passengers with 

cheap stopovers in and transport to and from other cities besides the 

basic destinations. Dr. Menges suggested that the U.S. might best negotiate with the European Common Market as a whole, instead of with any 

one nation; the British rejected this idea as an affront to national sovereignty. (NV, 8 Aug 76, 3-1) 

9-25 August: At 15:04 GMT (18:04 Moscow time) 9 Aug., Luna 24, an 

automatic space probe, was launched toward the moon “from the orbit 

of an artificial earth satellite” as the official USSR news agency Tass 

described it. A course correction 11 Aug. permitted the probe to reach 

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ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 August 

a preset point in near-moon space; a braking operation 14 Aug. put the 

probe into a circular selenocentric orbit 11 5 km from the moon’s surface, with 120° inclination and 1 hr 59 min period. (AX”, 11 Aug 76, 

37; FBIS, Moscow Tass in English, 9 Aug 76, 14 Aug 76; Spacewarn 

bulletin, 17 Aug 76, 1; P lnq, 10 Aug 76, 6; LC S&T Alert #3407, 

31 Aug 76) 

At 6:36 GMT (9:36 Moscow time) 18 Aug. the probe landed on the 

moon in the Sea of Crises (Mare Crisium) at 12’45’N and 62”12’E, 

about 40 km from a northern isthmus between the moon’s 2 seas, where 

the oldest rocks (about 4.5 billion yr) on the moon might be sampled. The 

area differed from the Sea of Felicity-site of landings by Luna 16 

(1970) and Luna 20 (1972)-not only in age but also in the presence 

of mascons, gravitational anomalies caused by mass concentrations of 

extremely dense materials. (The US. Lunar Orbiter 5 had discovered 5 

such concentrations on the moon in 1968.) 

The USSR’s 8th successful unmanned landing on the moon in 6 yr was 

expected to make up for the failure of Luna 23, which sustained damage 

when it landed on the moon 8 Nov. 1975 and was unable to carry out 

its mission. The US. had not probed the moon since 1972, date of the 

last of 6 manned lunar landings. Luna 24 weighed 1880 kg upon 

landing; early reports contained no description of the probe, but photographs of it appeared in Oct. in Aviation E% and Space Technology 

magazine, with comparisons of the earlier probes. (FBIS, Moscow Tass in 

English, 18 Aug 76, 13 Oct 76; UPI, Denver Post, 19 Aug 76, 14-F; 

NYT editorial, 26 Aug 76; Science News, 28 Aug 76; Av Wk, 11 Oct 

76, 53) 

Tass announced 19 Aug. that, after being on the moon 22 hr 49 min, 

Luna 24 had blasted off the moon’s surface at 5:25 GMT (8:25 am 

Moscow time) and was on its way back to earth with a sample of moon 

soil obtained by a device that drilled to a depth of about 2m and put the 

core sample into a hermetically sealed container in the return module. 

The bulk of the spacecraft remained on the moon’s surface; the New 

York Times noted there was no mention of a robot vehicle like the 

Lunokhods landed previously. Lunokhod 1 (on Luna 17) had spent 

10 mo on the moon in 1970-1971, traveling about 10 km; Lunokhod 

2 (on Luna 21 ) roamed the Lemonnier crater in the Sea of Serenity for 

6 mo in 1973. (FBIS, Moscow Tass in English, 19 Aug 76; AX”, 20 Aug 

76, A-19; UPI, Denver Post, 20 Aug 76, 10; LA Times, 20 Aug 76, 3) 

On 22 Aug. the Luna 24 return craft parachuted to earth in a “forest 

site” 2400 km northeast of Moscow, soft-landing at 17:55 GMT (20:55 

Moscow time). The landing craft and sample were flown to Moscow from 

the site. Research on the comparatively large moon sample would proceed at the Geochemistry and Analytical Chemistry Institute of the USSR 

Academy of Sciences in Moscow, where lunar samples returned by Luna 

16 and Lunar 20 had been studied. Pravda was quoted as stating that 

the 1970 mission of Luna 16 brought back particles of lunar iron that 

does not rust”; learning how to manufacture such a metal under earth 

conditions “would repay all the expenditures for space study,” the 

Lb 

183 
August ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 

newspaper said. Metallurgy stations might be established in space or on 

the moon to make nonrusting iron in commercial quantities, a process 

requiring a powerful vacuum like that in space which would be difficult 

to establish on earth. The gray-brown lunar material was said to resemble 

the Luna 16 sample, also taken from a lunar “sea” area. Mineralogists 

studying the top of the 30-cm-wide column of material said they expected to find the same Mendeleyev elements existing on the moon as on 

the earth, but in different proportions because of fewer volatile materials. Scientists would search the lunar sample for any sign of water 

vapor, regarded as important “not only for space physics but also for the 

future exploration of space,” Tass said. 

The Luna 24 landing craft, still on the moon, would continue to 

function and flight controllers were still communicating with it. (FBIS, 

Moscow Tass Intl Serv in Russian, 21 Aug 76; Tass in English, 25 Aug 

76; CSM, 24 Aug 76,l; B Sun, 24 Aug 76,5; SBD, 31 Aug 76,223) 

9 August: McDonnell Douglas Gorp. announced award of a $63.9-million 

contract to Hughes Aircraft Co. for research, test, and development of 

radar for the Navy F-18 strike fighter, including 3 renewal options for 

additional production beyond the development phase. Current Navy and 

Marine Corps plans called for procurement of 800 F- 18s in addition to 

the test-flight planes; major assembly was to be completed late in 1977 

and early 1978, with first flight scheduled for mid-1978, McDonnell 

said. Hughes Aircraft received Army and Navy contracts totaling 

$16.5 million a wk later for a location-reporting system and for development of a missile fire-control system for the F- 14 fighter plane, the Wall 

Street Journal reported. (WSJ, 9 Aug 76, 11; 17 Aug 76, 6) 

0 More trouble developed for the mD’s controversial^' F-1 1 1 and F-14A 

jet fighter planes, the Wall Street Journal reported, as the Air Force 

announced grounding of 183 General Dynamics F-1 1 1s at Nellis AFB, 

Nev., and Cannon AFB, N.M. The groundings, ordered after inspections 

showed defects in fan blades, would continue to midmonth and would not 

affect F-1 1 1s stationed elsewhere. A General Accounting Office report 

on the Grumman F-l4A, 14 of which had crashed at a loss of 

$161.6 million, questioned the plane’s ability to cope with attacks by 

antiship missiles. The GAO said that problems with equipment and inadequate supplies of parts had reduced the readiness of the F-14A to 37.2% 

during 1975, and that the electronic equipment’s reliability was extremely low, some of the major systems exhibiting only 6% to 14% of the 

desired objective. Cost of the F-14A had risen from $18.2 million each 

in 1973 to $20.2 million. Designed to defend the Navy against assaults 

by antiship missiles, the F-14A could engage current Soviet fighter jets, 

said GAO, but the Navy itself feared the plane’s ability to cope with the 

missiles might be “marginal.” (WSJ, 9 Aug 76, 11) 

0 The U.S. Senate, by a vote of 78 to 6, confirmed the nomination of 

Dr. H. Guyford Stever to be director of the newly created OfKce of Science 

and Technology Policy in the White House. Dr. Stever, director of the 

National Science Foundation, had been under criticism for NSF actions in 

reviewing applications for research grants; also, conservative senators 

184 
ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 August 

had objected to social-science textbooks prepared under NSF,auspices in 

the 4 yr that Dr. Stever headed that agency. 

The confirmation marked reestablishment of aWhite House science 

advisory post after its elimination by President Nixon early in 1973. On 

7 Nov. 1957 President Eisenhower had announced appointment of 

Dr. James R. Killian as special assistant to the President for science and 

technology, whose prime role was to speed rocket and missile development in the wake of the first satellite a month earlier. Dr. George B. 

Kistiakowsky, who succeeded Dr. Killian, wrote later that the science 

advisory committee set up in the White House helped President Eisenhower make major military decisions. 

The Natl. Science and Technology Policy, Organization, and Priorities Act of 11 May 1976 would also provide 4 new executive-branch 

agencies: the Office of Science and Technology Policy, whose director 

would advise the National Security Council upon request, but would 

mainly assist the OEfice of Management and Budget in decisions on 

funding federally supported R&D and would prepare an annual science 

and technology report for Congress as a counterpart of the State of the 

Union Message; the President’s Committee on Science and Technology, 

consisting of 8 to 14 specialists in a wide range of fields who would study 

for 2 yr and report on the nation’s science, engineering, and technology 

policies, and disband after submitting the report unless the President 

chose to continue it; the Federal Coordinating Council for Science, 

Engineering, and Technology, to deal with interagency problems, 

chaired by the Science Adviser; and the Intergovernmental Science, 

Engineering, and Technology Panel, consisting of the Science Adviser as 

chairman, the Director of the NSF, and at least 10 members representing 

state interests, to define civilian problems at state, regional, and local 

levels which could be resolved by science, engineering, and technology. 

Dr. Richard T. Atkinson, Deputy Director of NSF, would act as Director 

until the end of the present administration in January. (CR, 9 Aug 76, 

24 Aug 76, 28) 

10 August: By a vote of 82 to 6, the US. Senate approved a $104-billion 

defense appropriations bill that prohibited expenditure of $1 billion voted 

by the House for the controversial B-1 bomber, until after 1 Feb. 1977, 

when the next President would be in office. The House had included funds 

for initial orders for a fleet of 244 supersonic B-1s that would eventually 

cost more than $22 billion. The bill would go to conference where the 

House-Senate differences would be settled, after Congress returned 

23 Aug. from a week’s recess for the Republican convention. The date 

of the production decision would be important because the current 

Republican administration proposed to place orders for the first 3 planes 

in Nov.; the Democratic presidential nominee, Jimmy Carter, opposed 

B-1 production and wanted a review of prototype test data early next yr. 

The Senate bill was $3.9 billion less than President Ford’s budget proposal and $1.4 billion less than the House voted; however, it was 

$1 1.6 billion more than appropriated for FY 1976, which ended 30 June. 

S 13954-13963; NYT, 6 Aug 76, Al; 10 Aug 76, A3; 15 Aug 76,4-6; 

185 
August ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 

(MT, 10 Aug 76, 8; WSJ, 10 Aug 76, 3; WStar, 10 Aug 76, A-2) 

The U.S. Air Force announced selection of the Boeing Aerospace Corp., a 

unit of the Boeing Company, to design and produce an interim upperstage (IUS) solid-fuel rocket motor for the Space Shuttle, to lift Shuttle 

craft from low earth orbit to higher mission altitudes. Boeing, chosen 

over Martin Marietta, Lockheed, and General Dynamics Corp., still had 

to negotiate a contract, estimated to be ultimately worth about 

$300 million. (NYZ’, 10 Aug 76, 45; WSJ, 10 Aug 76,3) 

0 Aeronutronic Ford Corp. would probably win a $250-million contract to 

build Intelsat V, the next generation of seven global comsats owned by 

INTELSAT (the %-nation Intl. Telecommunications Satellite Organization), said the New York Times. Scheduled for launch starting in 1979 

to expand message-handling capacity of the INTEEAT network, particularly across the North Atlantic, Intelsat v would be first to use both a 

spatial separation technique used on Intelsat IV and a cross-polarization 

technique used on two ComSat domestic satellites leased to American 

Telephone & Telegraph and the General Telephone and Electronics 

Corp. INTELSAT’S board at its July meeting chose Aeronutronic for final 

negotiations over Hughes Aircraft, which had build all but one of the 

preceding generations of Intelsat spacecraft; other competitors eliminated earlier were TRW Systems (which had built one previous generation 

of the Intelsats) and Lockheed Missiles and Space Co. All the competitors 

had selected West European or Japanese subcontractors. 

Unlike previous Intelsats, which were cylinders coated with solar 

cells, Intelsat V’S would be boxlike containers with flat solar-cell panels 

stretching from each side like windmills; weighing nearly a metric ton 

apiece, the spacecraft would be stabilized by a 3-axis system similar to 

those used on the Franco-German Symphonie satellites over the Atlantic 

Ocean, and on the U.S. domestic satellites built and operated by RCA. 

Each Intelsat v would carry 27 signal-transmitting transponders with 

capacity of 12 000 two-way telephone conversations, compared to 6000 

through Intelsat IVA and 4000 through Intelsat Iv; each satellite would 

also transmit color TV. Intelsat V would replace Intelsat IVA which had 

replaced the Intelsat IV, seven of which were in orbit above the Atlantic, 

Pacific, and Indian Oceans. (NYZ’, 10 Aug 76, 37) 

0 Robert G. Deissler, technical consultant to NASA’s Lewis Research Center, 

received the 1975 Max Jakob Memorial Award at the 16th National 

Heat Transfer Conference in St. Louis. The award, established in 1961 

by the American Society for Mechanical Engineering and the American 

Institute for Chemical Engineering, commemorated a pioneer in the 

science of heat transmission, and was given for distinguished service in 

the field of heat transfer. Deissler, who joined Lewis in 1947 and gained 

early recognition for work in turbulent flow and heat transfer of variableproperty fluids in pipes or tubes, was cited for “outstanding contributions 

to the theory of turbulence and turbulent transport ... for his ability to 

perceive and derive the fundamental theory required to advance applied 

research and development in convective heat transfer.” Author of about 

70 technical papers, Deissler had received an Exceptional Service Award 

186 
ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 August 

in 1957 from NACA, NASA’s predecessor. (LRC News, 6 Aug 75, 1; c1 

PD, 10 Aug 76) * Both the Boeing Co. and Japan’s official transport-development corporation 

announced pending agreement on Japanese participation in a billiondollar project to develop a new medium-range Boeing jet liner in the 

1980s. The new plane, temporarily designated the 7x7 (middle number 

to be given later), would be a 198-passenger 2-aisle craft, probably with 

3 jet engines: one under each wing, and a third on the tail. It would be 

low-noise and fuel-conservative, with a high-performance bent wing to 

operate close to the speed of sound. The medium-range jet would fly 

one-stop trips between N.Y. and San Francisco. The pending agreement 

was announced separately, Reuters news agency reporting from Tokyo 

that the Civil Transport Development Corporation representing government and leading aerospace manufacturers had said the parties were 

ready to proceed; Boeing headquarters in Seattle termed the announcement premature, but verified progress in negotiations. Proposed Japanese 

share in the venture had ranged from 50 to 30 to 20%, the last amount 

currently being discussed. Aeritalia, the Italian aerospace-development 

concern, had agreed to put up 20% and Boeing had favored French, 

British, and West German participation. (NYT, 11 Aug 76, 43) 

12 August: NASA announced plans for rollout of the first Space Shuttle orbiter 

on 17 Sept. at NASA’s Rackwell Intl. Space Div. at Palmdale, Calif. The 

ceremony was scheduled for 9:30 am PDT, and media representatives 

were alerted. (JSC Release 76-51) 

@ WFC announced launch of a rocketborne experiment to investigate effects 

on the upper atmosphere of metal ions from a meteor shower. A 2-stage 

solid-propellant Nike-Tomahawk was launched at 1 1 :54 am ED”, lifting 

a 149.3-kg payload to a peak altitude of 147.5 km. The payload 

included 2 experiments, one for the Univ. of Ill. and the other for the 

Univ. of Bern, Switzerland, as well as a solar-aspect sensor and a clamshell nosecone provided by WFC. The Illinois experiment also carried an 

instrument for GSFC. The meteor shower (the Perseids) deposited metallic 

debris in the atmosphere from about 120 to 90 km; measurements of the 

relative concentration of the different metals-magnesium, iron, calcium, potassium-could help identify the nature and origin of the meteor. A second objective would be to study the dispersion and concentration 

of metal ions in the atmosphere, thought to cause unusual propagation 

of radio and TV signals. The meteor shower was predicted to last for 4 

days beginning 11 Aug. (WFC Release 76-12) 

0 McDonnell Douglas Corp. would join Aerospatiale and Dassault-Breguet of 

France in a transatlantic consortium to develop and market a new 

medium-range jetliner for the 1980s, announced France’s Transportation Secretary Marcel Cavaill’e at Toulouse, capital of the French 

aerospace industry. Tentatively named Mercure 200, the 160-to 

180-seat twin-jet aircraft would have a range of about 3000 km; a 

modification of the current Mercure plane, it was estimated to cost about 

$240 million to develop, whereas a totally new plane would have cost 

more than $1 billion. The new plane, designed to save about 20% of fuel 

187 
August ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 

costs over the current Mercure, would be powered by a CFM 56 engine 

jointly designed by General Electric and France’s government-owned 

Snecma (Soci’et’e Nationale d’Etude et de Construction de Moteurs 

#Aviation). Aerospatiale-the state-owned National Society of Aerospace Industry-would get 40% of the construction work, which would 

cushion it from layoffs when construction of the Concorde ended this 

year; Dassault, the private company that designed the plane, would get 

5%, probably the final assembly. McDonnell would get 15%, the rest to 

be offered to other European manufacturers. 

Including McDonnell Douglas in the consortium would give the Mercure 200 an unprecedented entry into the American market, which 

amounted to half the world market, noted the New York Times. Although 

the new aircraft would compete with Boeing’s 727 and 737, which 

previously had a monopoly on the medium-range market, exploratory 

talks with Boeing had come to nothing because French officials feared the 

size of Boeing’s operation would relegate the French to little more than 

a subcontractor. the preliminary agreement with McDonnell Douglas 

awaited a McDonnell promise not to build a plane competing with the 

French-German passenger-transport Airbus. (NYT, 13 Aug 76, D3; 

VSJ, 13 Aug 76, 4) 

0 NASA announced it would cosponsor a conference 21 Sept. at the Univ. of 

Conn. on transfer of biomedical instrument technology. The conference, 

also sponsored by the New England Research Applications Center, the 

Conn. Dept of Commerce, the Conn. Product Development Corp., and 

the Univ. of Conn. Health Center, would display technology developed 

by NASA for the manned space program to manufacturers and show how 

the technology could be applied to develop improved medical equipment 

and techniques. Hundreds of improvements based on NASA technology 

were already in use by the medical community, ranging from bio-isolation 

garments to a rechargeable cardiac pacemaker. At the conference, 

medical experts from NASA Hq, JSC, and NASA’s biomedical and technology applications teams would describe the types of technology available to industry and the medical community, and the role NASA could play 

in helping to commercialize new products. NASA’s program of licensing 

patents would also be explained. (NASA Release 76-144) 

13 August: MSFC announced completion of 2 of 8 major facilities for production of Space Shuttle solid-propellant rocket motors at Thiokol 

Corp.’s Wasatch Div. in Brigham City, Utah. Thiokol was selected as 

prime contractor by MSFC for development of the solid-fuel rocket motor, 

main element of the reusable solid-fuel rocket booster being developed by 

MSFC. The 2 completed units were a nozzle-bearing test facility, used to 

test a flexible bearing allowing the rocket-motor nozzle to turn up to 8’ 

in any direction for thrust-vector control in steering, and an x-ray facility 

for inspecting propellant after casting into the motor-case segments. A 

case-preparation building, where motor cases would be prepared for 

propellant loading by sandblasting, cleaning, relining, and painting, was 

reported 95% complete. Three facilities for loading the propellantscasting pit 1, a casting house, and casting-pit covers-were about half 

188 
ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 August 

completed. A case-refurbishment facility to handle the motor cases after 

recovery would be under construction shortly. (mFC Release 76-1 5 1) 

15 August: In an attempt to predict the weather on the planet Jupiter, 

Dr. Gareth P. Williams, researcher at NOM’S Fluid Dynamics Laboratory 

at Princeton Univ., applied a computer model of earth‘s atmosphere to 

Jupiter and found that it not only reproduced patterns known to exist 

there but also provided new explanations of visible features such as the 

Great Red Spot and horizontal stripes, as well as revealing a 4-yr cycle 

of heat transfer. 

Using a set of equations describing physical processes that produce 

atmospheric behavior on earth, Dr. Williams fed in conditions known to 

exist on Jupiter-the planet’s enormous size, amount of sunlight it 

receives, and rate of rotation (which dominated the behavior of the 

Jovian atmosphere)-and found that the basic behavior of atmosphere 

was “quite similar.’’ The purpose of atmosphere, he said, was to transfer 

heat from the equator to the poles; the terrestrial heat cycle took about 

a month, but the NOAA model revealed a corresponding cycle on Jupiter 

that took 4 yr. Whereas the earth received its heat from the sun, Jupiter 

received only 4% as much solar heat as earth, but the infrared measurements showed that the planet was warmer than it should be if its only 

heat source were the sun. Scientists believe that the planet generates 

heat of its own in an amount about equal to what it receives from the sun; 

this extra heat complicated the job of modeling Jupiter’s atmosphere 

because there was no way of telling how it might be distributed, but it also 

provided a confirmation for the model. 

Atmospheric motions on Jupiter tended to perpetuate themselves 

instead of dying out, as they do on earth because of interaction with the 

earth‘s surface. Jupiter has no “surface” as we know it, Dr. Williams 

noted; “it just gets denser toward the interior and motions gradually 

dissipate downward ....” Circulation patterns producing eddies in the 

planet’s atmosphere seem to be stable; the Great Red Spot had been 

apparent since the 17th century, when it was first sighted. The researchers hoped that Pioneer 11, now about halfway between Jupiter and 

Saturn, might provide a positive test of the Princeton model; “we think 

Saturn is like Jupiter, but we don’t know,” said Dr. Williams. “Maybe 

it has a red spot.” (NOAA Release 76-170) 

9 Because supersonic aircraft are inherently dirtier than those flying slower 

than sound, the Environmental Protection Agency’s emission standards 

for future generations of supersonic aircraft would allow SSTs to emit 4 

times more air pollution than subsonic jets. EPA described the standards, 

scheduled for issuance 16 Aug., as “the most stringent that can be 

imposed” by the 1980 effective date; additional requirements for reducing amounts of oxides of nitrogen would take effect 1 Jan. 1984. EPA 

recommended new ground procedures to reduce duration of SST engine 

operation-and resulting pollution-while the planes were on the 

ground. 

New standards for 1980 engines would allow carbon monoxide emission at 58% below the current Concorde level, and hydrocarbons 77% 

189 
August ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 

lower, with nitrogen oxides at about the current level; 1984 levels would 

be 88% less for carbon monoxide, 94% less for hydrocarbons, and 44% 

less for nitrogen oxides. The 1984 allowances would still be much higher 

than those for subsonics. EPA estimated it would cost the aircraft industry 

about $10 million to meet the new emission levels for a fleet of 70 planes, 

and that the standards would cost airlines about $5 per hr per plane for 

increased maintenance. ( WPost, 15 Aug 76, A-12; WSJ, 17 Aug 76, 

8) 

16 August: MSFC announced that NASA had extended for 8 mo an existing 

contract with Sperry Rand of Huntsville, Ala., for continued engineering 

support services to MSFC’S Science and Engineering Directorate. The 

$3,479,844 extension would run through 31 March 1977. (MSFC Release 76- 152) 

17 August: A large scientific balloon released 13 Aug. in Sicily by German 

and Italian scientists discharged a package of equipment for gamma-and 

cosmic-ray experiments and dropped it to earth near Rutland, Mass., 

said a meteorologist of the Natl. Weather Service at Worcester Airport. 

The radio-controlled balloon came down in Gardner, Mass., after a 

separation explosion at 40.2-km altitude. A spokesman at Hanscom AFB 

in Bedford said the balloon was owned by the Natl. Center for Atmospheric Research in Palestine, Tex. (NYT, 18 Aug 76, 13) 

e The 2 Soyuz 21 cosmonauts aboard space station Salyut 5, first manned 

space mission since last July’s Apollo-Soyuz Test Project, were experiencing “a state of sensory deprivation, a sort of sensory hunger,” 

according to the government newspaper Zzvestia. Although Col. Boris 

Volynov and Lt. Col. Vitaly Zholobov continued to carry out their 

scientific and medico-biological experiments as they entered the 7th wk 

of their stay on Salyut 5-the halfway mark toward breaking the US. 

endurance record of 84 days in space set by 3 Skylab 4 astronauts in 

1973-and despite their years of training to combat the problem, Zzvestia said “the organism still reacts in a peculiar way to space conditions.” One symptom of “the increase in their need for communication” 

was that the cosmonauts were asking ground control more and more 

often for news from earth. On the advice of psychologists, ground control 

had begun playing music to the cosmonauts, Zzvestia said. (UPI, in 

W Star, 17 Aug 76, A-4) 

18 August: NASA announced appointment of Jerry Hlass, Director of Space 

Flight Facilities at NASA Hq, as Manager of the Natl. Space Technology 

Laboratories at Bay St. Louis, Mo., effective 1 Sept. Hlass came to Hq 

from GSFC, where he was head of the Data Acquisition Facility Section 

between 1961 and 1963. He received a bachelor’s degree in mechanical 

engineering in 1949 from N.C. State Univ., and a master’s in engineering 

administration from Geo. Washington Univ. in 197 1. As manager of 

NSTL, Hlass would report to the Hq Associate Administrator for Center 

Operations. (NASA anno. 18 Aug 76; NASA Release 76-147) 

e Lockheed Aircraft Corp. won a significant contract for construction of 6 

new widebody jets when British Airways announced selection of the new 

long-range TriStar L-1011 for delivery starting in 1979 to replace 

190 
ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 August 

Boeing 707s and vC- 1 Os on routes where the older planes were too small 

but the Boeing 747 was too large. Selection of Lockheed followed an 

intense competition with McDonnell Douglas over the past 6 wk, in which 

Lockheed was plagued by questions of finance following its nearbankruptcy in 1971 and its role in alleged bribery in the sales of military 

and commercial planes overseas. Lockheed chairman Robert 91,. Haack 

said market research indicated a need for 244 aircraft like the new 

TriStar by 1985, offering the company improved chances for reestablishing itself in the jetliner field. (NYT, 19 Aug 76, 51; WSJ, 19 Aug 

76, 3; W Post, 19 Aug 76, C13; C Trib, 19 Aug 76, 4-9) 

A federal judge ordered NASA to reinstate with back pay and benefits the 

federal employees who lost their jobs at Marshall Space Flight Center to 

private contractors, the Washington Star reported. In a suit filed in 

1967 in the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., by the AFL-CIO 

American Federation of Government Employees, the union contended 

that 22 MSFC contracts with private companies resulted in the layoff of 

about 3000 federal workers. Judge Joseph Waddy agreed that the 

contracts were illegal and ordered that federal employees who lost jobs 

as a result of work going to the private companies should be rehired, and 

that any similar contracts be canceled. The decision upheld Civil Service 

Commission standards that forbid a private contractor from assuming an 

employer-employee relationship over federal workers. NASA attorney Sid 

Masri said as many as 2000 employees could be terminated as a result 

of the decision, which NASA was sure to appeal. ( W Star, 18 Aug 76, 

0 US. officials reported that Peru planned to buy 36 late-model 

fighter-bombers from the USSR, a deal that might jeopardize a 

$200-million short-term loan being negotiated between Peru and a 

group of U.S. banks. The Soviet Union was said to have offered Peru good 

terms for a $250-million purchase of 2 squadrons of Sukhoi-22 planes; 

the price would be paid over 10 yr at 2% annual interest, with a yr of 

grace. A spokesman for the u.S. banks said they were unaware of the 

pending deal and could not comment on the effect it might have on the 

proposed loan, considered essential to enable Peru to pay for a recently 

expropriated u.s.-owned mining company valued at $100 million; Peru 

had offered $12 million in compensation. Peru had a foreign debt of 

about $3.7 billion, one of the highest of any developing nation. u.S. 

officials said Peru’s motive for seeking the fighter-bombers might have 

been to apply political and military pressure on neighboring Chile, which 

was dealing with Bolivia to obtain access to the Pacific through territory 

seized by Chile from Peru in 1883. (NYT, 19 Aug 76, 5) 

19 August: The National Science Foundation reported that U.S. spending for 

research and development (R&D) would reach $38.1 billion in 1976,890 

above the 1975 level. R&D expenditures would account for 2.2% of the 

gross national product in 1976, down from 2.3% in 1975. Of the total 

R&D spending, federal agencies would account for $20.1 billion; industry, about $16.6 billion; universities and colleges, about $800 million; 

and other nonprofit institutions, about $600 million. The figures apA-2, B-2; WSJ, 19 Aug 76, 17) 

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August ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 

peared in a NSF report, National Patterns ofR&D Resources: Funds and 

Manpower in the United States 1953-1976, updated annually in a 

continuing analysis of the nation’s scientific and technological resources. 

(NSF Release ~~76-68) 

e The space share of federal R&D funding for FY 1977 would increase only 

slightly, according to a Natl. Science Foundation report, An Analysis of 

Federal R&D Funding by Function, Fiscal Years 1969-1977. The 

1977 estimate of $2940 million was considerably less than the 1969 

level of $3732 million; the space share-13%-was much lower than 

the 24% for the earlier year. Manned space flight, always the leading 

subfunction, remained predominant with the Space Shuttle accounting 

for more than 40% of all space activities. Space science, with 20% of the 

total, reflected a decline from 1976 and showed effects of lower funding 

for NASA lunar and planetary exploration as Viking and outer planet 

missions moved into the launch stages. Space technology and NASA 

support activities would increase during FY 1977. (NSF, space Science 

Resources Studies, 19 Aug 76, 1) 

e The European Space Agency announced that its exhibit at the Farnborough 

International Aerospace Exhibition in Sept. would include a full-scale 

model of the Spacelab, to be exhibited for the first time in Britain to give 

the British public a better idea of Europe’s space activities and to extend 

contacts with science and industry. ESA’S exhibit would also include 

full-size models of Meteosat and the OTS comsat, plus a tenth-scale model 

of the Ariane launcher. British firms were prime contractors for the OTS 

(orbiting test satellite) scheduled for launch in 1977 and for the maritime 

satellite Marots to be launched early in 1978. (ESA release 19 Aug 76) 

20 August: Noaa 5, launched by NASA 29 July for the National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) into a sun-synchronous polar orbit at 

1505 km, was turned over to NOAA after checkout and would become the 

primary operational satellite providing weather forecasters with a wide 

variety of environmental data. Noaa 5 would replace an earlier version, 

Noaa 4, which would become the backup spacecraft; an older polar 

orbiter launched in 1973 would be deactivated. NOAA’S Natl. Environmental Satellite Service operates 2 satellite systems: one polar-orbiting, 

the other consisting of 2 geostationary satellites remaining in the same 

relative position to earth’s surface at all times. The polar-orbiting craft 

would scan any spot on earth twice every 24 hr and return visual and 

infrared imagery of cloudcover, sea-surface temperature, and other 

environmental indicators. (NOAA Release 76-199; MOR E-601-76-17 

[postlaunch] 1 Oct 76; telcon, NOAA PAO, 5 Oct 76) 

24 August: Aerospace contracts valued at,about $1 billion were hanging fire 

as DOD and NASA struggled over which agency would ask Congress for 

funds (beyond those already appropriated for development and testing) 

to pay for 2 additional Space Shuttles, said the New York Times. NASA’s 

commitment of 197 1 was to develop the Shuttle system at a cost of about 

$6.9 billion, to include 2 Shuttles, the start on a third, and a series of 

preoperational flights into orbit beginning in 1979. The NASA plan envisioned a total of nearly 600 Shuttle flights in the 12 yr beginning with 

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ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 August 

1980, with a fleet of 5 Shuttles averaging an annual 60 flights starting 

in the mid-80s. 

DOD had earmarked $1.5 billion for Shuttle expenses by 198 1, including $700 million for refurbishment of Vandenberg AFB in Calif. for 

polar-orbit Shuttle launches and $190 million for facilities at Cape 

Canaveral, Fla., plus $178 million for development of an interim upper 

stage ( a solid-fuel rocket to be ordered by the Space and Missile Systems 

Organization of the USAF from Boeing Aerospace, for boosting Shuttlepayload spacecraft into extremely high orbit). DOD had been maintaining 

for 2 yr that it would not have money for the 2 final Shuttles; Dr. 

Malcolm Currie, DoD Director of Research and Engineering, told Congress during budget testimony 3 March that paying for the orbiters would 

exceed what DOD considered “cost effective” amounts for participation 

in the shuttle program. 

DOD’S refusal to pay had caused “consternation among planetary 

scientists,” the NYT said, because NASA might be forced to cut much of 

its scientific space program in the 1980s to pay for 2 more Shuttles 

within a fixed budget. However, the matter should be resolved within a 

few wk, the article added. (NYT, 24 Aug 76, 37) 

e The Soyuz 21 manned mission to space station Salyut 5 ended abruptly 

after cosmonauts Vitaly Zholobov and Boris Volynov had been in orbit 

48 da. Although the first manned space flight since Apollo-Soyuz failed 

to break the US. 84-day record, no problem was mentioned by the Tass 

news agency; the first hint of termination came about 10 hr before the 

landing. The Soyuz 21 descent module landed by parachute on the Karl 

Marx collective farm near Tselinograd in Kazakhstan at 9:33 pm Moscow time (1:33 pm EST); general condition of the cosmonauts was “satisfactory,” said Tass. Experiments returned to earth for analysis were of 

3 kinds: geophysical and astrophysical observations, technological, and 

biological. Technology experiments used processes potentially useful in 

constructing a larger space station, such as studies of the behavior of 

gases and liquids in space and a soldering technique using a chemical 

reaction to produce the necessary heat. Cytological and genetic experiments should provide additional data on the nature and hazards of solar 

radiation in prolonged space flight. (Nature, 26 Aug 76, 735; Av Wk, 

30 Aug 76,23; FBB, Tass in English, 24 Aug 76; NYT, 25 Aug 76,20; 

25 August: NASA announced the appointment of Carl E. Grant as NASA 

Director of Personnel, effective 5 Sept. For the past 5 yr, Grant had been 

personnel director for the Small Business Administration; previously he 

was associate director for personnel administration at the Smithsonian 

Institution, and had held personnel positions at the Civil Service Commission, Department of Defense, and US. Army. He received a B.S. in 

economics and business administration from the Univ. of Detroit in 

1960. In his new post, Grant would be responsible for personnel administration agencywide. (NASA anno. 25 Aug 76) 

26 August: First flight of a new fly-by-wire control system for jet aircraft was 

scheduled for 27 Aug. at Dryden Flight Research Center, NASA announced. The system would use 3 digital computers for primary control 

W Post, 25 Aug 76, B-9) 

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August ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 

(and a 3-channel analog system for emergencies) to translate pilot 

signals to aircraft-control surfaces by lightweight wires instead of the 

conventional control systems, reducing the aerodynamic load as much as 

20% and saving up to 10% in production costs. In Phase I of the 

program, a modified G-8 jet was flown 42 times to establish the feasibility 

of digital fly-by-wire control, using a single-channel digital computer 

developed for the flight-control system of the Apollo lunar module. Phase 

11 would use a triplex system that could be modified to use Shuttle 

software, leading to a digital system with applications both to Shuttle and 

to other advanced transport systems. Project pilot Gary Krier would fly 

the checkout tests, scheduled to last through 1978 with about 30 flights 

planned. (NASA Release 76-150; DFRC Release 74-76) 

27 August: NASA’s Scientific and Technical Information Office announced 

publication of the first formal report on early scientific results from the 

Viking mission to Mars: an 80-p book, “Viking 1 Early Results.” The 

book, a concise description of the Viking mission, its scientific experiments, and its objectives, told the story of the Viking 1 lander’s first 25 

days of operation on the surface of Mars and gave “a preliminary and 

tentative account of early conclusions.” The book also contained 50 

photographs of Mars taken from the surface and from orbit. (NASA 

Release 76-151) 

0 A Spacelab simulation mission known as ASSESS 11 would be flown jointly 

next spring by NASA and the European Space Agency, and the payload 

specialists for the 4-engine jet mission would be named shortly, NASA 

announced. ASSESS was the acronym for airborne science Spacelab 

experiment-systems simulation. Carlos 6. Hagood, NASA mission manager for Spacelab 2 and ASSESS, said two U.S. candidates would be named 

as prime payload specialists, with a third as backup; ESA would also select 

prime and backup specialists. Launch date of the 10-day mission had 

been set for 15 May 1977. The mission would be flown in the Galileo 11, 

a Convair 990 operated by Ames Research Center, one of several ARC 

flying laboratories supporting research activities internationally. The 

aircraft would fly 6.5 hr each day, and the payload specialists would 

remain in the plane and work another 6 hr on the ground; their off-duty 

time would be spent in a van containing living quarters connected to the 

aircraft. 

ASSESS was developed to involve individual principal investigators (PI) 

in defining and operating the scientific payload; to study the investigator 

working-group (IWG) concept, providing PIS a means of full and direct 

visibility into mission management and a direct channel for making 

recommendations; to evaluate the concept of PI selection of payload 

specialists; and to validate a concept for training and cross-training 

PI-selected payload specialists. MSFC was lead center for the ASSESS 11 

mission. Dr. Anthony C. DeLoach was MSFC mission scientist; ESA mission 

scientist was Dr. John Beckman of the European Space Research and 

Technology Center at Noordwijk, The Netherlands. ESA mission manager 

was Johannes de Waard, based in Porz-Wahn, West Germany. NASA 

candidates for payload specialist would be selected by NASA members of 

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ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 August 

the investigator working group, and European candidates by the ESA 

members; the selections would be recommeded to the ASSESS program 

manager, Bernard T. Nolan of NASA Hq Office of Applications. (MSFC 

Release 76-1 58) 

A Soviet-American symposium of oceanography experts in the Black Sea 

town of Yalta ended as scientists agreed on a 2-yr program of joint effort 

in the Atlantic aimed at compiling a theoretical model of the ocean. The 

model would aid in more accurate weather forecasting, in predicting 

climate fluctuations several yr in advance, and in combating environmental pollution. Cooperating in the work would be 10 Soviet and American vessels, earth satellites, and meteorological ground stations. (FBIS, 

Tass in English, 27 Aug 76) 

29 August: French interests had spent as much as $2 million to pressure the 

public, the news media, and various legislators into granting permanent 

U.S. landing rights to the controversial Concorde supersonic transport, 

wrote Robert Walters in the Washington Post Parade magazine. By the 

time a decision would be made next year, the expenditure would probably 

reach $3 million. The French producer of Concorde-Aerospatialesigned up influential Americans and engaged as principal in its campaign 

a firm called DGA International, whose chairman was Charles E. Goodell, 

former Republican senator from N.Y. The US. Dept. of Justice found that 

DGA had a contract calling for a bonus of $500 000 if commercial 

Concorde service were authorized; US. law prohibited representatives of 

foreign interests from signing contracts in which financial compensation 

“is contingent in whole, or in part, upon the success of any political 

activities.” The Dept. of Justice in a civil suit filed in federal court in 

1975 charged that the contract was illegal; the case was settled without 

a trial when the defendants agreed to elimination of bonus clauses and 

to full labeling of their public-relations and propaganda materials. The 

lobbying, however, continued unabated, the Parade article noted, as did 

employment of former legislators and public officials on behalf of Concorde. (W Post, Parade, 29 Aug 76, 17) 

* An article in the Baltimore Sun magazine reported that more than 3000 

amateur radio operators-“hams”-in 90 countries had pooled their 

efforts to design, build, and finance the ham satellite series known as 

OSCAR, for orbiting satellite carrying amateur radio. The first OSCAR rode 

into space from Vandenberg AFB, Calif., 12 Dec. 196 1, sixtieth anniversary of the first transatlantic wireless transmission, as a piggyback payload on the Thor-Agena carrying the USAF Discoverer 36 into orbit. 

Oscar 1 weighed about 4.5 kg and consisted of a battery, a small 

transistor, and an antenna packed into a metal case; constructed by radio 

hams working for companies building satellites, it operated on a tenth of 

a watt power and transmitted the greeting “hi” in Morse code before it 

stopped functioning 3 wk later. NASA agreed to provide launches as 

deadweight ballast for government satellites to advance public interest in 

space science, after the hams pointed out the OSCAR’S potential use in 

educational programs and emergency communications. 

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August ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 

In 1959 the hams had formed the Radio Amateur Satellite Corp. 

based in Washington and affiliated with the American Radio Relay 

League, national association of ham radio operators: After launch of 

Oscar 4, satellite activity shifted east, where AMSAT members working 

for CSFC and ComSat were eager to undertake assembly projects. By 

using volunteer efforts and parts donated as tax-deductible contributions 

by various companies, the hams could produce a satellite for about 

$60 000, compared to the commercial cost estimated at $2 million. 

Oscar 6, oldest active ham satellite, was about to celebrate its 4th 

anniversary; Oscar 7, most recent (and largest, at nearly 30 kg), had 

been in use for nearly 2 yr. 

Baltimore engineer Jack Colson, an employee of the Johns Hopkins 

Applied Physics Laboratory, had received an award as the first amateur 

to be in touch with hams in all 50 states; he took 8 mo to achieve this, 

4 mo for Hawaii alone because the satellite path permitted communications with the islands for only 2 min every 3 wk. Colson had also 

talked with hams in 43 countries and had bounced signals off the moon; 

he estimated that his ham contacts over the past 25 yr numbered about 

30 000. The 750 000 radio amateurs all over the world came from all 

walks of life and ranged in age from 8-yr-olds to elderly men and 

women; about 20 000 amateurs were joining the U.S. ham network every 

year, the article said. Use of the satellite was free to all hams, whether 

or not they belonged to an amateur organization; OSCARs had transmitted 

medical data, weather bulletins, and emergency communications such as 

search-and-rescue mission information. Although shortwave radio could 

outdo the satellite on sheer distance, its transmissions-unlike those of 

the satellite-could be upset by atmosphere conditions or solar emissions. To improve OSCAR’S time and distance limitations, AMSAT members 

were working on a new satellite that could transmit continuously over a 

greater geographical area for up to 10 hr, because of a higher elliptical 

orbit. Launch was planned for 1980. (B Sun Magazine, 29 Aug 76,lO) 

30 August: The Peoples Republic of China launched its sixth satellite, referenced as China 6, from its facility at Shuang-Cheng-Tze into a highly 

elliptical orbit with 2147-km apogee, 193-km perigee, 69.1 inclination, and 108.7-min period. An announcement from the China press 

agency Hsinhua said the satellite was functioning normally, but gave no 

details on the spacecraft or its mission. (MT, 31 Aug 76,7; SBD, 8 Dec 

76, 203; SSR, 31 Aug 76, 31; SF, Feb 77, 78) 

Return of the USSR’s Luna 24 to earth with a load of material drilled from 

nearly 2 m below the surface of the moon might be a dress rehearsal for 

a round-trip Mars probe to offset world headlines gained by Viking 1, 

said the Christian Science Monitor. The question why the Soviets would 

expend more effort on moon samples when they already had three sets 

(two from previous probes, Luna 16 and Luna 20, and one from the US. 

Apollo program) would be answered if the Luna 24 mission were being 

used to perfect techniques for obtaining Mars samples, a move “which 

would vault the Soviet Union back into the lead in planetary research,” 

said the CSM. The USSR had landed unmanned spacecraft on the surface 

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ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 August 

of Venus and obtained information for a short period, and had sent, to the 

moon in 1973 an unmanned vehicle Lunokhod 2 that crisscrossed the 

Lemonnier crater for 6 mo, reporting back data on magnetic fields and 

laser direction-finding. The CSM noted that, although the USSR automated machines worked well, the Soviets still lacked boosters to propel 

cosmonauts to the moon. (CSM, 30 Aug 76) 

e The 26-m “Venus dish” at NASA’s Goldstone tracking station near Barstow, Calif., normally used to communicate with interplanetary spacecraft, was serving as a research tool to study conversion of solar energy 

from satellites to electricity for use on earth, Goldstone researchers 

reported. In the tests, the big antenna represented an energy satellite 

collecting and converting sun energy into microwaves; more than a km 

and a half away, a set of receiver panels called a “rectenna” played the 

part of a ground station. The 7.6-m-high receiver panels contained 

more than 4500 aluminum T-shaped rectenna elements about 100 mm 

high, working like a TV antenna to gather and filter the microwave 

energy, converting it to AC or Dc that could be fed directly into a utility. 

Results had been promising, with collection and conversion of microwave 

beams to usable electricity at an efficiency of 82%. (NASA PAO, 

76-H-685, caption) 

e Scientists all over the world had been invited to propose experiments for the 

second Spacelab mission, NASA announced, asking that they submit by 

1 Oct. their letters of intent to propose, with actual proposals due by 

3 Dec. Final selection of experiments would be made in Aug. 1977; 

proposals would be evaluated in the areas of space science (including life 

sciences), applications, and space technology. 

Primary intent of the second Spacelab mission would be to evaluate 

the laboratory’s system and subsystem performance, but space and 

resources would be available for experiments. Second objective of the 

The 26-m “Venus dish” at NASA’s Goldstone tracking station near Barstow, Calg:, in use 

with rectenna (in background) for solar-energy conversion experiments. (NASA 

76-H-685) 

197 
August ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 

mission would be to demonstrate the broad capabilities of Spacelab for 

scientific research, especially in astrophysics (astronomy, high-energy 

astrophysics, and solar physics). Proposals should designate a principal 

investigator as the point of contact with NASA, to manage the efforts of 

any other persons involved in the experiments. 

As the second mission payload would not include a pressurized module 

as the design for Spacelab 1 did, instruments would be mounted on 

pallets exposed to space with a remote manipulator system available if 

needed. Experiments would be controlled remotely by persons at the 

payload-specialist station in the Space Shuttle orbiter’s aft flight deck. 

Power, data distribution, and thermal control would be available from 

flight subsystems in a pressurized igloo on the forward pallet. Spacelab, 

a reusable space laboratory, was under construction in Europe by the 

European Space Agency for NASA. Marshall Space Flight Center was the 

lead center for Spacelab development, as well as for the Shuttle main 

engine, external tank, and solid-fuel rocket booster. (NASA Release 

A slowdown ordered by the 14 000-member Professional Air Traffic 

Controllers Organization 25 Aug. had caused disruptions in air travel 

nationwide, airline officials told the New York Times. Eastern Airlines 

experienced 1-to 2-hr delays in rush-hour traffic at La Guardia Airport, 

and similar snarls were reported by other carriers at other airports, the 

most severe at Los Angeles. Union president John F. Leyden had asked 

members to start handling traffic “by the book” and adhere rigidly to 

rules that required planes to stay about 5 to 10 km behind aircraft ahead 

of them, omitting efforts to expedite traffic flow as is normally done. The 

controllers were protesting delay in completion of a Civil Service Commission study of controller job classification, which held hope of higher 

pay levels, and a csc announcement that its investigation had found both 

undergrading and overgrading in the jobs. (NYT, 30 Aug 76, A-9) 

Information from space satellites orbiting more than 900 km above the 

earth was being regularly evaluated in US. attempts to measure crops in 

the Soviet Union, the Peoples Republic of China, and other countries, 

officials of the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture said. The information had been 

incorporated with other data in a project known as the Large-Area Crop 

Inventory Experiment (LACIE) that had been going on since 1974 and 

would be completed by mid- 1978. The disclosure of crop-watching 

appeared in a weekly issue of Foreign Agriculture published by the 

department’s Foreign Agricultural Service. (W Star, 30 Aug 76, A-5) 

31 August: NASA selected 3 firms for negotiations leading to award of a single 

contract for assembly, checkout, launch operations, and refurbishment 

of the Space Shuttle solid-fueled booster, MSFC announced. The firms 

were Boeing, McDonnell Douglas, and United Space Boosters Inc. of 

Sunnyvale, Calif., a wholly owned subsidiary of United Technology Corp. 

The contract would extend through March 1980 to include the first 6 

development flights of the Shuttle, with option for renewal through Feb. 

1982. The contractor would be responsible for assembling and checking 

out the booster (forward and aft skirts, attach structures, nosecone, and 

76- 152) 

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ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 August 

various subsystems) with the solid-fueled motor. Two solid-fueled boosters would be used to launch the Shuttle, in conjunction with the orbiter 

main engines; after launch, the boosters would be jettisoned, lowered into 

the ocean by parachute, retrieved, and returned to KSC for refurbishment 

and reuse. Work would be performed at MsFc and KSC except for the 

solid-fueled motor, which would be returned to Thiokol facilities in Utah 

for reloading with propellant. (MSFC Release 75-1 59) 

0 Johnson Space Center announced selection of Mason-Reguard, Lexington, 

Ky., for negotiations leading to award of a cost-plus-award-fee contract 

for protective support services, including security, operation of police 

and fire departments, safety engineering, and emergency ambulance 

service. Proposed tost of the services from 1 Oct. 1976 through 30 Sept. 

1977 would be $1 837 000, with option for extension over two more 

1-yr periods. (JSC Release 76-52) 

During August: The U.S. Air Force files for Project Blue Book, a 20-yr 

investigation of unidentified flying objects, had drawn many visitors since 

they were opened to the public at the National Archives in Washington, 

D.C., on 14 July, according to Science magazine. The USAF investigation 

had been closed in 1969 after the government decided that none of the 

12 618 cases in the file indicated the existence of extraterrestrial vehicles. Only 701 of the total number remained unexplained. Biggest year 

for sightings was 1952, with 150 1 reported; only 146 were reported for 

1969, last year of the project, and only 1 of the objects sighted that year 

remained unidentified. The national preoccupation with UFOS LLcurrently seems to be at a low ebb,” said Science, adding that the most 

promising investigations might be in the behavioral or subjective aspects 

of UFO sightings. (Science, 20 Aug 76, 662) 

“Enticing hints but no firm answers” to the question of life on Mars were 

the product of an increasing volume of scientific data from the Viking 

1 lander; “practically faultless operation” for more than 5 wk had 

produced enough information to keep the Viking scientists busy, especially the data from the 3 bioexperiments and a related molecular 

analysis of Martian soil. Results were “certainly not what would be 

expected” if earth-type organisms were present, but they were not 

explainable in terms of “simple” nonbiological chemistry, said Nature 

magazine. 

The labeled-release (LR) instrument added a small amount of water 

containing nutrients “labeled” with carbon 14 to its Mars sample, and 

incubated it at 15’C, warmer than the surface temperature of Mars. 

“Totally unexpected” was a massive and rapid release of radioactivity 

into the gas phase-presumably carbon monoxide or dioxide-and the 

radioactive count reached 4500 in 10 hr, leveling off at about 8500 in 

48 hr. A second dose of radioactive nutrient produced an initial burst 

followed by a drop in radioactivity, and the graph “almost” flattened out 

for the remaining 4 days of the experiment; however, scientists were 

surprised to discover a possible trend to very slowly accelerating release 

of radioactivity. “Unfortunately,” said Nature, “the experiment (was) 

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August ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 

stopped for performance of a control test ...” A repetition of this experiment later would extend incubation over wk or mo rather than days; 

“results certainly do not look like anything one would expect” from an 

earth sample in the same situation. Most popular explanation for the 

initial burst of activity was oxidation of the labeled nutrients. 

The gas-exchange (GE) experiment used gas chromatography to monitor a Mars sample wetted with a “soup” of nutrients to detect any 

changes in the instrument’s content of gas. First dampening of the 

sample produced “a remarkable burst of oxygen” that leveled off after 

several hr but remained stable for days. The experiment would continue 

for some time,” to see if further changes occurred. Viking scientists 

were trying to duplicate results of the LR and GE experiments in earth 

laboratories using simple catalysts and oxidizing agents. 

The pyrolytic-release (PR) experiment, most technologically complex, 

proved “least equivocal when it comes to interpretation” of the results, 

Nature reported. A Mars sample incubated in a “Martian atmosphere,” 

with added water vapor and irradiation from a xenon lamp to simulate 

solar radiation, was heated to 625’C to drive off and account for unreacted carbon monoxide and dioxide and to pyrolyze any organic compounds trapped as vapor. The vapor trap, heated to 7OO0C, would 

release and oxidize any remaining organic compounds. A sterile sample 

should provide a peak ratio of about 500 to 1; the results from the Mars 

sample were about 75 to 1, “several times more active” than nonsterilized soil from the dry valleys of Antarctica. Results from the control 

experiment with heat-sterilized soil would be “crucial” because a high 

peak ratio would indicate that biological, rather than chemical, processes 

were going on in the soil that could fix atmospheric carbon monoxide or 

dioxide in the presence of light. If life were present on Mars, science 

would expect a high peak ratio from a surface sample strongly illuminated in atmosphere of about 90% carbon dioxide. Unfortunately, the 

initial run of the organic-chemistry analysis was spoiled by a failure of 

the surface-sampling arm to deliver a full load to the gas-chromatograph 

mass spectrometer. A further analysis would be performed on a full load 

obtained subsequently. Lack of detectable organic compounds in this 

sample would further complicate interpretation of the 3 biology experiments. (Av E%, 30 Aug 76, 22; Nature, 26 Aug 76, 734) 

0 The 1976 summer Olympic games at Montreal 17 July-1 Aug. were the 

most widely telecast event in history, INTEEAT announced, having been 

viewed by more than 1 billion persons according to press estimates. 

Record use of the global system for satellite coverage included more than 

930 transmissions during the games, more than 70 telecasts on some 

days. During peak periods satellites transmitted as many as 5 programs 

simultaneously across the Atlantic Ocean. The global television coverage 

used 2 Intelsats over the Atlantic, 1 over the Pacific, and 1 over the 

Indian Ocean; the 4 satellites sent 2585 half-channel hours of Olympic 

and related transmissions, more than twice the number of hours of the 

1972 Olympics at Munich. Teleglobe Canada, the Canadian communications authority that arranged for the global services, used earth 

bb 

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ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 August 

stations at Lake Cowichan, B.C., and Mill Village, N.S., as well as a 

transportable station at Montreal; other transmissions went through 

ComSatCorp’s Andover, Me., ground station. (INTELSAT Release 

* The Natl. Science Foundation announced that federal funding for research 

and development would increase in FY 1977, ahead of expected inflation. 

The long-term trend of the R&D portion of the budget had been downward, with a steady decline from 1967 to 1971; a slight rise in 1972 

preceded another decline to a 1975 low that represented the smallest 

federal support for R&D for the 10-yr period. The estimated increase for 

FY 1977 would restore “real performance” to a level close to that of 

1972, although about 20% below that of 1967. Estimated shares of the 

FY 1977 total would be 11% for basic research, 23% for applied research, and 66% for development. (The NSF noted that most major NASA 

projects had been categorized as development, as they primarily generated outer-space transport technology. Substantial parts of these programs were classified in former years as basic or applied research. The 

shift in NASA categories resulted in lower shares of federal R&D funding 

for basic and applied research, and a larger share for development.) 

About 60% of development funds would be accounted for by DOD, which 

with NASA and ERDA would account for more than 90%. NASA’s 

$99-million increase put its share of the total 1977 R&D budget at about 

15%; DOD accounted for an estimated 48% of the federal R&D total in 

1977, and ERDA would account for 14%. HEW would account for about 

11%, NSF 3%, and USDA about 2%. The next 4 agencies in size of R&D 

support-DOT, Dept. of Interior, SPA, and Dept. of Commerce-all 

showed decreases in their federal R&D funding from the 1976 level. (NSF, 

Science Resources Studies, 10 Aug 76, 1) 

76-24-1) 

201 

September 1976 

1 September: NASA launched a Navy Transit Improvement Program (TIP-111) 

spacecraft on a scout vehicle at 2: 14 pm PDT from the Western Test 

Range into an elliptical polar transfer orbit with 787-km apogee, 341 -km 

perigee, 90.2O inclination, and 96-min period. Although orbit was 

achieved, the spacecraft’s solar panels failed to deploy and the Navy was 

reported planning corrective action. The NASA portion of the launch 

was adjudged successful 2 1 Sept. (MOR 490-60 1-76-02 [prelaunch] 

17 Aug 76, [postlaunch] 24 Sept 76; SSR, 31 Oct 76, 31; Pres Rpt 

76, 99) * Marshall Space Flight Center announced selection of Science Applications, 

Inc., of Los Angeles and Rockwell Intl. Corp. for negotiation of contracts 

to study space industrialization. The study program would lead from 

Shuttle Spacelab and early space-station experiments to permanent, 

practical, commercial use of space. The space-industrialization accomplishments so far achieved would be expanded into disciplines other than 

communications and meteorology; the study program would attempt to 

define a balance between future opportunities (satellite power systems) 

and relatively immediate benefits (space processing of materials). Possible areas of activity would include development of new techniques and 

materials, new development of earth resources, and eventually the movement of people to space for tourism or medical purposes, and the industrialization of the moon. The parallel studies would proceed in two 

phases, each requiring about 8 mo, and would cost about $200 000 

each. (MSFC Release 76-160) 

2 September: Something found by Viking 1 on the surface of Mars behaved 

as if it were alive, said 6 biologists on the science team at JPL, who 

nevertheless refused to confirm the presence of life on Mars until results 

from Viking 2 were in. Viking 2 was on its way to a landing scheduled 

for 3 Sept. on Utopia Planitia (the Utopian plains) above which the air 

was found by Viking 1’s orbiter to contain 5 to 10 times as much water 

as that over the Chryse area where Viking 1 landed. A surface sample 

of Chryse itself dug by a mechanical arm was found to contain a surprising amount of water that boiled off when it was heated by an instrument on the Viking 1 lander. Four other instruments, 3 built to look for 

life, received samples of the Mars soil: one to look for photosynthesis, the 

second to look for signs of metabolism, the third to detect “breathing” 

or “sweating” characteristic of earth-type life forms. All 3 instruments 

appeared to detect what they were looking for, but the biologists explained the results as an exotic chemistry not connected with biology. 

Having quoted odds of a million to 1 against fmding life on Mars, the 

biologists now said they could never state with 100% certainty that 

203 
September ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 

Viking had found life until they could return a Mars sample to earth, 

which some were afraid to do: Nobel prizewinner Dr. Joshua K. Lederberg of Stanford University had told associates that Martian life forms 

brought to earth might threaten the 2 million species of life here by 

competing in unknown ways for food, water, or air needed to survive. 

(Thomas O’Toole, W Post, 3 Sept 76, A-2) 

0 Marshall Space Flight Center announced that the Space Div. of Rockwell 

Intl. Corp. at Palmdale, Calif., had received delivery of three dummy 

main engines for the Space Shuttle-known officially as flight mass 

simulators-for mounting on Shuttle Orbiter 10 1, which would be used 

for approach and landing tests at Dryden Flight Research Center and for 

ground vibration tests at MSFC. The simulator engines, resembling the 

real main engines in size and weight, could be adjusted in weight and 

center-of-gravity and gimballed to provide various positions for testing. 

Orbiter 101, after vibration testing, would be returned to Palmdale for 

replacement of the simulators with flight engines and placed in flight 

status. (MSFC Release 76-162) 

0 The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced that a 

team of fishermen, engineers, physicists, oceanographers, biologists, and 

computer specialists had used a satellite to find fish off the coast of 

Louisiana in a government-industry cooperative program begun by NOAA 

last year. Water turbidity, measured by Landsat sensors as variations in 

color, would reflect the distribution of fish; the fishing vessels, working 

with spotter aircraft, confirmed the presence of fish in most areas predicted by the Landsat data. This technique of locating concentrations of 

fish would aid in better understanding of coastal fishery ecology and 

better resources assessment and management, NOAA said. On 19 July, 

Landsat 1 had passed over a selected study area, sending multispectral 

scanner data to Goddard Space Flight Center; the data tapes were 

hand-carried to NASA’s Earth Resources Laboratory in La. for processing. 

Less than 21 hr after the scan, the spotter pilots and fishing-vessel 

captains were being called to check their findings with predicted locations. The satellite reports were valid, NOAA said. Installation of an 

operational system would require 3 to 5 yr to develop special computer 

programs and facilities. (NOAA Release 76-196; JSC Release 76-50; JSC 

Roundup, 10 Sept 76, 4) 

0 Soyuz 21 cosmonauts Boris Volynov and Vitaly Zholobov, who landed 

safely 24 Aug. from a 48-day mission to Soviet space station Salyut 5, 

returned to Moscow from the Baykonur cosmodrome near Tyuratam 

where they had been resting after their flight. The two received the title 

of Hero of the Soviet Union, Volynov for the second time. The news 

agency Tass reported that Salyut 5 was flying in a “controlled automatic 

regime.” In a Pravda interview, Academician Georgy Petrov emphasized the importance of orbiting stations, which he said would serve in 

preparing for space flights to other planets as well as in studying the earth 

from outer space. Petrov predicted the building of space stations with 

changeable crews of 20 to 30, serving for periods of time up to decades, 

and later the establishment of “super-large multipurpose orbital com204 
ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 September 

plexes with crews consisting of a hundred members and more.” A special 

role would be that of stations for moon study in selenocentric orbits, from 

which crews would land on the moon’s surface in “small expeditionary 

spacecraft.” (FBIS, Tass in English, 1-6 Sept 76) 

3 September: Viking 2 apparently touched down at about 6:39 EDT in a field 

of windswept sand dunes on the Utopian plains of Mars at the edge of its 

northern polar cap, after a communications breakdown that left JPL 

scientists without contact during the last 3 hr of the spacecraft’s journey 

of more than 650 million km through space. The stabilization system on 

the orbiter, which served as a relay link between the lander and the deep 

space tracking network on earth, lost power 26 sec after separation of 

the lander at 3:40 pm EIYT, and the high-power antenna on the orbiter 

no longer pointed at the earth. The blackout lasted nearly an hr, while 

mission personnel tried to reestablish communications. A low-power 

transmitter on the orbiter, installed to provide limited 2-way communications with earth, finally sent engineering data at 6:59 pm indicating 

that the lander had touched down. Lander signals were strong for 17 min 

until the orbiting relay link passed out of range. 

First pictures from the lander would be relayed about 3 am EDT on 4 

Sept. as the first step in a “recovery plan” to put the experiments and 

systems back on schedule. All pictures and data taken by the lander were 

being stored on tape in the orbiter for later playback. Except for the 

orbiter malfunction, the pictures would have been available within 2 hr 

of the touchdown. 

The landing date of Viking 1, originally 4 July, had been postponed 

for 2 wk in order to ensure a safe site; the spot for Viking 2 was chosen 

because indications of frost or fog in the area made it likely to encourage 

the presence of life, scientists said. Results from Viking 1 suggested 

either that chemical processes never observed in earth laboratories occurred on Mars, or that life forms existed on Mars that were unknown 

on earth. Life search by Viking 2 would not begin for a wk; the 2 landing 

craft were about 7400 km apart on the surface of Mars, Viking 1 at 

Chryse near the equator (at a latitude comparable to that of Mexico City) 

and Viking 2 in a warmer area (at a latitude comparable to that of 

Montreal) more than 1600 km northeast of the Viking 1 site. (W Star, 

4 Sept 76, A-1; B Sun, 4 Sept 76, A-1; NIT, 4 Sept 76, 1; W Post, 

4 Sept 76, A-1) 

Newest international organization created to exploit space technology “for 

the benefit of mankind,” the International Maritime Satellite Organization (INMARSAT) was chartered in London after 4 yr of study and 

negotiation. A 1958 United Nations subgroup called IMCO-the Intergovernmental Maritime Consultative Organization-had been responsible for nautical matters of common concern to seafaring nations. The 

UN Secretariat first report on space activities and resources in 1972 

noted IMCO’S interest in space for maritime purposes, particularly distress 

systems, safety of navigation and position determination, operation of 

maritime mobile services beyond the scope of existing methods, and 

improved maritime communications. IMCO proposed a new international 

205 
September ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 

maritime satellite system for exchange of telephone, telegraph, and 

facsimile messages and improvement of navigation. IMCO’S Maritime 

Safety Committee in March 1972 had formed a panel of experts to study 

and recommend a program of experiments and development work that 

would be necessary to form a new organization. 

The panel examined the financial, legal, technical, and operational 

problems of creating a new entity, reporting yearly to the safety committee. As the consensus favored formation of a new organization, the IMCO 

assembly resolved in November 1973 to convene an international conference early in 1975 to set up an international maritime satellite system. IMCO’S secretary general was to invite all UN member states and 

interested intergovernmental and nongovernmental organizations. 

The international conference, 23 April to 9 May 1975, was attended 

by delegates from 45 nations and observers from 15 international agencies and other organizations. The conference set up two working committees, one to discuss relationships between governments and their 

telecommunications and maritime entities and the distribution of powers 

between the member states and the INMARSAT council; the second working group would consider procurement and financial policy. The conference concluded that an international intergovernmental organization was 

needed to administer a worldwide maritime satellite system. It agreed to 

reconvene early in 1976, appointing an intersessional group to draft 

recommendations on four points: relationships between governments and 

designated entities, distribution of powers between assembly and council, 

type and number of appropriate international instruments, and procurement policies. The first conference concluded with a recommendation 

that all countries permit operation of ship stations (onboard terminals) in 

certain radio-frequency bands within harbor limits and other waters 

within national jurisdictions. 

As the first session ended, representatives of 13 Western European 

countries and the United States agreed on major elements of the organizational arrangements that would form the proposed system. The arrangements envisioned the designation by a government of an entity to 

assume its responsibilities with INMARSAT, vesting of management in a 

strong governing body with investors making policy in proportion to their 

use of the system, and a procurement policy awarding contracts on the 

basis of price, quality, and most favorable delivery time. These issues had 

been debated during the organization of INTELSAT. INMARSAT differed, 

however, because of the maritime interests involved (ship owners, maritime unions, national maritime ministries and regulatory bodies) and the 

presence of the USSR historically had favored international organizations 

composed of governments only, having been reluctant to enter “mixed” 

organizations involving states and private enterprises, such as INTELSAT. 

The working group’s first session in London in August 1975 included 

representatives of 37 countries and 8 international organizations. The 

U.S. and the USSR reached an agreement on the basic roles of governments and operational entities, adopted by the session, which also developed a procurement policy. At the second session in October 1975, 31 

countries and 6 international organizations were represented; this session 

206 
ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 September 

discussed membership rules, investments, and information policy. The 

third session, held in December 1975 at Noordwijk, The Netherlands, 

was attended by representatives of 26 countries and 4 international 

organizations. It set up two committees, one to deal with financial, the 

other with nonfinancial, matters. The U.S. representative commented on 

The international conference resumed in London in February 1976 

with representatives from 47 countries and 16 intergovernmental agencies and international organizations. Texts of two documents-a convention to be signed by governments, and an operating agreement to be 

signed by signatories (governments, or their designated entities)-were 

adopted in large measure, with some revisions. Three articles of the 

convention not decided were the maximum voting power of each council 

member, the question of permitting reservations to the convention, and 

the official and working languages to be used. The conference agreed to 

‘i third session to resolve these points, setting up a preparatory committee for the formal establishment of INMARSAT. 

The third session of the conference, called on Sept. 1, 1976, was 

attended by deIegates from 47 countries and observers from Yugoslavia, 

as well as delegates from 23 international agencies. The delegates agreed 

that no reservations would be made to the convention or the operating 

agreement, and decided to omit the matter of language from the convention. Preconference negotiations had led to a consensus on the ceiling 

permissible on a council member’s vote, setting 25% of total voting 

participation as an upper limit; this wording was accepted by the conference. Observers noted significance in the languages in which the new 

convention was printed: English, French, Spanish, and Russian. (Stephen 

E. Doyle, INMARSAT . . . Origins and Structure, 13 April 77) 

4-8 September: Soviet news agency Tass reported the successful touchdown 

of the Viking 2 lander, adding that no data were coming from the lander 

“owing to failures in the Viking station’s orbiting vehicle” that relayed 

lander communications to earth. (FBIS, Tass in English, 4 Sept 76) 

As the long-awaited picture transmission from the Viking 2 landing 

site on Mars finally appeared at JPL, scientists were surprised to see rocks 

and more rocks in the Utopia region where they had expected steep sand 

dunes. Boulders were so numerous that driving a vehicle across the 

Utopia plain would be a challenge, Walter Sullivan wrote in the Nfl, 

The scientists had hoped that the damper climate at the Viking 2 site 

might give more definite clues to organic life than the ambiguous reports 

from the Viking 1 lander experiments. They said they were delighted 

with the clarity of the photographs and the speed with which they were 

transmitted once the communications problem was solved. A tilt in the 

horizon appearing in the pictures meant either that one footpad of the 

lander was resting on a rock (according to Dr. Thomas A. Mutch, head 

of the surface-imaging experiment), or that the lander was on a slope 

(according to Project Manager James S. Martin, Jr.). Martin expressed 

concern about getting the second lander back on schedule after the 

difficulties it had encountered on descent. Although communication had 

been reestablished with the orbiter’s main antenna after an unexplained 

the cooperative spirit” shown at the three sessions. &L 

207 
September ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 

stability problem had pointed its transmitters out of earth’s range for 

about 12 hr, the lander might have suffered from a rocky landing when 

one shock absorber failed to function. An apparent tear was visible in the 

rim of the 76.2-cm aluminum dish on the Viking2 lander, which Martin 

said probably resulted from the landing, but did not affect the radio 

signals to earth. Only direct communication with the lander would show 

whether damage had occurred to the body and its electronics systems. 

Dr. Carl Sagan of Cornel1 Univ. pointed out that both Viking landing sites 

had been chosen purposely “for their blandness,” as free as possible from 

geological hazard; the rocks visible in the Viking 2 transmission were 

evidence of “an enormous exuberance of geological processes.” 

Meanwhile, two of Viking 1 ’s three biological instruments repeated 

their samplings of Mars soil from the plain of Chryse, with ambiguous 

results. The experiment that used nutrients to detect life processes in the 

soil registered about the same number of radioactive counts (suggesting 

that the nutrient was being metabolized) as the first trial had. The photosynthesis detector registered only a third as much activity as the first 

sample, however. 

The NYT pointed out that the Viking 2 lander would deploy its 

instruments in an environment different from that of Viking 1. Utopia, 

nearer the Martian north pole than Chryse, was expected to have a layer 

of water-containing permafrost underlying the surface; as the Martian 

summer was at its warmest in the Utopia region, scientists hoped for a 

better chance of life-identifying experiments at the Utopia site. Exobiologists had noted that, if Viking 2 results were more suggestive of life, 

they would feel encouraged; if the results were the same as those from 

Viking 1, this at least would show that the first reports were reliable. 

(NW, 5 Sept 76, 1, 4-5; WStar, 5 Sept 76, A-1; WPost, 5 Sept 76, 

An editorial in the NYT said the Viking engineers from government 

and private industry had needed luck to achieve two successful landings 

in two attempts; luck would have been inadequate without the “superb 

design and technical foresight” that had anticipated and forestalled 

many problems. (NW, 6 Sept 76, 14) 

Project Manager Martin reported 5 Sept. that what had appeared to 

be a tear in an antenna was probably dirt, spattered up when Viking 2 

landed. The successful uncaging of the Viking 2 seismometer met with 

cheers from the geophysicists on the project who had been marking time 

since the Viking 1 instrument failed to unlock. Dr. Nafi Toksoz, a 

seismologist from MIT, said that lack of data from more than one point 

on Mars would make triangulation (and precise location of seismic disturbances) impossible, but even one instrument might answer questions 

about the nature of the planet’s interior and the level of tectonic activity. 

He predicted that Mars would be “more active than the moon and less 

active than the earth.” ( W Star, 6 Sept 76, A-3) 

As Viking 2 prepared to reach for soil samples, project scientists 

speculated on the possibility of mobile landers to explore the terrain and 

collect samples for study on earth. Dr. Elliott C. Morris of the U.S. 

Geological Survey said he felt like a child with nose pressed against a 

A-1) 

208 
ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 September 

candy-store window, the “goodies forever beyond his reach.” Like the 

Soviet Lunokhods that moved about on the moon, Mars landers with 

wheels or tractor treads could be set down in a relatively flat area and 

sent into mountains, canyons, and craters far more dramatic than similar 

features on earth. Project Manager Martin noted that such a mission 

could be launched in 1981 to land on Mars the following year: a backup 

lander in storage at Martin Marietta’s Denver plant could be modified to 

make it mobile, and a spare orbiter was in storage at JPL, control center 

for the Viking missions managed by LRC for NASA. Walter Sullivan of the 

NYT commented that the vivid detail in the panoramas transmitted from 

the cameras on the two landers had given the viewers the urge to go on 

over the horizon to see what lay beyond. (NYT, 7 Sept 76, 21) 

The first weather report from the Viking 2 lander disclosed that Mars 

weather was almost the same in the northern latitudes as in the tropics 

this time of year, except that winds in the northern regions shifted more 

often. Dr. Seymour L. Hess of Fla. State Univ., leader of the Viking 

weather team, said the findings were as predicted, the winds changing in 

patterns similar to those in similar regions on earth. Bitterly cold temperatures on the Utopia plains-warmer than at Chryse, where the nights 

were longer-were no colder than Arctic or Antarctic temperatures at 

night on earth. The soil at Utopia appeared red in the Viking 2 photographs, but not as red as the surface at Chryse. The red color resulted 

from oxidation of iron in the Martian soil, which had an iron content of 

14%, richer in iron than almost any soil on earth. The Viking scientists 

theorized that the paler soil at Utopia resulted from the presence of 

water, which would wash out some of the redness by forming hydrates or 

sulfates with other minerals in the soil. (W Post, 8 Sept 76, A-7) 

6 September: Aviation Week magazine reported that the State Superior 

Court of Ariz. had found against aeronautical chartmaker Jeppesen 

Sanderson, sued by insurance underwriters for failing to include on the 

map of the Philippines a peak near Manila-Mt. Kamunay, nearly 1050 

m high-where four crewmen were killed in July 1971 when a Pan 

American Boeing 707 flew into the mountain. More than $5.8 million 

was awarded in damages for value of cargo and aircraft in a ruling called 

a “landmark in product liability litigation.” The suit had been brought 

originally by three of the four widows, whose damage awards had not 

been set. (Av Wk, 6 Sept 76, 47) 

0 Leadership of Europe’s comsat programs had gravitated toward the 

U.K.-“more by accident” than by design, said an ESA official-since 

prime contractorship for those programs had fallen to Britain’s Hawker 

Siddeley Dynamics within the European consortium known as MESH 

(Matra of France, ERN0 of W. Germany, Saab-Scania of Sweden, Aeritalia of Italy, and Fokker-vFw of Holland). Current programs included 

oTS, the orbital test satellite scheduled for launch in 1977 to evaluate 

items for an operational European telecommunications system; Marots, 

to be launched in 1978, an experimental maritime comsat; and ECS, the 

European comsat that =A hoped to fly in the early 1980s. Aviation 

Week & Space Technology magazine reported that potential markets 

worldwide for prime-contractor capability had become so numerous that 

209 
September ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 

MESH had divided marketing responsibilities among its members according to their influence in various regions, HSD being strongest in Arab 

League areas and in Africa. An HSD official noted that Europe was ahead 

of the U.S. in three-axis stabilization and in higher frequencies for satellite 

communications; demonstration of effective project leadership would 

assure future success in the world market. (Aw Vk, 6 Sept 76, 96) 

6-8 September: A MK-25 (Foxbat) Soviet mach 3.2 fighter plane made an 

emergency landing at 1:57 pm (457 CMT) at the Hakodate commercial 

airport on Hokkaido, northernmost of Japan’s three main islands. Pilot 

of the MI(;-25, Soviet Air Force Lt. Victor I. Belenko, initially asked for 

an interpreter and a canvas cover for the plane because it contained 

military secrets.” Japanese officials, who said at first that the pilot 

would be returned to the Soviet Union if his landing was merely an 

emergency, later said Belenko had asked for political asylum and would 

be transferred to the US. on 8 Sept. 

Japan’s Natl. Police Agency announced that Belenko was the 15th 

Soviet national to seek protection in Japan with a view to taking political 

asylum in some other country; of the previous 14, 11 went tu the US. 

and 1 each to Italy, Israel, and West Germany. (FBIS, Hong Kong AFB 

in English, 6,7 Sept; Tokyo Kyodo in English, 6,7 Sept; Aw Vk, 13 Sept 

76, 25; W Post, 7 Sept 76, A-1) 

7 September: Third Century America, the bicentennial exposition on science 

and technology that opened in May at KX, closed its gates with a 

ceremony that included music, fireworks, and cannon salutes. More than 

600 000 visitors had seen displays prepared by government agencies, 

educational institutions, and industry firms, many of which had representatives on the outdoor stage during the closing exercises. A time capsule 

dedicated during the ceremony would remain on display at the visitor 

center with duplicates of the items contained in the capsule: 1976 coins, 

stamps, and medals; items representative of 1976 technology and lifestyle, including space-related materials; newspapers, letters, and a mailorder catalog. The stainless steel cylinder, enclosed in a stainless steel 

cube with a lexan plastic top, would be opened in 99 yr (on 4 July 2075) 

in preparation for the U.S. Tricentennial. (Spaceport News, 3 Sept 76, 

8; 17 Sept 76, 4) 

8 September: NASA announced that the rollout of Orbiter 101 had been set 

for 17 Sept. at the Rockwell Int’l Space Div. assembly plant at Palmdale, 

Calif. [see 11 Aug.]. First of NASA’s Shuttle spacecraft off the assembly 

line, OV-101 was not yet scheduled for orbital flight: its first job, beginning in Jan. 1977, would be as a test vehicle. It would be launched from 

a modified Boeing 747 jetliner on which it was riding piggyback, in a 

series of approach and landing tests at Dryden Flight Research Center. 

It would then be ferried early in 1978 to Marshall Space Flight Center 

for ground vibration tests. Mated in a test stand to the 46-m external 

tank as if for an actual launch, Orbiter 101 would undergo extended 

vibration and stress loading equal to that experienced during a launch 

phase, when all the main engines-ov- 10 1’s three main engines and the 

two solid-fuel boosters-would produce up to 30 million newtons of 

bb 

210 
ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 September 

thrust. After the testing at MSFC, Orbiter 101 would bereturned to Calif. 

to be prepared for space flight; Orbiter 102 would be used in initial orbital 

flights from Kennedy Space Center, scheduled for 1979. 

Under construction since June 1974, the Orbiter’s main parts came 

from various contractors: crew module and aft fuselage from Rockwell 

at Palmdale, mid fuselage (cargo bay) from General Dynamics in San 

Diego, wings from Grumman Aerospace in N.Y., and tail assembly from 

Fairchild Republic in N.Y. Orbiter’s three main engines (each providing 

2 11 500 kg of thrust at launch) were constructed by Rockwell’s Rocketdyne Div. under contract to MSFC. (NASA Release 76-143; Marshall 

Star, 8 Sept 76, 1) * President Ford named Shuttle Orbiter 101 the Enterprise, over the objections of NASA officials who preferred the name Constitution and had 

planned the Orbiter rollout ceremonies for 17 Sept., Constitution Day. 

NASA Administrator Dr. James C. Fletcher had paid a 45-min visit to the 

White House to brief the President on the Shuttle program and to discuss 

the naming. The name Enterprise, illustrious in u.S. naval history, had 

been given to the first nuclear-powered carrier, to a World War II 

carrier, and to an American sloop in the Revolutionary War. The name 

Constitution had met with objections that the Shuttle was considered an 

international effort in which several countries would participate. Aviation Week magazine commented on the “power of an aroused involved 

public-especially in an election year” in getting nearly 100 000 fans 

of the TV series Star Trek to sign letters and petitions asking the White 

House to have the first Orbiter named Enterprise (after the space ship in 

the series) rather than Constitution, the name favored by NASA officials. 

Av Wk said the officials were concerned about commercialization of the 

name Enterprise in association with the TV show. The Washington Star 

in an editorial said it was “pathetic” that the public desire for drama in 

outer space had not been killed by the mundane discoveries on Mars, 

Venus, and the moon, and predicted that “nothing exciting will happen 

in the real-life Enterprise,” even though the naming incident confirmed 

a public desire “to associate space with adventure and suspense.” 

( WPost, 9 Sept 76, E-9, A-2; WStar, 19 Sept 76, E-1; Av Wk, 13 

Sept 76, 26; 27 Sept 76, 11; Marshall Star, 15 Sept 76, 1) * Lewis Research Center announced award of a $73.6 million contract 

to General Dynamics Corp.’s Convair Div. for 8 Atlas-Centaur launch 

vehicles to be used in NASA missions over the next 4 yr. Launches 

would include Intelsat V comsats, High Energy Astronomical Observatory (HEAO) satellites, FLTSATCOM satellites for a worldwide DOD 

communications system, and the Pioneer Venus mission to provide 

details on the Venus atmosphere. The fixed-price incentive contract 

would run from 3 Sept. 1976 through Sept. 1980; work would be done 

at the contractor’s plant in San Diego, Calif. (NASA Release 76-154) 

0 The Space Segment Board for Aerosat met at Frascati, Italy, to review 

proposals for development, production, launch, and 7 - yr operation 

of two satellites [see 22 Jan.]. The space segment of the Aerosat 

program, conducted jointly by the European Space Agency, the 

21 1 
September ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 

U.S. Federal Aviation Administration, and the government of Canada, 

would provide an experimental system of satellite communications between transoceanic aircraft and the ground, leading to guidelines for an 

operational system to be established by the Intl. Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). During the program, two satellites would be launched 

into geostationary orbit over the Atlantic Ocean, separated by about 25O 

longitude, with a 7-yr lifetime; the first launch would occur in 1979, and 

the second 8 mo later. The space board, representing ESA, Canada, and 

Comsat General Corp., reviewed the proposals submitted by General 

Electric, Radio Corp. of America, and TRW; all were reported to be of “a 

commendably high technical standard,” but the price submitted by GE 

was below that of the other two. The board therefore authorized negotiation with GE toward award of a fixed-price contract. (Comsat General 

Release CC 76-120; ESA release 10 Sept 76) 

8-1 7 September: About 70 French officials, mostly from the Centre National 

d’Etudes Spatiales (CNES), and about 140 Soviet representatives of the 

Cosmic Research Institute at Moscow and the Intercosmos Council of the 

Soviet Academy of Sciences met in Leningrad to review current joint 

programs and to discuss new collaborations, especially a joint investigation (possibly in 1983) of atmospheric and surface characteristics 

of the planet Venus. Under a new protocol of 1975, the two countries 

were to work together in 11 specific areas including lunar and planetary 

studies. France had provided some of the equipment carried on Venera 

9 and Venera 10 to study the Venusian atmosphere; on the future 

mission, a Soviet Venus orbiter would drop French-supplied pressure 

balloons to within 55 km of the planet’s surface. Joint projects included 

space biology experiments supplied by France for Cosmos 782, and a 

French spacecraft called Signe 3 to be launched by the USSR late in 1977 

and used with a Prognoz satellite for localizing and studying gamma-ray 

sources. The meeting marked the tenth anniversary of the signature of 

an intergovernmental agreement between France and the USSR on space 

cooperation. (Av Wk, 27 Sept 76, 26; FBIS, Tass in English, 9 Sept 76) 

Y September: An aviation-policy declaration issued by the Ford administration today went beyond a similar policy issued in 1970, the New York 

Times reported, quoting Transportation Secy. William T. Coleman, Jr., 

who drafted the policy, as saying the timing of the declaration was “85% 

coincidental” with current talks between the US. and Britain on Britain’s 

plan to withdraw unilaterally from the Bermuda agreement on transatlantic air passenger markets. The new policy emphasized the U.S. view 

that private carriers operating without subsidy could offer the most 

efficient service to air travelers. Britain wanted a new Anglo-American 

agreement to reduce the number of transatlantic flights, giving the 

government-owned British Airways about half of what remained; it currently had about 34% of the market. Charles Robinson, Deputy Secretary of State, had told a press conference that unilateral withdrawal from 

the Bermuda agreement was an “improper and illegal” way to force the 

reduction in flight numbers. The new U.S. statement endorsed the idea of 

trimming excess passenger capacity [see 8 Aug.] but opposed a rigid 

division of the market into equal shares, pointing out that two thirds of 

212 
ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 September 

the passengers originate in the US. The statement also called for more 

flexibility in charter rules, the addition of domestic feeder routes to 

strictly international carriers such as Pan Am to fill seats between 

domestic cities, and elimination of cross-subsidization (promotional discounts) so that economy-fare passengers would not subsidize bargainfare customers. (NU, 9 Sept 76, 5) 

e A nickel-zinc battery improved by space technology, installed in a utility 

van and tested against a regulation lead-acid battery, ran the delivery 

vehicle nearly twice as far at a constant speed of about 32 kph, Lewis 

Research Center announced. The improved battery would be able to 

meet the needs of 95% of the nation’s drivers for a full-service urban 

vehicle and could help to reduce dependence on petroleum. The improvement consisted of an inorganic separator adapted from space battery 

technology. L,.Rc planned further studies of the battery’s life, performance, and competitive cost, using sample batteries in mail pickup and 

delivery vans with the cooperation of the US. Postal Service. (NASA 

Release 76-155) 

e The European Space Agency (ESA) announced opening of a new ground 

station near Michelstadt/Odenwald, West Germany, that would include 

two 15m-dia parabolic antennas that would be operational for the 

launches of ESA satellites Geos and Meteosat in 1977. Geos, first geostationary scientific satellite, and Meteosat, Europe’s first meteorological satellite, would remain in uninterrupted contact with the 

Odenwald station because of their geostationary orbits. The two antennas 

represented an innovation in the field of telecommunications, ESA said, 

because of a special construction: To avoid mutual interference with 

ground-to-ground links operated by the W. German post office, the 

special construction resulted in an exceptionally low sidelobe level heretofore unattained, without reducing the station’s telecommunications 

performance. The station would be inaugurated 14 Sept. by Hans 

MattKhfer, German minister for research and technology, and Roy Gibson, ESA’S director general. (ESA release 13 Sept 76) 

10 September: Scientists using a NASA S-band radar obtained the first detailed 

pictures of the surface of Venus, NASA announced. Installed at the 

Arecibo radar observatory in Puerto Rieo under a $3-million NASA 

contract, the S-band system was 50 times more sensitive than equipment 

previously available for radar observations of Venus. Optical telescopes 

had been unable to penetrate the dense cloudcover of Venus, but the 

Arecibo radar had produced high-quality photograph-like images with a 

clarity like that of optical photographs of the moon taken from earth. 

Data were obtained during a series of daily 2-hr observations in the 

months before and after the close approach of Venus to the earth in late 

August 1975. 

Radar echoes of the signal from a powerful transmitter operating at 

a 12.6-cm wavelength were measured for strength, precise frequency, 

and time of arrival by a 330-m radiotelescope at Arecibo and an auxiliary 30-m telescope about 10.5 km distant; the two telescopes constituted an interferometer that enabled mapping of areas with detailed 

definition and precise location of the echoing regions. Venus features as 

213 
September ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 

small as 19 km could be distinguished. In the area about 10.25 million 

sq km mapped by the radar, scientists had observed a large basin bordered by ejecta suggesting its formation by impacts like those that 

created the maria on the moon, as well as a very bright area “about the 

size of Oklahoma” tentatively named Maxwell (for the 19th-century 

physicist) which appeared to result from processes internal to Venuspossibly a large eruption of lava-with long parallel ridges unlike features on either the earth or the moon. (NASA Release 76-153; NYT, 10 

Sept 76, A-1) 

0 Part of a Soviet satellite-the rocket body from Cosmos 854, tracked by 

North American Air Defense Command radar-had fallen in Montana 

earlier this week, DOD sources reported. The rocket body, which had not 

been recovered, looked like a meteor as it passed over Washington State 

and Idaho and fell south of the Canadian border. DOD said debris from 

Soviet space vehicles had dropped on the US. previously, but usually in 

small pieces. (WStar, 10 Sept 76, A-5; Av Wk, 13 Sept 76, 30) 

0 The European Space Agency announced selection of General Electric Go. 

to produce and launch two satellites for the Aerosat program [see 

8 Sept.], saying that the GE bid was “significantly below” that of the 

other two contenders, the RCA Corp. and TRW hc. A GE spokesman estimated the value of the contract at $60 million, half to be spent in the US. 

and half to go to a consortium of foreign companies known as the Cosmos 

Group, which had formed a bidding team with GE. (NU, 11 Sept 76,33) 

A British Airways Trident 3 collided with an Inex-Adria McDonnell Douglas 

DC-9 near Zagreb, Yugoslavia, at 11:34 am local time in good weather; 

the midair collision killed 176 persons. Three major airways converged 

over Zagreb, and four air-traffic controllers had been arrested and were 

being held on suspicion of responsibility for the disaster. Crash recorders 

from both aircraft and cockpit voice recorders were to be used in an 

initial hearing to show whether the Yugoslav transport, taking German 

tourists from Split to Cologne, was being controlled in the Serbo-Croat 

language instead of in English (the official international aviation language). Zagreb control had cleared the DC-9 to climb to the point where 

the collision occurred; a British Airways official said after hearing a tape 

that the Trident crew may not have seen the DC-9 or known of its 

approach. (Av Wk, 20 Sept 76, 32) 

11 September: The Air Force launched the first Block 5D advanced meteorological satellite from Vandenberg AFB on a Thor-Burner 2 at 1:Ol am 

local time into an orbit with 848-km apogee, 818-km perigee, 98.6O 

inclination, and 101.5-min period. The RCA-built research satellite was 

a 450-kg cylinder 6.4m long and 1.7m in diameter. WAF later reported 

that a power-system failure had apparently occurred because no communications were coming from the Ams 1; no cause of the malfunction had 

been determined, and “chances of correcting it are grim,” USAF said. 

(SSR, 31 Oct 76, 31; SBD, 21 Sept 76, 24; Av Wk, 27 Sept 76, 26) 

The USSR launched the second operational satellite in its Statsionar 1 series, 

also known as Raduga (Rainbow), into a circular orbit at 35 900-km 

altitude, 0.3’ inclination, and 1436-min period, Tass announced. Car214 
ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 September 

rying retransmitting equipment for continuous telephone and telegraph 

communications, Raduga would also transmit color and black-and-white 

TV programs to Central Asia and Siberia. (UP1 in m, 14 Sept 76, 28; 

S’ Mar 1977, 117) 

12 September: Vandals who damaged the moon rock on display at the 

National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C., were not successful in obtaining a piece of the rock, said the Washington Post. The lunar 

sample, a 40-gram triangular chuck of basalt, had been imbedded in a 

block of glass so that it might be touched by museum visitors; about 2 

cubic mm had been chipped away and a missing corner of the triangle 

and a scratch over the surface had become visible in the single beam of 

light that illuminated the sample. NASA had sent experts to photograph 

the damage and to vacuum the exhibit area for any dust or small chips 

that might have come off the sample. Electronic security measures were 

being increased, and a fulltime guard had been stationed near the display, 

as a result of the incident. (W Post, 12 Sept 76, B-3; Av W7c, 27 Sept 

76, 16) @ As Viking 2’s lander was preparing for its scoop-and-analyze sequence on 

the rocky Utopia site of Mars, the Viking 1 orbiter fired its engines to 

shift orbit around the planet in 40’ longitude jumps each day for 9 days 

before taking over the relay of communications from the Viking 2 

lander. Viking 2’s orbiter would then begin a polar-orbital scan of Mars 

to search for traces of organic materials-carbon-based molecules found 

in all life forms on earth-not yet detected by Viking 1 experiments. 

Viking 1’s lander would remain in standby mode after its weeks of 

testing at the Chryse site. Project scientist Dr. Gerald A. Soffen, commenting on the confusing results of the Viking 1 experiments (which 

hinted at the existence of life but offered no evidence of organic chemicals), said he had been prepared for the discovery of organic chemicals 

without life, but the suggestion of Martian life without organics was 

totally unexpected. 

Just after 6 a.m. EDT on 12 Sept., the 3-meter arm of Viking 2 dug 

its first sample of Mars soil and dropped it into the hopper leading to three 

biology instruments. First cycle of the pyrolytic-release experiment 

began when the soil reached the test chamber, to be incubated in a carbon 

monoxide-carbon dioxide atmosphere containing a radioactive tracer; 

after 5 days, the atmosphere would be flushed out and the soil sample 

heated to vaporize any organic material. A detector would measure the 

radioactive carbon that had been ingested by any organisms. The gasexchange detector-looking for signs of photosynthesis in the darkwould reveal the presence of organisms that might exhale gases such as 

oxygen or carbon dioxide through the night as well as in the daytime. 

(The first results of the same experiment on Viking 1 at Chryse had 

showed the soil was releasing six times as much gas as it would have in 

the absence of photosynthesis; a second trial had produced a signal a 

third as strong as the first, but still twice what it would have been if no 

photosynthesis were going on. Neither the readings nor their differences 

had been explained to everyone’s satisfaction.) The third biological 

215 
September ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 

instrument-the labeled-release experiment-would add a nutrient liquid to the test chamber on Tuesday and monitor over 10 days the release 

of radioactive tracer from any metabolized nutrient. 

A second soil sample would be used beginning Monday, 13 Sept., for 

an organic-chemistry analysis to detect carbon molecules, and for an 

x-ray fluorescence experiment to learn the composition of inorganic 

chemicals in the Mars soil. 

Scientists believed chances of finding definite traces of life would be 

better at Utopia, where five times more water had been measured in the 

air than at Chryse. They also planned to reduce chances of ambiguity in 

the Utopia readings by conducting the photosynthesis search at night, 

and by moving a rock to take a sample of Mars soil that was shielded from 

the killing solar ultraviolet constantly impinging on the planet’s surface 

and that was deeper than the sample taken at Chryse. (WStar, 12 Sept 

76, A-14; W Post, 13 Sept 76, A-5; C Trib, 13 Sept 76, 6-16) 

13 September: A select committee of the National Academy of Sciences, 

named 2 yr ago at the request of four federal agencies, recommended a 

2-yr delay before banning aerosol sprays containing fluorocarbons. The 

group advised three “urgent” measures: drafting of legislation to regulate fluorocarbon usage when the need arose; action to require labeling 

of products containing fluorocarbons, so that consumers could stop using 

them if they wished to do so; and a campaign by public health agencies 

to reduce people’s overexposure to sun and the resulting malignant 

melanoma, incidence of which had been increasing by 10 to 15% a year, 

about a third of the current 8500 yearly cases being fatal. 

An international conference on threats to the stratospheric ozone, 

meeting at the State Univ. of Utah, heard Dr. James G. Anderson of the 

URiV. of Mich. report findings from a 28 July balloon flight of chlorine 

and chlorine monoxide at 35- to 42-km altitudes in quantities twice as 

abundant as predicted by theorists. The results had not been available 

when the NAS findings were issued. The NAS had said that a selective ban 

on fluorocarbon spray-can propellants would be necessary within 2 yr. 

The international conference also heard a report that nitrous oxide in the 

air was increasing steadily as a result of many factors (including fuel 

combustion and bacterial digestion of fertilizers), becoming as serious a 

threat to the stratospheric ozone as the Freons, with a 20% ozone reduction possible by the end of the 20th century. Bags of exhaust gases 

obtained from a federal test center for auto emissions had shown that the 

catalytic converters designed to remove hydrocarbons from exhaust had 

permitted considerable release of nitrous oxides. Dr. R. J. Cicerone of the 

Univ. of Mich. had estimated that automobile contribution of nitrous 

oxide to the atmosphere within a yr was about a million tons. 

Researchers from the Univ. of Calif. Livermore Laboratory at Lawrence had told a meeting of the American Chemical Society that better 

methods of analysis were needed to permit accurate predictions of the 

effects of contaminants on the stratospheric ozone. Supersonic transport 

operations, for instance, were known to affect the stratosphere but not 

enough was known about the forty-odd possible chemical reactions at 

216 
ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 September 

high altitude to say if or how the ozone layer was damaged. William H. 

Duewer, a chemist on the Livermore team, added that, even if all the 

chemistry were pinned down, the effect of ST operations could not be 

determined precisely until meteorological factors were fully accounted 

for. The next 1 or 2 yr should provide new insights into these stratospheric processes, the team said. (NYT, 14 Sept 76, 1; 17 Sept 76, A14; 

W Post, 14 Sept 76, A-1; Av Wk, 6 Sept 76, 49) 

13-16 September: The soil-collecting arm of the Viking 2 lander apparently 

jammed some time between delivering a sample of Mars soil to the 

biology-experiment hopper on Sunday and delivering the rest of the soil 

to a second hopper leading to an x-ray analysis chamber. The first indication of trouble came when a routine picture transmission of the sampling 

sequence failed to show the collector head, although another picture 

showed that the collector had dug a trench and collected a soil sample. 

The lander had been programmed to halt the arm motion if something 

went wrong; Project Manager James S. Martin, Jr., said more than a day 

might be needed to define the problem. (The arm on the Viking 1 lander 

had jammed twice while digging at Chryse, and both times the flight 

directors at JYL were able to get it moving again.) A command would be 

sent to the Viking 2 lander Tuesday morning, 14 Sept., to extend the 

arm from its arrested position to be photographed so the flight directors 

could see what went wrong. The halt in operations meant that the gaschromatograph spectrometer intended to analyze the soil for organic 

molecules never got a sample for analysis. 

The biology experiments, which did receive soil samples, were 

progressing with their tasks. The gas-exchange experiment had already 

indicated a slower response to oxygen leaving the soil in its test chamber 

than was shown by a similar Viking 1 instrument at Chryse, where a high 

oxygen count had been considered a possible indication of life activity. 

Scientists had decided the reading probably resulted from “an exotic 

chemistry.” Dr. Harold P. Klein, chief biologist on the project, said the 

lower readings at Utopia might simply indicate “less oxidizing substances 

at the Viking 2 site.” The other two biology instruments were incubating 

their soil samples; both were transmitting data on background radiation 

for use as reference points later in the experiments, which would use 

radioactive counts to determine the presence of microorganisms. 

After seeing a picture of the lander’s arm, showing that it had rotated 

180’ instead of 45O as it should have, flight directors diagnosed the 

problem as failure of a switch. Project Manager Martin said it would be 

possible to override the switch and get the arm moving again by Friday, 

17 Sept., when flight directors would order the arm to continue delivery 

of a soil sample to the x-ray instrument. 

At a news conference 16 Sept., project scientists reported that the 

first measurements from the labeled-release experiment showed 33% 

more radioactive gas count from the Utopia sample than had come from 

the Chryse soil: 10 000 counts per minute (compared to 7500) or 20 

times the amount of gas that would be registered in the absence of 

metabolic activity. The scientists still refused to say the activity was 

217 
September ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 

proof of life, noting that, if organisms were picking up all the nutrients 

in the instrument, it should record up to 15 000 counts per minute. The 

gas-exchange experiment, which had detected some signs of activity in 

the Utopia sample but less than Viking 1 found in the Chryse sample, 

apparently provided an argument against the “exotic chemistry” theory 

because of the prolonged increase of carbon dioxide in the test chamber. 

Dr. Vance I. Oyama of Ames Research Center said of this result, which 

might be attributed to chemical reaction, “if it persisted and was accompanied by other changes, we can ascribe it to biological changes.” No 

decisive report had come from the pyrolytic-release experiment, considered the least ambiguous of the detectors. 

Project geologists meanwhile were scanning the photographs from 

both Viking orbiters and landers, noting especially the enormous scale of 

Martian topography. “Everything we see is ten times anything on 

earth,” said Dr. John Guest of the Univ. of London, adding that earth 

in comparison was almost as smooth as a billiard ball. Most prominent 

features on Mars were the volcano Olympus Mons whose base on earth 

would reach from New York City to Montreal, and a canyon long enough 

to stretch from New York to Salt Lake City. The plateau on which the 

Mars volcano rested stood more than 9 km high, taller than Everest, 

earth’s highest mountain. Dr. Michael Carr of the US. Geological Survey 

suggested that the outsize features of Mars existed because of the lack 

of plate movement on the planet. Mars, like earth, appeared divided into 

two “provinces” geologically, one area heavily cratered and higher, 

therefore assumed to be older; the other area was lower and smoother, 

considered to be younger. This division might be typical of all bodies of 

the inner solar system, as a similar distribution of “provinces” appeared 

on the moon and on earth. ( WStar, 13 Sept 76, A-5; 15 Sept 76, A-2; 

W Post, 14 Sept 76, A-12; 16 Sept 76, C-1; 17 Sept 76, A-4; Nm, 

17 Sept 76, A14; G Trib, 18 Sept 76, 1-7) 

14 September: Marshall Space Flight Center announced plans for a day-long 

meeting 16 Sept. at MSFC to review the status of the spinning solid upper 

stage (SSUS) that would deliver spacecraft from the Space Shuttle in low 

orbit to their operational synchronous orbits. The SSUS, carrying a satellite of the type now being launched by expendable Atlas-Centaur or 

Thor-Delta vehicles, would be launched from earth in the cargo bay of 

the Space Shuttle. In orbit, the ssus with its payload would be extended 

from the cargo bay on a cradle with a spin table that would stabilize the 

ssus as it ejected from the cradle, before its own engine ignited to send 

it and its payload into the proper orbit. After reaching the required 

altitude, the payload’s propulsion system would position it in the desired 

orbital attitude. Industry representatives invited to the status review 

would hear presentations by NASA and Aerospace Corp. on concepts and 

current mission models for the SSUS. MSFC planned to issue requests for 

proposals for Phase B (preliminary design definition) about 1 Oct., with 

contracts being issued in Feb. Plans were to have the ssus ready for flight 

in Dec. 1979. (MSFC Release 76-166; Av Kk, 6 Sept 76, 46) 

0 The General Services Administration goofed in agreeing to an exchange of 

California property with Rockwell Intl. Corp., said Rep. Jack Brooks 

218 
ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 September 

(D-Tex.), chairman of the House Committee on Government Operations. 

GSA agreed 3 yr ago to accept a $19.5-million piece of property on the 

former Rockwell AFB at Canoga Park, Calif., in exchange for a surplus 

$16-million building. No other agency had been found willing to occupy 

the Rockwell AFB property, and the corporation had claimed $1.8 million 

worth of special installations at the former base. Rep. Brooks urged GSA 

to fight the corporation’s attempt to get more out of the trade. (C Trib, 

14 Sept 76, 4-7) 

0 The price of solar cells had come down, the Energy Research and Development Administration announced. Cells that would have cost about 

$210 ($21 a watt) 6 mo ago today cost $155 ($15.50 a watt). “This 

26% price drop in just 6 mo shows that our research and development 

program is making significant progress,” said Dr. Henry H. Marvin, 

director of ERDA’S division of solar energy. “However, we have a long 

way to go to meet our 1986 goal of SO$ a peak watt.” At the goal price, 

Dr. Marvin said, solar cells could compete with electric power from 

conventional sources; even at the present high cost, solar cells were 

competitive for special uses, such as recharging batteries at remote 

microwave stations operated by railroads and highway departments in 

southwestern states. Manufacture and sale of solar cells for such uses 

doubled in the past 18 mo, and the price during that period had dropped 

almost 50%. NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory would manage solar-cell 

purchase contracts for ERDA, the announcement said, to establish technical feasibility of uses ranging from remote power sources to integration 

with existing power systems. (ERDA Release 76-290) 

Cosmonauts from 8 “socialist member-countries of the Intercosmos program” would join crews from the USSR in space beginning in 1978, the 

official Soviet news agency Tass announced. Lt. Gen. Vladimir Shatalov, 

chief of training for the cosmonaut program, said that timing of such 

flights would depend on the readiness of technology and preparedness of 

the crews: the crew commander would be a Soviet flyer, and the flight 

engineer and research engineer would represent another participating 

country. Crewmembers from Bulgaria, Hungary, East Germany, Cuba, 

Mongolia, Poland, Romania, and Czechoslovakia would train at the Yuri 

Gagarin Center near Moscow where Soviet cosmonauts have trained. 

Intercosmos is an association of Communist nations that had already 

cooperated in launching 16 unmanned satellites, the New York Times 

noted; the only men in space so far had been either Soviet or American. 

(FBIS, Moscow Tass in English, 15 Sept 76; NYT, 15 Sept 76, 72; 

W Post, 15 Sept 76, A-14) 

15 September: The US. Air Force launched a Lockheed-built photoreconnaissance satellite into a polar orbit from Vandenberg AFB on a 

Titan IIIB-Agena D. Initial orbital elements were 342-km apogee, 

132-km perigee, 96.4’ inclination, and 89.2-min period. The spacecraft was a 3000-kg cylinder 8m long and 1.5m in diameter. The last 

previous satellite of this type, launched 22 March, had reentered 

18 May. (Av m, 4 Oct 76,26; USAF anno. 15 Sept 76; s’ March 1977, 

117) 

219 
September ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 

0 Johnson Space Center announced receipt of delivery on the second of two 

Space Shuttle training aircraft. The first had been delivered 8 June 

1976. The modified Grumman Gulfstream I1 twin-engine jet, flown to 

Ellington AFB from the plant in N.Y., would simulate Shuttle Orbiter 

handling qualities, performance, and flight-control procedures during 

subsonic flight phase, from 10.6-km altitude to simulated Orbiter touchdown. Crew training for approach and landing tests of the Shuttle Orbiter 

would begin late in Oct. (J% Release 76-58) 

e Lockheed Missiles and Space Co. officially opened a facility in Sunnyvale, 

Calif., to manufacture a unique all-silica insulation refined from common 

sand from which 34 000 “tiles” would be made to cover 70% of the 

Shuttle Orbiter’s surface. The material was said to be so efficient that it 

could be held with bare hands while red-hot; it could be taken from an 

oven at 1533K and plunged immediately into cold water without damage. The tiles would be expected to survive such temperatures through 

100 flights with only minor maintenance, making the Shuttle a truly 

reusable space transportation system. Each tile would be milled to match 

the curvature of the Shuttle surface at the exact point to which it would 

be attached; the JSC Roundup said the task of fitting the tiles to the 

spacecraft skin would be like assembling a three-dimensional jigsaw 

puzzle twice the size of a basketball court. No two tiles in a “shipset” 

would be exactly alike. (JSC Roundup, 24 Sept 76, 2) 

0 Soviet scientists studying the movement of Phobos and Deimos, moons of 

Mars, had discovered that the speed of revolution of Phobos was increasing, lzvestia reported. The USSR’s institute of theoretical astronomy had 

processed nearly 5000 observations of the Martian satellites from various observatories worldwide over the past 100 yr. Phobos was found to 

revolve at a distance of 9400 km from the center of Mars; Deimos was 

in an orbit 2.5 times further away. The acceleration of Phobos over the 

years was believed to be caused by a so-called tidal interaction with Mars, 

and meant that--“in several tens of millions of years from now”-it 

would fall on to the planet. (FBIS, 15 Sept 76) 

15-27 September: The USSR launched Soyuz 22 into earth orbit 15 Sept. at 

12:48 pm Moscow time (5:48 am EDT) from the Baykonur cosmodrome 

near Tyuratam. Orbital parameters were: apogee 280 km, perigee 

250 km, inclination 6S0, period 89.6 min. The spacecraft, carrying 

cosmonauts Col. Valery Bykovsky and civilian Vladimir Aksenov, was 

the first manned Soviet craft to carry foreign-made equipment-a “multizonal” photographic instrument made by the “state-owned enterprise” 

Karl Zeiss Jena of East Germany. In a preflight interview, Bykovsky said 

the camera would occupy “a whole section of the Soyuz spaceship.” 

Previously, “Intercosmos” instruments developed by other socialist 

countries had been installed only on unmanned Soviet satellites. The 

Zeiss MKF-6 photographic unit was designed “to simultaneously photograph the earth‘s surface in six different wave bands,” four visible and 

two infrared, according to a Tass broadcast. Journalists were permitted 

to inspect the spacecraft’s interior, where the “photographic section” 

had been installed in the space usually occupied by the docking compart220 
ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 September 

ment. Izvestia announced that the docking equipment had been removed 

and that Soyuz 22 would therefore make no attempt to dock with Salyut 

5, vacated only 3 wk earlier by the Soyuz 21 crew. Soyuz 22 had been 

constructed as a backup vehicle for last year’s Apollo-Soyuz test flight, 

lzvestia said. (FBIS, Tass in English, 15-16 Sept 76; Intl Service in 

Russian, 15 Sept 76; WStar, 15 Sept 76, A-4, 16 Sept 76, A-4; NU, 

16 Sept 76, 21; W Post, 16 Sept 76, Ala; Av m, 20 Sept 76, 25) 

Moscow radio said 16 Sept. that Soyuz 22 photographed the earth’s 

surface and the upper layers of its atmosphere with the Zeiss multispectral camera built in East Germany for this mission. Pictures of the 

Soviet Union would be used in agriculture, forestry, and geology research; Anatoly Alexandrov, president of the USSR Academy of Sciences, 

said the new equipment promised much to the Soviet economy in those 

fields as well as in mineral prospecting. One unusual task was the study 

of color effects caused by cosmic-ray particles in light-sensitive cells of 

the eye. The cosmonauts also took samples of the cabin air to record 

changes in its composition during the flight. 

Tass reported 20 Sept. that Soyuz 22 had taken pictures of objects 

that had never been “targets of space photography”: the northern 

regions of the Soviet Union, with simultaneous earth and aerial photography to provide the fullest possible comparative data on surface phenomena and processes. 

The cosmonauts were concluding their final photography sessions 

22 Sept. in preparation for their return to earth, the Moscow domestic 

service reported, packing tapes, logbooks, and other materials in the 

landing module and checking its engine. 

After spending 8 days in orbit, the crew of Soyuz 22 soft-landed 

23 Sept. at 10:42 am Moscow time (3:42 am EDT) about 150 km 

northwest of Tselinograd in Kazakhstan. Cosmonauts Bykovsky and 

Aksenov were feeling well, Tass reported, and the flight data were being 

Soyuz 22’s East German-made Zeiss multispectral camera did not 

survive the mission; it was built into the orbital module, normally jettisoned before Soviet reentry procedures. The flight director, cosmonaut 

Aleksey Yeliseyev, emphasized that the crew “enjoyed a large measure 

of independence in controlling the ship and in carrying out various 

investigations.’’ Vladimir Shatalov, in charge of cosmonaut training, said 

that Bykovsky (as commander of Soyuz 22) oriented and stabilized the 

ship so that Aksenov (as flight engineer) could position and operate the 

camera. The crew “carried out all operations . . . by heart, so to say, 

without consulting their instructions,” Tass reported. 

Postflight medical checks performed at the Baykonur cosmodrome 

near Leninsk showed the Soyuz 22 cosmonauts to be in good health, 

Tass reported 27 Sept. One of the scientific directors of the mission said 

that all twelve of the photo cassettes brought back from Soyuz 22 were 

in good condition, and that the crew had completed “an immense amount 

of research” in space during their week-long expedition. 

processed and studied. 1 

22 1 
September ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 

Aviation Week & Space Technology magazine noted that launching 

Soyuz 22 on a mission that did not dock with a Salyut space station 

contradicted an earlier statement by cosmonaut Pyotr Klimuk, commander of the soyuz 18 mission to Salyut 4, who had told a COSPAR 

meeting in June that no more Soyuz vehicles would fly missions independent of the Salyut stations. (Av Iwc, 27 Sept 76, 20; FBIS, Moscow 

domestic service in Russian, 16 Sept 76,17 Sept 76,22 Sept 76,27 Sept 

76; FBIS, Tass in English, 17-20 Sept 76, 23 Sept 76, 27 Sept 76) 

17 September: The Enterprise-Space Shuttle Orbiter 101, described by 

NASA as the flagship of “the new era of space transportation” and by Sen. 

Barry M. Goldwater (R-Ariz.) as “probably the best investment the US. 

Congress has ever made”-was rolled out of Rockwell Intl.’s assembly 

facility at Palmdale, Calif., just before 1 pm EDT, to the strains of the 

theme from the Star Trek TV show and applause from about 2000 

spectators. The audience included Sen. John B. Tunney (D-Calif.); Rep. 

Olin E. Teague (D-Tex.), chairman of the House Committee on Science 

and Technology; and Rep. William M. Ketchum (R-Calif.), “representing Antelope Valley” where the Orbiter was built. Also on hand were 

test-flight crewmen Fred W. Haise, Joe H. Engle, Charles G. Fullerton, 

and Richard H. Truly, the astronaut team who would put the Orbiter 

through approach and landing tests scheduled for 1979. Special guests 

were six members of the original Star Trek cast and ST creator Gene 

Roddenberry [see 8 Se t.]. 

NASA Administrator Tames C. Fletcher told those attending that the 

ceremony was “a proud moment” that would mean “the evolution to 

man in space-not just astronauts.” (Plans called for the Orbiter to serve 

as an all-purpose space trainer, carrying a crew of two or more plus up 

to five scientific or technological investigators working in space in a 

shirtsleeve environment.) WiIlard F. Rockwell, Jr., board chairman of 

Rockwell Intl., predicted “one of the most exciting chapters in American 

history” in the productive use of space that the Shuttle would make 

possible. 

The first Shuttle in orbit was to carry 4500 kg of instruments to 

measure stress, and the second, a small satellite to be left in orbit; the 

last of six orbital test flights would carry a payload of about 30 000 kg 

or as many as six satellites to be left in orbit at altitudes up to 160 km. 

space-bound DC-9,” according to Thomas O’Toole in 

the Washington Post, the Enterprise was more than 36.5 m long and 

weighed nearly 70 000 kg, having gained more than 2200 kg over the 

past 2 yr. Strengthening the wings, landing-gear and payload-bay doors, 

parts of the fuselage, and the enormous fuel tanks during Shuttle development had added to both the weight and the cost of the vehicle, meaning 

that its price would be more than the $5.2 billion (in 1971 dollars) 

estimated by NASA. One change alone, from aluminum to a boron-epoxy 

composite for landing-gear doors, would cost about $9000 per kg to save 

112 kg of weight. Replacing aluminum castings in the fuselage with 

titanium would cost about $18 000 a kg to save slightly more than 

200 kg of weight. 

Resembling 

222 
ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 September 

Sen. Goldwater reminded those at the rollout that the first U.S. 

manned orbital flight (that of John Glenn in Friendship 7) had occurred 

14 yr previously, in Feb. 1962, and predicted that the Space Shuttle 

would make manned space flight a “routine” experience. (NASA Release 

76-149; NYT, 18 Sept 76, 1, 8; W Post, 18 Sept 76, A-2; WStar, 

18 Sept 76, A-1; C Trib, 1% Sept 76, 1-7, 2-7; Av Wk, 20 Sept 76, 

12; 27 Sept 76, 12; KSC Spaceport News, 17 Sept 76, 1; JSC Roundup, 

24 Sept 76, 1) 

0 NASA announced plans to launch a third maritime satellite, Marisat-C, for 

Comsat General Corp. from Cape Canaveral on a Delta rocket 14 Oct. 

Marisat 1, launched 19 Feb., was in orbit over the Atlantic Ocean at 

15OW; Marisat 2, launched 9 June, was in orbit over the mid-Pacific 

at 176.5O. The two Marisats currently provided communications services to the US. Navy as well as fulltime commercial voice and data 

communications to the maritime industry; Marisat-C, which would be in 

synchronous orbit over the Indian Ocean, would be used initially only by 

the Navy, which planned to lease UHF capacity it found to be surplus. 

Comsat General would reimburse NASA for the cost of launch vehicle, 

launch, and other administrative expenses, and would supply all groundstation support. (NASA Release 76-1 56) 

18-20 September: The Viking 2 lander signaled to mission scientists at JPL 

that its sample-collecting arm was working and had moved toward the 

x-ray instrument that would analyze the mineral content of the Mars soil. 

If the collector had delivered its sample and the analysis was proceeding, 

the signal expected on the next relay would confirm that the arm was 

available for further sampling. The mission scientists said they planned 

to instruct the arm to turn over a rock on the surface and take a sample 

Enterprise-Space Shuttle Orbiter IO1 -on public display for thejrst time at Rockwell‘s 

Palmdale, Cali$, facility, 17 Sept. 1981. (NASA 76-H-854) 

223 
September ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 

from the underlying soil that had not been exposed to lethal ultraviolet 

rays. Geologists had characterized the appearance of nearby soil structure as resembling “caliche,” a calcium carbonate crust formed on earth 

surfaces by evaporation of water that deposited mineral salts on the soil 

particles and cemented them together. The cementing action might 

increase the difficulty of dislodging a rock with the lander arm, but 

scientists noted the ease with which the arm had taken the first sample. 

As the content of that first Viking 2 sample so closely resembled that 

from the Viking 1, scientists wanted to try for a sample with different 

properties, especially some trace of carbon-based chemicals that would 

indicate life processes. The caliche sample would be taken 25 Sept. and 

the attempt to move a rock would be made 8 Oct., a 3-hr strategy 

meeting decided 20 Sept. Project Manager James S. Martin, Jr., said the 

x-ray instrument had never received its sample for analysis, so a sample 

for it would be dug 3 Oct. An editorial in the New York Times asked 

whether, in the absence of carbon compounds, the mission scientists 

should consider the possibility of Martian life based on some chemical 

other than carbon. (Mission Status Bulletin 42; NYT, 19 Sept 76, 29; 

20 Sept 76, 32; W Post, 19 Sept 76, A12; 20 Sept 76, A-5; W Star, 

19 Sept 76, A-2) 

19 September: A NASA study reported that relocation of crew training and 

mission-control activities from Johnson Space Center in Tex. to Cape 

Canaveral in Fla. would offer “no management, technical or budgetary 

advantages” and “would seriously affect a smoothly functioning, highly 

efficient organization” at JX, delaying the Space Shuttle program by up 

to 2 yr. The study, requested in June 1975 by Rep. Don Fuqua (D-Fla.), 

chairman of a subcommittee on space science and applications of the 

House Committee on Science and Technology, said that relocation would 

cost up to $842 million by 1983, and that the funds would not be 

recoverable. (NU, 19 Sept 76, 24) 

20 September: Aviation Keek & Space Technology magazine reported that 

the first hitch in operations of the Viking 2 lander-trouble with its 

digging arm-had been solved the problem turned out to be in a microswitch. Ground control at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Calif. had 

commanded the lander’s computer to ignore signals from the malfunctioning switch in future digs. If the corrective commands freed the arm 

for duty, the experiments needing soil samples would begin receiving 

them and results would become available within a week or 10 days. 

Viking 2 ’s lander cameras had returned excellent pictures of the Utopia 

terrain around the landing site; the meteorological experiment was collecting and returning weather data regularly; and the seismometer 

(whose parallel on Viking 1 was never uncaged) was ready to monitor 

marsquakes, the magazine said. (Av Wk, 20 Sept 76, 25, 58-61) 

The council of Intersputnik-the International Organization for Cosmic 

Telecommunications-ended its fifth meeting in Berlin after 4 days of 

deliberations. Attending were delegations from Bulgaria, Hungary, the 

German Democratic Republic, Cuba, Mongolia, Poland, Czechoslovakia, 

and the USSR; also attending were observers from the Intl. Organization 

224 
ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 September 

for Radio and Television (OIRT), Intercosmos, and the Stwding Commission for Post and Telecommunications @Em). The meeting adopted 

documents on the use of technical installations for transmitting Tv, radio, 

telephone, telegraph, pictures, and data by satellite. (FBIS, ADN Intl. 

Service in German, 20 Sept 76) 

Evaluation of data and pictures from a dendrite-remelting experiment flown 

in Dec. 1975 on a space processing applications rocket (SPAR 1) 

confirmed the belief that space processing could produce better materials 

than was possible on earth, NASA announced. The experiment, one of nine 

sent to a 22S-km altitude for about 5 min of near weightlessness, 

included a camera to record solidification of aluminum chloride solution 

in a transparent vial in the absence of gravity. No fluid motion was 

detected in the liquid, which solidified uniformly without the formation 

of crystals (dendrites) that broke off and settled to the bottom of the 

solution in a control experiment on earth. This experiment was the first 

in which scientists had viewed the process of solidification under weightless conditions, said the co-investigators, Carolyn Griner and Dr. Mary 

Helen Johnston of Marshall Space Flight Center. Controlling the crystalline structure of materials would enable scientists to make them uniformly strong to meet specific needs. (NASA Release 76-159; MSFC 

Release 76- 167) 

Nine sites for the world's first solar electric-power plant had been proposed 

by utility companies and government units in the U.S. in response to a 

request in July 1976, the Energy Research and Development Administration announced. Sites suggested were in Arizona, California, Florida, 

Mississippi, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, and Texas. The agency planned 

to complete an evaluation and negotiate a contract with the selected 

proposer early in 1977; the selected proposer would become a partner 

with ERDA in constructing and operating a plant to generate electric 

power from high-pressure steam produced by concentrated power from 

the sun. Power from this pilot plant would be distributed by the utility to 

its customers; the plant would produce 10 Mw (10 000 kw) under 

optimum full-sun conditions, enough to supply a community of 10 000 

population. Construction of the plant would begin in 1978 and reach 

completion in 1980, at an estimated cost of $100 million. (ERDA Release 

20-25 September: The committee on planetary and lunar exploration of the 

Space Science Board began meeting 20 Sept. at the Calif. Inst. of 

Technology to consider proposals for future space exploration, including 

a radar mission to Mars to determine the thickness of the ice at the polar 

caps and investigate the terracing of the planet as a clue to past climate. 

Terrace edges in both polar regions had been found to lie along concentric circles centered close to, but not identically with, the poles. Scientists 

had suggested the terraces were formed when Mars was spinning around 

a slightly different axis under climate conditions other than those at 

present. A chahge in the Viking 1 orbiter's path to take over communications relay for the Viking 2 lander would free the Viking 2 orbiter 

by 24 Sept. to proceed with a polar-observing mission. 

76-294) 

225 
September ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 

The Viking 2 lander’s pyrolytic-release instrument, which had been 

directed to look for evidence of photosynthesis activity in a dry Mars soil 

sample in the dark to avoid ambiguity, had returned an ambiguous 

reading, said Dr. Norman H. Horowitz of the Calif. Inst. of Technology, 

who designed the instrument. The count of radioactive molecules released during the analysis was 21 per minute, far less than the 96 per 

minute counted in the first similar assay by the Viking 1 lander, but 

more than the 15 counts per minute the instrument would show in the 

absence of photosynthesis. The puzzled scientists planned another sampling, this time with a moistened sample under a sun simulator, which had 

been omitted from the first run to prevent overheating the Viking 2 

instrument, working in a location warmer than the Chryse area tested by 

Viking 1. 

Although neither of the Viking landers had turned up more than a 

suggestion of life, Viking 2 had confirmed the presence of water on 

Mars, and more than had been expected, project scientists announced at 

a JPL news conference 22 Sept. The permanent northern polar cap was 

found to be composed entirely of frozen water, not of frozen carbon 

dioxide as had been thought. A thin layer of dry ice covering the polar 

caps during most of the Martian year had suggested that both caps 

consisted of frozen carbon dioxide. Two Viking 2 orbiter measurements 

that led to the discovery were the unusually high water-vapor content in 

the atmosphere over the northern pole, and the average-surfacetemperature readings on the icecap, which were too warm for frozen 

carbon dioxide to exist. Dr. Hugh Kieffer of UCLA predicted that a survey 

of the south polar cap would find it also made entirely of water ice. The 

new evidence suggested that, when first formed, Mars might have had 

twice as much water as the earth had at a similar period in its development; even now, scientists described Mars as “a planet-size iceberg.” 

Other Viking instruments had detected traces of krypton and xenon in 

the Mars atmosphere. This discovery was the first clue that the planet 

once had a considerably denser atmosphere that could have supported 

liquid water and even rainfall. Dr. Gerald Soffen, chief Viking scientist, 

said that the krypton finding was a “major marker” that would permit 

deductions about the origin of the Mars atmosphere. 

On Saturday, 25 Sept., mission scientists at JPL were “relieved” to see 

photographs transmitted by Viking 2 showing that the lander had followed an order radioed from earth to dig a trench and dump the soil 

sample into the organic analyzer to screen it for 2 wk in a search for 

microorganisms. (Mission Status Bulletin 44; NYT, 21 Sept 76, 18; 26 

Sept 76, 5; W Post, 23 Sept 76, A-2; 24 Sept 76, A-2; 26 Sept 76, 

A-6; WStar, 23 Sept 76, A-3; 26 Sept 76, A-14) 

21 September: NASA announced selection of Western Union Telegraph Go. 

and RCA Global Communications, Inc., for competitive negotiations leading to award of a single contract to provide tracking and data-relay 

satellite services (TDRSS) to support earth-orbiting spacecraft for 10 yr 

beginning in 1980. Goddard Space Flight Center would manage procurement of two relay satellites in synchronous earth orbit, plus ground226 
ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 September 

terminal facilities to be located at White Sands, N.M. The system would 

support all of NASA’s scientific, applications, and manned spacecraft 

missions in earth orbit up to 5000-km altitude, including Space Shuttle, 

Spacelab, and the automated spacecraft which the Shuttle would insert 

into orbit in the 1980s. TDB, when fully operational, would provide 

coverage over 85 to 100% of each orbit as compared to a present 

average of 15%, and permit closing down many government-owned 

ground stations and leased communications circuits now needed to support earth-orbiting satellites in the Spaceflight Tracking and Data Network (STDN); portions of the latter system would be retained only for 

synchronous satellites and those in higher altitude elliptical earth orbits. 

(NASA Release 76- 158) * Marshall Space Flight Center announced development of a solar 

concentrator-collector that would use a large plastic Fresnel lens to 

focus sunlight on a tube containing heat-transport fluid, for use in constructing or converting cooling systems in large buildings or in manufacturing processes requiring heat in the 200-370°C range. A Fresnel 

lens, consisting of a thin transparent material grooved on one surface, 

would serve the function of a heavier ordinary curved lens in focusing 

incoming light in the desired direction. MSFC’S lens, thought to be the 

largest tried in a solar-energy application, was assembled from multiple 

lens panels and measured 1.8 by 3.6 meters; it had been undergoing tests 

at Wyle Laboratories in Huntsville since July 1976. It would be moved 

to MSFC and integrated into a solar test bed for further analysis of 

performance. Primary advantage of the Fresnel lens would be its adaptability to mass-production techniques, permitting low cost; besides the 

light weight and space saving of the acrylic plastic, MSFC cited durability 

and mechanical strength, as well as ease of cleaning, of lenses exposed 

to weather. The test article, to minimize technology requirements and to 

interface with existing systems, used off-the-shelf materials and hardware as fully as possible. MSFC findings would be made available to 

industry after further testing and evaluation. (MSFC Release 76- 169) 

* MSFC announced selection of two NASA payload specialists and a backup for 

ASSESS 11, a Spacelab simulation project to be flown in May 1977 in a 

four-engine jet aircraft. ASSESS 11, a joint mission of NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA), would use the two US. payload specialists and 

two selected by ESA [see 27 Aug.]. The two selected, both of the Jet 

Propulsion Laboratory, were Dr. Robert T. Menzies and David S. Biliu; 

Leon B. Weaver of MSFC was chosen as the backup. Dr. Menzies would 

be principal investigator (PI) for the laser absorption spectrometer experiment; Biliu was a member of JPL’S synthetic-aperture radar research 

team; Weaver, a veteran of the ASSESS Lear 4 mission of Oct. 1974 and 

presently assistant mission manager, would represent MSFC’S Spacelab 

Payload Projects Ofice, and was selected from a group already involved 

in ASSESS 11 whose experience would permit training at minimal cost. The 

ASSESS 11 payload would include both NASA and EA experiments in earth 

resources, monitoring of atmospheric pollution, and infrared astronomy. 

(MSFC Release 76-170; Marshall Star, 22 Sept 76, 4) 

227 
September ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 

0 A year-long cooperative experiment using Ats 6 in a mission called SUE-- 

Satellite Instructional Television Experiment-to broadcast daily programs on agriculture, health and hygiene, family planning, and national 

integration to an estimated 5 million persons in 2400 remote villages in 

India never before exposed to television had “met its primary goal,” said 

Prof. Yash Pal, director of the space applications center operated by the 

Indian Space Research Organization at Ahmadabad. Ats 6 had relayed 

the programs, broadcast from a ground station near Ahmadabad, to small 

ground terminals consisting of conventional m receivers augmented with 

small electronic components and inexpensive antennas of chickenwire 

mesh, all built in India; another 2600 terminals near conventional TV 

stations had rebroadcast the instructional material to cities and nearby 

villages. 

Before the programs began, teams of Indian social scientists and 

engineers had visited more than 6000 villages to select the ones to 

receive SITE transmissions; an individual in each village had to be 

identified as TV-set caretaker, and a public site-usually a schoolselected as the viewing center, so that “weaker sections of village society” could be assured of equal access to the TV programs. As some 

appropriate villages lacked electricity, these had to be supplied with 

power, a valuable side effect of the experiment. Programs for SITE had 

been developed by India’s Ministry of Information and Broadcasting in 

collaboration with ISRO; program content and format had to be kept 

simple because of the high rate of adult illiteracy. More than 1200 hr of 

diversified content were broadcast during the experiment; attendance 

was particularly high for programs related to animal husbandry and 

agriculture. Children’s programs were received enthusiastically, with 

resulting improvement in school attendance, and many students brought 

younger members of the family to view the programs. 

One yr of experimental TV would not “change the face of our villages,” said Prof. Pal, but it had created “a cadre of dedicated people 

and the methodology necessary to sustain an ongoing program.” As a 

follow-on, the Indian government would construct ground transmitters in 

six cluster areas of villages to include about 40% of those involved in 

SITE, to resume the educational programs by early 1977. (NASA Release 

76-157) 

0 The M)D did not really want the Space Shuttle, charged Sen. William 

Proxmire (D-Wis.), and NASA had “conned Congress into buying a pig 

in the poke” in its efforts to obtain funds for Shuttle development. DOD 

had shown that it did not want the Shuttle by its actions, said Proxmire, 

citing DOD’S statement that it would “under no circumstance#” pay for 

the fourth and fifth Shuttle orbiters, and the M)D decision to go forward 

with a new satellite communications system (DSCS-111) “which will not 

capitalize on the unique advantages of the Shuttle . . . [but] is to be 

compatible with both the Shuttle and the present Titan III-c.” Proxmire 

charged that the DSCS decision was based not on a 9-mo wait for the 

Shuttle, but on the fact that “WD has little confidence in a cost-effective 

operational Shuttle.” Proxmire also cited a General Accounting Office 

228 
ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 September 

report issued in April that WD would pay less to launch its satellites on 

expendable vehicles than on the Shuttle through 1990- 199 I, assuming 

that DOD did not plan to recover and reuse any of its satellites. (SBD, 

24 Sept 76, 105) * William Allan Patterson, pioneer of many firsts in the airline industry, 

would receive the Wright Brothers Memorial Trophy at an annual dinner 

in Dec. sponsored by the Natl. Aeronautic Assn., announced NAA 

President John P. Henebry. The 77-yr-old Patterson, who retired as 

board chairman of United Airlines in 1963, had joined Boeing Company 

in 1929 and in 1934 was elected president of United (created in 1931 

by Boeing’s merger with 3 other airlines to form a transcontinental 

system), a position he held for 29 yr. Patterson had declared himself most 

proud of establishing in 1930 the occupation of air stewardess; he had 

been instrumental in passage of the Federal Aviation Act in 1958, 

establishing a single federal agency with full authority for air traffic 

control, and in obtaining appropriation of federal funds for installation of 

landing and navigation aids at major airports across the US. The trophy, 

a miniature silver copy of the plane flown by the Wright Brothers at Kitty 

Hawk in 1903, had been awarded yearly by the NAA for significant public 

service of enduring value to aviation in the US. (NAA release, 2 1 Sept 76) 

22 September: Scientists at the Naval Research Laboratory successfully used 

a computer system to orient sensors on high-altitude balloons orbiting the 

earth on observation flights of up to 100 days, NRL announced. The 

long-duration missions were required to monitor high-energy solar flares, 

cosmic gamma-ray bursts, and transient x-ray sources. The NRL system, 

designed for superpressure balloons flying at 40-km altitude, used a 

microcomputer programmable for as many as 32 observation tasks, 

which could be modified in flight by ground command. An L-band telemetry link from the balloon permitted receipt and recording of data on 

position and sidereal time, used by the microcomputer to orient the 

detector. Data could be relayed through geosynchronous satellites, using 

the computer to orient a high-gain antenna toward the satellite. Realtime long-duration monitoring by balloons could offer a low-cost and 

frequently more sensitive alternative to satellite experiments, NRL stated. 

(NRL Release 44-7-76B) 

26 September: 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 I1 jets fitted with 

Shuttle orbiter controls and instrumentation. ( WPost, 26 Sept 76, A20) 

* Both the United States and the US% were working on ways to shoot down 

enemy satellites in earth orbit, reported Henry S. Bradsher in the Vushington 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 

229 
September ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 

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 satellitedestruction 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 I) 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 US. warships. Asked if the US. were 

developing satellite-killers, Middendorf replied, “We’re working in that 

direction.” The Pentagon at first refused to comment on a satellitedestruction program, but released a statement when pressed about Middendorfs answer. (W Star, 26 Sept 76, A-1) 

27 September: NASA was preparing to issue requests for proposals in Jan. 

1977 for the Large Space Telescope, resulting in contractor selection 

during the next year if Congress approved the fiscal 1978 funding 

requested, said Aviation Week & Space Technology magazine. NASA 

also hoped to issue an announcement of scientific opportunity to the 

scientific community in Feb., asking for scientific instruments to be 

carried on the first mission of the 2.4-meter telescope. (Av Wk, 27 Sept 

28 September: MSFC announced launchings of two giant helium-filled polyethylene balloons carrying cosmic-ray detectors, last week‘s flight for a 

French-Danish team investigating isotopic composition of primary cosmic rays, the upcoming flight to evaluate instrumentation for a planned 

HEAO launch and for other Space Shuttle experiments. The HEAO flight 

scheduled for 1979 would survey and map gamma-ray and cosmic-ray 

flux. The balloon launch site near Sioux Falls, S.D., was chosen because 

earth magnetic-field lines there would deflect fewer cosmic rays, and the 

low population density and open terrain facilitated payload recovery. The 

balloons would reach an altitude of about 4 1 km, above 99.6% of earth’s 

atmosphere (which fragments cosmic rays), and remain aloft for 40 to 

60 hr sending data to the ground. Upon electronic command from the 

ground, the instrument payloads would separate from the balloons and 

return to earth by parachute; the balloons would be destroyed by ground 

command over unpopulated areas. Telemetry tapes and recovered instruments would go to the investigators for analysis. (MSFC Release 

29 September: NASA announced award of a cost-plus-bed-fee contract to 

evaluate a fuel-saving concept applicable to commercial subsonic transport aircraft. The three companies selected were Boeing Co., McDonnell 

76, 9) 

76-172) 

230 
ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 September 

Douglas Corp., and Lockheed Aircraft Corp.; each company estimated 

its portion of the contract to be about $1.6 million. The 24-mo contract, 

to be managed by Langley Research Center, would be for a study of 

laminar flow control by use of an air-suction system built into aircraft 

skin surfaces to remove boundary-layer air before it could cause drag and 

air turbulence that would reduce aircraft speed. (NASA Release 76-161) 

* Meetings in Ardashat, Armenia, between Soviet and American scientists on 

space biology and manned flight safety had concluded, announced the 

Yerevan domestic radio news service. The meeting heard reports on 

results of the Apollo-Soyuz joint space mission, and proposed subjects for 

discussion at another meeting to be held in the US. in 1977. The 

government of the Armenian Republic gave a reception to honor the 

participants. (FBIS, Yerevan in Armenian, 29 Sept 76) 

30 September Veteran astronaut Thomas P. Stafford, Apollo commander of 

the u.s.-Russian Apollo-Soyuz mission of July 1975, received the Gen. 

Thomas D. White Space Trophy for 1975, the Natl. Geographic Society 

announced. Gen. David C. Jones, USAF Chief of Staff, presented the 

award, honoring the late Air Force Chief of Staff and given annually to 

the member of the Air Force, military or civilian, who contributed most 

significantly in the preceding yr to U.S. progress in aerospace. Maj. Gen. 

Stafford’s citation noted “outstanding contributions . . . by his participation in the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project . . . [He] was instrumental in establishing the necessary rapport and spirit of cooperation vitalfo the 

success of the mission. Under his leadership, the Apollo crew laid the 

basic groundwork for future international technological achievements in 

space and proved that the United States is the acknowledged leader in 

space exploration.” Attending the ceremony with Stafford’s Air Force 

colleagues and officers of the Natl. Geographic Society were former 

astronaut Michael Collins, now director of the National Air and Space 

Museum, and Dr. Robert C. Seamans, formerly Secretary of the Air 

Force and Deputy Administrator of NASA, now Administrator of the 

Energy Research and Development Administration. (NGS release, 

30 Sept 76) 

During September: Ames Research Center’s Astrogram published an interview with the center’s first female aircraft mechanic: a co-op student, 

Maria-Elena Sanchez, enrolled in a airframe and power mechanics 

course at the College of San Mateo. She was one of four females in the 

program, whose total enrollment was about 200. As a mechanic at ARC, 

Ms. Sanchez was performing general maintenance and upkeep on Lear 

jets and the Cessna 402; for her work at Ames, she was receiving both 

monetary compensation and college credit. The college program required a student to attend for about 30 mo a school approved by the 

Federal Aviation Administration, then pass a written, oral, and practical 

test to receive a license in Airframe and Power Plant Mechanics. 

Ms. Sanchez, who held a commercial pilot’s license and had been flying 

since 197 1, said she hoped to complete the program and obtain the A&P 

license within a yr. (ARC Astrogram, 9 Sept 76, 1) 

23 1 
September ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 

* The Marshall Space Flight Center announced 3 Sept. the start of hot-firing 

tests of the steering system for the Space Shuttle solid-fuel rocket booster 

(SRB). First series of tests, which would continue into Oct., would confirm 

design of the thrust-vector control steering system developed by MSFC 

engineers as part of the center's responsibility for SRB design and development. The system under test would provide power to move the nozzle 

of the SRB in any direction, steering the Shuttle in the first 120 sec of 

flight during SRB burn. Data from the first series of tests would be 

evaluated to refine the system design; after any needed modifications, a 

second series of tests would certify the system. Thrust-vector control 

units would be provided in 1978 to Thiokol Corp., MSFC contractor for 

the SRB solid-fuel rocket motor, for testing under actual firing conditions. 

(MSFC Release 76- 163) 

-MSFC announced it had delivered the first production case segment 

for the SRB motor to Thiokol's Wasatch Div. in Utah on 27 Sept., beating 

the schedule by 3 days. All case segments for the first motor were to 

arrive at Thiokol by the end of 1976. The delivered segment, almost 

4 m in diameter and 4.2 m long, weighed more than 5990 kg. EIeven 

segments would be used in each motor; joined, the segments and nozzle 

would measure more than 38 m long, over three fourths of the total SRB 

length. (MSFC Release 76-173) 

-MSFC announced 30 Sept. that personnel of the Rocketdyne Div., 

Rockwell Intl. Corp., had fired a developmental test engine for the Space 

Shuttle for 650 sec, longest test to date. The same engine had been fired 

for 300 sec 2 days earlier. The tests, at the Natl. Space Technology 

Laboratory in Bay St. Louis, Miss., would produce component- and 

system-operation data from extended-duration firings at increasing 

power levels. (MSFC Release 76-1 74) 

0 Johnson Space Center announced on 2 1 Sept. modification of a cost-plusaward-fee contract with IBM, Gaithersburg, Md., to cover software for 

ground-based computing and data-processing systems at JSC. IBM would 

develop computer programs for Space Shuttle vehicle management and 

flight operations, and related scientific and medical operations. Value of 

the modified contract would be $19 463 000. (Jsc Release 76-59) 

-NASA contracted 22 Sept. with Aeronutronic Ford Corp. for support 

services for the Mission Control Center and other ground-based data 

systems at JSC, including data hardware and software systems engineering and maintenance, as well as logistics, reliability, and quality 

assurance. The cost-plus-award-fee contract would cost about 

$46 550 000 from July 1976 through 30 Sept. 1978. (JSC Release 

76-60) 

-JSC announced 24 Sept. selection of Hamilton Standard Div. of 

United Technologies Corp. for negotiations leading to award of a contract 

for development and production of a portable oxygen system for Space 

Shuttle crew and passengers. The cost-plus-fixed-fee contract, costing 

about $1.9 million, would run from 13 Nov. 1976 to 13 July 1979. The 

system, designed to meet four special Shuttle needs (emergency oxygen 

in case of cabin-atmosphere contamination, prebreathing before spacewalks, life support during rescue, and emergency oxygen after landing 

232 
ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 September 

in case of landing-area contamination), would be capable of operating 

independently or connected to the Shuttle oxygen.system. The contract 

would call for delivery of ten units and 50 recharge kits for NASA use in 

certification, training, and flight, plus ground-support equipment and 

manpower; it would contain options for 62 additional units and 310 

recharge kits. (JX Release 76-61) * A giant Air Force antenna at Hamilton, Mass., that had shared in transatlantic communications with the Jodrell Bank Observatory in England 

by way of moon reflections would be dismantled and moved to Westford, 

Mass., for use by the Lincoln Laboratory of MIT in radar studies of earth’s 

upper atmosphere, the AFSC Newsreview announced. The big dish, 

nearly 46 m in diameter, had been used by the USAF Geophysics Laboratory since 1962 for ionospheric and radioastronomy studies, as well as 

in auroral studies using satellite beacons. Continuing USAF research at 

Hamilton’s Sagamore Hill Observatory would use the facility’s 25.6-m 

antenna and smaller receivers. (AFSC Newsreview, Sept 76, 10) 

233 

October 1976 

1 October: The boost given by the Viking Mars missions, now nearing an end, 

to those concerned with the space program might persuade Congress of the 

virtues of possible future projects, Science magazine reported. Describing 

15 Sept. testimony of Dr. John E. Naugle, acting associate administrator 

of NASA, before a House subcommittee, the magazine said “some of the 

juicier projects the agency has in mind for the 1980s” might include a 

roving-vehicle mission to Mars, shipped aboard a Solar Sailor, “the closest 

thiig the agency has ever proposed to a genuine space ship.” The Solar 

Sailor would be driven by solar pressure-light reflected from the sun, 

collected by huge lightweight sails-and was referred to as “a reusable 

interplanetary spacecraft.” Other future projects would be a Global Information Services satellite system to combine earth sensing, meteorological 

and pollution observation, data transmission, and navigation uses, all such 

information to be available to the public at receiving stations or home 

terminals; some sort of solar-energy collection system, either on the ground 

or in space; and moving “a segment of our industrial society into 

space . . . where there is abundant solar energy and an almost inexhaustible vacuum to act as a sink for thermal and chemical pollution.” 

Naugle and other agency spokesmen had noted that such plans were still 

in the design stage and the agency was not ready to discuss them in detail; 

however, Science commented, the Viking success might mean that for 

NASA “perhaps the sky will be the limit, after all.” (Science, 1 Oct 76, 39) 

* NASA announced successful static test firing of one of two Space Shuttle main 

engies for 650 sec at main-stage operating level (50% rated thrust level) 

at the Natl. Space Technology Laboratories, Bay St. Louis, Miss., under the 

direction of MSFC. The firing, on 30 Sept., was the longest test firing of an 

SSME to date. Previous firings had aimed at testing engine-throttling control, 

engine start and shutdown sequence, and engine power balance. The current series of tests, conducted by personnel of Rockwell Intl.’s Rocketdyne 

Div., would obtain component- and system-operation data at increasing 

levels of power. The NSTL test program combined development and acceptance testing; each Shuttle engine would be fired at NSTL before being 

certified for flight. (NASA Release 76-162) 

* Three products developed by Lewis Research Center had appeared in a list 

of the 100 most significant products developed during the year, published 

by Industrial Research magazine, said the Lewis News. The magazine 

yearly considers about 1000 entries from industries throughout the US., 

and presents the IR-100 award for the products selected by a panel of 

nationally known technical judges. The 1976 award brings to 16 the 

number won by hRC since it entered the competition 11 yr ago. Products 

cited were: a continuous-production cyclotron target, used in producing 

235 
October ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 

radioactive isotopes for diagnostic nuclear medicine; a thickness-measuring 

radar that could measure lake-ice thickness directly beneath an overflying 

aircraft, used by the Coast Guard to help extend the shipping season on the 

Great Lakes; and a ceramic thermal-barrier coating that would increase the 

life of metal parts by protecting them from very high-temperature erosive 

and corrosive gases, used to prolong the usefulness of turbine blades ten 

times beyond that of uncoated blades. (Lewis News, 1 Oct 76, 1) 

1-21 October: No evidence of organic material in the soil of Mars appeared in 

Viking 2 lander’s first experiment results, John Noble Wdford reported in 

the New York Times. The experiment-heating a soil sample to vaporize 

any organic molecules-was one of eight scheduled for the lander. 

Dr. Klaus Biemann of MIT, leader of the organic chemistry experiment, 

noted that the Viking 1 lander had found no trace of organic compounds 

either. Biology experiments on both landers had returned data indicating 

some unexplained activity in the soil samples. Gentry Lee, director of 

scientific analysis for the Viking project, said neither a biological nor a 

chemical hypothesis was consistent with all the data. (W, 1 Oct 76, D13) 

A letter to the NYTimes had emphasized that the absence not of carbon 

but of “the extremely complex molecules of carbon that are characteristic 

of earth life” was the puzzling factor in the Viking findings at Mars. (MT, 

2 Oct 76, 24) 

Project scientists had offered three possible explanations for the negative 

results of the attempts to identify organic compounds. First, any organic 

compounds left on Mars by the solar wind, by meteor fall, or by past life 

processes could have been destroyed by agents such as ultraviolet radiation, 

oxygen, or oxidants such as nitrates or metal oxides acting independently 

or synergistically; “certainly,” the project report published in the Oct. issue 

of Science said, “continuous exposure to short-wave ultraviolet light in the 

presence of oxygen will cause rapid chemical decomposition of most organic 

compounds.” Second, organic compounds might exist in Mars soil in 

amounts too dilute to be detected by the Viking instruments. Third, organic 

compounds might be forming on Mars and undergoing rapid destruction. 

The traces of organic molecules seen in a second Viking 2 lander chemistry 

test could well have resulted from contaminants known to have been in the 

test chamber before the spacecraft left earth, Dr. Biemann said. (W, 

2 Oct 76, 28) 

The Viking 2 lander pushed at a rock on the surface of Mars but was 

unable to move it, JPL scientists reported. The shove was preliminary to 

an attempt to sample soil shielded from solar radiation and more likely 

to contain organic material. Dr. Louis Kingsland, deputy mission director, announced the lander would be ordered to try again and to turn over 

a smaller rock if the first choice failed to move. Dr. Priestley Toulmin, 

director of the inorganic analysis experiments, said the iron-rich topsoil 

tested by the Viking 2 lander had a striking resemblance to that tested 

at the Viking 1 site; results of the assay were almost a duplicate of those 

sent to earth 2 mo ago. The similarity lead scientists to think the soil had 

been affected by ancient weather conditions that swept over large portions of the planet; however, the results could not show whether the 

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ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 October 

material below the surface was likewise uniform around the planet. 

{ W Star, 6 Oct 76, A-5; NW, 8 Oct 76, A26) 

The third of three Viking 2 lander tests for dead organic matter in 

the soil of Mars had shown no sign of fossilized life, Dr. Biemann said at 

JPL. The last test would use soil exposed by turning over a rock on the 

Mars surface that scientists said might have been undisturbed for as long 

as a million yr. Dr. Norman H. Horowitz of Caltech, who supervised 

experiments on both Viking 1 and Viking 2 sites that looked for signs 

of biological activity, said that the results he had obtained ‘‘would be 

convincing for life on Mars if we had found the dead organic matter.” 

The sample from under the rock would be held for chemical analysis until 

scientists could examine photographs of the trench where it was dug to 

make sure the sample was taken from the proper protected place. Another under-rock sample would be dug for biological analysis later, the 

second Viking 2 test for synthesis of organic matter to be conducted at 

the Utopia site. (W Post, 12 Oct 76, A-8; NYT, 12 Oct 76, 18) 

Meanwhile, the seismology instrument on the Viking 2 lander had 

recorded no marsquake activity in the 2 wk it had been monitoring the 

planet’s surface, said Dr. Don L. Anderson, seismology team director. 

The detector, turned up to full sensitivity, could detect a quake as small 

as a 3 on the Richter scale (enough to cause only slight damage on earth) 

as far away as 200 km from the lander; Dr. Anderson said it was working 

well, recording breezes and even picking up vibrations from tape recorders on board the lander. A similar instrument on the Viking 1 lander 

never was freed from its packaging. (W Star, 15 Oct 76, A-3) 

The scoop of soil taken from under a rock on the Mars surface also 

failed to yield a trace of organic molecules, Dr. Biemann announced. 

However, mission officials planned to go ahead with biological experiments using a sample from under another rock later in the week; the 

sample would be tested for signs of life processes-growth, metabolism, 

and respiration. (C Trib, 21 Oct 76, 4-22) 

3 October: Dr. William Nordberg, 46, director of applications at GSFC, died 

of cancer after a 2-yr illness. A native of Austria, he had come to the 

U.S. in 1953 to work as an atmospheric geophysicist for the Army Signal 

Corps. As one of the scientists transferred from the Army to the newly 

formed NASA, he went to GSFC in 1959 as head of the physical measurement section in Satellite Applications Systems Div. and became Director of Applications in 1974. In 1975 he had received both the 

William T. Pecora Award and NASA’s Distinguished Service Medal for 

outstanding contributions to applications of remote sensing of earth by 

spacecraft, honoring his work with the Landsat project, in which he had 

coordinated the work of 300 scientists from 38 countries in demonstrating satellite uses in disciplines such as agriculture, forestry, land use, 

marine resources and oceanography, mineral and oil exploitation, geology, and environmental impact. (Goddard News, Sept 76, 1; W Post, 

4 October: The Intl. Telecommunications Satellite Organization (INTELSAT) 

announced that the Assembly of Parties meeting in Nairobi, Kenya, had 

5 Oct 76, C-6) 

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October ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 

confirmed the appointment of Santiago Astrain of Chile, since 1973 the 

secretary general of INTELSAT, as the first Director General of the international organization. The board of governors had appointed Astrain in 

July to serve a 6-yr term as Director General, beginning 31 Dec. 1976. 

The Director General would be responsible for implementing permanent 

management arrangements and for tasks such as implementing a new 

high-capacity satellite system to be known as Intelsat V in the late 1970s 

and early 1980s. About 200 delegates, representing 69 of INTELSAT’S 95 

member countries, attended the Nairobi meeting. Elected were a chairman, Isaac Omolo Okero of Kenya, and a deputy chairman, Fernando 

Gaviria of Colombia. Vice chairmen elected to represent the five world 

regions were Romulo Villar Furtado of Brazil (The Americas); Joachim 

Jaenicke of the Federal Republic of Germany (W. Europe); Zika Radojlovic of Yugoslavia (E. Europe and N. Asia); and Sribhumi Sukhanetr 

of Thailand (Asia and Australasia). The meeting also recognized the 

People’s Republic of China as the sole legitimate government of China, 

and welcomed the PRC to join INTELSAT. (INTELSAT Releases 76-28-1, 

76-29-1; Satellite Pathways, ComSat, vol. 1 no. 7, Sept-Oct 76) 

5 October: About 3000 people attended a ceremony dedicating the Space 

Hall of Fame at Alamogordo, N.M., honoring men and women involved 

in space exploration. Original inductees, numbering 35, included US. 

astronaut Neil Armstrong and Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin. Nine of 

the 35 were from the Soviet Union; eight each from the u.S. and West 

Germany; three from Austria, two from France, and one each from Great 

Britain, Hungary, Italy, Romania, and Switzerland. Dr. Frederick Durant of the Smithsonian Institution announced the names of the pioneers, 

nominated by the Intl. Academy of Astronautics in Paris with final 

selection by a committee appointed by the governor of N.M. for the Hall 

of Fame. Lubas Perek, head of the UN’s outer space affairs division, told 

the audience that the choice of persons to be honored “will surely reflect 

the grand international character of outer space research.” (W Star, 

6 Oct 76, 2; NU, 10 Oct 76, 26; Intl Space Hall of Fame, media 

release; Alamogordo Daily News, 3 Oct 76, dedication edition) 

Responses of Presidential candidates Ford and Carter to questionnaires 

submitted by U.S. physicists and engineers emphasized their “differing 

viewpoints,” wrote Walter Sullivan in the NY Times. One set of 16 

questions was from 24 professional engineering societies claiming a 

combined membership of one million; the other, dealing with three broad 

issues, was submitted by the American Physical Society’s president, 

Dr. William A. Fowler. To a question regarding overseas sales of nuclear 

fuel and equipment, President Ford replied that the US. must maintain 

the role of major supplier “for peaceful purposes-so that we can 

influence others to accept controls to minimize the threat of proliferation.” Candidate Carter replied that it was “absolutely essential” to 

halt such sales “even with safeguards” to prevent use of the materials 

in producing nuclear weapons. Physics Today, publishing the replies to 

Dr. Fowler’s questions in the Oct. issue, noted editorially that both 

candidates were committed to more support for basic research and ‘La 

238 
ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 October 

strong voice for science in the Administration’s decision-making.” (NIT, 

5 Oct 76, 33) 

One of the first in a group of 32 commercial solar heating and cooling 

systems in ERDA’S nationwide solar-energy demonstration program went 

into operation in Lynchburg, Va., NASA announced. Local and state 

government officials attended an open house at the office of Terrell E. 

Mosely, Inc., where the system is installed, to view the equipment 

together with businessmen, engineers, architects, and federal representatives. The 32 pilot projects, selected from 308 proposals submitted to 

ERDA, include ten office buildings, four schools, three hotels or motels, 

two fire stations, two factories, one hospital, one laboratory, one library, 

and some miscellaneous buildings. NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center 

provided technical management for the installations in support of the 

ERDA program. (NASA Release 76-163; MSFC Release 76-177) 

* The official Manila radio announced an agreement between Domestic Satellite Philippines and the Nippon Electric Co. of Japan for acquisition, 

installation, and construction of 1 1 earth-satellite stations in a 

$26 million satellite communications system, to be operational by 1978. 

The system would provide long-distance service in the national communications network. (FBIS, Manila FEBC in English, 5 Oct 76) 

6 October: A rocketborne experiment to investigate the ionosphere failed 

when the second stage of the two-stage Nike-Cajun vehicle failed to 

ignite, Wallops Flight Center announced. Liftoff at WFC occurred at 

3:30 pm EIIT, and the Cajun with its payload fell into the Atlantic Ocean 

about 2 min 14 sec after liftoff. The experiment was to determine ion 

composition of the D and lower E regions of the ionosphere, with special 

emphasis on the transition region. Planned recovery of the experiment 

in midair would have spared the instrumentation from impact and exposure to salt water, allowing reflight at substantial cost savings. A committee had been appointed to investigate the cause of the malfunction. (WFC 

Release 76- 14) 

* ESA’s Science Program Committee announced that it had unanimously 

approved two new scientific projects at its sixth meeting held 4 and 5 Oct. 

in Paris. The committee approved participation in the Space Telescope, 

planned by NASA for launch in 1983, and agreed to finance a plan called 

GEOSARl (launching a Geos spacecraft into a different orbit on the second 

flight of the Ariane launcher, scheduled for Dec. 1979). The Space 

Telescope project depended on a favorable outcome of negotiations with 

NASA and approval of the project by U.S. authorities in 1977. The 

committee considered an additional ESA-NASA cooperative project, the 

Out-of-Ecliptic (WE) mission to fly two spacecraft around the sun at its 

north and south poles in a first exploration of the solar system’s third 

dimension; the committee agreed to continue negotiations with NASA and 

to join in an announcement of opportunities for the mission if necessary 

before the committee’s next meeting, in the spring of 1977. (ESA release 

6 Oct 76) 

* IN’I‘ELSAT announced award to the British Aircraft Corp. of a 15-mo 

fixed-price contract for design, fabrication, test, and delivery of a model 

239 
October ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 

onboard processor programmable to perform a variety of tasks, including 

monitoring and control of satellite electronic functions. A standardized 

system based on microprocessors, rather than hard-wired logic, for each 

individual function or system would reduce weight and power consumption and increase satellite reliability and efficiency. Value of the 

contract was 9b 12 1 600 in U.S. dollars. (INTELSAT Release 76-27-M) 

0 The Brazilian Telecommunications Company received bids from international firms to supply space tracking equipment to the Brazilian satellite communications system, according to a broadcast from the Brasilia 

Domestic Service. The announcement said the first stage of the domestic 

satellite system, to be concluded in 1979, would consist of 17 receiving 

and transmitting stations primarily in the Amazon region, and two space 

satellites; a third would be used for replacement. During a second phase 

ending in 1981, 19 more stations would be added. The system would 

consist of 44 stations in all, the last eight to be added later. (FBIS, Brasilia 

Domestic Service in Portuguese, 6 Oct 76) 

7 October: Modifications of the test stand to be used at the Natl. Space 

Technology Laboratories for static firing of the combined Space Shuttle 

propulsion system had been finished 2 wk early, MSFC announced. The 

stand had been built for tests of the Saturn V first stage and converted 

for use in the Shuttle program by Industrial Contractors, Inc., of Idaho 

Falls, Ida. In the tests, scheduled to be conducted late in 1977 by 

workers in Rockwell Intl. Corp.’s Space Division under MFSC direction, 

the main engines of the Shuttle would be connected to a structure 

resembling the orbiter; this simulator, using both flight and nodighi 

hardware, would be attached to an external tank, the Shuttle element 

containing liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen for the three main engines. 

Firing of this combination (known as the Main Propulsion Test Article) 

would be the first time the three main engines were fired as a sysiem. 

Engineers would combine acoustic tests with the MPTA firings to obtain 

data for determining optimum vibration and sound levels; they would also 

use the data to check tanking procedures. Hardware for the tests would 

arrive at NSTL next summer. (MSFC Release 76-178) 

0 The Energy Research and Development Administration announced plans to 

build a “power tower” in 1978 and put it in operation by 1981. Plans 

called for a large number of sun-tracking mirrors, called heliostats, to 

reflect sunlight on to a boiler located at the top of a tower; water in the 

boiler, superheated by concentrated sunlight, would produce highpressure steam to drive a turbine. ERDA was seeking a utility company to 

construct and operate the pilot plant: the utility would provide the site, 

install a conventional turbine and generator, and distribute the power to 

its customers over existing lines. ERDA would provide the solar portions 

(tower, boiler, heliostats, and storage) and charge the utility for the 

electricity. Sites proposed for the pilot plant were in Ariz., Calif., Fla., 

Miss., P.R., R.I., and Tex. Three teams-headed by Honeywell Inc., 

McDonnell Douglas Astronautics Co., and Martin Marietta Corp.-were 

working on designs for the pilot plant, and Boeing Engineering and 

Construction Corp. was developing a design for the heliostat only. WDA 

240 
ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 October 

would choose the best design and test it at a facility under construction 

at the Sandia Laboratories of ERDA in N.M. (ERDA Release NF-76-12) 

0 =A announced appointment of Michel Bignier, director-general of the 

French Centre National $Etudes Spatiales (CNES) from Jan. 1972 to 

June 1976, as director of the Spacelab program effective during Oct. 

ESA’S director general, Roy Gibson, had been managing the program with 

the assistance of the Technical Inspector, Prof. Massimo Trella, since 

the former Spacelab director resigned 3 mo ago. In addition to being 

responsible for directing the Spacelab program, Bignier as a member of 

ESA’S 9-man directorate would assist in collective consideration of major 

ESA management problems. (ESA release 7 Oct 76) 

8 October: Dr. Maxime A. Faget, director of engineering and development 

at Johnson Space Center, had been chosen to receive awards from both 

the American Astronautical Society and the Instrument Society of America, the JX Roundup reported. Dr. Faget, one of the original 35 members of the NASA Space Task Force Group, received from the AAS its 

Space Flight Award, given for the greatest contribution to the advancement of space flight and space exploration. Dr. Faget had received AAS’S 

Lovelace award in 1971. The ISA had selected him for the Albert F. 

Sperry Award, for “advancing spacecraft, laboratory and biomedical 

instrumentation through technical and engineering leadership of manned 

space flight programs.” Dr. Faget in 1969 received NASA’s medal for 

exceptional service and distinguished service medal-the agency’s highest award-and had been inducted into the Natl. Space Hall of Fame. 

(JSC Roundup, 8 Oct 76, 1) 

0 Test pilot William H. Dana had been chosen to receive the AIAA 1976 Haley 

Space Flight Award, the DFRC X-Press announced. Dana would receive 

the award at the IAF conference banquet 15 Oct. Named for Andrew G. 

Haley, one of the founders of the Am. Rocket Society, the award is for 

“outstanding contribution . . . to the advancement of the arts, sciences 

or technology of astronautics.” Dana would be honored for his service as 

test pilot on the HL-IO, M2-F3, and X-24B lifting bodies, and his 16 

flights as project pilot of the X-15 rocket-powered research aircraft. 

(DFRC X-Press, 8 Oct 76, 2; LA Herald-Examiner, 12 Oct 76, 3; 

Lancaster, Calif. Ledger-Gazette, 7 Oct 76, 10) 

0 MSFC announced that the Alabama Society of Professional Engineers had 

chosen the Center to receive the first annual Wonder of Engineering 

award, for design engineering achievement in producing a study called 

Ecastar (a project during the summer of 1975, studying energyconservation measures and their possible effect on society and the environment). Ecastar was one of the projects completed over the past 

decade in a design engineering program run at MSFC by Auburn Univ. A 

summer faculty fellowship program sponsored by NASA and the Am. SOC. 

of Engineering Education had awarded the fellowships to engineering, 

natural science, and social science faculty members in summer study 

programs directed by universities at NASA research centers, to enable the 

participants to design courses at their institutions and to further collaboration between engineering and other disciplines. (MSFC Release 

76- 183) * 

24 1 
October ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 

0 NOAA announced award of a $1 441 116 contract extension to &nagement and Technical Services Co., Daytona Beach, Fla., for technical 

support in operating NOAA’S geostationary environmental satellite system. The extension would continue the company’s work in processing 

and distributing environmental data. Two GOES satellites at altitudes of 

35 800 km were transmitting imagery and other information to receiving stations at Wallops, Va., and Suitland, Md., for communication 

to NOAA centers in Washington, D.C., Miami, Kansas City, and San 

Francisco. (NOAA Release 76-227) 

10 October: US. balloonist Ed Yost, who had ditched his ballocrn in the 

Atlantic when loss of helium prevented him from completing the first 

transatlantic balloon crossing, was rescued by a West German tanker, 

the Elisabeth Bolton, after more than 3 hr of floating about 1200 km 

west of the Azores. The ship was reported headed for Gibraltar. Arescue 

plane sent to the scene earlier from the USAF Search and Rescue Center 

at Ramstein, West Germany, had circled over Yost’s position until he 

was picked up. Yost had stayed aloft just short of 107 hr (exceeding the 

191 3 record of 87 hr) and had traveled about 4000 km, well beyond the 

1914 record of less than 3100 km. He had worked a year and a half on 

the 2-ton balloon-which had cost him about $100 000 of his own 

money-and began his journey from the US. coast at Milbridge, Me., on 

5 Oct. The 57-yr-old balloon manufacturer from Sioux Falls, S.D., said 

he was “in good spirits because I broke a lot of records . . . but I”m sorry 

I didn’t land on solid ground.” (C Trib, 11 Oct 76, 3; NIT, 12 Oct 

0 Problems confronting physicists in a major effort to discover ‘“the true 

nature of the most basic components of matter and the laws that govern 

them” were the subject of last week‘s annual meeting of the Am. Physical 

Society’s Division of Particles and Fields, held at the Brookhaven Natl. 

Laboratory on Long Island, said Walter Sullivan in the NY Ernes. 

Scientists from the u.s., the Soviet Union, and other countries were 

considering the construction of a “world machine,.” a particle accelerator that would dwarf any now in existence, measuring about 48 km in 

circumference and generating ten thousand billion electron voloi. Its 

cost, estimated as 3 to 6 times that of the largest accelerator in existence, 

would be met on a global basis with the U.S. and the USSR “playing major 

roles,” Sullivan said. Although the project had been discussed at several 

international conferences and would not be built until the end of the 

century, proponents believed that groundwork should begin immediately 

and had asked the Intl. Union of Pure and Applied Physics to take the 

lead in organizing the effort. Design decisions would await the results of 

several machines now projected or being built, that might show how 

problems should be most effectively handled. 

The most powerful machine now operating (at the Fermi Natl. Accelerator Laboratory in Ill.) had a 6.5-km ring that could boost protons to 

500 Gev (one Gev equaling a billion electron volts). A modification now 

in progress, called the doubler, would increase the potential to 1000 Gev 

by the late 1970s and would cost between $40 and $50 billion. Fermi’s 

closest rival was a super proton synchrotron at CERN-the European 

76, 5) 

242 
ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 October 

Center for Nuclear Research at Geneva, Switzerland-also with a 

6.5-km ring slightly less powerful spanning the Swiss-French border, 

deep beneath rolling farmland. According to the CERN newsletter, The 

Courier, the most ambitious project was a complex planned by the USSR 

called UNK (from its Russian name) consisting of two machines in underground tunnels at Serpukhov, south of Moscow; one tunnel, forming a 

ring nearly 18 km in circumference, would house a device to accelerate 

protons to 2000 Gev, while the other tunnel would contain a 20-Gev 

electron accelerator whose beam would collide with the proton beam. 

Such collisions, at energies higher than now available, might provide 

answers to puzzles that baffle the theorists, Sullivan said. 

The Brookhaven conference heard plans for Isabelle, a 3.2-km machine for colliding proton beams at energies up to 300 Gev, that would 

take 3 yr to build and cost $166 million. CERN was drawing up plans for 

a machine to collide beams of 100-Gev positrons and electrons; energies 

achieved in such collisions are lower than those from proton accelerators 

because the positron is less massive than the proton. A powerful machine 

of this type operating at Stanford Univ., Palo Alto, had been called 

SPEAR; a larger version known as PEP (positron-electron project), more 

than 2 km in circumference, would be completed there in 1980 at a cost 

of $78 million, and would generate beams of 18 Gev. The collision of 

positrons and electrons was considered a “clean” way to produce exotic 

particles because the collision would annihilate the primary particles in 

an extremely intense burst of energy, which would then form itself into 

new particles. 

Among questions discussed at the Brookhaven meeting were the 

namre of the basic building-blocks of matter such as quarks or maons 

(particles tinier than quarks, said to have been suggested as a possibility 

by Mao Tse-Tung when told of the quark concept by a visiting physicist). 

Recent work had shown “how little we understand about the internal 

dynamics” of particles, and the use of higher energies would be one way 

to solve some of the problems, Sullivan suggested. (NYT, 10 Oct 76, 7) 

10-16 October: More than 1000 of the world’s top government and industry 

space experts assembled in Anaheim, Calif., at the wk-long 27th Congress of the Intl. Astronautical Federation. Theme of the meeting was 

“The New Era of Space Transportation.” Delegates would have the 

opportunity to hear more than 300 technical papers on topics such as 

safety in space, the future of space law, and the proposed moon treaty. 

Also scheduled for discussion were the use of direct-broadcast satellites, 

space rescue, and the use of solar energy in space. Chairman of the conference was Dr. George E. Mueller, president and chairman of System 

Development Corp. in Santa Monica and former associate administrator 

of NASA (1963 to 1969) in charge of manned space flight. Delegates 

arriving Sunday evening had a choice of Disneyland tour or a wine and 

cheese reception before the sessions began. 

At opening ceremonies on the eve of Columbus Day, Dr. Mueller read 

a greeting from President Ford and spoke of the Bicentennial and Coldus as symbols of international cooperation. NASA Administrator 

James C. Fletcher joined with John F. Yardley, associate administrator 

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October ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 

for manned space flight, in sounding an optimistic note on potential uses 

of space. Fletcher said that mankind had “entered a new world . . . in 

less than two decades,” pointing to the scheduling of Shuttle flights 

beginning in 1981 that would make space travel attainable, even economically feasible, for the conduct of previously earthbound activities. 

Roy Gibson, director general of the European Space Agency, said the 

member nations of SA were suffering from an economic downturn and 

might have trouble maintaining ESA’S present funding level, estimated at 

$550 million a year. However, he maintained that space programs were 

justifiable on the basis of economic return, and that ESA would recommend no program “unless it makes good economic sense for the users.” 

Dr. Leonard Jaffe, president of the IAF, told the delegates that astronautics involved all technical fields and affected all human institutions. 

Dr. Lubos Perek, chief of the United Nations’ Outer Space Affairs 

Division, brought greetings from the UN secretary general and summarized UN activities in space, from identifying objects in orbit to supporting remote sensing and telecommunications-a span of interests, he 

said, “from Astronomy to Gastronomy.” 

A panel on space transportation discussed 14 questions, from details 

of the Shuttle mission to clarification of payload prices and legal liability 

for aborted payloads. The electronic environment of the sessionwireless microphones and wireless translation headsets-illustrated collateral benefits from astronautics, said Rob Weadd of the Los Angeles 

section, AIAA, in the convention newsletter. On Monday afternoon, 

officials of the Soviet and U.S. space programs reported jointly and 

individually on results of the July 1975 Apollo-Soyuz mission. A currentevents session Monday afternoon heard Boris Petrov, chairman of the 

Soviet Intercosmos Council, call for renewal of the 1972 agreement that 

led to the Apollo-Soyuz mission, after the agreement expired in 1977. 

Shigebumi Saito, commissioner of the Space Activities Committee of 

Japan, said his country hoped to participate in another Spacelab in the 

1980s and looked toward cooperation with ESA as a result of the recent 

visit of ESA director Roy Gibson. Lawrence Morley of Canada’s Dept. of 

Mines and Resources said that Canada was “made for remote sensing” 

and would be looking €or partners in the study of ocean management. 

On Tuesday, 12 Oct., the Intl. Institute of Space Law held its 19th 

colloquium in morning and afternoon sessions, continuing through the 

remainder of the convention. Since 1967, when an initial treaty of 

principles was signed, space lawyers had worked out international agreements on liability for space accidents, registration of space objects, and 

rescue and return of astronauts. Two current problems demanding attention were treaties to govern direct broadcasting from space and the 

monitoring and sensing of terrestrial phenomena. Also, a draft treaty on 

moon exploration and resource extraction was under way. Among papers 

presented, that by Dr. V. S. Vereshchetin of the Moscow Institute of State 

and Law proposed that the legality of each type of practical use of space 

should depend on its compliance with principles of state sovereignty and 

sovereign equality of states. Dr. Stephen Gorove of the Univ. of Miss. law 

school described the legal regime likely to apply to space colonies, 

244 
ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 October 

pointing out gaps in existng law and recommending changes. In another 

paper, Dr. Gorove called the moon treaty a landmark in the development 

of space law, and cited many areas of general agreement, adding that 

lack of agreement was equally instructive in revealing problems in the 

process of international lawmaking. Dr. D. Krstic of Yugoslavia stated 

that the era of sovereignty was gradually disappearing, and that space 

activities should be a product of all mankind, not just the strong powers. 

On Wednesday, 13 Oct., some of the congress delegates “including 

a large group of Russian cosmonauts and scientists” took a bus tour and 

had a briefing on the Space Shuttle program at the Rockwell Intl. plant 

at Downey, Calif. Dr. Krafft Ehricke, scientific adviser at Rockwell Intl., 

described studies of Lunetta and Soletta systems that would use huge 

reflectors on thin plastic assembled in space to illumine areas of earth either 

by day or by night, lengthening agricultural activities in season or lighting 

polar regions for increased access to petroleum or mineral deposits in areas where nights might last for 3 mo. Other delegates went in four 

busloads to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory at Pasadena for an all-day 

program during which the guests in four groups rotated among exhibitions and lectures on the Viking spacecraft, the space flight operations 

and spacecraft assembly facilities, and future planetary missions. Speakers included Dr. Bruce Murray, director of JPL, and A. Thomas Young, 

deputy Viking project manager, as well as John Casani, manager of the 

Mariner Jupiter-Saturn project. 

On Thursday, 14 Oct., IAF delegate R. Gilbert Moore became the first 

Shuttle customer to hand over a letter of intent to purchase NASA’s 

getaway special”-a 90-kg 0.14-cu-m package to be carried by the 

Orbiter on a space-available basis, for $10 000. Moore, general manager of Thiokol Corp.’s Astro-Met plant at Ogden, Ut., said he would buy 

the ticket for himself, not his company. He had been active for some time 

in obtaining space rides for student experiments, and said he might open 

his Shuttle package for students or sublet some of it to recover costs, but 

had not decided yet what use to make of the package. “It’s such a 

bargain,” he said. “You can’t get a ride anywhere else for that kind of 

money.” Moore handed his letter of intent to Chester Lee, director of 

space transportation systems operations in NASA’s Office of Space Flight, 

who was in charge of rounding up Shuttle customers; the letter went by 

Comsat satellite to Lee’s office in Washington, D.C. 

Aviation Week & Space Technology magazine reported that the 

Soviet representatives at the IAF meeting questioned officials about the 

Shuttle’s thermal protection system, its main-engine refurbishment, and 

its handling characteristics, being “especially interested in the use of 

cathode-ray tube displays.” The briefings were part of the Rockwell tour 

offered to IAF groups. NASA had approved Soviet inspection of the orbiter, 

the magazine said, because no technology transfer problems were involved and the Soviets had shown Salyut and Soyuz vehicles to U.S. 

personnel; however, the Soviets had never discussed or shown future 

vehicles to U.S. representatives, the article added. Upon questioning the 

Soviet representatives unofficially about any USSR shuttle plans, NASA was 

told only that analytical studies were under way. 

(6 

245 
October ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 

The Washington Star and Av E’% reported that Soviet Intercosmos 

chairman Dr. Boris N. Petrov and Vasily A. Sarychev, another member 

of the Soviet IAF delegation, were robbed at gunpoint in the lobby of their 

motel and escaped when a number of people got off an elevator. Petrov 

and Sarychev did not understand the gunman’s demands at first, but 

finally surrendered $37 before the unidentified robber fled. Although 

local police were notified, Petrov did not register a formal complaint, and 

the delegation stayed at the convention two days longer, after which 

Petrov and other Soviet officials flew to Washington to discuss future 

joint space missions. Besides Petrov, the IAF delegates included Dr.Vereshchetin, deputy chairman of Intercosmos; v. c. Vachnadze and 

A. I. Tsarev, Intercosmos members; R. z. Sagdeyev, director of the USR 

Academy of Sciences institute of outer space, and his associate, 

Y. p. Semenov; and D. S. Chetveryakov, M. V. Sokolov, and Q. P. 

Legostayev. 

As the IAF convention closed on Saturday, 16 Oct., Dr. Mueller said 

the panels and presentations at the meeting had demonstrated again the 

benefits and feasibility of international cooperation. He said it was up to 

the members to convince the President and U.S. Congress to provide 

sufficient funds for the Shuttle over the next 5 yr. (IAF news 27th 

Congress, text; list of abstracts; LA Times, 12 Oct 76, 11; 14 Oct 76; 

Av E’%, 18 Oct 76, 25; 25 Oct 76, 22, 23; WStar, 20 Oct 76, A-2; 

11 October: Moon rocks-prime celebrities 5 yr ago-had become hasbeens, wrote reporter James P. Sterba in the New York Times. Astronauts had brought back from the six moon missions about 382 kg oflunar 

material; Dr. Michael G. Duke, curator of moon rocks at Johnson Space 

Center, claimed to know the disposition of every gram. Fragments returned from Apollo 11 went to 137 heads of state and 5 1 U.S. governors; 

chunks returned by Apollo 17 in Dec. 1972 had been dispensed to 

nations and states. Scientists in 15 nations, 26 states, and the Virgin Is. 

had been studying samples under NASA-sponsored research grants, and 

their findings would fill a shelf 1.5 m wide. “We know more about the 

composition of the moon than we do about the earth,” Dr. Duke said, 

although less than 20% of the lunar samples had been circulated for 

research and exhibits. Lately the calls for samples to exhibit had dwindled, and the number of scientists studying them had been halved. 

Security had remained tight because of the efforts of rock collectors to 

obtain samples; however, the moon rocks had lost ground in public 

interest compared to the Mars rocks being turned over by Vikings 1 and 

2, Sterba wrote. (MT, 11 Oct 76, 27) 

@ Inspection by U.S. Air Force and Japanese technicians of the MiG-25 

Foxbat Soviet interceptor plane landed in Japan by a defecting pilot early 

in September revealed a minimum of innovation and an approach that 

relied on “brute force,” reported Aviation Week and Space Technology 

magazine. Examination of the Foxbat revealed a standard ejection seat, 

although the pilot had told U.S. interrogators none was carried because 

of a desire to hold down the weight of the steel-frame aircraft (about 

14 000 kg with wings, tail surfaces, and afterburners removed). The 

W Post, 27 Oct 76, A-2) 

246 
ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 October 

number of cockpit instruments was about half those usedin the F-4EJ 

built in Japan under license. None of the avionics in the MiG-25 used 

solid-state circuitry, relying instead on vacuum tubes; fatigue cracks in 

the airframe had been repaired by rough welding techniques. Despite the 

design deficiencies, however, the MiG-25 was “a formidable opponent,” 

Av Wk noted. (Av l$%, 11 Oct 76, 18) 

12 October: NASA announced that LeRC, the U.S. Coast Guard, the U.S. Navy, 

and the Natl. Weather Service had successfully completed in Alaska a 

3-wk demonstration of an all-weather ice-information system developed 

in response to a Congressional request to see if the Great Lakes could be 

kept open for shipping all year. Cargoes reshipped because their barges 

had been iced in or turned back by weather had incurred additional 

transportation costs estimated at between $30 and $50 million in 1975 

alone. The demonstration-performed along the western and northern 

coasts of Alaska, a region having serious shipping problems caused by 

thick ice 60% of the time-used a Coast Guard plane equipped with 

NASA’s side-looking airborne radar to obtain daily microwave imagery 

similar to black-and-white photography, that revealed the type and 

distribution of ice in any kind of weather regardless of dense cloudcover. 

The data on coastal shipping were relayed through a Goes satellite by way 

of Wallops Island to LeRC; after processing, the images were sent back 

through Canada’s CTS satellite to Alaska for the Navy’s ice interpreters 

to use in making navigation charts for vessels moving in offshore ice. The 

system had been used in the Arctic to aid the Coast Guard icebreaker 

Glacier in operating through ice in zero-visibility conditions. Use of the 

system had helped to keep the Great Lakes open for shipping for two full 

seasons for the first time in history, at an estimated saving of hundreds 

of millions of dollars each year; the 1976-77 shipping would be the third 

and final year of demonstration. (NASA Release 76-165) 

0 NASA announced appointment of Dr. James R. Lawson, currently serving as 

special assistant to the director of ERDA’S Office of University Affairs, as 

i?&%SA Director of University Affairs, effective 8 November. 

I3r. Lawson, president of Fisk Univ. from 1967 to 1975, received a 

bachelor’s degree in physics from Fisk and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from 

the Univ. of Mich. In 1957 he became professor and chairman of the 

physics department at Fisk, doing research on infrared spectroscopy. A 

member of Phi Beta Kappa and Sigma Xi, he had received the Rosenwald 

Fellowship and the Afro-American Natl. Fellowship Award. In his new 

position, Dr. Lawson would be principal adviser on NASA’s relations with 

universities, including special university programs having agency-wide 

mope and interest. (NASA anno. 12 Oct 76) 

13 October: NASA announced that a data-collection unit called Site Data 

Acquisition System (SDAS), first in a centralized nationwide network that 

would monitor the performance of solar heating and cooling systems, had 

bun operating last wk, transmitting daily the data from a solar heating 

and cooling system installed at the George A. Towns Elementary School 

in Atlanta, Ga. The school, built in 1962, operated throughout the year, 

including the summer months; a large-scale system for heating and 

cooling, with sqlar collectors on the roof, had been added to the building 

247 
October ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 

last year. The project was conducted jointly by Westinghouse Electric 

Corp. and the Ga. Inst. of Technology, und& a cost-sharing no-fee 

contract with ERDA. The data-gathering network to which the Towns 

school SDAS belonged would collect information on climate-temperature, humidity, wind, and available sunlight-and collector inlet-outlet 

temperature, flow rate, and performance of the energy-storage system. 

Raw data would be received, processed, and printed out by an IBM facility 

in Huntsville, Ala., under contract to MSFC. 

Total number of units in the program might reach 2000 or more by 

the end of 1979, NASA estimated. Users of the information would include 

manufacturers of heating and cooling systems; building and construction 

firms; architects, municipalities, individuals, and others concerned with 

building design and construction. The national program was aimed at 

demonstrating the efficiency of solar energy systems for residential and 

commercial building, and to stimulate marketing and public acceptance. 

(NASA Release 76-166; MSFC Release 76-188; c Trib, 19 Oct 76,l-18) 

NASA announced that Robert N. Lindley, director of project management 

at GSFC, would begin a temporary assignment in Paris 24 Oct. as Deputy 

Associate Administrator for Space Flight (European Operations), serving 

as senior NASA adviser to ESA for the Spacelab program. During this 

assignment, Dr. William C. Schneider, currently Deputy Associate Administrator for Space Flight at NASA Hq, would act as director of project 

mangement at GSFC. Both officials would return to their original positions 

at the end of the ESA assignment. (NASA anno 13 Oct 76) * Rockwell Intl. announced award to the Aerostructures Div. of Avco Corp. 

of a contract valued at more than $50 million for long lead-time production work on outer wings of the B-1 bomber. Work would cover the 

first three operational B-1s produced for the U.S. Air Force. The Aerostructures Div. would design and fabricate tools and prepare for actual 

building of the outer wings. Rockwell Intl. had assembled outer wings for 

the first three B-1 prototypes, which had already accumulated more 

than 350 hr of flight tests at Edwards AFB, Calif. Outer wings on each side 

of the B-1 would constitute a shipset-one of the largest sections of the 

B- 1 -weighing more than 13 000 kg, and measuring more than 18 m 

long and 4.5 m wide. Fuel would be stored inside the wing structure. 

(Rockwell Release LA-5) 

@ The European Space Agency announced choice of payloads tor Its Ariane 

launcher LO2 and LO3 qualification flights scheduled between June 1979 

and October 1980. Principal passenger on the LO2 flight would be the 

recently announced Geosari satellite, with a lateral passenger, Amsat, a 

70-kg radio-amateur space communications satellite proposed by a German organization affiliated with the Intl. Radio Amateur Satellite Organization. Ariane LO3 would carry the India comsat Apple (Ariane passenger payload experiment), a three-axis-stabilized spacecraft weighing 

616 kg that would continue experiments in the 4- to 6-ghz frequency 

to be performed by India in the Satellite Telecommunications Experiments Project (STEP). Mounted in the lower central portion of the launcher, Apple would bear the load of a principal-passenger satellite to be 

chosen*by the end of the year from among a second Meteosat prototype; 

248 
ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 October 

a flight prototype of Symphonie, Franco-German comsat; an Italian Sirio 

microwave comsat with a payload different from the first model (see A 

& A75, 10 Mar); and a Canadian CTS spacecraft equipped with a 

European communications payload. Nominal orbit for the LO2 and LO3 

flights would be 35 800-km apogee, 200-km perigee, and 17.7’ inclination. (EA release 13 Oct 76) 

0 EA announced plans to award to Messerchmitt-Edkow-Blohm of West 

Germany, as prime contractor for COSMOS (a consortium of European aerospace companies), two contracts worth a total of about $55.38 million 

(u.S.) for definition of the Exosat satellite (phase B) and for subsequent 

design and development (phase C and D). Subcontractors from ten 

member states of E% would share in satellite development. Exosat, 

scheduled for launch in 1980-81 by a Delta or Ariane vehicle, would 

measure position, structure, spectral and temporal characteristics of 

cosmic x-rays between -0.1 kev and +50 kev. Work on the 12-mo 

phase B contract would begin in Jan. 1977. (EA release 13 Oct 76) 

14 October: NASA launched Marisat 3, third and last in a series of Comsat 

General maritime communications satellites, from ETR at 6:44 pm EDT on 

a Delta into a synchronous transfer orbit. At seventh apogee 8: 11 pm EDT 

16 Oct., the apogee boost motor was fired to maneuver the satellite to 

a position at 36 000 km altitude above the equator at about 182OE; 

final move to operation location at 73OE above the Indian Ocean would 

take place in Nov. 

The spin-stabilized active-repeater spacecraft, weighing about 700 kg 

in orbit, was a cylinder with a diameter of about 2 m and an overall length 

of 3.65 m. Built by Hughes Aircraft Corp., the comsat would act as a 

relay station to transmit and receive information between ships and 

submarines at sea and shore stations. It would join Marisat 1, operating 

at 15OW over the Atlantic Ocean since Feb. 1976, and Marisat 2, 

operating at 176.5OE over the Pacific since June. (The Marisat 3 

mission was judged successful 3 Nov. 1976; the Marisat 2 mission [see 

9 June] had been judged successful 6 Oct. 1976.) (NASA Release 

76-1 56; MOR M-492-205-76-03 [prelaunch] 6 Oct 76, [postlaunch] 

5 Nov. 76; WStar, 15 Oct 76, A-5; MOR M-492-205-76-02’14 Oct 

76) 

0 Marshall Space Fhght Center announced scheduling of further tests in 

October for prototype cloud-physics experiment hardware to be flown on 

the Space Shuttle to help researchers understand microphysical processes occurring in the atmosphere. The experiments would develop 

techniques for accurate prediction and control of weather (increase of 

snowfall or rain, dissipation of fog, suppression of lightning) to improve 

man’s environment. The Atmospheric Cloud Physics Laboratory (ACPL) 

being developed by MSFC would use the low or zero gravity during 

Shuttle/Spacelab flights to perform experiments without contamination 

by supporting devices-wires, spider webs, blasts of air or electrical 

fields-used for test objects in earth laboratories. The prototype equipment was being tested in weightless periods provided by parabolic flights 

in the Johnson Space Center’s zero-gravity test aircraft. 0. H. Vaughn of 

the Aerospace Environment Div., Space Science Laboratory at MSFC, had 

249 
October ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 

been monitoring performance of the equipment during flights that began 

in September. (MSFC Release 76-186) * Ruth Bates Harris, NASA’s deputy assistant administrator for community 

and human relations, announced that she would leave the agency 

effective 15 Oct. Mrs. Harris said she would return to New York “to 

attend to pressing personal family needs,” but would “spend an number 

of months continuing to work as a consultant” to NASA, in order to 

complete some unfinished community and human relations projects. She 

had been a deputy assistant administrator since Aug. 1974, the first 

woman to reach that position in NASA, and had earlier been the first 

director of NASA’s Office of Equal Employment Opportunity. Before 

joining NASA, Mrs. Harris had been director of human relations for the 

public schools in Montgomery County, Md., and had been director of the 

Human Relations Commission in Washington, D.C. She had received 

more than 50 awards and citations for her work in human relations. (NASA 

Release 76-1 70) * The USSR launched a geophysical rocket, Vertikal 4, from an undisclosed site “in the medium latitudes” of European Russia to an 

altitude of 1512 km. Carrying “more than 10 complex and diverse 

scientific instruments” developed and built by specialists from Bulgaria, 

East Germany, Czechoslovakia, and the USSR, the rocket was designed to 

sample a vertical cross section of the neutral upper atmosphere and 

ionospheric plasma in a 15-min time period. In a Pravda interview, 

Academician B. N. Petrov noted that composition of the atmosphere and 

ionosphere changed with height, the lighter gases being at the top. None 

of the previous Vertikal rockets (launched in 1970, 1971, and 1975) 

had reached altitudes of more than about 500 km, the oxygen section of 

the ionosphere. Vertikal4 had reached the hydrogen region, or protonosphere, and had measured properties of the plasma affecting radio-wave 

absorption and investigated effects of shortwave solar radiation on the 

earth’s atmosphere. Results of the investigation would extend knowledge 

of weather and climate, Petrov said. (FBIS, Tass in English, 14 Oct 76; 

Pravda in Russian, 17 Oct 76; Moscow Domestic Service in Russian, 

29 Oct 76) 

14-18 October: The USSR launched Soyuz 23 carrying two cosmonauts, 

Lt. Col. Vyacheslav Zudov as pilot and Lt. Col. Valery Rozhdestvensky 

as engineer, from the Baykonur cosmodrome near Tyuratam in Kazakhstan at 8:40 pm Moscow time (1:40 pm EDT) 14 Oct. to link up with the 

orbiting space station Salyut 5 and continue research begun there in July 

by the crew of Soyuz 21. The nighttime launch was replayed later on 

Soviet TV. Initial orbit parameters were 243-km perigee, 275-km 

apogee, 89.5-min period, and 51.6’ inclination. 

At what the NY Times described as “a restricted press conference 

before liftoff,” the rookie cosmonauts said their mission was to concentrate on practical scientific uses of the Soviet space stations, especially 

extraterrestrial manufacture of metals, glass, and pharmaceuticals. 

Rozhdestvensky said that every ruble invested in space exploration had 

“already been returned tenfold to the national budget in one way or 

another.’: 

250 
ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 October 

Tass announced at noon Moscow time on 16 Oct. (5 am EDT) that the 

docking of Soyuz 23 with Salyut 5 had been cancelled “because of the 

off-design regime of [the] approach control. system,” and the crew had 

been ordered to return to earth. The NYTimes noted that this was “the 

first occasion on which the Russians have made public their problems 

before the completion of a space flight.” Usually no announcement had 

been forthcoming until the crew had returned to earth. At 8:46 pm 

Moscow time (1:46 pm EDT)-almost exactly 48 hr after liftoff-the 

descent module landed 195 km southwest of Tselinograd in Kazakhstan 

“on the surface of Lake Tengiz” in a heavy snowfall. The search and 

rescue teams, working under difficult nighttime conditions, recovered 

the descent module and the cosmonauts from the first splashdown in the 

15-yr history of Soviet manned space flight. Announcement of the 

adverse conditions of the landing was not made until 12 hr afterwards, 

a delay suggesting some difficulty in locating the capsule. Lt. Gen. 

Vladimir Shatalov, director of cosmonaut training, said that helicopter 

and amphibious craft had aided the recovery. Residents of the nearby 

town of Arkalyk welcomed the returned cosmonauts at the airport and 

made them honorary citizens. The crew returned to the Baykonur cosmodrome by plane on the morning of 17 Oct. 

The splashdown of Soyuz 23 resulted from chance rather than planning, said the newspaper Izvestia on 18 Oct., describing fears at 

recovery-team headquarters that the landing craft might have gone into 

swamps near the lake, after a report that the craft had tilted on impact, 

putting the porthole below the water’s surface. The pilot of a plane had 

reported the capsule’s position and a helicopter had towed the capsule to 

shore amid fog, snow, and broken ice. The official comments were 

regarded as “an effort to avoid blaming the astronauts for the mission’s 

failure,” said the NY Times. 

The Soyuz 23 difficulty marked the fourth failure of a Soyuz mission 

to rendezvous; radar trouble had forced the crews of Soyuz 3, Soyuz 8, 

and Soyuz 15 to return to earth without docking. The Wash. Post noted 

that about one in three Soyuz flights had failed to carry out its mission: 

Soyuz 1 and Soyuz 11 resulted in the deaths of one and three cosmonauts respectively, and two cosmonauts on an unnumbered mission in 

April 1975 had been forced to abort their flight before reaching earth 

orbit. (NYT, 15 Oct 76, A 13; 16 Oct 76,6; 17 Oct 76, 29; 18 Oct 76, 

18 Oct 76, A-16; C Trib, 15 Oct 76, 1-5; 17 Oct 76, 1-3; 18 Oct 76, 

1-8; WStar, 17 Oct 76, A-14; FBIS, Tass in English, 14-17 Oct 76) 

15 October: To criticisms of “basic” research, “whose practical applications 

no one can foresee,” the New York Times in an editorial said the two 

Nobel Prizes in medicine for 1976 might have been designed to provide 

an answer and a rebuke. While Dr. Baruch S. Blumberg in the early 

1960s was studying genetic variation in the susceptibility to disease of 

different people (a “seemingly abstruse topic,” the Times noted), he 

found in the blood of an Australian aborigine a strange protein described 

as Australia Antigen, now usually called Hepatitis B surface antigen. 

Blood given for transfusions nowadays is regularly tested for this protein 

32; 19 Oct 76, 17; WPOS~, 15 Oct 76, A-21; 17 Oct 76, A-17; 

25 1 
October ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 

to prevent Hepatitis B infection, thus preventing thousands of blood 

recipients each year from being infected. The other Nobel prizewinner, 

Dr. D. Carleton Gajdusek, while in New Guinea during the 1950s became 

interested in the so-called laughing disease, “kuru,” that was destroying 

the Fore, an obscure Stone Age people. His work on that disease revealed 

a new type of slow-acting virus that could produce brain degeneration, 

and that might be “involved in multiple sclerosis and other major neurological diseases.” The message for financiers and directors of research, 

said the Times, is that “in the long run nothing is more practical than 

basic studies” and that “basic research yields the richest dividends.” 

(NIT, 15 Oct 76) 

Communications Satellite Corporation (ComSat) reported net income for 

the third quarter of 1976 of $7 607 000, down from last yr’s thirdquarter net of $11 837 000. The decrease was the result of amounts 

placed in escrow under an FCC accounting and refund order of 16 June 

1976; if the order had not been in effect, the quarter’s net would have 

been $14 603 000. Although operating income dropped as a result of 

the escrow requirement, the wholly owned Cornsat General Corp. for the 

first time had realized revenues for the entire period from both Marisat 

and Comstar programs; in the third quarter a yr ago, the subsidiary had 

reduced ComSat’s net operating income by a penny per share. Operating 

expenses, including taxes, were $30 223 000 for the quarter, up from 

$24 997 000 for the third quarter of 1975; the increase was due to 

costs of the launches of Intelsat IV-A, Marisat, and Comstar sateuites. 

Cornsat’s gross operating revenues for the third quarter of 1976 totaled 

$36 260 000, an increase over last yr’s third quarter total of 

$35 116 000; the escrow requirement had prevented the gross revenues 

from increasing more than $ 15 million over last yr’s third quarter with 

the beginning of Marisat and Comstar services and continued growth in 

the number of circuits leased to customers of the Intelsat global communications system. Half circuits leased at the end of Sept. 1976 numbered 

4129, a 16% increase over the 3547 leased at the end of Sept. 1975. 

Money put in escrow under the FCC order represented the difference 

between customer payments to ComSat under present rates, and the 

amounts based on lower rates that would be required under an FCC rate 

decision of 4 Dec. 1975. The rate decision was still under judicial review. 

(ComSat Release 76-16) 

An enormous explosion in central Siberia that shook the world 68 yr ago 

might have been caused by the crash of a nuclear-powered spaceship 

from an alien planet, according to the Soviet news agency Tass, reported 

in the Washington Star. Tass quoted scientist Aleksey Zolotov, who had 

just returned from a survey of a remote river valley at Tunguska. On 

30 June 1908, a blast estimated as up to 2000 times more powerful than 

the first atomic bomb had shaken measuring devices all over the world 

and had been heard nearly 1200 km away from Tunguska. Trees had 

been uprooted as far as 50 km from the site, and ground tremors had 

thrown to the ground horses that were pulling plows as far away as 

380 km. Most scientists had attributed the explosion to the impact of a 

meteorite or comet with a mass of 10 million tons and measuring mort 

252 
ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 October 

than 90 meters across. Zolotov told Tass that his survey team had found 

higher than normal radioactivity in remnants of trees near the site; also 

taken were samples of permafrost soil. “Our investigation . . . seems to 

confirm our assumption that what took place in the Tungus taiga was a 

nuclear explosion,” Zolotov said. “It is from this point of view that we 

are exploring the possibility of the artificial origin of the Tungus cosmic 

body.” Tass did not give figures for the radiation study, nor did it identify 

Zolotov beyond saying he was a “noted Soviet scientist . . . who has 

been studying the Tungus mystery for years.” ( WStar, 15 Oct 76, A-4) 

17 October: Two recently published books on “the worst disaster in aviation 

history-the crash of a Turkish Airlines x-10 outside Paris that killed 

at least 346 people in March, 1974--” alleged that the disaster was not 

only preventable but was predicted in detail years before it happened, the 

Washington Post reported. Destination Disaster, by an investigating 

team from the London Sunday Times, aimed at inspiring another congressional investigation into “corporate and governmental interworkings 

that contributed to the disaster,’’ the Post said; The Lust Nine Minutes, 

by Moira Johnston, was a more subjective and personal account of the 

same crash. 

Senate and House hearings in the summer of 1974 had revealed that 

a technically similar accident in June 1972 had exposed an error in the 

design of the DC- 10: a faulty locking system for the door of the large 

cargo compartment. The 1972 mishap had resulted in a “gentlemen’s 

agreement” between the administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration and the president of the Douglas Division, McDonnell Douglas, 

that the lock would be fixed but that FAA would not issue a public and 

legally binding “airworthiness directive” mandating the repair. After the 

agreement was reached, the director of product engineering for the 

Convair Division of General Dynamics, subcontractor to McDonnell 

Douglas for the fuselage (including the door), wrote a long memorandum 

expressing concern about the door. Neither this memo nor another 

Convair memo on the question of liability for the cost of modifications 

ever reached McDonnell Douglas, the authors said, although evidence 

existed that McDonnell Douglas was fully aware of the problem 

nevertheless. 

Turkish Airlines, which was responsible for maintenance after the 

E- 10 was delivered, was sharing in liability settlements with McDonnell 

Douglas, General Dynamics, and the FAA, according to attorneys, who 

said total liability from the crash would probably set a single-accident 

record. The Post noted that FAA had issued 147 airworthiness directives 

in 1973; in 1974, year of the crash, the number was 299; in 1915, the 

number rose to 445. 

Private consultant Charles 0. Miller, former chief of the Natl. Transportation Safety Board‘s bureau of aviation safety, who had gone to Paris 

to assist in investigation of the Turkish Airlines crash, said in a recent 

interview that the Convair memoranda and other documentation that 

provided background to the technical decisions had been turned up by 

the liability lawyers rather than by the crash investigators or by congressional investigators. (W Post, 17 Oct 76, A-1, A-12) 

253 
October ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 

18 October: President Ford awarded the National Medal of Science, the 

highest US. award for distinguished scientific achievement, to 15 scientists, one of them now dead: 

--John W. Backus, IBM Research Laboratory, San Jose, Calif., for contributions to computer programming 

-Manson Benedict, professor emeritus, MIT, for his role in creating the 

discipline of nuclear engineering and his leadership in developing techniques 

for uranium-isotope separation 

-Hans A. Bethe, professor emeritus of physics, Cornell Univ., for contributions to understanding of the atomic nucleus, the origins of solar heat, 

and atomic energy 

-Shhg-Shen Chern, professor of mathematics, Univ. of Calif. at Berkeley, for work leading to discoveries in geometry and topology 

-George B. Dantzig, professor of operations research and computer sciences, Stanford Univ., for invention of linear programming and methods of 

using mathematical theory in computers 

-Hallowell Davis, professor emeritus of physiology, research professor of 

otolaryngology, Washington Univ., for research leading to advancement in 

fields ranging from neurology to acoustics and pediatrics 

-Paul Gyorgy, late professor emeritus of pediatrics, Univ. of Pa. School 

of Medicine, for discovery of three vitamins and related research in human 

nutrition 

-Sterling Brown-Hendricks, former chief chemist, U.S. Dept. of Agriculture plant industry station, Beltsville, Md., for research in physical and 

chemical properties of soils 

-Joseph 0. Hirschfelder, professor of theoretical chemistry, Univ. of 

Wisc., for contributions to atomic and molecular quantum mechanics 

-William H. Pickering, director emeritus, Jet Propulsion Lab., for leadership in exploration of planets and the solar system 

-Lewis H. Sarett, senior v.p. for science and technology, Merck & Co., 

for contributions to chemical synthesis of cortisone and other chemotherapeutic agents 

-Frederick E. Terman, v.p. and provost emeritus, Stanford Univ., for his 

role in creating modern electronics 

-Orville A. Vogel, US. Dept. of Agriculture, professor emeritus of agronomy and soils, State Univ. of Wash., for agronomic research including 

development of semidwarf wheats 

-E. Bright Wilson, Jr., professor of chemistry, Harvard Univ., for theoretical and experimental contributions to the understanding of molecular 

structure 

-Chien-Hsiung Wu, professor of physics, Columbia Univ., for experiments leading to the understanding of the decay of the radioactive nucleus 

(MT, 19 Oct 76, 20) 

8 Sweden’s Royal Academy of Sciences announced that three more Americans had won Nobel prizes: Prof. William N. Lipscomb, Harvard 

Univ., for chemistry, and Prof. Burton Richter of Stanford Univ. and 

Prof. Samuel C. c. Ting of MIT for physics. Prof. Lipscomb won for his 

studies of the structures and properties of boranes, and Profs. Richter 

and Tingshared the physics prize for their independent discoveries of a 

254 
ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 October 

new type of elementary particle known as psi or J. Americans had won 

all four of the prizes awarded so far this year; Prof. Milton Friedman of 

the Univ. of Chicago had won the prize for economics, and the prize for 

medicine had gone to Dr. Baruch S. Blumberg of the Univ. of Pa. Medical 

School and Dr. D. Carleton Gajdusek of the Natl. Institute for Neurological Diseases. All the prizes carry an award of $160 000, derived 

from the estate of Sweden’s Alfred Nobel, inventor of dynamite, who 

established the prizes in 1901. (NIT, 19 Oct 76, 1, 34; 24 Oct 76, 

0 In separate accounts, Aviation Week & Space Technology magazine 

emphasized problems arising in USSR attempts to reoccupy the Salyut 5 

“military space station.” The magazine reported that the Soyuz 21 

cosmonauts were forced to return to earth under emergency circumstances 24 Aug. because of “an acrid odor flowing from the Salyut-5 

space station environmental control system.” Lt. Col. Vitaly Zholobov 

and Col. Boris Volynov “tolerated the odor for some time but were unable 

to find the cause of the problem before the odor became unbearable,” the 

magazine said, noting that the mission was the sixth failure in the last 

nine USSR attempts to complete manned orbital-station missions. In another story in the same issue, the magazine said that “the Soviets believe 

they have solved the [Salyut 51 environmental control system’s odor 

problem that forced the early return of the Soyuz-21 crew” as demonstrated by the 14 Oct. launch of Soyuz 23 carrying Lt. Col. Vyacheslav 

Zudov and Lt. Col. Valery Rozhdestvensky. (Av Wk, 18 Oct 76,13,25) 

0 The Energy Research and Development Administration announced that a 

nuclear explosion reported by the Peoples Republic of China 17 Oct. had 

been detected by the US. Atomic Energy Commission’s detection system. 

The explosion, which occurred underground at 1 a.m. EDT at the Lop Nor 

test area in western China, was in the low-yield range, ERDA said. (ERDA 

Release 76-320) 

19 October: Physicians at Johnson Space Center were gathering data on 

female physiological performance and tolerance limits as a basis for 

establishing criteria in recruiting NASA’s first women astronauts. Women 

employees of the center were asked to volunteer for testing on a treadmill 

and in a lower body negative-pressure device, to see whether women 

responded differently from men of comparable age to treadmill exercise 

and to stresses on the circulatory system induced by decreased pressures 

on the lower body. On the treadmill test, researchers would monitor the 

subject’s heart rate and blood pressure as they varied the speed and tilt 

of the moving treadmill. The pressure device, encasing the subject from 

the waist down, would have the pressure reduced while researchers 

monitored the reaction of the cardiovascular system to the change in 

pressure. NASA had issued a call for at least 30 Space Shuttle astronauts 

(1 5 pilot candidates, 15 mission specialist candidates) in July 1976, with 

a closing date of 30 June 1977. Selection would be completed by December 1977. (JSC Release 76-65) 

0 Two “pilots of note”-Gen. James M. Doolittle and Neil A. Armstronghad announced plans to establish a Charles A. Lindbergh Memorial Fund 

E- 14) 

255 
October ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 

to support the work of young scientists, explorers, and conservationists, 

the New York Times reported. Gen. Doolittle, leader of the first World 

War 11 air raid on Tokyo, and astronaut Armstrong, first man to walk on 

the moon, would head a drive to raise $5 million for the fund by 20 May 

1977, the fiftieth anniversary of Lindbergh’s takeoff on the first solo 

nonstop flight across the Atlantic Ocean. Income from the endowment, 

expected to be about $400 000 a yr, would be distributed to Lindbergh 

Fellows who “combine qualities that made [Lindbergh] a unique human 

being,” said Doolittle at a press conference. He told reporters Lindbergh 

would have been happier with a living memorial than one out of bronze 

and stone.” Lindbergh, who died in 1974 at the age of 72, had continued 

in aviation as a test pilot and airline executive but had branched out into 

medical technology research and wildlife conservation in his later years, 

the NYT said. The fund’s sponsoring committee included representatives 

of the Explorers Club and the World Wildlife Fund, as well as other areas 

of interest to Lindbergh: aerospace, ecology, exploration, and science 

and engineering. Announcement of selections for fellowships would be 

made yearly on 2 1 May, anniversary of Lindbergh’s arrival in Paris after 

his 33-hr flight in Spirit ofSt. Louis. (NIT, 20 Oct 76, 22) 

21 October: Correlations between an astronaut’s susceptibility to motion 

sickness on the ground and his susceptibility in space were the subject of 

studies by JSC scientists, based on data from U.S. and Soviet manned 

space flights and on data from tests aboard a zero-gravity training 

aircraft. Motion sickness had been difficult to study because of the 

variety of separate sensory inputs to the brain. The three major components of human balance and posture were generally accepted to be visual 

input, defining the local vertical component; vestibular input from the 

semicircular canals and otoliths in the inner ear, sensing angular and linear acceleration and the presence or absence of gravity; and muscle sensors, monitoring posture. These interrelated inputs normally function to 

keep the body balanced; in an earth-normal gravity, balance would be reflexive, and persons would not be conscious of the body-movement 

patterns that kept them upright. In a moving vehicle, the inputs to the 

brain might produce contradictory information resulting in a feeling of 

discomfort; “motion sickness” is not an adaptive response and does not 

improve the situation, as coughing would do to relieve a throat blockage. 

Persons without sight can experience motion sickness, but persons 

without their vestibular functions intact apparently do not. Although 

little was known about the interactions among the three sensory systems, 

motion sickness seemed to be more related to vestibular input. During 

Skylab missions, in the relatively large areas of living space, much 

vestibular relearning apparently occurred in the first 2 wk of spaceflight, 

after which all crewmen became very resistant to motion sickness. No 

correlation was apparent between an astronaut’s susceptibility to motion 

sickness on the ground and his susceptibiity in space. The studies postulated that the otolith (chalky concretion in the inner ear) was the receptor 

affording the most direct information on gravity, and therefore was the 

source of many of the inputs causing disequilibrium or motion sickness. 

(JSC Retease 76-67) 

66 

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ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 October 

0 The B-1 bomber was vital to U.S. security, said Gen. William J. Evans, 

commander of the Air Force Systems Command, in a speech to the 

Rockwell Management Club at Los Angeles, Calif. As part of a strategic 

triad-SLBMs, ICBMs, and bombers-constituting three distinct types of 

retaliatory weapons, the B-1 would help complicate defense efforts of 

potential enemies. Although the U.S. now had “a rough equivalence” of 

strategic strength, Gen. Evans noted that the Soviet Union was engaged 

in an effort to upset “the present equilibrium’’ and gain military advantage. Along with deterrent value, the B-1 should be considered a flexible, 

reusable, appropriate weapon in a conventional tactical role as well as in 

a nuclear strategic role. A future conflict might start not through “a 

surprise storm of nuclear missiles,” but through “daring but limited acts 

of provocation” to which the U.S. should be able to respond with at least 

a show of force or be “perceived as a paper tiger.” Gen. Evans congratulated Rockwell and other contributors to the development of the B-1 

and urged continuation of the program. (OIP Release 231.76) * FAA Administrator John L. McLucas announced award to Wilcox Electric 

Co., Kansas City, Mo., of a $3 720 699 contract for nine Category 111 

instrument-landing systems that would complete a program to provide 

all-weather landing capability at key airports across the US. One Category 111 system would be installed at the FAA academy at Oklahoma City 

for training; the other eight would go to Kennedy Airport, NYC; O’Hare, 

Chicago; Houston Intl., Kansas City Intl., Seattle-Tacoma Intl., Los 

Angeles Intl., Portland Intl., and Detroit’s Metropolitan Wayne County 

Airport. The new equipment had already been installed at Dulles Intl. 

near Washington, D.C., Atlanta Intl., San Francisco Intl., and Stapleton 

Airport at Denver, as well as at the FAA center at Atlantic City, N.J., 

where it had been used for test and evaluation. Category III equipment 

would permit landings without visual reference to the ground, under 

weather conditions with ceiling zero and runway visibility no less than 

about 200 m. Existing Category II equipment at the sites to be replaced 

would be moved to other airports, to be named later. (FAA Release 76-97) 

22 October: A recently completed manipulator-development facility at Johnson Space Center’s Bldg. 9a laboratory would assist NASA engineers and 

technicians in studying Shuttle payload deployment and retrieval in 

space, Jsc announced. The manipulating system, with a reach of 15.2 

meters, was the largest known remotely controlled manipulator system. 

Sizes of payloads to be carried in the Space Shuttle would range from 

very small to a maximum length of 18.2 m and diameter of 4.5 m; 

objective of the facility would be to improve techniques of moving bulky 

payloads in and out of the orbiter’s bay in a weightless environment. The 

manipulator arm would be operated from inside the orbiter cabin by an 

astronaut using a pair of hand controllers and viewing the process 

through a window, aided by a closed-circuit TV system. The laboratory 

building also housed working models of orbiter components including a 

full-scale forward cabin section with cargo bay, manipulator station, and 

a large air-bearing table approximately 25 by 30m on which simulated 

payloads could be steered on a cushion of air by the remote arm. The 

257 
October ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 

air-bearing table would also test the ability of astronauts to move over the 

smooth interior of the orbiter, using suction-cup shoes instead of cleats 

locking into grids. An engineer wearing suction-cup shoes and strapped 

into a cage-like apparatus on the air-bearing table could be familiarized 

with “walking like a fly” in the day-to-day work environment of the 

Shuttle. (JSC Release 76-66) 

@ A new research aircraft combining the precision hover and low downwash 

of a helicopter with the long range and high speed of a fixed-wing aircraft 

made its debut at rollout ceremonies in Arlington, Tex., marking ‘ba 

major milestone in the joint NASA-Army tat rotor program,” according to 

a NASA announcement. The Bell Helicopter Textron’s xv-15 would 

undergo a 2-yr flight-testing program scheduled by Ames Research 

Center and the Army’s Air Mobility Research and Development Laboratory. The XV-15 was a 12.8-m-long 9.7-m wing-span aircraft with 

wingtip-mounted engines, transmissions, and 7.6-m propeller rotors that 

could tilt from the helicopter position for vertical takeoffs and landings 

and for hovering, to a horizontal position for forward flight at speeds up 

to more than 482 kph. The tilt rotor would operate with less noise than 

conventional helicopters or turboprop aircraft of comparable size. The 

first XV-15 would undergo ground and hover tests, then go to ARC for 

testing in that center’s wind tunnel; the second xv-15 would undergo 

initial envelope-expansion flight tests at Bell’s Arlington, Tex., facility 

beginning late in 1977. (NASA Release 76-169; WStar, 24 Oct 76, A-2) 

@ MFC announced completion of a huge self-propelled vehicle called the 

Straddle Carrier Transporter, fabricated by McDonnell Douglas Astronautics co. at St. Louis, Mo., and shipped to MSFC for assembly, to be 

used in moving sections of the Space Shuttle external tank at the MiThe XV-15-a tilt-rotor research aircraft combining features of helicopters and conventional airplanes-rolls out at the Arlington, Tex. facility of Bell Helicopter Textron 22 

Oct. 1976. (NASA 76-H-804) 

258 
ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 October 

choud Assembly Facility in New Orleans. Assembled, the external tank 

would measure 47.2 m in length and 8.5 m in dia.; empty, it would weigh 

33 300 kg, and would carry about 708 440 kg of propellants for launch. 

The transporter, completely self-supporting, would use electricity from 

a propane-powered generator for its hydraulic propulsion system, steering, lights, and hoists; it would lift, stabilize, and carry major external 

tank assemblies over concrete floors and improved roadways. Its five 

cable hoists included two 10-ton units on a monorail on the aft frame; 

two 5-ton units on a monorail on the forward frame; and a 2-ton hoist 

on a centerline rail. The 5- and 10-ton hoists in combination would 

handle the liquid-hydrogen tank with a volume of 1573 cu m; the smaller 

hoists would handle the liquid-oxygen tank, with a volume of 552 cu m. 

(MSFC Release 76- 193) 

0 Dr. Christopher C. Kraft, Jr., director of Johnson Space Center, had 

received the highest honor given by the government of France to a citizen 

of another country: the insignia of the Knight of the Legion of Honor, 

the Jsc Roundup reported. The award was given for Kraft’s “tireless 

efforts toward better understanding and cooperation between the people 

of the United States and France.” He had also received the Natl. Civil 

Service League’s career-service award for 1976, as one of ten chosen for 

“excellence in the public service.’’ 

Dr. Robert R. Gilruth, former director of JSC, was one of 35 space 

pioneers inducted into the Space Hall of Fame 5 Oct. during the dedication of the new facility at Alamogordo, N.M. 

At a Jsc ceremony 18 Oct., astronaut Donald K. Slayton received the 

American Heart Assn.’s 1976 Heart of the Year award for inspiring 

millions of Americans by “overcoming a heart problem that had 

grounded him for 10 years, enabling him to resume his distinguished 

participation in America’s space program.” (JSC Roundup, 22 Oct 

76, 1) 

24 October : RockwelLlntl. Corp. inspectors testing their inventory of transistors after a government warning to watch for counterfeit semiconductors had found 1 1 of 11 transistors of one type to be fakes, the New York 

Times reported. Rockwell had concluded that bogus parts had been 

“unwittingly built into [NASA’s] major current project, the Space Shuttle, 

for which Rockwell is the prime contractor.” The NET said that ‘La rash 

of discoveries of bogus devices” had plagued the electronics industry for 

the last year and a half. 

The Defense Electronics supply Center (DESC), a DOD agency that 

procured almost all electronic devices for defense, found 20 of 60 

components taken randomly from stock to be “suspect” and had returned them to the makers for tests to determine authenticity. “Counterfeit” components-devices altered physically to misrepresent their true 

type or quality, by relabeling, renumbering, or adding false reliability 

information or dating- would not necessarily be nonfunctional; however, as the purpose of the alteration would be to indicate falsely that a part 

had passed certain quality tests, and would therefore be much more 

valuable, the part might fail under strenuous application. Failure of a 

259 
October ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 

single component could have consequences far outweighing its 25-cent 

cost. The transistors tested at Rockwell had been marked to indicate 

suitability for use in the most rigorous applications; upon disassembly, 

the parts showed no indication of having undergone any of the extra 

testing signified by the external markings, which had increased the cost 

fivefold. 

Although one trade organization (Electronics Industries Assn.) set up 

a task group to combat the problem of counterfeiting, “all sectors of the 

electronics industry are working against . . . major procedures to alleviate counterfeiting,” said the NYT report. At issue was the use of distributors, intermediary between producers and end users, who had a “heavy 

financial interest in maintaining the current system,” the report said. 

Most semiconductor producers sold rejects to junk or surplus dealers for 

their metal content; the items not disfigured were a very inexpensive 

source for remarking, and could be introduced into the market as highquality low-cost items. Virtually all counterfeit components could be 

traced to the big defense contractors, said the NYT. Industry sources 

contended that ’the DOD had loose procurement practices, with a 

purchasing-policy rule that component contracts must go to the lowest 

bidder. As a DESC spokesman pointed out, “We are simply not allowed 

to pay a premium price on any contract,” even if the low bid is suspiciously below the going rate-“a strong indication that something may 

be wrong,” the NYT noted. Accepted methods of the industry made it 

impossible to guarantee the authenticity of any part that did not come 

directly from the manufacturer, the report added. Although vendors had 

predicted that a 1974 DESC edict calling for a strict and immediate 

upgrading of tests on military-grade components would disrupt the supply, few problhms had arisen after the regulations had taken effect. 

(NYT, 24 Oct 76, 3F; Newsweek, 25 Oct 76) 

25 October: The failure of Soyuz 23 to rendezvous with Salyut 5 indicated 

that the USSR was still encountering the technical and procedural problems that had beset its manned space program for the past 15 yr, said 

Aviation Wk & Space Technology magazine. The failure was the seventh in 11 attempts to complete various space-station missions and the 

second in a row for Salyut; the unplanned water landing that concluded 

the failed mission was the first in Soviet space history, but was attributed 

to “nothing more than bad luck,” said Av Wk . The rendezvous-system 

failure was the fourth Soyuz mission plagued by procedural errors or 

hardware malfunctions associated with docking: Soyuz 3 failed to dock 

with Soyuz 2 in 1968, Soyuz 8 failed to dock with Soyuz 7 in 1969, 

and Soyuz 15 had been unable to rendezvous and dock with Salyut 3 

in 1974. Because the failure of a system on the Soyuz 23 ended its 

mission rather than any problem with Salyut 5, Western observers 

wondered how soon the Soviets would attempt to reman the space station, 

which Av W7c referred to as “military.” (Av Wk, 25 Oct 76, 23) e Viking 2’s lander dug a soil sample from beneath a rock on Mars and delivered it to the biological instrument package. All three experiments 

received a part of the sample; initial data from two of them-the labeledrelease and the pyrolytic-release experiments-were sent to mission 

260 
ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 October 

control at JPL. The third (gas-exchange) experiment was in a long incubation period that would continue through solar conjunction-a movement 

of the bodies which would put the sun between Mars and the earthpreventing communication with the Viking landers and orbiters. Conjunction would begin about 10 Nov. and continue through early Dec.; if 

the landers were revived successfully after the communications gap, 

more samples would be collected in mid-Jan. Leonard Clark, surfacesampler engineer, foresaw no problem in reactivating the arm mechanisms, adding that they had worked very well, “just the way they did 

during ground testing on earth before they left the manufacturer.” (Av 

Wk, 1 Nov 76, 15) 

26 October: The 2000th major missile launch from Cape Canaveral took 

place at 4:30 pm EDT when an Army Pershing missile was launched by 

troops of Battery C, 3d Battalion, 84th Field Artillery, of the U.S. 7th 

Army from Europe. First launch from “the Cape” had occurred 26 yr 

previously on 24 July 1950, when Bumper 8, a captured German V-2 

rocket capped by a WAC Corporal second stage, lifted off the then 

sparsely settled area. (KSC Spaceport News, 12 Nov 76, 1) 

27 October: Ames Research Center announced that 18 scientists representing eight institutions would fly on NASA’s Galileo I1 airborne research 

laboratory on a 3-wk study of atmospheric pollution that would take 

them nearly pole to pole across the central Pacific Ocean, north to south. 

Between 28 Oct. and 19 Nov., the scientists in eight teams would 

measure changes in the upper atmosphere caused by jet aircraft exhaust 

and would investigate the effect on the upper atmosphere of fluorocarbons and halocarbons from aerosol sprays and other sources. The 

experiments at many latitudes from far north to far south would gather 

data in both northern and southern hemispheres to note changes in 

upper-atmosphere composition and pollutants between altitudes of 

10.6 km and 12.1 km. Measuring would begin in Alaska, then proceed 

at Hawaii, Samoa, Australia, New Zealand, and Antarctica. Observations 

near Hawaii would be coordinated with similar measurements at about 

18-km altitude by NASA’s earth-resources survey aircraft, also based at 

Ames. 

The jet-pollutant study was part of a 4-yr cooperative effort between 

ARC and the Lewis Research Center, which had included experiment 

packages carried on jets operated by Pan American, United, and Qantas 

airlines; the Galileo I1 flights would measure pollution over remote areas 

not covered by commercial aircraft. The aerosol pollution measurements 

were part of a broader program by NASA and other agencies to ascertain 

the constituents of the upper atmosphere in a nonpolluted condition, in 

order to define changes with time in proportions of ozone, fluorocarbons, 

water vapor, carbon monoxide, and other compounds, and to determine 

whether such changes were manmade. Galileo I1 data from both types of 

measurements would be coordinated with data collected by NOAA stations 

in Alaska, Hawaii, and Samoa, as well as by stations of the meteorological 

services of Australia and New Zealand and the Commonwealth Scientific 

and Industrial Research Organization. (ARC Release 76-79) 

26 1 
October ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 

@ The Soviet Union’s earth satellites had added a new profession-that of 

printer-to those of meteorologist, cartographer, and communicator, 

the Tass news agency announced. A Molniya comsat tested in Khabarovsk had transmitted newspapers from Moscow to the Far East more 

economically and more rapidly than had been possible using the transcontinental cable. The high-resolution capability of the equipment had 

produced excellent images, the announcement said, adding that “papers 

received by Far Eastern subscribers will now be absolutely identical to 

those taken out of their letter boxes by the Moscovites.” (FBIS, Tass Intl 

Service in Russian, 27 Oct 76) 

29 October: MSFC announced that it had modified its Saturn facilities to 

accommodate Space Shuttle work, having completed remodeling of a 

giant test stand used in the 1960s for static test firing of the Saturn V 

first stages. The stand would be used in structural tests of the liquidhydrogen tank portion of the Shuttle external tank; the hydrogen tank 

measured 29.3 m long and 8.5 m in diameter. Stand modifications 

included work platforms, changes in the stand structure including pressurization, and an instrumentation and control system. Holddown arms 

were removed and a flame deflector that channeled rocket exhaust away 

from the area was taken from under the stand. Liquid-oxygen storage 

facilities used for Saturn had been converted for liquid-hydrogen storage 

needed for Shuttle testing, instead of building new storage. The contract 

with Algernon Blair of Montgomery, Ala., by the Huntsville Div., Corps 

of Engineers, was for approximately $4 million. (MSFC Release 76-195) * MSFC announced selection of the Bendix Corp., Teterboro, N.J., for negotiations leading to award of a $7 007 210 cost-plus-award-fee contract 

for installing, activating, disassembling, and removal of special equipment at MSFC for Space Shuttle structural and dynamic ground tests. The 

contract would run from 15 Nov. 1976 through Dec. 1979. MSFC responsibilities in developing the Space Shuttle covered three areas: the 

main engine powering the orbiter, which uses three of these engines; the 

external tank holding propellants for the main engines during launch and 

ascent; and the solid-fuel rocket boosters to be jettisoned after burnout 

and recovered by parachute for future use. MSFC would make structural 

tests of the external tank and boosters, development tests to prove design 

concepts of the main engine and external tank, and dynamic tests simulating flight conditions to be encountered by the Shuttle during launch. 

(MSFC Release 76- 196) 

@ Two Landsats, launched in 1972 and 1975 to monitor earth resources, had 

been tested for the job of census taker by NASA and the Bureau of the 

Census, NASA announced. Public Law 521, signed by President Ford 

18 Oct. 76, required a complete U.S. census every 5 yr instead of once 

every 10 yr; the satellites, if their performance in 1980 in regional 

readouts and verifications should prove satisfactory, would permit 

significant savings in manpower, the Bureau said. Landsat images, although not detailed enough to count people or houses, could serve to 

identify geological, agricultural, and societal features, especially residential patterns of growth. Satellite images of areas of Md. and Tex. had 

been processed in 1975 to identify land cover typical of transition from 

262 
ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 October 

rural to urban use; conventional census boundaries overlaid on the 

images enabled a computer to identify urban fringe zones in the test 

areas, verified by actual census statistics, the Bureau said. (NASA Release 

* NASA’s aviation safety reporting system (ASRS) received nearly 1500 reports 

in its first 3-mo operating period, which ended in midJuly, NASA announced. As a result of information in the reports, NASA forwarded 130 

alert bulletins to the Federal Aviation Administration. Pilots and aircrew 

members submitted 62% of the reports, and air traffic control personnel 

34%, indicating broad support for the program within the aviation 

community. About 99% of the reports included reporter identification 

that would permit NASA to follow up on the data if necessary; follow-up 

was used in more than 150 cases. Twelve of the reports concerned 

aircraft accidents and were forwarded to the Natl. Transportation Safety 

Board and the FAA as required; none of the reports contained information 

relating to a criminal offense. All other reports had the reporters’ names 

removed, as specified in the agreement between NASA and the FAA, before 

the information was forwarded. Review of the information so far had 

revealed some “less obvious problems” with the national aviation system, 

NASA said, and analysis would proceed shortly: problems included equipment malfunction, communications breakdown, flight operations, and 

personnel workloads. (NASA Release 76- 177) 

* A mysterious radio signal apparently emanating from the Soviet Union had 

been so powerful that it had disrupted maritime, aeronautical, telecommunications, and amateur radio operations throughout the world for 

months, the New York Times reported. The US. Federal Communications Commission had forwarded four complaints to the USSR Ministry 

of Post and Telecommunications since 25 Aug., but had not received an 

answer. Colin Thomas of Leeds, England, worldwide coordinator of interference reports for the Intl. Amateur Radio Union, said that amateurs in 

Sweden, Norway, West Germany, the U.S., and Australia had complained 

of the interference; protests by the British Home Office to the USSR had 

not received a reply, he said. The Intl. Telecommunications Union in 

Geneva, Switzerland, to which the matter was referred, said it had no 

power to enforce treaties against interference but tried to mediate such 

situations. An FCC spokesman said complaints had been received almost 

daily since early July; direction-finding equipment had confirmed the 

source of the signals as the eastern side of the Baltic Sea. An extremely 

wideband signal pulsing 10 times per second was causing the interference, which had generated complaints from every type of shortwave 

user. What generated the signals, what type of intelligence they might 

be carrying, and what the purpose was, remained unanswered questions, 

the Nflsaid. (IVY”, 30 Oct 76, 5) 

During October: Numbers of ham radio operators had received pictures 

transmitted by the Viking lander from the surface of Mars more than 

370 million km away, the Associated Press reported in a story reprinted 

by the New York Times. Retired printing foreman Bob Walton of Des 

Moines, Ia., said that a third of the 260 000 hams in the U.S. might be 

capable of receiving the pictures if they spent about $700 on equipment. 

76- 176) 

263 
October ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 

Last July the Jet Propulsion Laboratory at Pasadena broadcast on its 

20m band that off-duty personnel would relay Mars pictures through 

their amateur radio station; Walton found a junked TV set, replaced some 

parts, and began receiving the Mars pictures. The JPL signals, taperecorded and put through a converter, turned the sound into pictures 

when played back. Vocal explanations of the pictures could also be taped 

for playback. Storms in Iowa had prevented Walton from receiving some 

of the Mars pictures, but ham operators in Tex. and Fla. sent him the 

ones he had missed, he reported. (Nm, 7 Oct 76, 10 C) 

Video transmissions of Viking lander pictures from the JPL ham radio 

station N6V (NASA 1976 Viking) at Pasadena had bypassed ham radio 

operators in San Diego County nearby, wrote Cliff Smith, science writer 

for the Sun Diego Union. The shortwave radio signals, good for longdistance communications, had been received by “about 13 000 hams 

around the world equipped to receive the pictures,” but not by the score 

of ham operators around San Diego. The locals pointed out that special 

converter devices N6V used for picture transmission and reception had 

been made by a company in San Diego, and that the local ham organization had donated to N6V the converter used by the station for its Viking 

transmissions. After a representative of the San Diego Reporter Assn. 

called the situation to the attention of the N6V broadcasters-all hams 

employed as technicians at JPL, the Viking control center-N6V corrected the omission by beaming its broadcasts to a repeater station on 

Otay Mt. that most area hams could receive. Pictures received since the 

change had included shots of the Viking 2 mechanical arm trying to turn 

over a rock; closeups of the Martian moons, Deimos and Phobos; and a 

weird-looking alien whose image the JPL station transmitted as a joke. 

(Sun Diego Union, 8 Oct 76) 

MSFC announced development of a new system of vehicle mobility that could 

greatly extend unmanned explorations on the surface of Mars and other 

planets. The concept grew out of work on the successful lunar roving 

vehicle that carried astronauts and equipment on extended exploration 

of the moon, far from the lunar module’s landing site. Scientists had 

regretted the lack of mobility of the Viking landers on the surface of 

Mars, because the data on atmosphere and terrain had been limited to 

the landing site. The new idea, called Elastic Loop Mobility System 

(ELMS), would use a continuous elastic-loop track in place of the landing 

pads; the track would distribute lander weight uniformly over a relatively 

large area, with suspension and drive systems on the spacecraft combined into a single lightweight package. The geometry of the loop would 

serve to provide “excellent mobility” on soft soils and smooth rides over 

hard and rough terrain. Tests on models revealed slope-climbing capability, high maneuverability, and power to surmount obstacles and cross 

crevasses. Combining the ELMS with existing Viking hardware would 

produce a mobile laboratory that could conduct scientific missions on the 

Mars surface for 6 mo along traverses up to 150 km. 

Recent reviews of a possible mobile-Viking mission to Mars, using the 

ELMS concept, considered extending the mission to 2 yr along traverses 

264 
ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 October 

up to 500 km. The low ground clearance of the Viking spacecraft, 

together with the low ground-pressure tolerances on soft Martian soil, 

ruled out the use of wheels for mobility, as well as the use of conventional 

tracks because of high energy consumption and low operational reliability. Besides use of the MSFC-developed ELMS for planetary exploration, the U.S. Marine Corps had considered the system for a new 

generation of amphibious landing vehicles for the 1980s, a MSFC spokesman said. (MSFC Release 76-191) 

“Under the guise of lack of funds ... a paucity of imagination’’ had lost the 

u.S. “a preeminent place in the world of space science and engineering,” 

said a letter in Aviation Wk & Space Technology magazine. In the 

meantime, the USSR “has not turned down any opportunity to use its 

space science and engineering to advance their well-being for the present 

or for the future.” The letter cited the Grand Tour exploration of the 

outer planets, during a planetary configuration that “will not occur again 

until 179 years have passed,” and the Large Space Telescope program 

as lost opportunities for the U.S. to retain technological superiority. (Av 

Wk, 11 Oct 76, 74) 

0 Johnson Space Center awarded a $96 000 contract to Martin Marietta 

Aerospace Co. of Denver for a study of equipment needed to construct 

a solar-power satellite (SPS) in geosynchronous orbit, in or about 1990. 

The 9-mo contract called for conceptual design and system definition of 

equipment to support construction of large space systems in orbit, assuming use of the Space Shuttle, and for defining development and 

maintenance costs of such equipment. (Jsc Release 76-62) 

-JSC selected Alpha Bldg. Corp. of Houston for negotiations leading 

to award of a $1 369 000 cost-plus-award-fee contract for construction 

support services at the Center, including minor construction and other 

site work-alteration of laboratory systems, facilities, utilities, roads, 

sewers, walks, etc.-required by space programs and normally for 

projects estimated at $10 000 or less. The contract would begin 1 

December 1976 and end 30 November 1977, with the option for the 

government to extend the contract for two additional 1-yr periods. (JSC 

Release 76-63) 

265 

November 1976 

1 November: NASA would appeal a decision of the U.S. District Court ordering 

the agency to rehire all Marshall Space Flight Center civil service 

employees laid off since 1967 as the result of awarding support-services 

contracts to private business, Aviation Veek & Space Technology 

magazine reported. The court had ruled that all such contracts awarded 

at MSFC since 1967 were illegal. NASA spokesmen estimated that up to 

1500 contractor employees now at MSFC could be fired as a result of the 

ruling, and that 17 000 contractor employees throughout the agency 

might be affected by the decision, which ordered NASA to rehire the civil 

service personnel with back pay in amounts depending on the period of 

unemployment. Had all the employees affected been unemployed for the 

full 10 yr (the “worst-case situation”), necessary back pay might go as 

high as $150 million, NASA said, although the actual funds required would 

be less. An appeals court had already granted NASA a stay until 1 Feb. 

1977 before the district court’s ruling became effective, so that the 

agency could ask Congress for supplemental funds to cover the back-pay 

requirements. (Av ;Iwt, 1 Nov 77, 22) 

NASA announced plans to use a new technique for rapid detection of fecal 

coliform bacteria in water systems, under an agreement with EPA’s region 

2, to define water quality in coastal areas of the New York Bight along 

the Atlantic coast. NASA would supply remote data-collecting buoys and 

a monitor designed to detect coliforms, the accepted indicator of bacterial contamination. Developed at LaRC as a byproduct of early Skylab 

environmental-control systems technology, the electronic monitoring 

device could detect human and nonhuman fecal coliforms in a few hours 

rather than days, permitting health authorities to act promptly upon 

discovery of large quantities of disease-producing bacteria. Shellfish beds 

could become infested with pathogenic organisms resulting from ocean 

dumping of sewage; the sensor could also monitor coliform levels in lakes, 

public water supplies, and sewage-plant effluent. (NASA Release 76-1 78) @ The U.S. Air Force Systems Command announced that its space and missile 

systems organization (SAMSO) had completed tests at MSFC to define effects 

of sound waves and shock waves on the Space Shuttle during launch, 

using a 6.4% scale model of the launch pad proposed for Vandenberg 

AFB. The model launch pad, measuring roughly 13 m long by 6.5 m wide 

by 2 m high and weighing more than 27 000 kg, underwent engineinduced overpressure and noise environments simulated by Tomahawk 

solid-fuel rocket motors and high-pressure gaseous hydrogen-oxygen 

engines. Shock waves from rocket-engine ignition interacted with exhausts on the launch pad to direct overpressure back to the launch 

vehicle; the flow rate also created an acoustic field causing turbulence in 

267 
November ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 

the surrounding .atmosphere. The altered environments were modified 

during testing by altering the configuration to produce the most acceptable design of launch vehicle and payload. (AFSC Release OIP 170.76) 

U.S. nuclear export policy should be conditioned on an international understanding that certain activities are “inherently dangerous,” said Victor 

Gilinsky, commissioner of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission in a 

speech at Mass. Institute of Technology. Although the dangers of Plutonium-“both a nuclear explosive and the key to a virtually inexhaustible 

source of energy”-had been regarded as located far in the future, “the 

future is here,” said Gilinsky, citing the accumulation of plutonium-rich 

spent fuel from civilian power reactors in storage sites around the world, 

with more and more nations interested in commercial-scale reprocessing. 

Although the desire for plutonium had been stimulated by the assumption 

“almost universally held” that its use was a natural, desirable, and 

indispensable result of using nuclear materials to generate electricity, the 

assumption had made even more difficult any attempt to restrict the 

availability of plutonium. Likewise, safeguards based on confusion or 

misapprehension about the possibilities of misusing plutonium had been 

nullified by the spread of technological knowhow as a national policy of 

the U.S. More than 90% of the enriched uranium imported in 1975 into 

the European Economic Community to produce energy-and eventually 

plutonium- had been supplied by the u.S., Gilinsky pointed out. Nuclear 

commerce should be conditioned on a new policy that “unrestricted 

national development of nuclear power programs is inherently incompatible with a secure world,” he concluded, and no distinction should be 

recognized between military and “so-called ‘peaceful’ ” nuclear explosives. (NRC Release S- 14-75) 

2 November: Two NASA laboratories had spearheaded “the most ambitious 

effort so far to detect radio emissions from distant civilizations,” Walter 

Sullivan reported in the New York Times. The project, known as SET1 

(search for extraterrestrial intelligence), would use a specially constructed device called a multichannel spectral analyzer with various radio 

telescopes to scan simultaneously a million different frequency bands 

within a range known to scientists as the “waterhole.” This part of the 

spectrum lies between the frequencies emitted by hydrogen atoms adrift 

in space (1 420 mhz) and those from hydroxyl, composed of one hydrogen 

and one oxygen atom (1662 mhz), which combines with hydrogen to form 

water; the frequency range had been chosen as “a logical rendezvous for 

intelligent creatures trying to make contact for the first time.” Ames 

Research Center would have primary responsibility for program management and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory would use its worldwide network 

of antennas besides providing instruments for the multichannel system, 

including a data processor capable of handling 6 million channels. NASA 

officials noted that the search would not depend on deliberate efforts at 

communication by other civilizations, citing the detectable radio energy 

emitted by the earth in normal space operations, television transmissions, 

and so forth. (NI”, 2 Nov 76, 16) 

Landsat data analyzed by computer had distinguished accurately between 

stands of. hardwood and pine, offering an improvement in routine forest 

268 
ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 November 

management, NASA announced. Forestry specialist Darrel Williams at 

GSFC had achieved an overall accuracy in classifying forest categories of 

90%, in comparison with airplane photographs of the same tract, a 

commercial forest in N.C. owned by the Weyerhaeuser Corp., chosen so 

that the data could be checked against a known base available continuously. Aerial photos used in forest inventory might be updated only 

every 3 to 5 yr, because of the expense of airplane flights, whereas 

Landsat could provide repetitive coverage much more frequently. Use of 

the Landsat data, besides replacing conventional photographic coverage, 

could permit continuous land evaluation for insurance and tax purposes 

and provide evidence of unauthorized cutting, among other benefits. 

(NASA Release 76-179) 

0 Britain and France announced their decision to build no more Concorde 

supersonic jetliners beyond the 16 now under construction or in the air. 

After a meeting in London with France’s transport minister Marcel 

Cavaillb, British industry minister Gerald Kaufman told a news conference that future projects would concentrate on less exotic subsonic 

aircraft that would stand a better chance of making money. The Concorde, a project begun by treaty in 1962, had already cost about $1.92 

billion for research, design, and development; each plane, with support 

facilities, would cost about $49.6 million. Nine had been built and 

sold-five to British Airways, four to Air France-and, of those remaining, three would go to British Airways and two to Air France, while 

preliminary purchase agreements had been signed with Iran for two 

others. British Airways had begun supersonic commercial flights in Jan. 

1976 with its Concordes between London and Bahrein; Air France had 

begun similar service at about the same time between Paris and Rio de 

Janeiro. On 24 May 1976, a trial service began from London and Paris 

to Dulles Intl. Airport at Washington, D.C. Banned by the New York 

Port Authority from landing at JFK Intl. Airport, pending results of environmental testing at Dulles, the Concorde was losing money for both 

its state-owned sponsors; Air France reported losses of from $30 to 

$32 million in the first 9 mo of Concorde operation. Potential customers 

for the Concorde had made it clear that they would be interested only in 

the Europe-to-New York City route, most lucrative of the international flights. Kaufman added that the two countries had not become 

disenchanted with supersonic transport even though their future plans 

were to build smaller planes; “the fact that you’re going for bread and 

butter now,” he said, “doesn’t mean that you’d be disenchanted with 

caviar later.” (NYT, 3 Nov 76, 61; W Post, 4 Nov 76, A-3; W Star, 

0 Michel Bignier, Director General of the French cNES from Jan. 1972 to 

June 1976, assumed his new duties as director of ESA’S Spacelab program. (ESA newsletter, Nov 76, 2) 

3 November: A Stanford Research Institute study requested by Ames Research Center of ways to detect possible intelligence signals from outer 

space reported that the most effective and economical technique would 

be use of a hemispheric antenna more than 3 km in diameter, orbiting 

3 NOV 76, A-5) 

269 
November ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 

the earth opposite the moon but shielded from earth‘s radio emissions. 

The orbiting antenna would occupy one of the points in the moon’s orbit 

where the gravity field of earth and moon would balance one another. 

Two other strategies assessed in the study were an “orchard” of parabolic antennas (similar to that suggested in 1971 for Project Cyclops, a 

joint ARC-Stanford proposal to use massed loom antennas for signalseeking and for radio astronomy), and a group of antennas in craters on 

the far side of the moon shielded from earth interference to sweep the 

entire range of the heavens during each month. Choice of the best 

strategy would depend on estimates of how far the system would need to 

look to find another technological civilization; Walter Sullivan noted in 

the NY Times “a strong suspicion that the nearest possible civilization 

may be 500 light years or more away.” (NYZ’, 3 Nov 76, 70) 

0 Dr. Mary Helen Johnston, metallurgist at MsFc, was principal guest speaker 

at the Federal Women’s Day program at Wallops Flight Center. 

Dr. Johnston, who said she wanted to be one of the first American women 

chosen for space flight, participated in 1974 as part of an all-women crew 

of experimenters in a 5-day tryout of the general-purpose laboratory at 

MSFC, a cylindrical mockup of the Spacelab being built in Europe for 

Space Shuttle flights. Using the neutral-buoyancy simulator, a working 

area for handling experiment packages in a zero-gravity environment, 

the crew developed techniques for use on Spacelab. As principal investigator for three scientific experiments and co-investigator on another, Dr. Johnston had planned the work in hopes of going on orbital 

missions in the 1980s. Also on the program was Audrey Rowe Colom, 

director of women’s activities for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and current president of the Natl. Women’s Political Caucus. 

Besides the speakers, the program included skits by WFC employees and 

a costumed narration of “TWO Centuries of American Women on Parade.” (WFC Release 76- 15) * Dr. Harrison H. (Jack) Schmitt, astronaut on ApoZZo 17, was the victorious 

Republican candidate for the US. Senate from New Mexico, defeating 

Democrat Joseph M. Montoya, who was seeking a third term. Now a 

consulting geologist, the 41-yr-old Schmitt had a 3-to-2 lead in the 

returns. CBS commentator Walter Cronkite noted in a news broadcast at 

10:25 p.m. EST on 2 Nov. that astronauts constituted only 2 tenmillionths of the U.S. population, yet there would now be two U.S. senators 

who were astronauts-Schmitt and John Glenn (D-Ohio)-which was 

representation out of all proportion.” (W Post, 3 Nov 76, A-17; 

broadcast, 2 Nov 76) 

4 November: JX announced selection of the Boeing Aerospace Go. for negotiations leading to award of a contract, valued at about $970 000, 

funded by NASA and ERDA for the study of space-based solar-power 

systems. The 12-mo two-phase study would provide specific data on the 

most effective way to convert solar to electrical energy using satellites, 

and would determine where in space the various phases of a solar-power 

satellite should be constructed and assembled; the second phase would 

define weights and costs of a satellite system. The project would aim at 

bb 

270 
ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 November 

providing uninterrupted energy beamed to earth from large satellites in 

fixed orbits at altitudes above 35 000 km. (JSC Release 76-69) * ERDA conducted a demonstration at Ft. Belvoir, Va., for military decisionmakers on the use of solar cells by the armed forces. Arranged in 

cooperation with the US. Army’s Mobility Equipment Research and 

Development Command, the exhibit would show the advantages of solar 

cells over conventional sources of electricity in applications such as 

communications and surveillance. Increased purchase by the military 

could improve availability of solar cells to the general population, ERDA 

said, by stimulating mass production and thereby lowering costs. (ERDA 

release 1 Nov 76) 

5 November: NASA Hq announced that Robert S. Kraemer, Director of Lunar 

and Planetary Programs, would become special assistant to Dr. Robert 

S. Cooper, Director of Goddard Space Flight Center, working on the 

applications missions of the center. Kraemer had been at NASA Hq for 9 

yr, 6 of them in his current position. (NASA Hq. special anno., 5 Nov 76) * LaRC announced that James S. Martin, Jr., manager of the Viking project, 

would resign in December to become vice president for advanced programs at Martin Marietta Aerospace. Martin, who came to LaRC in 1964, 

had managed the Viking project since 1968, directing work at JPL, at 

Martin Marietta’s facility in Denver, and at universities and subcontractor plants throughout the US. Martin Marietta had been prime 

contractor for the Viking project. hRc said that 6. Calvin Broome, 

Viking mission director, would become Viking project manager 15 Nov., 

directing the 18-1~10 extended mission from the control center at JPL in 

Pasadena, Calif. (NASA special anno., 5 Nov 76; LaRC Release 76-37; 

NYT, 6 Nov 76, 9) 

KSC announced award to Norflor Construction Co., Orlando, Fla., of a 

$284 000 construction contract for an airlock to provide a clean-room 

environment in the spin-test facility of Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, 

to be used in preparing Delta-launched spacecraft and later for Space 

Shuttle payload processing. Construction would be completed within 160 

days after contractor’s notification to proceed. The airlock installation 

would include a 5-ton crane, air conditioning, personnel airlock, and 

lines for electricity, vacuum, compressed air, and gaseous nitrogen. 

Present clean-room facilities were occupied by elements of the Mariner 

Jupiter-Saturn spacecraft scheduled for launch in Aug. and Sept. 1977. 

Delta payloads scheduled for launch in the spring and summer of 1977 

included Geos (ESA), April; Goes, May; 0”s (ESA), June; Japan’s G!VB 

metesat, July; Sirio, an Italian comsat, August; and Meteosat (ESA), Sept. 

(KSC Release 490-76) 

e NASA Hq and LaRC announced that A. Thomas Young, former mission 

director for the Viking project, had been appointed Director for Lunar 

and Planetary Programs at NASA Hq and would begin his new duties 

6 Dee. in the Office of Space Science. Young, who had worked with the 

Viking project since 1968 and helped develop Mars mission objectives, 

was most recently the mission operations manager and director of the 

750-person Viking flight team at JPL in Pasadena, Calif. In his new job 

271 
November ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 

he would manage NASA’s unmanned planetary programs, including 

Viking, Pioneer, Mariner, and Helios, as well as studies in planetary 

astronomy, atmospheres, and geology; advanced scientific planning, programming, and technology; extraterrestrial materials research; and 

flight-program support. (LaRC Release 76-40; NASA Hq special anno., 

5 Nov 76) 

After a series of technical checks, the Ekran satellite launched in the USSR 

26 Oct. had been activated, Tass annouced. Ekran, in synchronous 

orbit, had transmitted experimental television programs over “a vast 

territory in Siberia between the Surgut and Yakutsk meridians,” Tass 

said, describing the new service as a “gigantic telebridge.” USSR first 

deputy communications minister V. Shamshin said the new generation of 

comsats would provide a reliable and economical system of television 

communications throughout the Soviet Union. Ekran, whose transmitters were apparently more powerful than those of the Molniya series, 

would dispense with the need for 12-meter ground antennas used by the 

previous Orbita system, Tass said. (FBIS, Moscow Tass in English, 5 Nov 

76; Moscow Domestic Service in Russian, 6 Nov 76) 

6 November: Scientists at Johnson Space Center had used helium-filled 

balloons as the preferred means of carrying payloads to study the atmosphere above the ozone layer. Although sounding rockets and airplanes 

could operate in the medium between 30 and 50 km over the earth’s 

surface, neither could remain stationary for very long, the rocket’s time 

in the stratosphere being measurable in minutes; also, payload weight for 

an airplane must decrease with the altitude it can maintain, whereas a 

balloon would be capable of taking an 1800-kg payload as high as 50 km. 

JSC’s Environmental Effects Office had used balloons to study effects on 

the ozone layer of fluorocarbons and other chemical interactions in the 

upper atmosphere; recent Natl. Research Council recommendations on 

reduction of use of freons had been partially based on JsC balloon-flight 

data. The Jsc Space Physics Branch had used balloons to carry cosmicray instrumentation for the study of high-energy particles, and had 

worked with the Utrecht Space Sciences lab in carrying an ultraviolet 

telescope by balloon for use in a range of light that was opaque to 

observation from earth. Balloons and payloads prepared by J% were 

launched from Palestine, Tex., by the Natl. Center for Atmospheric 

Research, with parachutes for recoverable experiments. (JSC Release 

76-70; JSC Roundup, 19 Nov 76, 1) 

7 November: Instruments left on the moon’s surface during the Apollo 

program were continuing to transmit information from 13 experiments, 

Jsc announced. The Apollo 12 mission (Nov. 1969) accounted for 2 of 

the experiments; Apollo 15 (July-Aug. 1971), for 3; Apollo 16 (April 

1972), for 3; and Apollo 17 (Dec. 1972), for 5. Findings included the 

discovery that the moon did in fact possess an atmosphere, only about 

a millimeter thick and composed of ions of light minerals, and that the 

first two layers below the moon’s surface consisted largely of basaltic 

rock and silicon. Data transmitted by 5 of the nuclear transmitters still 

operating were sent to stations at JPL, Pasadena, Calif., and GSFC, Green272 
ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTZCS, 1976 November 

belt, Md., where they were analyzed by 10 scientists. (NYT, 7 Nov 

76, 45) * Atomic reactor waste buried in the Ural Mountains had exploded in 1958, 

killing hundreds and affecting thousands with radiation sickness, according to an exiled Soviet scientist whose article in the British New Scientist 

was reported by Associated Press. Zhores Medvedev, a biochemist and 

geneticist who had been a wellknown dissident in the Soviet Union, had 

been allowed to go to Britain in Jan. 1973 but became an exile when 

Soviet authorities refused to allow him to return. His article said that 

reactor waste buried for many years in a deserted area had overheated 

and erupted “like a violent volcano,” and that strong winds had blown 

the resulting radioactive clouds for a long distance; however, no one had 

been evacuated from the area until after symptoms of radiation sickness 

appeared. Many Ural towns with medium to high levels of radiation had 

never been evacuated, he said, adding that the area was among several 

that were off limits to Western correspondents. Medvedev said several 

biology research stations had been built in what was “the largest area of 

gamma radiation in the world” to study the damage to plant and animal 

life. In 1974, a Soviet official denied reports of explosions at the the 

Shavchenko nuclear power station on the Caspian Sea, at the same time 

that Pravda, the Communist Party newspaper, was assuring the public 

that radioactive wastes had been stored safely. 

Another Soviet disaster had occurred in Oct. 1960, Medvedev said, 

when then-Premier Nikita Krushchev ordered the launch of a moon 

rocket to be timed with his arrival in New York City for a session of the 

UN General Assembly. When the ignition button was pushed, nothing 

happened; under normal procedures, Medvedev said, workers would 

drain the fuel from the rocket before inspecting to find the cause of the 

failure. However, Marshal Mitrofan Nedelin, then head of Soviet rocket 

forces, felt himself “under an obligation to fulfill the ambitious order” 

issued by Krushchev and decided to investigate immediately. While 

dozens of engineers and other experts were examining the rocket and its 

support systems, the ignition suddenly started to work, but the rocket 

could not take off because of “the forest of inspection ladders.” The 

rocket toppled over and turned the Soviet cosmodrome into a holocaust, 

killing many persons in the area, including “some of the best representatives of Soviet space technology,” Medvedev said. AP noted that the 

Soviet media routinely ignore all disasters, whether natural or manmade. 

(W Post, 7 Nov 76, A-1; WStar, 7 Nov 76, B-8; Av Wk, 15 Nov 76, 

20) 

8 November: The U.S. Air Force announced it would begin flight tests of a new 

system called latar (laser-augmented target acquisition/recognition), developed by Northrop Corp. to give pilots of single-seat aircraft enhanced 

air-to-surface and air-to-air attack capability. The latar pod, mounted in 

the gun bay of the USAF F-4E, would contain long-range high-resolution 

electro-optical equipment for target imaging, laser designation, and acquisition and tracking; its field-of-view would be limited only by the 

fuselage and the externally carried munitions on the aircraft. The system 

273 
November ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 

would allow a pilot to acquire a target visually, using either a helmetmounted sight system or a telescopic radar, with the optical turret 

following his line of sight; the view seen by the latar would appear on a 

helmet-mounted display built by Minneapolis Honeywell. The system 

would be suitable for use in all types of aircraft, including helicopters. 

(OIP Release 203.76) 

@ FAA Administrator John L. McLucas announced that the agency would 

sponsor a conference in Washington, D.C., 16 Nov. to foster the use of 

metrics in aviation, in accordance with national policy set forth in the 

Metric Conversion Act of 1975. The conference would hear presentations by FAA, other federal agencies, aviation users, and the public, and 

would run into a second day if necessary. Subjects to be discussed would 

include air-traffic control, operations, and aeronautical charts and navigation aids, as well as design of aviation products and the impact on the 

aviation community of a transition to the metric system. McLucas noted 

that FAA had already begun to use metric measurements in areas such as 

standards for airport design and construction. (FAA Release 76-106) 

Federal agencies allocated $4.5 billion to institutions of higher learning in 

FY 1975, the Natl. Science Foundation reported, a level of support about 

the same as the previous year’s but representing an 8% decline when 

converted to constant (1 972) dollars. HEW allocated the largest amount, 

$3.2 billion, or 70% of the total; the NSF supplied the second largest, 

$491 million or 11%. Other sponsoring agencies were the Dept. of 

Agriculture, DOD, ERDA, and NASA. Of the $2.2 billion earmarked for 

research and development (about half of all allocations to academic 

institutions), researchers in life sciences received $1.2 billion, more than 

half of all federal R&D funds; research in physical sciences received $307 

million, about 14%, and engineering and environmental sciences each 

received about 9%. All other fields together received only about 13%. 

(NSF Release ~~76-91) 

9 November: The $100 million spent by the US. on a search for life on Mars 

had produced only disagreement over the findings, Viking project scientists said at a JPL press conference. Four of six Viking scientists said 

they did not know whether life existed on Mars; one denied that Viking 

had found life; the sixth said he felt Viking had found “primitive microbes” in the Mars soil samples. All six agreed that Viking had found 

nothing at either the Chryse or the Utopia landing site representing 

fossils that would have confirmed a previous existence of life on Mars, 

Wushington Post writer Thomas O’Toole reported. 

Dr. Klaus Biemann of MIT, who designed the instrument to look for 

dead organic matter, noted that nothing had been detected, and explained readouts from other instruments as the result of an exotic chemistry catalyzed by some superoxidant in the surface of Mars and activated 

by solar ultraviolet rays that penetrated the Mars atmosphere all the way 

to the surface. Dr. Carl Sagan of Cornell Univ. disagreed, saying that the 

failure to find dead organisms did not outweigh the activity detected by 

the biology instruments, which produced readings at a lower temperature 

and lost them when the sample was heated. This result “smells more like 

274 
ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 November 

biology than any chemistry I can think of,” Sagan added. Vance Oyama 

of ARC favored a chemical explanation; Dr. Gilbert V. Levin of Biospherics said he leaned toward a biological explanation. Dr. Norman H. 

Horowitz of Calif. Inst. of Technology, who designed the photosynthesis 

experiment, favored the biology explanation but regretted the absence of 

fossils. Dr. Harold P. Klein of ARC said the Viking results “do not 

rigorously prove there is life on Mars, nor do they rigorously disprove it.” 

New York Times reporter John Noble Wilford described the failure 

to detect on Mars the organic compounds essential to life processes on 

earth as “a major surprise,” causing most of the confusion over interpretations of the data; a NY7’ editorial noted that the Mars findings had 

forced a new look at theories about the origins of life on earth, which 

“seems neither so certain nor so inevitable as it did before the Viking 

landings . . .” (W Post, 10 Nov 76, A-9; NIT, 10 Nov 76, A-16; 

18 Nov 76, 42) 

e The National Aeronautic Assn., at its annual meeting in Washington, D.C., 

announced its selections for Elder Statesmen of Aviation for 1976. The 

award, established in 1954, honored outstanding Americans over the age 

of 60 who had made significant contributions to aeronautics. The three 

persons chosen were: J. Leland Atwood, 72, leader in aviation for more 

than 50 yr, who headed North American Rockwell (now Rockwell Intl.) 

until his retirement in 1970 and originated the design concept for the 

P-5 1 Mustang; Clifford W. Henderson, 81, originator of the Bendix and 

Thompson trophy races and the Power Puff Derby, and manager of the 

National Air Races 1928-1939; and Blanche Wilcox Noyes, 76, who 

learned to fly in 1928 and won the national closed-course race in 1929, 

the Miami All-American air race in 1931, and the Bendix trophy for a 

cross-country flight in 1936. (NAA release 9 Nov 76) 

e INTELSAT announced plans to conduct a 1977 program of research and 

development costing more than $5.4 million, to advance technology for 

its global comsat system. The R&D yearly budget, approved by the recent 

meeting of the board of governors, would consist of $1.3 million for 

research to identify technology that appeared promising for the future 

INTELSAT projects; $2.2 million for contract authority for projects with 

near-term applications; and $1.9 million for in-house support of such 

projects. Areas of exploratory research would include spacecraft and 

microwave technology, communications processing, analysis of propagation and transmission, and studies of materials and devices. Near-term 

projects would include development of antennas, transponders, and other 

components; investigation of cross polarization; development of NiH batteries, voice-channel decoders, high-power transistors, and improvement 

of techniques. (INTELSAT Release 76-33-M) 

SA announced acceptance of the first solid-propellant apogee boost motor 

produced in Europe-designed and made by SNIA-Viscosa of Italy in 

collaboration with SEP of France-for use in its Geos (geostationary 

scientific satellite). The motor, measuring 1.1 m long with maximum 

diameter of 0.7 m, weighed 305 kg, more than the remainder of the 

spacecraft, and would serve to inject the satellite into geostationary orbit 

275 
November ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 

from the elliptical transfer orbit provided by a Thor-Delta launch vehicle. 

The satellite was scheduled for launch from Cape Canaveral in April 

1977. (ESA release 9 Nov 76) 

10 November: The Marshall Star reported that a former student research 

assistant at MSFC, now a member of the faculty at Alabama A&M Univ., 

would be principal investigator in a study to develop remote-sensing 

applications for resources study and management, under a $35 000 

grant from NASA and MSFC. The research effort would catalog the transportation network of Ala., including highways, railroads, water systems, 

and airports, and would devise a system for storing information in quickly 

retrievable form that could readily be updated. Dr. Oscar Montgomery, 

who had worked on the study at the outset, had graduated from A&M and 

had received a Ph. D. from Purdue Univ., returning to A&M in the 

department of natural resources and environmental studies. He and 

other researchers at A&M would identify and assist users of remotely 

sensed data in Ala., develop university facilities and skills to handle, 

process, and interpret such data, and support “ground truth” and related 

activities of the Earth Resources Office at MSFC. The grant, part of the 

Minority Institutions Research Program, would provide remotely sensed 

data obtained by aircraft or spacecraft to the Ala. Development Office 

and other state agencies. (Marshall Star, 10 Nov 76, 4) 

0 The Air Force Systems Command announced completion of 3 yr of test and 

evaluation on a production-engineered version of a laser-guided bomb kit 

designed for easy mounting on standard unguided bombs. AFSC noted 

that, during the Southeast Asia conflict, laser-guided bombs were 200 

times as likely to reach the target as manually released unguided bombs, 

and had outscored computer-aimed bombs by 50 to 1. The USAF described the U;B as “one of the most effective technological advances” in 

weaponry, one LGB costing less than 12 standard unguided bombs and 

offering additional savings in fewer missions flown, fewer crew losses, 

increased storage life, and greater reliability. (OIP Release 241.76) 

10-1 1 November: The mysterious high-power radio signal that had interrupted international communications for months disappeared suddenly 

on 2 Nov., officials at the Federal Communications Commission reported, 

but resumed as unexpectedly 10 Nov., the foreign minister of Norway 

told his parliament. Personnel at the Rogaland radio station on Norway’s 

west coast began receiving the signals again from a shortwave transmitter they thought was located near Kiev in the Soviet Ukraine. The FCC 

said in Oct. that hundreds of complaints had been received about the 

interference, heard through a wide range of high frequencies from about 

6 to 28 mhz, like a rapid ticking 10 times per sec. The signal had 

disrupted ship-to-shore, aeronautical, telephone, and amateur and international broadcast services around the world, particularly in Europe and 

across the North Atlantic. The USSR had never acknowledged that the 

transmissions originated there; a spokesman at the Soviet embassy in 

Washington, D.c., said he did not know what was causing the interference. (WStar, 9 Nov 76, 1; WPost, 11 Nov 76, A32; NYT, 11 Nov 

76, 5) 

276 
ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 November 

11 November: Ames Research Center announced that a NOAA scientist, 

Dr. Peter M. Kuhn, had discovered a way to give airplane pilots up to 

12 min. warning of air turbulence ahead, during his investigation of 

infrared radiation emitted from atmospheric water vapor using ARC’S 

Convair aircraft. While measuring background infrared radiation in the 

atmosphere to define sources of astronomical infrared, Dr. Kuhn had 

seen sudden drastic changes in water-vapor content followed closely by 

turbulence. A radiometer in the aircraft wheel well of the Galileo II flying 

laboratory could detect atmospheric infrared from water vapor, and 

predict accompanying turbulence with an 8 1 % reliability. Experiments 

with varying infrared wavelengths had permitted detection of turbulence 

more than 100 km ahead of the plane. The water-vapor anomalies 

resulted from wave motions in the atmosphere caused by lee waves over 

high terrain or by sudden shifts in wind speed or direction with resulting 

friction between adjacent streams of air. Although water-vapor content 

would usually be fairly constant, the wave motions would thin the vapor 

in one place and concentrate it in another, making the turbulence detectable. (ARC Release 76-80; Av R%, 15 Nov 76, 25; NOAA Release 

0 NASA announced appointment of Glynn s. Lunney, manager of the Shuttle 

payload integration and development program ofice at JSC, as Deputy 

Associate Administrator for Space Flight at NASA Hq, replacing 

Dr. William C. Schneider. Dr. Schneider had been assigned as director 

of project management at CSFC. Lunney’s NASA career began at LeRC in 

1958; he transferred to the Space Task Group at LaRC in 1959, and 

moved with that group to JsC. He was manager of the Apollo spacecraft 

program in 1972, and served as technical director of the Apollo-Soyuz 

Test Project. (NASA Release 76-183; JSC Release 76-71; JSC Roundup, 

19 Nov 76, 1) 

0 Despite lower profits in its work on the Space Shuttle and increased losses 

in business aircraft, Rockwell Intl. reported higher sales and earnings for 

both the last quarter and the full fiscal year ending 30 Sept. 1976. 

Earnings were $121.1 million, up 29% in fiscal 1976, and sales increased 8% to a record $5.2 billion. The figures did not include discontinued operations in Rockwell’s industrial components area, sold in Dec. 

1975. Four of the company’s five operating areas reflected better management and lower interest costs: automotive operations, electronics 

operations, consumer operations, and utility and industrial operations. 

The aerospace operations figures reflected fewer award-fee opportunities, Rockwell said. (Rockwell Release R-40) 

12 November: The first Soviet jumbo jet, the 1~-86, would begin test flights 

in Dec., according to a Moscow broadcast. The plane would be able to 

carry 350 passengers at about 373 kph over distances up to 1460 km, 

according to claims, which would mean it could make nonstop flights 

from Moscow to Lisbon. The noise level inside the plane would be lower 

than that in Boeing jumbo jets, the broadcast added. (FBIS, Moscow to 

North America in English, 12 Nov 76) 

76-251) 

277 
November ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 

14 November: The USSR would be able by 1980 to produce a thermonuclear 

reaction by using a powerful laser, according to scientists at the Lebedev 

Physics Institute quoted in the USSR’s ‘Academy of Sciences journal 

Priroda. Institute Director Nikolai Basov (sharer of the 1964 Nobel 

prize in physics, for work in laser amplification) emphasized that Soviet 

science had been first to begin work on this problem, which would be the 

basis of power engineering in the future. Scientists were using two 

approaches: building powerful installations called Tokamaks, in which a 

reaction would proceed continuously; or using a laser beam to compress 

a small quantity of material such as deuterium to “a hundred trillion 

atmospheres, thousands of times as great as inside the sun,” with accompanying rise in temperatures until a microexplosion occurred, to produce 

current for future power and heat stations. Unlike the Tokamak, this line 

of research could lead to production of transportable nuclear-power 

stations for delivery to remote areas, the article said. (FBIS, Moscow 

Domestic Service in Russian, 14 Nov 76; A&A 64, 367) 

16 November: MSFC announced it had completed a critical design review for 

part of a heavy-nuclei experiment scheduled to go into space aboard the 

third High Energy Astronomy Observatory (HEAO-C) in 1979. The experiment, called 6-3, would characterize cosmic-ray flux from detailed 

measurements of charge and energy spectra, study propagation of cosmic rays, and search for superheavy elements. Principal investigators 

were Dr. Martin Israel, Washington Univ.; Dr. Edward Stone, Calif. 

Inst. of Technology; and Dr. Cecil Waddington, Univ. of Minn. The 

HEAO-C, whose objective would be to map the sky for gamma-ray and 

cosmic-ray flux, would carry two other experiments besides the C-3. A 

design review for the experiment hardware would be held in Feb. 1977. 

(MSFC Release 76- 199) 

Three NASA employees were among 16 career federal employees selected 

as winners of the Natl. Civil Service League’s 1976 career service 

awards. In ceremonies at the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., 

those honored included former astronaut Michael Collins, third U.S. man 

to walk in space, selected for his work with the Smithsonian’s Air and 

Space Museum, of which he had been director since April 197 1; Christopher C. Kraft, Jr., director of JSC; and Charles F. Hall, Pioneer project 

manager at ARC, where he had worked since 1942 beginning with NACA. 

( WStar, 23 Oct 76, C-8; W Post, 19 Oct 76, C2) 

17 November: MSFC announced it had issued requests for bids on a contract 

to design, construct, and test on earth a space-based manufacturing 

facility to make structural members for assembling large structures in 

space. Proposals would be received until 30 Nov. The machine to be 

produced under this contract would demonstrate automatic beam fabrication, a necessary step in developing a facility to support requirements 

for large structures in space, such as space platforms, electrical powergenerating plants, or large antennas for communications and astronomy. 

(MSFC Release 76-200) 

18 November: MSFC announced near-completion of an experimental chamber 

being built for the Atmospheric Cloud Physics Laboratory (ACPL) sched278 
ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 November 

uled to fly on Spacelab for use in developing techniques to predict, alter, 

and control weather. The chamber would be a ground-test engineering 

model simulating the expansion of a parcel of air as it rises in the 

atmosphere, using carefully controlled temperature and pressure to monitor moist air as it would undergo changes like those causing the formation of cumulus clouds. Droplets formed in the simulated clouds would 

be photographed by cameras outside the chamber; the lack of gravity in 

space would allow the droplets to remain suspended for longer periods of 

time, permitting scientists to study them at length. The completed chamber, liquid thermal-control system, and temperature sensors would be 

tested to obtain uniform cooling of the chamber walls. Data from the 

experiments would serve to improve computer models of clouds, and to 

aid in developing methods to increase snowfall or rain, dissipate fogs, or 

suppress lightning. (MSFC Release 76-201; Marshall Star, 24 Nov 

21 November: NASA-funded studies conducted in Fla. and Tex. using infrared 

images from NOAA’S Natl. Environmental Satellite Service had provided 

fruit and vegetable growers with timely information on ground temperatures during periods of crop-killing freezes, NOAA announced. The 

images, provided every half hour by Goes 1 from its equatorial station 

over South America at 35 800-km altitude, were transmitted from 

heat-radiation sensors to ground stations for conversion to visual imagery. The Fla. study used a computer to display the temperature variations in shades of gray, verified by ground readings taken in the area 

by Univ. of Fla. personnel. The Texas study converted the satellite data 

to typewriter characters that produced a remarkably similar printout, 

transmissible over teletypewriter machines, more widely available than 

photofax equipment. Both studies aimed at helping growers decide 

whether to undertake expensive steps to keep crops from being damaged 

by frost; heating orchards in Florida might cost up to $5 million per 

night. (NOAA Release 76-257) 

22 November: MSFC announced it had shipped to GFSC the experiment payload 

for SPAR 111, third in a series of about 15 space-processing applications 

rockets being flown over a 15-yr period to obtain space-processing data 

in near-zero gravity until Space Shuttle flights become available in the 

1980s. The scientific payload built by MSFC would be integrated with GFSC 

components-igniter, separator, control and recovery systems-and 

shipped to the U.S. Army White Sands Missile Range, N.M., for a scheduled mid-December launch. SPAR payloads recovered by parachute would 

be forwarded to investigators for analysis. The SPAR flight would provide 

about 5 min of near-zero gravity in which to perform materials processing. (MSFC Release 76-204) * MSFC announced that officials from NASA Hq and three of its field centers 

were participating in a Spacelab preliminary design review being held by 

ESA at Noordwijk, The Netherlands, 19-26 Nov. Besides representatives 

of MSFC, lead center for Spacelab design in the U.S., employees of KSC and 

JX were attending the review to see that basic design requirements had 

been met before construction of the engineering model of Spacelab 

76, 1) 

279 
November ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 

began. A NASA in-house review had been held at MSFC 15-17 Nov. (MSFC 

Release 76-203) 

23 November: NASA was negligent in the 1972 death of Kirby Dupree, 

supervisor of a support unit for astronauts, a federal judge ruled in 

awarding $575 000 to the widow and a 4-yr-old daughter. When a 

battery box exploded in an astronaut training facility at JSC, Dupree and 

James E. Scott were assisting with water experiments used to simulate 

space flights. Scott won $100 000 for injuries suffered in the accident. 

Both Dupree and Scott were employees of a contractor at the facility. 

(NYT, 25 Nov 76, 20) 

0 A program conducted jointly by NASA’s Dryden Flight Research Center and 

Langley Research Center had been trying literally to work the bugs out 

of aircraft, by studying materials and methods to keep insects from 

sticking to the leading edge of aircraft wings. The study was part of 

NASA’s aircraft energy-efficiency program, aimed at developing an advanced long-range aircraft with possible savings of 20 to 40% in fuel 

consumption. The laminar flow-control technology on which the advanced craft would depend for savings required smooth airflow over the 

wings; impacted insects sticking to the leading edge of the wing could 

interrupt the airflow and cause turbulence. The test planes used at LaRC 

and DFRC had variously coated panels installed on the leading edges, with 

instrumented probes above them to register airflow changes resulting 

from adherence of insects and monitor differences attributable to the 

panel coatings. After a low flight over areas where insects would impact 

the wing surfaces, the aircraft would land for preliminary measurements 

and then fly at high altitudes and speeds to measure the effects on airflow. 

(DFRC Release 20-76; LaRC Release 76-41; NASA Release 76-190) 

@ ERDA announced selection of Clayton, N.M., as the first municipal utility to 

field-test its 200-kw wind-turbine generator. The Clayton utility would 

operate the modern windmill for 2 yr beginning late in 1977, and would 

assemble test data on the performance and economics of wind-energy 

systems connected with conventional power plants and providing power 

through existing utility lines. Clayton, a 3000-inhabitant town located 

in an area of the Great Plaiw with high average wind speeds, would be 

the first U.S. locality in more than 30 yrs to generate electric power for 

public consumption through the use of wind. Its conventional utility 

system used both gas and oil generators. Integration of the wind-power 

system would be supervised by technicians from NASA’s LRC at Cleveland, 

O., who would train the municipal utility employees in operating the wind 

turbine. (ERDA Release 76-348) 

23-26 November: Reports in two national magazines-“both denied,” the 

NY Times noted-charged that the Soviet Union had used laser beams 

to put U.S. early-warning satellites out of commission, and each predicted 

that the US. had been working on its own hunter-killer satellites. The 

current issue of Newsweek had reviewed the incident of 1975 when a 

U.S. early warning satellite and a companion relay satellite had been 

disabled over the Indian Ocean, citing “strong evidence, despite official 

U.S. denials, that last year’s incident over Siberia was the work of a laser 

beam 10 000 times as strong as any natural blaze.” u.S. Secy. of 

280 
ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 November 

Defense Donald Rumsfeld had stated that the US. satellites had been 

damaged by the glare of natural gas fires along a pipeline in Western 

Russia, but did not deny that lasers might have caused the damage. 

Newsweek said the U.S. had already developed chemical lasers requiring 

no electrical power, and described a possible fleet of US. “dark satellites” 

with radar-absorbing exteriors that would be invisible to Soviet detection. 

It also predicted that a full-scale war in space-a science-fiction type of 

clash of hunter-killer satellites, manned orbital shuttles, and laser death 

rays-could “leap off the drawing boards” in the 1980s. 

Reporter Tad Szulc said in the current Penthouse magazine that the 

U.S. government had not publicized the attack on its satellites used to 

police the 1972 arms pact with the USSR for fear of endangering negotiations with Moscow on a new strategic arms pact. He said Washington 

was perplexed by the Soviet effort to interfere with satellites that were 

verifying compliance with the 1972 treaty. 

The NY Times noted that spokesmen for both the State Dept. and the 

Dept. of Defense had denied the magazine reports of interference with 

U.S. satellites, although DOD had verified that the USSR had been attempting to intercept its own satellites already in orbit, not always successfully. Pentagon sources told the NYT that the Soviet hunter satellites 

used conventional explosives, although shockwaves from an explosion 

would not proliferate in the vacuum of space and a hunter would have 

to be accurate enough to close in and destroy a target with debris. A NIT 

editorial 26 Nov. said the “vast sums” needed for space weapons would 

be more wisely spent on peace and good relations on earth. (C Trib, 

23 NOV 76, 4-15; NYT, 23 NOV 76, 15; 24 NOV 76, 12; 26 NOV 76, 

A-22) 

24 November: A lunar scientist in Johnson Space Center’s Division of Lunar 

and Planetary Sciences had suggested that low-viscosity lava rather than 

water could have caused the large channels seen on Mars, JSC announced. 

Ernest Schonfeld, in a paper to be presented at the annual meeting of the 

Am. Geophysical Union, said that the abundant large channels-one of 

the most puzzling landforms on Mars-were more easily explained by 

lava than by water; scientists had not been able to identify thick deposits 

of sediment that should have resulted from channel formation by water. 

Viking 1 had landed near the mouth of a large channel where thick 

sediments should have been deposited, but rocks at that site appeared to 

be volcanic. Schonfeld proposed that thin basaltic liquid melted below the 

Mars surface had flowed freely to erode the surface, and said that the 

coincidence of the age of volcanic activity on Mars and the erosion of the 

channels supported his idea. (JSC Release 76-72) 

30 November: NASA announced establishment of a joint working group with 

the Agency for Intl. Development (AID) to explore further cooperative 

programs upon successful completion of the AIDSAT project. Final demonstration of AIDSAT came 30 Oct. in Haiti. NASA’s Ats 6 satellite showed 

people in 27 developing nations how space could improve their way of 

life, using small portable transmitter-receiver units to broadcast highquality color TV directly to low-cost receivers in remote areas. Programs 

consisted of both filmed and live portions: on film, viewers saw a message 

281 
November ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 

from President Ford, followed by one of three films produced by NASA on 

communications technology, remote-sensing satellites (like Landsat), and 

prediction and relief in natural disasters. The live segment contained two 

half-hour programs; the first, originating in the host country, showed 

officials describing technological challenges and current efforts to meet 

them, and the second was a two-way question-and-answer session between senior officials in the host country and experts in Washington, D.C., 

discussing education, health, agriculture, and similar national concerns. 

Millions of viewers had seen what in many instances were the first color 

TV broadcasts in the host country. (NASA Release 76-189) 

0 Wallops Flight Center announced appointment of Dorinda S. Bailey, an 

equal opportunity specialist in the office of the Center Director, as 

full-time Equal Opportunity Officer for the center. Before coming to 

Wallops in 1974, Mrs. Bailey had been an examiner in the Civil Service 

Commission’s Bureau of Personnel Investigations. As EO officer, she 

would be responsible for developing and managing programs to assure 

equal opportunity in center employment. (WFC Release 76-16) 

0 The Federal Aviation Administration would stick to its deadline for modifications to McDonnell Douglas Dc-10 jumbo jets to withstand sudden 

depressurization, the Washington Post reported, as FAA Administrator 

John L. McLucas withdrew from subordinates the authority to extend a 

1 Dec. 1977 deadline set at the recommendation of the Natl. Transportation Safety Board. The modification, which applied also to Lockheed L-101 1s and Boeing 747s, was ordered after the 1974 crash near 

Paris of a DC- 10 whose cargo door blew off in flight, resulting in the death 

of 346 persons on board. Depressurization of the plane crushed control 

cables running beneath the cabin floor. An official at FAA had granted a 

1-yr extension of the deadline in Oct. 1976-without McLucas’s 

knowledge-but all U.S. airlines flying Dc-10s had agreed to comply with 

the original deadline. Compliance dates for the L-1011 and 747 were 3 1 

March 1978 and 30 June 1978, respectively. ( WPost, 30 Nov 76, A-9) 

During November: The Natl. Aeronautic Assn. newsletter reported that, 

during the 69th annual general conference of the Fbdbration Aeronautique Internationale in Oct. in Iran, the 1975 FA1 gold space medal 

was awarded jointly to Thomas P. Stafford, commander of the Apollo 

crew on the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project, and to cosmonaut Alexey Leonov, who commanded the Soyuz 19 crew. Stafford and his crew, Donald 

K. Slayton and Vance Brand, also received the De La Vaulx medal for 

establishing during the joint mission the world absolute records for duration, distance, and altitude in group flight, as well as the V.M. Komarov 

Diploma for outstanding performance in space exploration during the 

previous year. Their Russian counterparts also received the De La Vaulx 

medal and the Komarov award. Astronauts Slayton and Brand also each 

received the Yuri Gagarin gold medal, created by the FAI in memory of 

the first man in space, for their role in the conquest of space for peaceful 

purposes. Stafford also accepted on behalf of the U.S. ASTP team the 

Honorary Group Diploma for Astronautics, for the planning and execution of the first international rendezvous and docking mission in space. 

(NAA newsletter, Nov 76) 

282 
ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 November 

Maj. Gen. Thomas P. Stafford, currently commander of the USAF Flight 

Test Center at Edwards AFB, Calif., received the National Geographic 

Society’s Gen. Thomas D. White space trophy for 1975, in recognition 

of “outstanding contributionsy’ in the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project. 

(AF Magazine, Nov 76, 21) 

@ Former astronaut Frank Borman, who commanded both the Gemini 7 and 

Apollo 8 missions and who currently was president and chief executive 

officer of Eastern Air Lines, was efected chairman of the board for EAL 

replacing Floyd D. Hall, who had resigned to become permanent chairman of the executive committee of the International Air Transport 

Association (IATA). (Av Wk, 29 Nov 76, 20) 

@ The Air Force Systems Command announced completion of vibration and 

performance tests at Arnold Engineering Development Center on a small 

solid-propellant rocket motor scheduled to boost the Intl. Ultraviolet 

Explorer spacecraft into orbit in 1977. The motor, Thiokol Corp.’s 

TE-M-604-4, would be fired about 24 hr after launch to move the IUE 

into a near-synchronous orbit at altitudes of from 24 000 to 48 000 km. 

WE, a cooperative research program shared by NASA, ESA, and the U.K. 

Science Research Council, would carry a 45-mm-diameter ultraviolet 

telescope to investigate characteristics of stars and planets. (AFSC 

Newsreview, Nov 76, 4) 

@ The Natl. Science Foundation’s Nov. bulletin contained information on new 

NSF policy on grant renewals, submission of final reports, and other activities. As of 1 Oct., standard NSF awards could be renewed only once, 

by amendment of the original grant or contract, provided that the cumulative duration of the grant would not exceed 5 yr. Further support for 

the same or a different project would be awarded through new grants, 

based on new proposals. Also effective 1 Oct., the final fiscal and technical report on a grant and a summary of the completed project must be 

submitted within 90 days after expiration of the grant. NSF also announced a program called Research Initiation in Minority Institutions, to 

encourage research among enrollments predominantly of black, native 

American, Spanish-speaking, or other ethnic minorities; a program 

called National Needs Science Faculty Professional Development, to 

support training for science teachers at both 2- and 4-yr coneges and 

universities; and a Law and Social Sciences program to fund empirical 

research by law-review students in collaboration with legal scholars and 

social scientists. (NSF Bulletin, Nov 76, 1) 

0 “Washington sources” not further identified had revealed that the first 

underwater test launch of a Soviet intercontinental ballistic missile, the 

SS-NX-18, had occurred “early in November” between a submarine in 

the White Sea and an impact area near Plesetsk. The “new missile” had 

been test-launched previously from a land-based facility at Plesetsk. 

SpaceJEight, published by the British Interplanetary Society, quoted its 

sources as saying that the Ss-Nx-18-which used storable liquid propellants, and carried multiple independently targetable reentry vehicles 

(MIRVs)-had traveled about 5150 km, about 70% of its design range, 

and would replace SS-N-8 in the Delta 1 and Delta 2 class of USSR nuclear 

submarines. (Spacejight, vol 19 no 2, 41) 

283 

December 1976 

1 December: Officials of US. airlines told Secretary of Transportation William 

T. Coleman, Jr., in an all-day hearing that lack of government help in 

financing the costs of government-imposed rules for quieting planes could 

lead to severe setbacks in service, such as wholesale groundings, diminished 

competition, fuel waste, less relief from noise, and possible loss of the 

national lead in aircraft technology. The airlines had suggested a plan last 

spring to set aside a fourth of the 8% ticket tax for replacement or refitting 

of planes that exceeded the new noise limits. Opposed to this plan was James 

C. Miller 3d, assistant director of the administration’s council on wage and 

price stability, who said that he would favor a “pollution tax,” imposed on 

planes inversely to the amount of noise suppression achieved, rather than “a 

subsidy from the public purse.” Secy. Coleman said he would make a 

recommendation to the outgoing Ford administration by the end of Dec. 

New noise rules promulgated by the Federal Aviation Administration, DOT, 

were to take effect on 1 Jan., setting up a 4- to 8-yr timetable for replacing 

or refitting aircraft that did not comply with stringent limits on noise. (W, 

2 Dec 76, 21) 

0 NASA announced appointment of Dr. James J. Kramer as acting Associate 

Administrator in the Office of Aeronautics and Space Technology (OAST), 

replacing Robert E. Smylie, who would become Deputy Director at GSFC. 

Dr. Kramer, who came to NASA Hq from LRC in 1971, had been manager 

of the refan program office. In a related action, Paul F. Holloway, director 

for space at hRc, would begin a temporary appointment as acting deputy 

Associate Administrator of OAST on 3 Jan. 1977. (NASA anno. 1 Dec 76) 

0 Launch complex 14 at KSC-US~~ for John Glenn’s orbital flight in Feb. 1962 

and other manned launches until 1966-was blown up with plastic explosives by an Army demolition team after the Air Force decided the rusty 

and obsolete towers constituted a hazardous area and should be demolished. 

The scrap metal would be sold to the highest bidder. News reports noted that 

a stainless steel memorial would remain to mark the place where the seven 

original astronauts took their first steps into space. ( WStar, 2 Dec 76, A-3; 

CBS News transcript, Cronkite-Dean, 1 Dec 76; NBC Nightly News, Brinkley, 

1 Dec 76) 

0 A Pentagon group charged with making decisions on weapons programs-the 

Defense Systems Acquisition Committee-held its first meeting to consider 

production of the controversial B- 1 bomber and scheduled another meeting 

for 6 Jan. 1977 to decide on consolidation of cruise missile programs backed 

separately by the Air Force and the Navy. Defense Secretary Donald H. 

Rumsfeld had stated-apparently with approval from the transition team of 

the incoming Carter administration-that he was responsible until 20 Jan. 

for making weapons decisions that came up for scheduled consideration; 

285 
December ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 

however, he had also told subordinates that WD should exercise restraint in 

passing on programs that the incoming administration might review or 

change. President-elect Carter had questioned the necessity for a B-1 

bomber program. The controversy over cruise missiles arose from Air Force 

advocacy of an air-launched missile that could be used only with a B-1 or 

B-52 bomber; this restraint offered the verificaton possibility, acceptable to 

the USSR, of controlling the number of cruise missiles by counting the 

bombers carrying them. However, the Navy had advocated its Tomahawk 

missile which could be launched from a submarine torpedo tube as well as 

from a surface ship or a bombing plane. The Navy’s preference would 

thwart verification of future arms-limitation agreements, since all attack 

submarines as well as surface ships and bombers could be potential platforms 

for launching the Navy missile. The Carter transition team was concerned, 

said the New York Ernes, that the Navy might be trying to lock in the new 

administration with a pre-inauguration decision that would complicate future negotiations with the USSR. Both the Navy and the Air Force programs 

were started after a 1972 agreement with the USSR that placed a 5-yr 

limitation on strategic ballistic missiles; the $15 million design studies had 

grown into $300 million development programs, and had reached the point 

where a decision was needed on proceeding into costly engineering development. Observers pointed to the Army’s plan to award contracts in the next 

week or so on its $7 million programs for troop-carrier and attack helicopters as a decision that would make it difficult for the incoming administration 

to re-examine its predecessor’s policy. (m, 2 Dec 76, 23) 

@ A report in lzvestia on Soviet passenger planes to be in service by 1980 failed 

to mention the Tupolev- 144 supersonic transport, the Wushington Post 

reported. An official of the USSR Aviation Ministry said the trouble-plagued 

Tu-144 would not go into passenger service in 1976 as promised last Dec., 

when the highly publicized “first scheduled supersonic service” began between Moscow and Alma Ata in Soviet Kazakhstan. That service, initially 

twice a week, carried only mail and cargo, and was viewed by Western 

observers as an extended test-flight program. The mail service had been cut 

back to once a week in June 1976, with reports of problems in the passenger 

cabin such as noise, vibrations, and pressure. The Tu-144, which on 

31 Dec. 1968 had been the first supersonic civilian plane to fly, was 

designed to carry up to 140 passengers up to 5600 km, but had never been 

known to meet either specification; observers said its fuel consumption was 

greater than expected. Its service on Aeroflot lines, set to begin in 1974 or 

1975, had been set back by a crash in Paris in 1973. Although ignoring the 

Tu-144 in the lzvestia story, Aviation Minister Boris Bugayev said the 

state-operated Aeroflot fleet would include the 350-passenger Ilyushin-86 

airbus, not yet flown, and the medium-range 120-passenger Yak-42 airplane, which he said would be “put into service in the current Five-Year 

Plan period.” (W Post, 1 Dec 76, A-12) * ESA announced award to European industry of two study contracts, one to 

define a large (about 900 kg) technological and experimental satellite in 

geostationary orbit, the other to define the communications payload for such 

a satellite. The 4-mo contracts, each valued at about $450 000 u.s., went 

to groups headed by Engins Matra and SNIAS of France for the spacecraft, 

286 
ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 December 

and to a group headed by Germany’s AEG-Telefunken for the payload. The 

new satellite would be designed for launch by ESA’S Ariane, possibly on the 

fourth development flight scheduled for Oct. 1980; it would flight-test 

equipment and techniques as forerunner of a large platform carrying various communications payloads for direct and semidirect television and sound 

broadcasting and for propagation experiments in the 20- to 30-ghz range. 

The new system would differ from ESA’S oTS in offering new services required by countries without elaborate ground communications and broadcasting installations; it would carry four or more high-power TV channels for 

direct home reception, besides providmg low-cost facilities for national 

telecommunications through small “thin route” terminals. (ESA release 

1 Dec 76) 

2 December: Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld announced that the 

Ford administration had decided to authorize construction of the controversial B-l bomber, under a contract arrangement that would allow the 

incoming Carter administration 5 mo to review the $22.8-bdlion program. Rumsfeld’s announcement said that B- 1 testing was complete and 

that it was “in the national interest” to proceed with production. During 

the campaign, candidate Carter had said he was opposed to immediate 

production but held out the possibility of further research on the bomber, 

which the Pentagon now declared completed. The unusual contract 

arrangement of month-by-month funding until the end of June was an 

extension of the 1 Feb. deadline set by Congress for commitment of funds 

for the program; the Air Force awarded contracts totaling $704.9 million 

to Rockwell Intl., General Electric, and the Boeing Company for the first 

three production models of the bomber, plus procurement to make eight 

more. The contracts, however, limited government liability to a monthly 

total of $87 million through June. Air Force Secretary Thomas C. Reed 

said at a news conference that keeping the B-1 in the research state was 

unnecessary and wasteful, and that “it would be irresponsible not to 

initiate B-1 production at this time” in view of the expansion of Soviet 

strategic forces. A manned bomber, he said, was the third part of a 

triad-including land-based intercontinental ballistic missiles and missile-bearing submarines-that would present “an insoluble problem” to 

the USSR and make it a losing proposition to attack the U.S. because of 

retaliation that would follow. The swing-wing B-1 , although only twothirds the size of the B-52, could carry twice the payload, was faster in 

takeoff and flight, and carried electronic systems more difficult to jam 

than those of the B-52. Opponents claimed that $100 million apiece was 

too high a price to pay €or a bomber in the age of antiaircraft missiles, 

and suggested alternatives such as loading a commercial Boeing 747 with 

cruise missiles that could be fired while the plane was a safe distance from 

enemy defenses. (NYT, 3 Dec 76, A18; WPost, 3 Dec 76, A-1) 

The Natl. Science Foundation announced that employment of academic 

scientists and engineers had increased 3% in 1976; the increase had cut 

across all major fields of study, from 1% in life sciences and engineering 

to nearly 7% in social and environmental sciences. The number of 

full-time scientists and engineers at academic institutions went from 

224 800 to 230 500, or 3%, and the number of those employed part 

287 
December ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 

time went from 55 900 to 58 700 (5%). Over the period 1965 to 1976, 

there was a significant shift to teaching. Scientists and engineers employed primarily as teachers increased 223 200 from 1975 to 1976 

(3%); those working primarily in research and development increased 

5 1 000 (2%). The number of women employed full time as scientists and 

engineers increased 5% from 1975 to 1976, a rate more than double 

that for men. (NSF Highlights, 2 Dec. 76, 1) 

* A solar-powered microwave station, first of its type in commercial use, had 

been installed on the Navajo settlement of Medicine Hat, Utah, the 

Chicago Tribune announced. The microwave relay tower, working in 

the hot climate without the need for airconditioning controls, would bring 

dial telephone service to the Indian community. (C Trib, 2 Dec 76,4-9) 

3 December: NASA announced that it would simulate the drop of the main 

probe of its planned 1978 Pioneer Venus mission into the Venusian 

atmosphere, by dropping the probe from an Air Force balloon at 32 km 

altitude over the White Sands Missile Range, N.M. The drop, scheduled 

for a date between 13 and 16 Dec., would be the first of two tests, a 

second being scheduled for early 1977. Flight events to be simulated just 

before the probe’s descent into the dense hot lower atmosphere of 

Venus-deployment of the probe parachute, separation of the heatshield, and (after a 17-min parachute descent) separation of the 

parachute-would occur at an altitude of 16 km, where the temperature 

and density of earth’s atmosphere and the velocity of the probe would be 

much the same as those on Venus. The instrumented vessel would 

contain special equipment to monitor system performance, and movie 

cameras on the balloon platform as well as telescopic still and movie 

cameras on the ground would record the test. (NASA Release 76-192; ARC 

Release 76-84) 

* NASA announced two appointments effective 19 Dec. in the Office of General Counsel: Allie B. Latimer as assistant general counsel for general 

law, and Richard J. Wieland as assistant general counsel for litigation. 

Ms. Latimer, who since 1972 had been assistant general counsel for 

automated data and telecommunications for the General Services Administration, was the first national president of Federally Employed Women 

(FEW). Wieland, who had been at JSC since 1963, was currently assistant 

Chief Counsel for general legal matters at that center. (NASA anno. 3 Dec 

4 December: According to a story in the Chicago Tribune, the USSR on an 

undisclosed date had fired a submarine-launched missile farther than 

ever before. An SSN-8 missile had landed in mid-Pacific slightly more 

than 9000 km from its launching point, presumably a submarine in the 

Barents Sea. (The longest-range U.S. submarine-launched missile could 

reach just under 4700 km.) U.S. intelligence sources were reported 

unsure whether the additional range of the SSN-8 resulted from extra 

rocket power or a lighter warhead; SSN-8 had previously been identified 

as a single-warhead weapon used in the USSR’s 17 new Delta-class missile 

submarines. Commenting on the report, the New York Times said the 

Soviets’ test shot was “good news paradoxically” for the U.S. and the 

76) 

288 
ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 December 

whole world: in contrast to large land-based intercontinental ballistic 

missiles, the submarine-based missiles were neither large enough nor 

accurate enough for effective first-strike counter-silo use, and their 

concealment and mobility would make them ideal second-strike weapons 

useful only as deterrents. As long as the USSR had no submarine-launched 

missile, there was little possibility of lowering the ceilings set in a previous 

agreement to a level that would head off a Soviet first-strike capability. 

The ceilings had allowed each side to have 2400 strategic bombers and 

missiles, of which 1320 could carry multiple warheads; if the USSR should 

agree to deploy half its multiple-warhead missiles at sea as the U.S. did, 

such an agreement could eliminate the possibility of either side’s constructing a high-confidence first-strike force and would help ensure stability of the nuclear balance for a long time. The NYT favored such an 

agreement, which would call a halt to ongoing missile programs. (C Trib, 

4 Dec 76, 2-5; NYT, 6 Dec 76, 32) 

5 December: The fundamental cause of the succession of Ice Ages undergone 

by the earth had been the slight but regular changes in the shape of 

earth’s orbit around the sun, according to a team of u.S. and British 

scientists headed by Dr. James D. Hays of Columbia Univ. Analysis of 

layers of fossil microorganisms from cores of sediment taken from the 

floor of the Indian Ocean produced measurements of the earth’s climate 

over the past 450 000 yr; changes in climate appeared in alternating 

layers of warm- or cold-preferring microfossils, known as radiolaria. The 

discovery should permit prediction of the onset of the next Ice Age, 

although the cooling trend now in process should continue for about 

20 000 yr. The last great glaciation 18 000 yr ago brought ice down over 

most of Canada, northern Europe and Asia, and the northern u.s.; it was 

one of eight major Ice Ages over the past 700 000 yr. The ice retreated 

about 11 000 yr ago to its present boundaries, and the earth is now in 

a warmer period. The investigation, to be reported formally in the 

10 Dec. issue of Science magazine, was supported by a consortium of 

universities and the Natl. Science Foundation. (Nm, 5 Dec 76, 4-14; 

C Trib, 5 Dec 76, 1-9) 

6 December: NASA announced “an unusual agreement” with McDonnell 

Douglas Corp., under which the firm would build a solid-fuel upper-stage 

rocket as a commercial venture, to be available for use in future Space 

Shuttle missions. The firm would build and market the product using its 

own funding and initiative, at no direct cost to NASA or the US. government, except when the government might be a purchaser; NASA agreed 

that it would not knowingly fund or formally solicit development of 

competitive or alternate upper-stage systems. McDonnell Douglas would 

market the stage hardware and services either directly to users, or 

through NASA; NASA would not be committed to buy any hardware or 

services from McDonnell Douglas. The Delta rocket, workhorse of NASA’s 

expendable launch-vehicle program, which had carried most of the comsats and metesats now in geosynchronous orbit, .would be phased out 

along with other expendable vehicles after the Space Shuttle became 

operational. After the Shuttle had carried payloads into low earth orbit, 

289 
December ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 

the upper stage would put the payloads (weighing up to 11 10 kg) into a 

transfer orbit, where a kick motor would insert them into geosynchronous orbit. (NASA Release 76-198) 

@ MSFC announced that two of its employees had manufactured a precision 

quartz ball that would be used by the National Bureau of Standards as 

a density measure. John Rasquin and Jack Reed of the Materials and 

Processes Laboratory in MSFC’S Science and Engineering Directorate 

made the precision sphere, which is 90 mm in diameter and weighs 

290 g. NBS had selected quartz as the homogeneous material for its 

standard because it could be made with a high order of purity, had great 

temperature stability, and was ideal for use in an interferometer because 

of its precisely known optical properties. MSFC originally made two clear 

quartz spheres for NBS that were unsatisfactory because of their high 

transparency, as the interferometer required a highly reflective surface; 

NBS exposed the spheres to gamma radiation for 4 mo to make them 

opaque by changing their molecular structure, but the radiation induced 

minute internal stresses that altered the contour. The spheres, returned 

to MSFC, were reworked by Rasquin and Reed to NBS specifications of 

1 x deviation in radius. One of the spheres had been completed and 

the other was about 50% complete. (MSFC Release 76-209) 

7 December: The mission of the launch of Comstar B on 22 July 1976 from 

the Eastern Test Range on an Atlas-Centaur AC-40 was declared successful by John F. Yardley, Associate Administrator for Space Flight, 

NASA announced in a postlaunch mission operations report. The spacecraft’s apogee motor was successfully fired 24 July 1976, injecting the 

Comstar into the desired synchronous orbit. (NASA MOR M-491 -201 - 

76-02, 13 Dec 76) 

0 The Peoples Republic of China launched an unidentified satellite from the 

Shuang-Cheng-Tzu site into an orbit with 483-km apogee, 170-km 

perigee, 59.5’ inclination, and 91 .l-min period. Aviation Wk and 

Space Technology magazine reported that mission characteristics indicated the vehicle was in the 2700- to 4500-kg class and that the launch 

vehicle was a CSS-X-3 booster. Hsinhua News Agency, whose launch 

announcement the Tass agency picked up, reported 10 Dec. that the 

satellite had returned to earth “with precision according to plan,” with 

no further details. This was PRC’S seventh satellite launch. (FBIS, Tass in 

English, 7 Dec 76; GSFC SSR, 9 Dec 76; FBIS, Peking NCNA, 10 Dec 76; 

Av Wk, 13 Dec 76, 29; SBD, 14 Dec 76, 234) 

The flight of NASA’s Pioneer 11 into unexplored space above the plane of 

earth’s orbit had confirmed the structure of the sun’s magnetic field for 

the first time, NASA announced. Dr. Edward J. Smith of the Jet Propulsion 

Laboratory-magnetometer experimenter for Pioneer 11 -reported to 

the meeting of the Am. Geophysical Union that observations conducted 

from Feb. to Nov. 1976, while the spacecraft was four times farther from 

the sun than the earth, showed that the solar magnetic envelope had a 

simple north pole-south pole structure split into northern and southern 

portions at the magnetic equator by a “warped” sheet of electric current. 

This warped sheet had appeared to move as the sun rotated, up and down 

relative to the earth’s orbital plane. As the solar magnetic field extended 

290 
ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 December 

several billion miles over the north and south solar poles, well beyond the 

orbit of Saturn, earth spacecraft traveling in earth‘s orbital plane had 

passed through the warped electric current and detected contradictory 

motions, the field in the northern solar hemisphere being carried outward 

by the solar wind and the field in the southern hemisphere reversing back 

toward the sun. Earlier spacecraft therefore reported reversals in the 

direction of the solar magnetic field each time the current sheet was 

encountered, reports that led to a variety of interpretations. When 

Pioneer 11 had passed close to Jupiter in Dec. 1974, the gravitational 

effect had thrown the spacecraft 62 million km above earth’s orbital 

plane, allowing it to measure solar phenomena at a point 16’ above the 

solar equator-9 O higher than previously possible-where it discovered 

a uniform solar field, pointing away from the sun. The present solar 

model would exhibit the warped current sheet about 15 each side of the 

solar equator, accompanied by small-scale random magnetic fields of 

varying intensity and direction; the north polar region would generate a 

well-ordered magnetic field in a single direction, and the south pole a 

similar field in the opposite direction. The sola; wind would carry the 

magnetic field out until it met the interstellar gas, perhaps near the orbit 

of Pluto, where the outgoing north-polar field would link with incoming 

south-polar field to “close the magnetic loop,’’ Dr. Smith suggested. 

(NASA Release 76-199; ARC Release 76-85; NIT, 7 Dec 76, 1) 

8 December: NASA announced that the proceedings of its Nov. 1976 workshop 

on space battery technology were available from GSFC, where the sessions 

had been held annually since 1968. Batteries had proved to be the major 

limiting factor in long-life space systems used for research in communications, weather, and earth-resources detection and monitoring; current life expectancy for batteries was 3 to 7 yr, depending on orbital 

altitude. (Spacecraft in synchronous orbit at 35 000 km altitude derived 

power from electrochemical batteries charged by solar cells on the 

spacecraft surface; batteries on these craft, continuously in the sun 

except for two eclipse periods per year, would escape the chargedischarge cycling that wore out similar batteries carried on spacecraft 

circling the earth every 90 min at lower altitudes, discharging their 

power in the resultant periods of darkness.) NASA had begun the workshops to exchange information between manufacturers and users for 

increasing efficiency and lifetime of the batteries, resulting in improvements by industry in batteries used for heart pacemakers, aircraft, and 

consumer goods such as portable tape recorders, radios, and flashlights. 

Gerald Halpert, CSFC chairman of the battery workshop, said the Nov. 

session had reviewed a new technique of fabricating battery plates electrochemically at temperatures of 100°C, which would reduce the number of steps in the process and provide a more uniform product. Also 

discussed was a rechargeable nickel-hydrogen battery, a new product 

that could provide more energy per kg for larger systems, with storage 

capacities ranging from 25 to 100 ampere-hr. The nickel-hydrogen unit 

would be used for the first time on the Navigational Technology 

Satellite-2, part of the joint services research program for a global 

satellite system. Another topic was the special procedures developed at 

29 1 
December ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 

GSFC for battery improvement that had been implemented in industry for 

quality control and evaluation of the product. (NASA Release 76-200) 

0 ESA concluded its preliminary design review of the manned orbital Spacelab 

at the premises of the prime Spacelab contractor, VFW-Fokker/ERNO in 

Bremen, w. Germany. Senior representatives of ESA, NASA, and ERN0 

said the review was successful and the result exceeded expectations. The 

review cleared the way for a detailed design phase to begin development 

of the engineering model of Spacelab, due for delivery by the end of 

1978. The flight model would be delivered by the end of 1979 for a first 

ESA-NASA mission in 1980. (ESA release 9 Dec 76) 

9 December: America’s Bicentennial year might be called the “Year of the 

Communications Satellites,” NASA Administrator Dr. James C. Fletcher 

told participants at the Conference on Satellite Communication and 

Public Service meeting at GSFC. Recalling that Alexander Graham Bell 

had unveiled the telephone at the Philadelphia Centennial exactly a 

century ago, Dr. Fletcher quoted an observer’s statement that, of all the 

gifts young America had received on its 100th birthday, the telephone 

proved to be the most valuable; in 1976, of NASA’s 19 launches, 13 had 

been communications satellites, which might prove the most valuable gift 

received by the US. on its 200th birthday. Comsats were in use by 107 

countries or territories on 6 continents, Dr. Fletcher said, and more than 

a billion people-one of every 4 on earth-could witness an international 

event as it happened “live by satellite.” Not only had comsats been able 

to do current jobs better and cheaper, they had also opened new possibilities for public service. Development of small inexpensive simple earth 

stations would permit sending needed information to millions of people 

without present access to it, Fletcher said; very large antennas and high 

transmitter power in space would make it possible to use receivers on 

earth “not 30 feet in diameter, or even 10 feet, but the size of your watch 

crystal,” he added. To get the larger, heavier spacecraft into orbit, 

Fletcher predicted use of the Space Shuttle, making “runs to space on 

a regular schedule, carrying people and cargo for communications, 

scientific research, earth resources inventory, materials processing, and 

other tasks.” Use of the Shuttle would reduce the cost of putting a 

satellite in orbit from more than half to less than a quarter of the total 

cost of design, construction, and launch. Fletcher called on members of 

the conference to help NASA define the public purposes to be served by 

an imaginative space program” that would involve users in its development from the outset. (Text; NASA Release 76-202) 

* The US. Navy, in the last days of the Ford Administration, had awarded 

a $159.9 million contract to Rohr Marine, Inc., for design of a new type 

of warship that would ride on an air bubble at three times the speed of 

conventional ships. The 3000-ton prototype of the “surface effect” 

ships would ride on an air bubble trapped by sidewalls and bow and stern 

seals; the high speed would result from not having to push through water 

as conventional vessels do. The Navy had experimented with a 100-ton 

test vehicle that reached speeds of more than 165 km per hr, a new Navy 

surface-speed record, in tests last June near Panama City, Fla. Although 

critics had questioned the need for a ship that speedy, the Navy had said 

“ 

292 
ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 December 

its primary roles would be antisubmarine warfare and sea-to-shore hauling of people and cargo. The Navy had also successfully fired an antiship 

missile from an experimental air-cushion vessel traveling at about 

11 1 kph. ( WPost, 10 Dec 76, A-2; WStar, 10 Dec 76, B-12; B Sun, 

10 Dec 76, 6) 

10 December: GSFC Director Dr. Robert S. Cooper presented a Group 

Achievement Award to the AIDSAT team for “the highly successful international demonstrations in which leaders of over twenty-five underdeveloped countries were shown the potential benefits to be derived from 

the application of satellite communications and remote earth sensing.” 

The demonstrations had taken place over a 90-day relocation period 

during which the Ats 6 was moving from its position over India to a new 

geosynchronous position over the western Pacific. The team-led by 

former CSFC engineer Paul McCeney, NASA Hq Office of Applications, as 

AIDSAT program manager; mden of GSFC, as project manager; and 

John Wilhelm of the Agency for Intl. Development, as program 

coordinator-undertook to produce 27 programs for broadcast to as 

many nations over the 3-mo period. Three technical teams carried 

portable terminal equipment to three clusters of nations: A, consisting of 

Thailand, Oman, Jordan, Sudan, Mali, Cameroon, Uruguay, Ecuador, 

and Jamaica; B, consisting of Bangladesh, United Arab Emirates, 

Yemen, Libya, Upper Volta, Central African Republic, Bolivia, Surinam, 

and Costa Rica; and C, consisting of Pakistan, Kenya, Morocco, Ivory 

Coast, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Argentina, Peru, and Haiti. Goddard engineers Dave Nace, John Chitwood, and Al Whalen were managers of the 

A, B, and C clusters respectively. The high-level government officials and 

businessmen in the participating countries who took part in the programs 

included eight presidents, three prime ministers, a king, and a sultan. 

Each country received virtually the same 2.5-hr program format, which 

began with a personal taped message from US. President Ford and 

presented films on remote sensing and on earth-orbiting communications 

and meteorological satellites, ending with an hour of two-way direct video 

communications between panelists in the US. and the host country. 

Millions of viewers in the host countries watched the programs by direct 

or delayed broadcast over national TV networks, some seeing the first 

colorcasts ever received in their country. The historic experiment in 

telecommunications technology transfer fulfilled a promise to make U.S. 

technology available to developing nations, given by Secretary of State 

Henry Kissinger in May 1976 at the U.S. Conference on Trade and 

Development in Nairobi, Kenya. (Goddard News, Dec 76, 3-4) 

11 December: Eight nations located on the equator had claimed sovereignty 

over the orbital locations of space satellites stationed above their territory, the Washington Star reported. The foreign ministry of Colombia 

listed the nations as Brazil, Ecuador, Colombia, Congo, Kenya, Uganda, 

Zaire, and Indonesia. (WStar, 11 Dec 76, A-4) 

12-20 December: “One of the most important ore-bearing structures in the 

world” might prove to be located in an Antarctica site known as the 

Enchanted Valley, the New York Times reported, when a US. Geological 

Survey party *of six-including two women-had completed their study 

293 
December ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 

of the formation after an airlift to the site from the McMurdo Sound 

station. The body of rock in the Pensacola Mts., first reached by explorers in 1957 and first studied in the 1965-66 season, was a layered structure produced by eruptions from earth’s interior and “strikingly similar” 

to productive formations elsewhere in the world, such as the Bushveld 

complex of S. Africa, the Stillwater formation of Montana, and the 

Sudbury region of Ontario. A Soviet party in the Shackleton Range to the 

northeast, a similar area, reported findings which the leader of the uSCS 

group, Dr. Arthur B. Ford, hoped to visit by air. Dr. Edward S. Grew of 

UCLA, who had spent the Antarctic winter at the Soviet Molodezhnaya base, 

had been working with the Russians from a temporary camp in the Lambert Glacier, near which “a mountain of iron” was reported recently. 

Meanwhile, a Natl. Science Foundation project that aimed at drilling 

a hole through the Ross Ice Shelf was proceeding with the participation 

of 10 nations, seeking to explore the depths below the ice for data on the 

Antarctic bottom water, indirectly responsible for much of the world’s 

oceanic food, and to learn whether the ice sheet might eventually slip into 

the sea, raising global sea levels by as much as 10 meters. Countries 

participating with the U.S. in the Ross Ice Shelf Project (REP) were 

Australia, Britain, Denmark, Japan, New Zealand, Norway, the Soviet 

Union, Switzerland, and West Germany. The NYT commented editorially that the Antarctic continent posed a number of scientific problems 

still unanswered in the age of space that had seen visits to and returns 

from the moon; close photographs of the moon and planets; and regular 

reports by man-made instruments on the surfaces of Mars and Venus. 

The REP-an example of “continued, steady, quiet international cooperation” in Antarctic research-was “one of the great success stories of 

the post-1 945 world,” encountering temporary setbacks that would be 

overcome in time as were those of the space program, the NYT added. 

(NM: 12 Dec 76, 1-1; 19 Dec 76, 26; 20 Dec 76, A-22) 

13 December: Forecasts of NASA activity in 1977 included plans to launch 19 

missions, with a possible four backup spacecraft in case of trouble with 

current missions. The 19 included eight comsats (NATO-3B; Palapa-B; 

OTS, an operational test satellite developed by ESA; Intelsat IVA-C; %io, 

an Italian experimental spacecraft; Intelsat IVA-D; FLTSATCOM, part of a 

Navy- Air Force operational near-global system for command and control 

of all DOD forces; and Japan’s CS, a comsat to be placed in synchronous 

orbit); six scientific satellites (HEAO-A, a high-energy astronomical observatory; CEOS, an ESA mission to study geomagnetic phenomena from 

synchronous orbit; MJS-A and -B, two Mariner spacecraft scheduled to fly 

by Jupiter and Saturn,*and possibly Uranus; ISEE, a two-spacecraft 

international sun-earth explorer mission developed by NASA and ESA; and 

IUE-A, the international ultraviolet explorer spacecraft also developed 

jointly by NASA and ESA); three metesats (GOES 2, to be launched for NOAA 

into synchronous orbit; GMS, a Japanese geosynchronous meteorological 

satellite; and Meteosat, ESA’S synchronous-orbit weather spacecraft, 

scheduled for 0 longitude); one navigational satellite, the Navy’s Transit 19, with RsD modifications not common to other Transits; and one 

applications satellite, Landsat-C, third in its series of earth resources 

294 
ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 December 

technology spacecraft. The backup launches to be scheduled only if 

replacements were needed were comsats RCA-C and a spare Om, navsat 

Transit 20; and metesat ITOS E-2, on standby in case of trouble with 

Noaa 4 or Noaa 5, already in orbit. Of the 19 scheduled launches, all 

but two would be from Cape Canaveral, using 12 Delta rockets, 3 

Atlas-Centaurs, and 2 Titan 111-E-Centaurs. The other two launches, both 

from Vandenberg AFB, would use one Delta and one Scout rocket. 

MSFC forecast for 1977 that facilities for assembling and testing the 

Space Shuttle orbiter would be completed, as well as test firings of the 

Shuttle’s solid-fuel motors and main engines. (Av P~C, 13Dec 76, 26; 

KSC Release 492-76; MSFC Release 76-218) * NASA’s permanent-personnel status as of the end of November 1976 showed 

the agency as having 153 employees over its end-of-year ceiling, 

23 8 16. Center with most employees over allowed number was MSFC, with 

143; also over strength were Headquarters with 34, LaRC with 14, ARC 

with 8, and JSC with 5. However, GSFC had 20 fewer employees than 

allowable, KSC had 15 fewer, LeRC and Wallops were each 6 below ceiling, 

and NSTL and DFRC were short three and one employees respectively. The 

General Management Review Report containing these figures noted that 

efforts would be made to achieve the FY 1977 ceiling through attrition. 

(GMRR 13 Dec 76, 13) 

Radio links with the Viking landers on Mars were reestablished, ending a 

month of silent hibernation during which communications had been 

blocked by the passage of the sun between Mars and earth. Scientists at 

the Jet Propulsion Laboratory at Pasadena sent a “wake-up call” to the 

robot laboratories on Mars that had been collecting a month‘s supply of 

data during the blackout period; these data, to be played back beginning 

20 Dec., would include images of the area around the two landers, 

inorganic chemical analysis, additional biology data, and any records to 

support the (thus far unsuccessful) search for marsquakes, using the 

seismometer on the Viking 2 lander. 

Resumption of activity would begin Viking’s 18-mo “extended mission,” which would provide more images of the Mars surface and polar 

regions, as well as measurements of water vapor and temperature, some 

at twice the resolution of previous observations; process more samples of 

the surface for life-detection tests and inorganic chemical analysis; photograph Deimos and Phobos, the moons of Mars; and monitor daily and 

seasonal weather changes, origins of planetwide dust storms, and any 

seismic activity that might occur. As Mars entered its closest approach 

to the sun in the spring of 1977, scientists would be watching for signs 

of the dust storms thought to be triggered by perihelion; when Mariner 

9 arrived at Mars in 197 1, the entire planet was engulfed in the greatest 

dust storms in the history of Mars observations and surveys from orbit 

were limited for several months. Such storms could endanger the Vikings 

on the surface of Mars, besides impeding the view from orbit. ( W Post, 

15 Dec 76, 2; NASA Release 76-208; W Star, 16 Dec 76, A-7; NYT, 

21 Dec 76, 21) * NASA announced that a series of aircraft flights from Alaska to Argentina 

between January and May of 1974 had provided information on the 

295 
December ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 

transport and distribution of water vapor in the atmosphere from the 

tropic seas to the higher latitudes, as well as vertically to the stratosphere, important to an understanding of earth’s ozone layer and possibly 

of earth climate. Previous studies of water in the stratosphere, made 

from aircraft and balloon flights, had not provided data on latitudinal 

transport. Ernest Hilsenrath of GSFC, who reported this first mapping of 

water-vapor distribution in both northern and southern latitudes in a 

paper at the American Geophysical Union meeting 8 Dec., noted that the 

1974 flights had confirmed an increase in the amount of atmospheric 

water vapor since 1964. The experiments, flown on an Air Force RB-57, 

were managed by GSFC under contract to DOT as part of its Climatic 

Impact Assessment Program. (NASA Release 76-20 1) 

* Simultaneous measurements by two polar-orbiting satellites of powerful 

electric currents causing magnetic disturbances on earth had produced 

composite diagrams of horizontal current-flow in the ionosphere, vertical 

currents along magnetic-field lines, and the resulting magnetic perturbations, NOAA announced. A team of scientists representing NOAA and 

five universities had presented their findings at the annual meeting of the 

American Geophysical Union in San Francisco. Dr. Yohsuke Kamide of 

the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (sponsored by NOAA and the Univ. of Colorado) said that, before the advent of 

satellites, auroras had been studied from the ground with cameras and 

magnetometers, which could detect the presence of powerful currents 

but not their location or direction. The Triad satellite launched in 1972 

by the U.S. Navy had carried a Johns Hopkins Univ. three-component 

magnetometer to measure the strength of vertical currents supplying the 

auroral electrojets”; using it, together with a satellite launched by the 

USAF Defense Meteorological Satellite Program and ground-based measurements from stations in Alaska, Canada, and the USSR, the team had 

produced its composite for 30 instances of perturbation. Other members 

of the team were Herbert W. Kroehl of NOAA’S Environmental Data 

Service; Dr. Gordon Rostoker, Univ. of Alberta; Dr. Syun-ichi Akasofu, 

Univ. of Alaska; Dr. Thomas A. Potemra, Johns Hopkins Univ.; and 

Dr. Ching Meng, Univ. of Calif. at Berkeley. (NOAA Release 76-274) 

14 December: NASA announced selection of three contractors to negotiate for 

provision of various subsystems for the Solar Maximum Mission spacecraft. The SMM, scheduled for launch in the third quarter of 1979, would 

carry instruments to investigate solar flares; the spacecraft would be built 

on the modular concept, so that its instrumentation could be readily 

changed or replaced. 

Fairchild Industries, Germantown, Md., would negotiate to provide 

the communications and data-handling subsystem at a proposed value of 

$2.5 million, for one protoflight model with options for up to six additional. The CsDH subsystem would provide ground and onboard control 

of all spacecraft and sensor functions, and of retrieval of housekeeping 

and experiment data. 

McDonnell Douglas Astronautics Co., East St. Louis, Mo., would 

negotiate to provide the power module subsystem for the SMM at a 

“ 

296 
ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 December 

proposed value of $2.3 million, with options for up to six additional. The 

power module, an unregulated system operating from a deployable solar 

array, would provide 1280 w at the beginning of its operating life. 

General Electric Space Div., Valley Forge, Pa., would negotiate 

to provide the attitude-control subsystem at a proposed value of 

$3.5 million, with options for up to six additional subsystems. The ACS 

would include reaction-control devices as well as a high-performance 

gyro inertial-reference unit, a pair of fixed electronic-scanning star 

trackers, a three-axis magnetometer set, and sun sensors. 

The SMM spacecraft, a 381-cm-long cylinder weighing about 

1740 kg, would be powered with solar panels and fit atop a modular 

spacecraft base; it would be capable of launch on a Delta and retrieval 

by the Space Shuttle. (NASA Releases 76-203, 76-204, 76-205) * MSFC announced the successful launch on a Black Brant VC research rocket 

at White Sands Missile Range, N.M., of the first containerless experiments in materials processing ever attempted on a spacecraft. NASA’s 

third space-processing applications rocket, SPAR 111, carried a fiveexperiment payload, two of these using acoustic and electromagnetic 

suspension devices, or levitators. Materials suspended in a levitator could 

be melted and resolidified without touching a container, resulting in a 

degree of purity never before achieved in high-temperature processing, 

as the melt in a conventional container would be contaminated to some 

extent by the container itself. The rocket flight provided about 5 min of 

near-weightlessness for performance of the experiments, which were 

recovered by parachute for ex erimenter analysis. Experimenters were 

Charles Schafer, MSFK; Jeny $ouch, GE; Dr. John Papazian, G~umman 

Aerospace Corp.; Dr. David Lind, Rockwell Intl. Science Center; and 

Dr. Donald R. Uhlmann, MIT. Conclusions as to the success of containerless processing would await analysis of telemetry, inflight film, and experiment results. (MSFC Releases 76-207, 76-2 12) 

The IJSSR Ministry of Higher and Specialized Secondary Education had 

announced plans to build an Institute of Nuclear Energetics at Obninsk, 

in central Russia, site of the “world’s first industrial atomic power 

station,” the Tass news agency reported. First Soviet educational institution of this type, the new center would train engineers in design and use 

of nuclear power stations. In accordance with a new program of constructing nuclear power stations, Tass said the present 6-million-kw 

capacity would be supplemented by an additional 13 to 15 million kw; 

new stations were being built at Kursk, Smolensk, Kalinin in central 

Russia, and in the southern Ukraine. The Obninsk center would be the 

860th higher education institution in the USSR, Tass noted. (FBIS, Tass in 

English, 14 Dec 76) 

0 Dr. Donald H. Menzel, one of the world’s leading authorities on the sun and 

its corona, died at Mass. General Hospital after a long illness. During his 

lifetime, he had viewed 15 total solar eclipses, leading expeditions to 

distant places like the Sahara (1973) and Siberia (1936), where the 

Soviets provided a parlor car of the Trans Siberian Railroad for his 

equipment and camping gear. Dr. Menzel had taught for nearly 40 yr at 

297 
December ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 

Harvard; Dr. Fred L. Whipple of Harvard, a colleague and former 

student of Dr. Menzel, noted that many of the best-known astronomers 

in the U.S. had also been taught by Dr. Menzel. The Minor Planet Center 

of the Intl. Astronomical Union recently named an asteroid Menzel in 

recognition of his contribution to astrophysics. In 1938, Dr. Menzel 

developed the first coronagraph in the U.S. to permit study of the sun’s 

corona without an eclipse; in 1933, he had collaborated with J.C. Boyce 

in establishing the presence of oxygen in the solar corona, and in 1941 

he had worked with Winfield W. Salisbury on the initial calculations that 

enabled the first radio contact with the moon in 1946. He had received 

a Ph.D. in astrophysics at Princeton in 1924, writing science-fiction 

stories to help pay his expenses, and had taught at the Univ. of Iowa and 

Ohio State Univ. before becoming professor of astrophysics at Harvard 

in 1939. He was director of the Harvard College Observatory from 1954 

to 1966, when he was named research scientist at the Smithsonian 

Astrophysical Laboratory in Cambridge. He had retired from the university in 1971, but had continued to do research there. (NU, 16 Dec 76, 

50) 

15 December: The “hotline” between Washington, D.C. and Moscow had 

changed into a Direct Communications Link using two independent sets 

of orbiting satellites, and eliminating any actual wire between the two 

capitals, the Christian Science Monitor reported. A spokesman for the 

Army Communications Command at Ft. Huachuca, Ariz., where the U.S. 

portion of system was designed and built, said it could be put into use 

whenever diplomats from both countries made the final arrangements. 

The $15-million system would be located at Ft. Detrick, Md., near 

Washington, the spokesman said. (CSM, 15 Dec 76) 

0 Ithaco Inc. of Ithaca, N.Y., a space-industry subcontractor specializing in 

low-orbital unmanned-satellite electronics, had discovered a lucrative 

and largely untapped agricultural market by turning its expertise on 

animal electronics: specifically, a new device first marketed 19 mo ago 

to help farmers determine whether their pigs were pregnant and to 

preview the quality of porkchops the hogs would produce. The device 

would let farmers determine pig-pregnancy status 50 to 60 days earlier 

than previously possible, meaning substantial savings for breeders, company officials said, adding that the market would not be attractive to a 

large company. Overseas farmers accounted for up to 40% of “Scanoprobe” sales, which totaled $3.8 million for the 1976 fiscal year, best 

in the firm’s 14-yr history. Ithaco would not abandon its space contracts, 

the company said, but employees who worked on intricate satellite parts 

could be switched over to the “animal electronics” contracts. (NW, 

15 Dec 76, A 16) 

16 December: NASA announced that it would modify equipment and facilities 

used in the Apollo, Skylab, and Apollo-Soyuz programs for use in future 

space programs, and that it would dispose of remaining Saturn-Apollo 

hardware that had no future application. Disposal would eliminate storage costs, free storage space, and make facilities available for ongoing 

programs, the agency said. The action marked the transition of U.S. 

298 
ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 December 

manned space activity from use of expendable vehicles to use of the 

reusable Space Shuttle, scheduled to undertake its first mission within 

3 yr. Although NASA, at the request of Congress, had kept its remaining 

Saturn-Apollo flight hardware since April 1975 in minimum-cost storage, 

to be able to restore it to flight condition if needed, the backup Skylab 

workshop and Apollo-Soyuz backup docking module had been transferred to the National Air and Space Museum; twenty-two H-1 rocket 

engines from Saturn stages had been transferred for use in Thor-Delta 

vehicles. Much of the remaining Saturn-Apollo hardware would probably 

be turned over to the Smithsonian Institution, and other equipment would 

be screened for use in the Shuttle or other programs. (NASA Release 

76-206) 

NASA announced award to Owen Enterprises, Inc., of wilmington, Calif., of 

an exclusive patent license for production of a solar-energy concentrator 

invented by JPL’S Dr. Katsunori Shimada that focuses the sun’s rays from 

almost any angle without the need for a tracking mechanism. The 

concentrator-a special arrangement of multifaceted Fresnel lensesmagnifies solar energy tenfold, heating a fluid in channels beneath the 

lenses, which is released through a thermostat when the proper temperature is attained. A series of the devices could be set up, depending on the 

specific energy requirements of a structure. Suitable for residential, 

commercial, or industrial applications, the concentrator had proved 

much more efficient than other solar-collector units on the market. Owen 

Enterprises, Inc., the licensee, is an American Indian-owned firm that 

planned to assemble the device at facilities on the Rincon Indian Reservation near Escondido, Calif. The firm would invest $200 000 to develop 

the concentrator for the market, and pay 1% royalty to the US. Treasury 

on its gross sales. (NASA Release 76-209) 

At the request of the Soviet Union, U.S. satellites took pictures of the 

predicted bumper crop of grain in the USSR and turned the pictures over 

to that country to confirm the predictions, said presidential science 

adviser Dr. H. Guyford Stever at a White House briefing. The Russians 

had announced 5 Nov. that more than 220 million metric tons of grain 

had been harvested; US. Dept. of Agriculture officials said the 

final figures would probably exceed 1973’s record Soviet harvest of 

222.5 million tons. (NYT, 17 Dec 76, A-4) 

16-22 December: The USSR announced its intention of launching carrier 

rockets into two areas of the northern Pacific between 20 and 30 Dec., 

and requested the governments of other countries using sea and air 

routes in the vicinity not to permit their ships and planes to enter those 

areas during the launching period. At the same time the Soviets declared 

other areas free for navigation because the launchings in those areas had 

been completed. The Tass broadcast gave the locations of the dan er 

spots as having center coordinates of 46’N, 164’E, and 32’27 N, 

170’10’E. The nature of the launches was not specified. On 22 Dec. 

Tass announced it had been authorized to state the locations were “free 

for sea and air navigation from December 22, 1976.” (FBIS, Tass in 

English, 16 Dec 76, 22 Dec 76) 

F 

299 
December ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 

17 December: Dr. Michael Duke, curator of lunar samples at NASA’s Johnson 

Space Center, returned from Moscow with two half-gram samples of 

moon soil brought to earth in Aug. 1976 by the USSR’s Luna 24 spacecraft. The samples were part of a 2-meter-long core of lunar material 

obtained by a hollow drill from the surface of Mare Crisium, a region of 

the moon from which the U.S. had not had any samples. This was the third 

time US. scientists had obtained a Soviet sample in exchange for material 

collected by Apollo astronauts from other places on the moon. Other 

members of the U.S. scientific delegation to Moscow this week were 

Dr. Charles Simonds, Lunar Science Institute, Houston, Tex., and 

Prof. Gerald J. Wasserburg of the Calif. Institute of Technology. The 

small size of the sample would not detract from its usefulness, according 

to Dr. Bevan French, chief of NASA’s program of research on extraterrestrial materials; methods routinely used for extracting information 

from samples of meteorite or deep-sea basalt could produce hundreds of 

chemical analyses from a single tiny crystal or determine the age of a 

fragment smaller than an aspirin tablet. (JSC Release 76-75) 

0 NASA announced selection of United Space Boosters, Inc., Sunnyvale, 

Calif., as assembly contractor for the Space Shuttle solid-fuel booster 

rocket. USBI, a wholly owned subsidiary of United Technologies Corp., 

received a cost-plus-award fee contract for $122 million, to cover six 

design, development, and test and evaluation flights up to March 1980, 

with options for 21 operational flights extending into 1982. The contract 

would cover all booster assembly activities at MSFC and KSC; MSFC would 

supervise assembly, checkout, and refurbishment of the boosters, and 

KSC would supervise final assembly, checkout, launch operations, and 

postlaunch disassembly of the boosters. First of six orbital test flights had 

been scheduled for the second quarter of 1979, with operational flights 

to begin in 1980. At launch, the three main engines and two boosters of 

the Space Shuttle would operate together; upon burnout at about 43 km 

altitude, the boosters would separate and descend by parachute to the 

ocean for retrieval and refurbishment. The boosters were designed for 

use 20 times. (NASA Release 76-212; MSFC Release 76-215; WsJ, 

21 Dec 76, 11) 

0 The Concorde supersonic airliner, making regularly scheduled flights between London, Paris, and the Dulles airport outside Washington, D.C. 

since 24 May, had been lending its distinctive sonic waves to atmospheric 

research by Columbia Univ. monitors, the New York Times reported. 

Dr. William L. Donn, senior research associate at Columbia’s LamontDoherty Geological Observatory, and his colleagues Nambath Balachandran and David Rind had derived surprising data on daily variations in 

the supposed prevailing winds in the upper atmosphere, and were anticipating new data on dispersal of atmospheric pollutants and the content 

of the rarefied reaches of earth’s atmosphere. The sound waves, inaudible to the human ear but detectable by sensitive microphones registering changes in air pressure;contained atmospheric information up to as 

far as 120-km altitude, through reflection from the thermosphere. Precise knowledge of the Concorde’s elevation and location along its flight 

300 
ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 December 

path had aided in interpreting data on atmospheric temperatures and 

wind conditions depending on the exact strength and path of the sound 

waves, Dr. Donn said. (NU, 17 Dec 76, A-18) 

A British Aircraft Corp. team had successfully launched the second of a 

series of Skylark 12 high-altitude research rockets from the Andoya 

Range in arctic Norway to investigate auroral activity for the U.K. 

Science Research Council and other groups investigating the intense 

phenomena above the Arctic Circle, the London Press Assn. reported in 

a broadcast. The rocket reached an altitude of more than 680 km, 

sending scientific data to ground receivers for 14 min of the flight. First 

launch of the new three-stage Skylark, capable of carrying payloads to 

three times the altitude of earlier versions, took place 21 Nov. (FBIS, 

London Press Assn., 17 Dec 76) 

18 December: Astronaut-pilots in training for the Space Shuttle program had 

used a simulated shuttle-a Grumman Gulfstream 2 twin-engine jetin approach-and-landing maneuvers over the southern New Mexico 

desert at White Sands Missile Range, the New York Times reported. 

Dr. Christopher C. Kraft, JSC director, who recently watched the training 

at White Sands, said that the latter installation might eventually become 

a space port for launch and recovery of the shuttle. The pilots were to 

test an actual space shuttle-the Enterprise, unveiled this fall by Rockwell Int1.-some time next year; the first vertical launch of the shuttle 

had been scheduled for 1977 from KSC at Cape Canaveral, Fla. (NU, 

19 Dec 76, 41) 

19 December: Three satellites making simultaneous investigations of earth’s 

magnetic field had confirmed that long low-frequency waves spreading 

the disruptive effects of magnetic storms on earth had been generated far 

out in space by energetic particles from the sun, NOAA announced. 

Speaking at the annual meeting of the American Geophysical Union in 

San Francisco, Calif., earlier in Dec., Dr. Joseph N. Barfield of NOAA, R.L. 

McPherron of UCLA, and W.J. Hughes of London’s Imperial College 

reported the waves might have practical uses in exploring for oil and 

minerals, and in aiding undersea communication with submarines, which 

now had to surface to make contact. Environmental satellites Sms 1 and 

Sms 2, with research satellite Ats 6, in geosynchronous orbit on a line 

along the earth’s equator, had carried magnetometers used to detect the 

low-frequency waves passing each satellite in a predicted order, the first 

use of multiple spacecraft to make such measurements simultaneously. 

Confirmation of the theory also identified the point of origin as the 

magnetosphere and the existence of a “resonance region” that amplified 

the wave frequency. The region was described as about 1200 km thick. 

(NOAA Release 76-281) 

20 December: MSFC announced opening of a new solar heating and cooling 

test facility, part of a nationwide demonstration program conducted by 

ERDA, to evaluate solar-powered systems and components and determine 

their efficiency and suitability for residential and commercial applications. Systems tested would mainly be those built by commercial manufacturers, but would include experimental systems provided by ERDA and 

30 1 
December ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 

NASA. The facility occupied an area formerly used for testing in the 

Saturn program, and data-acquisition equipment used in that program 

would be used in the new facility to collect and store information on the 

effectiveness of the units under test. The site could accommodate 5 1 1 m2 

of solar collectors at one time. The facility could test air and liquid 

units for airconditioning (up to 10 tons) or heating (systems up to 

500 000 Btu); it included a test bed for evaluating efficiency of tanks to 

store heat collected by the systems for use when there was no sunlight. 

Systems meeting the criteria for operation, maintenance, and performance would be installed in buildings throughout the country for trial use. 

(NASA Release 76-21 1) 

21 December: The Dept. of Defense had reported McDonnell Douglas as the 

largest U.S. defense contractor for the year ended 30 June, replacing 

Lockheed Aircraft Co., the Wull Street Journal announced. The leader, 

which had been fourth on the list in FY 1975, had obtained contracts 

valued at $2.46 billion (5.9% of all defense contracts of more than 

$10 000 awarded during FY 1976). Lockheed, which had been the 

leader for 6 of the previous 7 yr, received contracts in FY 1976 valued 

at $1.51 billion (3.6% of the total). Third was Northrop Corp. with 

$1.48 billion (3.5%); fourth was General Electric Co., $1.35 billion 

(3.2%). Others of the ten largest were United Technologies Corp., 

$1.23 billion (2.9%); Boeing Co., $1.18 billion (2.8%); General Dynamics Corp., $1.07 billion (2.6%); Grumman Corp., $982 million (2.3%); 

Litton Industries, Inc., $978 million (2.3%); and Rockwell Intl. Corp., 

$966 million (2.3%). (E'S], 21 Dec 76, 11; WD Release 585-76) * The Natl. Science Foundation announced that U.S. and Canadian astronomers had succeeded in using telescopes more than 800 km apart, linked 

by satellite, to simulate a telescope nearly as large as the earth. A radio 

telescope at the Natl. Radio Astronomy Observatory at Green Bank, 

W. Va., had been linked through a joint U.S.-Canadian satellite to a radio 

telescope at the Algonquin Radio Observatory in Ontario, allowing the 

observers to review the results while the observations were in process. 

The technique would permit astronomers to measure the size and shape 

of a distant galaxy or quasar with a precision better than 1 / 1000 arcsec, 

equivalent to measuring the size and shape of a penny more than 

4000 km distant. The sateIlite would transmit information at a rate 

equivalent to 10 000 simultaneous telephone calls; the large data rate 

would increase the sensitivity of measurements, allowing the study of 

very faint objects in space. Besides the principal investigator, Dr. George 

W. Swenson, Jr. of the Univ. of Ill., the team included S.H. Knowles and 

W.B. walton of NRL; N.W. Broten and D.N. Fort of Canada's Natl. Research Council; K.I. Kellermann and Benno Rayhrer of NWO; and 

J.L. Yen of the Univ. of Toronto. (NSF Release PR76-106) * E% announced that its council meeting in Paris 16 and 17 Dec. had 

approved a new program, Earthnet, in which ESA would centralize and 

coordinate European activities in reception, processing, distribution, and 

archiving of earth-resources satellite data. Earthnet would give European users access to data from NASA programs such as Landsat, Seasat, 

302 
ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 December 

Nimbus-G, and the Heat Capacity Mapping Mission, to provide a basis 

for defining European requirements for future remote-sensing satellite 

programs. Earthnet would be integrated into existing data-reception and 

processing facilities at Fucino, Italy, and would use ESA’S computerized 

data center at Frascati, Italy, with an information-retrieval network 

RECON to disseminate information on the data available. (EA release 

21 Dec 76) 

22 December: Rockwell International-prime contractor for NASA’s Space 

Shuttle-announced that it had purchased more than $18 million of 

goods and services from minority businesses throughout the U.S. in 1976, 

a 58% increase over 1975. Rockwell had been cited by the Black 

Businessmen’s Assn. of Los Angeles for its participation in “Black Economic Development,’’ and by the Natl. Assn. of Black Manufacturers for 

its contributions to industry development. Kenneth B. Gay, Rockwell 

vice president for purchasing, said that “qualified minority businesses in 

t1ie more technical areas” had been hard to find in the past, but there 

were “many highly skilled, competent small companies competing aggressively for our business” at present. The more than 500 minority 

firms supplying Rockwell received about $5 million for machining and 

specialty fabrication; more than $2 million for metal structures; another 

$2 million each for raw materials and supplies and for technical services; 

and more than $1 million each for electrical equipment and for maintenance and repair services. (Rockwell Release R-46) 

* An unmanned Soviet spacecraft that returned to the earth 17 Dec. in Soviet 

Asia after 18 days in orbit might have been the test vehicle of a new 

Soyuz designed to carry three cosmonauts into space, instead of the two 

that have flown on the 13 Soyuz missions during the past 5 yr. Thomas 

O’Toole, reporting in the Washington Post, pointed out that the Cosmos 

869 had flown the same pattern followed by all Soviet manned space 

flights, and noted that the USSR had long followed the practice of disguising unmanned test flights of Soyuz spacecraft by using the generalized Cosmos designation. At least four unmanned Soyuz vehicles had 

flown under the name of Cosmos during the past 4 yr, the article said. 

The USSR had not attempted a three-man flight since 1971, when the 

three crewmen of Soyuz 11 suffocated on their return to earth; the crew 

could have survived had they worn space suits, but the vehicle being used 

had no room for three men in space suits. Officials said then that the 

spacecraft would be modified to accommodate three-member crews in 

space suits, and Western observers predicted that the Inter-Soyuz flights 

scheduled to begin in 1978 with Russians and non-Russians together 

would use three cosmonauts again. (W Post, 22 Dec 76, A-2) 

23 December: Aircraft overflights by Wallops Flight Center, coordinated by 

LRC at the request of NOAA, were helping the U.S. Coast Guard track an 

oil slick from a tanker grounded off Nantucket Island, NASA announced. 

Flights on 19 and 22 Dee. had obtained data from the ocean around the 

tanker to use in calculating the slick’s trajectory; another flight had been 

scheduled for 24 Dec. Imagery from Landsat 2 was providing synoptic 

views of the spill area. NOAA would use the information to set up analytical 

303 
December ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 

models for determining potential environmental damage associated with 

offshore oil and gas production on the continental shelf. Brookhaven 

Natl. Laboratory, ERDA, had also requested the data for use in environmental studies. (WFC Release 76- 17) 

0 The U.S. Army awarded a contract to Sikorsky Aircraft, Stratford, Conn., 

for a new generation of combat assault helicopters-single-rotor craft 

driven by jet turbine engines, capable of carrying a three-man crew plus 

11 heavily armed soldiers-in a decision that would bring a total of 

$3.4 billion including development and other costs to the depressed area 

economy over the next 10 yr, the New York Times reported. State 

officials said the contract could produce up to 17 000 new jobs and called 

it “the perfect Christmas present.” Sikorsky officials said the contract 

would bring it $2 billion directly and $1.4 billion more to subcontractors 

in 35 states. Also competing for the contract was the Vertol division of 

Boeing Corp., in Morton, Pa. (NU, 24 Dec 76, A-1) 

24 December: The first group of future cosmonauts from socialist countries 

had been welcomed at the USSR training center named for Yuri Gagarin, 

Maj. Gen. Georgy Beregovoy, director of the center, told a correspondent for the Tass news agency. The joint flights with Soviet cosmonauts 

would include representatives from Czechoslovakia, Poland, and the 

German Democratic Republic (the first three groups to arrive), Bulgaria, 

Hungary, Cuba, Mongolia, and Romania, and the joint flights were 

scheduled for 1978 to 1983. Beregovoy said the socialist countries had 

been cooperating for the past decade on the Intercosmos program, 

launching satellites and meteorological rockets and more than 20 experiments in various branches of science. He also mentioned the ApolloSoyuz flight as a successful example of international cooperation in 

space. (FBIS, Tass in English, 24 Dec 76) 

30 December: The Dept. of Transportation announced that the Federal 

Aviation Administration had awarded a $125 363 contract to York 

Univ., Ontario, Canada, for a program to measure ozone and the oxides 

of nitrogen present in all aircraft-engine emissions in the stratosphere. 

The program, to begin in the spring of 1977 in cooperation with NOAA’S 

Aeronomy Laboratory in Boulder, Colo., would use detection instruments 

lifted by balloons to an altitude of more than 35 km for the first simultaneous measurement of three types of nitrogen oxides and ozone; determining the high-altitude level of nitric oxide, nitrogen dioxide, and 

dinitrogen pentoxide would be an important step in finding the role of 

these oxides in maintaining the ozone balance. The contract would support the High Altitude Pollution Program, started in 1975 as part of 

DOT’S Climatic Impact Assessment Program; York Univ., which participated in CIAP, had in 1972 provided the first data on the stratospheric 

density of nitric oxide under the direction of Prof. Harold Schiff, a 

pioneer in the field. (DOT Release 76-122) 

31 December: Clocks around the world would be set back one second this New 

Year’s Eve, because the earth‘s spin was that much longer in 1976 than 

it was last year. The backward move would be the sixth in the last 5 yr 

because of a slowing in the earth’s spin, the Washington Post explained; 

304 
ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 December 

the changes were made twice in 1972 and once in each of the last 4 yr, 

each time on New‘ Year’s Eve. The standard U.S. timepiece (at the Natl. 

Bureau of Standards Laboratory at Boulder, Colo.) would be reset at 

midnight GMT (7 pm in Washington, D.C.), and similar atomic clocks 

would be reset at the same moment in more than 80 countries including 

the Soviet Union and the Peoples Republic of China. The earth‘s spin had 

been slowing for at least 250 yr, when it was first noticed, except for a 

10-yr period before 1900 when the rotation speeded up by 25 sec. In 

1878, Simon Newcomb, then chief astronomer at the Naval Observatory, first systematically observed a fluctuation in the rate of rotation, 

which still is verified by 80 observatories around the world who send their 

findings to the Intl. Time Bureau in Paris, established in 1972 (the year 

the clocks lost 2 sec). Scientists attributed the slowdown to the moon’s 

pull on the tides, braking the motion of the earth‘s mantle. (W Post, 

31 Dec 76, A2) 

During December: The Air Force Systems Command announced that former 

astronaut Maj. Gen. Michael Collins had been appointed mobilization 

assistant to the AFSC commander. The position was the top Air Force 

Reserve post in AFX. Collins, who was confirmed by the U.S. Senate as 

a reserve major general 10 Mar. 1976, would continue to serve as 

director of the National Air and Space Museum. (AFSC Newsreview, 

Dec 76, 10) 

0 Images from Landsat had reinforced the theory that mankind had created 

his own deserts through overgrazing of livestock, according to Joseph 

Otterman, a Landsat data user at Tel Aviv University. Satellite and other 

data had shown that overgrazed land on one side of the fence along the 

Israel- Egypt armistice line consistently measured several degrees cooler 

than the other side; the denuded land, reflecting more sunshine, retained 

less heat than vegetated land. The warmer land heated the overlying air, 

causing it to rise, form clouds, and rain; lack of this “heat mountain” 

effect over the denuded land encouraged formation of deserts. (CSM, 

15 Dee 76) 

Further press comment on Soviet “hunter-killer” satellites appeared in the 

Chicago Tribune, Washington Post, and New York Times, prompted 

by reports of the piggyback launch of Cosmos 881 and 882 on 15 Dec. 

Columnist Nicholas von Hoffman noted Pentagon denials that the USSR 

had used laser beams to destroy an American satellite and claims that the 

Soviets had been practicing knockouts only on their own targets; but the 

physical safety of the u.S. was “more in jeopardy now than ever,” he 

concluded, adding that “of course, we’ll put our money into aggressive 

basic research efforts to stop the Russian hunter-killer satellites.” 

Thomas O’Toole in the Washington Post described the launch and 

recovery of two Soviet satellites said by intelligence experts to be larger, 

newer versions of the hunter-killer craft, flown into orbit and back to base 

after circling the earth once, a move the experts said was to prevent 

China’s tracking the craft by radar. O’Toole said the Soviets were 

believed to have carried out 16 experiments in the past 9 yr in which 

unmanned spacecraft followed target satellites into space and blew them305 
December ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 

selves up to remove the targets from orbit; these tests stopped in 197 1, 

but resumed in Feb. 1976 after the launches of China 5 and China 6. 

The two Soviet spacecraft followed an unusual flight path, similar to 

those taken by manned Soyuz satellites, and were also unusual in returning to earth after so brief a flight. The New York Times reported the 

launch on 27 Dec. of Cosmos 886, which “apparently attempted to 

intercept” Cosmos 880, launched 9 Dec. “The hunter satellite never 

came closer than one mile to its target . . . and finally disintegrated on 

its third orbit,” the NYTnoted, adding that Cosmos 880 was still in orbit. 

The NYT story went on to describe the Cosmos 881 and 882 launch, “at 

first thought to have been such a test,” as actually connected with the 

manned space program. No effort had been made to interfere with US. 

space vehicles, and the 27 Dec. launch-the USSR’s fourth test of a 

satellite interceptor this year-had been classified as a failure by intelligence sources, the NYTsaid. (C Trib, 4 Dec 76, 1-7; WPost, 18 Dec 

76, A-1; NYT, 31 Dec 76, A6) * “One of the environmental disasters of the century” was the appearance 

of water hyacinth in the Sudan’s Nile river basin, reported an international conference of scientists representing the u.s., the Democratic 

Republic of the Sudan, Egypt, Ethiopia, the Federal Republic of Germany, Indonesia, and Mozambique, after a meeting sponsored by the 

Natl. Academy of Science’s Board on Science and Technology for International Development, and by the Sudan Agricultural Research Council. 

Besides choking watercourses and interfering with fishing and navigation, water hyacinth flourishing in warm river waters around the world 

had proved to harbor carriers of bilharzia and malaria. Measures suggested for control included herbicides, biological intervention, exchange 

of information and trade restrictions, and stimulation of economic incentive to harvest the plants. The report cited a NASA discovery that water 

hyacinth was a possible source of biogas production, and recommended 

harvesting to exploit this resource as well as using the plant for waterbuffalo fodder. (NAS News Report, Dec 76, 2) 

306 
Appendix A 

SATELLITES, SPACE PROBES, AND 

MANNED SPACE FLIGHTS, 1976 

World space activity increased only slightly in 1976; total launches, 

128, increased from 125 in 1975. Of this total, the U.S. had 26 plus one 

space probe, described in the introduction to Appendix B. The USSR had 

99 launches with 121 payloads, 79 of these in the Cosmos series; the 101 

Cosmos payloads included such specialized spacecraft as 8 navigation 

satellites (Cosmos 789, 800, 823, 842, 846, 864, 883, and 887), and 

the ocean-reconnaissance satellites Cosmos 860 and 861 working as a 

team. The Soviets also launched 7 spacecraft in the Molniya comsat 

series, 3 in the Meteor series, 2 Intercosmos spacecraft carrying experiments from other countries, a moon probe (Luna 24) that returned a 

surface sample to earth, the magnetospheric investigator Prognoz 5, 2 

additional geostationary domestic color-TV satellites (Statsionar 1 B and 

1 C), and 3 manned Soyuz spacecraft, as well as another orbiting space 

station (Salyut 5). 

The number and variety of launches by other countries decreased 

sharply to a total of 3. In Feb., Japan launched Ume, an ionospheresounding satellite, using its N rocket for the second time. The Peoples 

Republic of China in Aug. launched its sixth satellite, still in orbit; in 

Dec., it launched China 7, which reentered in Jan. 77. 

Sources of these data include the United Nations Public Registry of 

Space Flights; the Satellite Situation Report compiled by Goddard 

Space Flight Center’s Operations Control Center; and press releases of 

NASA, Department of Defense, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and other government agencies, as well as the Communications Satellite Corporation. Soviet data derive from statements in the 

Soviet press, translations from the Tass news agency, international newsservice reports, and announcements and briefings by Soviet officials. 

Data on satellites of other nations also come from the announcements of 

their respective governments and international news services. 

307 
Appendix A 

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ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 Appendix A 

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Appendix B 

MAJOR NASA LAUNCHES, 1976 

The following table of major NASA launches includes payloads carried by 

all rocket vehicles larger than sounding rockets launched in 1976 by NASA or 

under NASA direction. 

During 1976, the U.S. had 27 launches (with 35 payloads) including a 

suborbital gravity probe, all of which were successful. Of these, 11 (with 19 

payloads) were launches by DOD. The remaining 16 were NASA launches, only 

two for its own programs: Lageos, the laser geodynamics “golfball” satellite 

launched in May as a permanent reference point for earth-dynamics studies, 

and the gravity probe launched in June carrying a red-shift experiment that 

apparently confirmed the “equivalence principle” of Einstein’s theory of 

relativity. (In 1975, NASA had launched 10 all-Us. scientific payloads.) The 

14 launches for others in 1976 included 2 spacecraft for DO& 7 comsatsIntelsat IV-A F-2 in Jan.; Marisats 1, 2, and 3 in Feb., June, and Oct.; 

RCA’S Satcom 2 in Mar.; and Comstars 1 and 2 in May and July-; 1 for 

NOL, the Noaa 5 in Jdy; and 4 international satenitedelws 2 for FRG 

in Jan.; Cts 1 for the Canadian Dept. of Communications in Jan.; Nato MA 

for NATO in Mar.; and Palapa 1 in July, a domestic comsat for Indonesia. 

These tables usually categorize vehicle and payload performance as S for 

successful, P for partially successful, or U for unsuccessful. A fourth category 

(Unk) would indicate payloads that did not operate because of vehicle failure. 

These categories, which are unofficial, do not take into account that U 

missions might produce valuable information, or that payloads with a long-life 

design might later fail to meet the design requirements and might then become 

officially unsuccessful. Further information on these launches appears in 

Appendix A and in the indexed entries in the text. 

337 
Appendix B ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 

338 
ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 Appendix B 

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a rn 

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340 
Appendix C 

MANNED SPACE FLIGHTS, 1976 

Manned flight activity worldwide in 1976 consisted of only 3 launches, 

all in the USSR Soyuz series. The new Soviet space station, Salyut 5, was not 

launched until June; in July, the crew of Soyuz 21 docked suctessfully with 

it and remained 7 weeks. Neither the crew of Soyuz 22 nor that of Soyuz 23 

was able to dock successfully, although each returned to earth safely. 

At the end of 1976, the US. had made 31 manned space flights: 2 

suborbital, 20 in earth orbit, 3 in lunar orbit, and 6 lunar landings, with a total 

of 43 different crewmen. The USSR had made 30 manned flights, all in earth 

orbit, with 38 cosmonauts. The u.S. total of manned-spacecraft hours in flight 

was 7681 hrs 10 min; the USSR total, 6685 hr 27 min. Total cumulative 

man-hours in space for the U.S. were 22 503 hr 39 min; for the USSR, 

13 575 hr 36 min. 

34 1 
Appendix C ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 

342 
Appendix D 

NASA SOUNDING ROCKET LAUNCHES, 1976 

The following table lists the 63 sounding rockets of the Arcas class and 

above launched by NASA in 1976. The launches took place in Norway, 

Sweden, Greenland (for Denmark), and Canada, as well as in the United States 

(including Alaska and Hawaii). The rockets carried payloads for the Naval 

Research Laboratory, the Energy Research and Development Administration, 

and the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, as well as for 5 NASA centers, 

13 universities, 3 foreign governments, and 2 U.S. corporations. Types of 

onboard experiments included 28 in plasma physics; 8 in solar physics; 4 in 

astrophysics; 3 each in aeronomy, cometary physics, and meteorology, and 

2 in galactic astronomy, as well as 5 vehicle systems tests, 2 flight systems 

tests, 1 engineering test, and 3 space processing tests, plus 1 unidentified 

payload from Norway. 

Information for the table came from Goddard Space Flight Center’s 

Quick Look Sounding Rocket data sheets, issued after launches, with additional information from some of the experimenters concerned. Launch dates 

are in local time, with the date in Greenwich Mean Time added if different. 

343 
Appendix D ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 

344 
ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 Appendix D 

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Appendix D ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 

350 
Appendix E 

ABBREVIATIONS OF REFERENCES 

Listed here are the abbreviations used for citing sources in the text. Not all the 

sources are listed, only those that are abbreviated. 

AAAS Bull 

A&A 

A&A 1976 

ABC 

AEC Release 

Aero Daily 

Aero Med 

AF Mag 

AFHF Newsletter 

AFJ 

AFSC Newsreview 

AFSC Release 

AIA Release 

AIAA Facts 

AIAA Release 

AIP Newsletter 

AP 

ARC Astrogram 

Astro Journ 

Atlanta JC 

Av Wk 

B News 

B Sun 

Bull Atom Sci 

Bus Wk 

C Daily News 

C Trib 

Can Press 

CBS 

C&E News 

61 PD 

C1 Press 

Columbia J Rev 

American Association for the Advancement of Science’s 

American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics’ 

NASA’s Astronautics and Aeronautics, 1976: A ChronAmerican Broadcasting Company 

Atomic Energy Commission News Release 

Aerospace Daily newsletter 

Aerospace Medicine magazine 

Air Force Association’s Air Force Magazine 

Air Force Historical Foundation Newsletter 

Armed Forces Journal magazine 

Air Force Systems Command’s Newsreview 

Air Force Systems Command News Release 

Aerospace Industries Association of America News 

American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics’ 

American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics 

American Institute of Physics Newsletter 

Associated Press news service 

NASA Ames Research Center’s Astrogram 

American Astronomical Society’s Astrophysical 

Atlanta Journal Constitution newspaper 

Aviation Week & Space Technology magazine 

Birmingham News newspaper 

Baltimore Sun newspaper 

Education Foundation for Nuclear Science’s Bulletin of 

the Atomic Scientists 

Business Week magazine 

Chicago Daily News newspaper 

Chicago Tribune newspaper 

Canadian Press news service 

Columbia Broadcasting System 

Chemical & Engineering News magazine 

Cleveland Plain Dealer newspaper 

Cleveland Press newspaper 

Columbia Journalism Review magazine 

AAAS Bulletin 

magazine, Astronautics & Aeronautics 

ology (this publication) 

Release 

Facts 

News Release 

Journal 

351 
Appendix E 

ComSatCorp Release 

CR 

CSM 

D News 

D Post 

DASA Release 

DFRC 

DJ 

Doc PI0 

DOD Release 

DOT Release 

EOP Release 

FAA release 

FBIS-SOV 

FonF 

FRC Release 

FRC x-Press 

GE Forum 

Goddard News 

GSFC Release 

CSFC SSR 

GT&E Release 

H Chron 

H Post 

JA 

IPL Lab-Oratory 

JPL Release 

JPRS 

JSC Release 

JSC Roundup 

JSR 

KC Star 

KC Times 

KSC Release 

LA Her-Exam 

LA Times 

Langley Researcher 

LARC Release 

LERC Release 

Lewis News 

M HER 

M News 

M Trib 

Marshall Star 

MJ 

MSFC Release 

N Hav Reg 

N News 

CQ 

CTNS 

LATNS 

ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 

Communications Satellite Corporation News Release 

Congressional Quarterly 

Congressional Record 

Christian Science Monitor newspaper 

Chicago Tribune News Service 

Detroit News newspaper 

Denver Post newspaper 

Defense Atomic Support Agency News Release 

See FRC. 

Dow Jones news service 

Department of Commerce Public Information Office 

Department of Defense News Release 

Department of Transportation News Release 

Executive Office of the President News Release 

Federal Aviation Administration News Release 

Foreign Broadcast Information Service, Soviet number 

Facts on File 

Flight Research Center News Release (after 8 Jan. 1976, 

became Dryden Flight Research Center News Release) 

NASA Flight Research Center’s X-Press 

General Electric Forum magazine 

NASA Goddard Space Flight Center’s Goddard News 

NASA Goddard Space Flight Center News Release 

NASA Goddard Space Flight Center’s Satellite Situation 

General Telephone & Electronics News Release 

Houston Chronicle newspaper 

Houston Post newspaper 

Journal of Aircraft magazine 

Jet Propulsion Laboratory’s Lab-Oratory 

Jet Propulsion Laboratory News Release 

Department of Commerce Joint Publications Research 

NASA Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center (Manned SpaceNASA Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center’s Space News 

American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics’ 

Kansas City Star newspaper 

Kansas City Times newspaper 

NASA John F. Kennedy Space Center News Release 

Los Angeles Herald-Examiner newspaper 

Los Angeles Times newspaper 

NASA Langley Research Center’s Langley Researcher 

NASA Langley Research Center News Release 

Los Angeles Times News Service 

NASA Lewis Research Center News Release 

NASA Lewis Research Center’s Lewis News 

Miami Herald newspaper 

Miami News newspaper 

Minneapolis Tribune newspaper 

NASA George C. Marshall Space Flight Center’s Marshall 

Milwaukee Journal newspaper 

NASA George C. Marshall Space Flight Center News 

New Haven Register newspaper 

Newark News newspaper 

Report 

Service 

craft Center until 17 Feb. 1973) News Release 

Roundup 

Journal of Spacecraft and Rockets magazine 

Star 

Release 

352 
ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 Appendix E 

N Vu Sun 

NAA News 

NAA Record Book 

NAG Release 

NAE Release 

NANA 

N& Release 

NAS-NRC Release 

NAS-NRC-NAE News Rpt 

NASA anno. 

NASA GMR 

NASA HHR-39 

NASA Hist Off 

NASA Hq WB 

NASA Int Aff 

NASA Leg Off 

NASA LAR, XIII/8 

NASA MOR 

NASA prog Off 

NASA proj off 

NASA Release 

NASA Rpt SRL 

NASA SP-40 19 

Nut1 06s 

Nature 

NEX 

NGS Release 

NMI 

NN 

NOAA Release 

NRL Release 

NSC Release 

NSC News 

NSC Letter 

NSF Highlights 

NSF Release 

NSTL Release 

NY News 

NYT 

NYTNS 

0 Sen Star 

Oakland Trib 

Omaha W-H 

ONR Rev 

P Bull 

P lnq 

PD 

PA0 

Northern Virginia Sun newspaper 

National Aeronautic Association News 

National Aeronautic Association’s World and U.S.A. 

National World Aviation-Space Records 

National Aviation Club News Release 

National Academy of Engineering News Release 

North American Newspaper Alliance 

National Academy of Sciences News Release 

National Academy of Sciences-National Research Council News Release 

National Academy of Sciences-National Research 

Council-National Academy of Engineering News 

Report 

NASA announcement 

NASA Headquarters “General Management Review 

NASA Historical Report No. 39 

NASA History Office 

NASA Headquarters Weekly Bulletin 

NASA Office of International Affairs 

NASA Legislative Activities Report, Vol. XIII, No. 8 

NASA office of Legislative Affairs 

NASA Headquarters Mission Operations Report, preliminary prelaunch and postlaunch report series; information may be revised and refined before publication 

Report” 

NASA program office (for the program reported) 

NASA project office (for the project reported) 

NASA Headquarters News Release 

NASA report of sounding rocket launching 

NASA Special Publication No. 4019 

National Observer magazine 

Nature Physical Science magazine 

National Broadcasting Company 

National Geographic Society News Release 

NASA Management Instruction 

NASA Notice 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration News 

Release 

Naval Research Laboratory Release 

National Space Club News Release 

National Space Club News 

National Space Club Letter 

National Science Foundation’s Science Resources StudNational Science Foundation News Release 

NASA National Space Technology Laboratories News 

New York Daily News newspaper 

New York Times newspaper 

New York Times News Service 

Orlando Sentinel Star newspaper 

Oakland Tribune newspaper 

Omaha World-Herald newspaper 

Navy’s Office of Naval Research Reviews 

Philadelphia Evening and Sunday Bulletin newspaper 

Philadelphia Inquirer newspaper 

Public Affairs Office 

National Archives and Records Service’s Weekly Comies Highlights 

Release 

pilation of Presidential Documents 

353 
Appendix E 

PI0 

PMR Missile 

PMR Release 

Pres Rpt 74 

SAO Release 

SBD 

Sci Amer 

Sci & Gout Rpt 

SciServ 

SD 

SD Union 

SET Manpower Comments 

Sf 

SF Chron 

SF Exam 

Sou Aero 

Sou Rpt 

SP 

Spaceport News 

Spacewarn 

SR list 

SSN 

St Louis G-D 

St Louis P-D 

T-Picayune 

Tech Rev 

Testimony 

Text 

Transcript 

UN Reg 

UP1 

USGS Release 

USPS Release 

w Post 

W Star-News 

WFC Release 

WH Release 

WIT 

lVSJ 

ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976 

Public Information O5ce 

USN Pacific Missile Range’s Missile 

USN Pacific Missile Range News Release 

Aeronautics and Space Report of the President: 1974 

Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory News Release 

DefenselSpace Business Daily newspaper 

Scientijc American magazine 

Science & Government Report, independent bulletin of 

Science Service News service 

Space Digest magazine 

Sun Diego Union newspaper 

Scientific Manpower Commission’s Scientijc, EngineerBritish Interplanetary Society’s Spaceflight magazine 

Sun Francisco Chronicle newspaper 

Sun Francis0 Examiner newspaper 

Soviet Aerospace newsletter 

Center for Foreign Technology’s Soviet Report 

Space Propulsion newsletter 

NASA John F. Kennedy Space Center’s Spaceport News 

IUWDS World Data Center A for Rockets and Satellites’ 

NASA compendium of sounding rocket launches 

Soviet Sciences in the News, publication of ElectroSt. Louis Globe-Democrat newspaper 

St. Louis Post-Dispatch newspaper 

New Orleans Times-Picayune newspaper 

Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Technology 

Congressional testimony, prepared statement 

Prepared report or speech text 

Official transcript of news conference or congressional 

United Nations Public Registry of Space Flight 

United Press International news service 

U.S. Geological Survey News Release 

U.S. Postal Service News Release 

Washington Post newspaper 

Washington Star-News newspaper 

NASA Wallops Flight Center News Release 

White House News Release 

World Journal Tribune newspaper 

Wall Street Journal newspaper 

Activities 

science policy 

ing, Technical Manpower Comments 

(translations) 

Spacewarn Bulletin 

Optical Systems, Inc. 

Review 

hearing 

354 
INDEX AND LIST OF ABBRJEVIATIONS 

AND ACRONYlMS 

A300. See Airbus. 

AAAS. See American Association for the 

Abilene, Texas, 116 

ablation, 37 

aborigine, 251 

abort system, 89, 244, 251 

abrasion, 60 

absorption, 46, 141,227,250,281 

AC-4 (AWentaur launch vehicle), 290 

Academy of Sciences, USSR. See Soviet Acaacceleration, 25 

acceptance testing, 97, 259 

accident, 15, 16, 44, 53, 59, 94, 135, 153, 

209, 214, 244, 251, 253, 263, 273, 280, 

282, 303 

accretion, 56 

accuracy, 126, 142, 151, 209, 281 

acoustical holography, 106 

acoustics, 27, 33, 168, 170, 24Q, 254, 267, 

ACPL. See atmospheric cloud physics laboraacrylic, 227 

Advance II (research ship), 119 

advanced manned strategic aircraft, 158 

AE-C (Atmosphere Explorer C), 27 

AE-D (Atmosphere Explorer D), 27 

AGE (Atmosphere Explorer D), 27 

AEGTelefunken, 136, 287 

aerial photography, 105, 115, 133, 151,269 

Aeritalia, 165, 187,209 

aerodynamics, 23, 24,33, 194 

aerodyne (wingless aircraft), 29 

aeroelasticity, 18 

Aemflot, 286 

aeromechanics, 117 

aeronautical research 

Advancement of Science. 

demy of Sciences. 

297 

"y. 

-military, 84, 113 

-NASA, centers, 5, 48, 54, 95, 117, 118, 

-NASA-industry, 81,97, 230 

-overseas, 187,246 

241 

aeronautics, 17,39, 79, 85,87, 115, 124, 193 

aemnoxny, 343 

A&nomy Laboratory, NOAA, 17,304. 

Aeronutronic Ford Corp., 186,232 

Aerosat, 14, 130,211,214 

Aerosat Space Segment Board, 14,211 

aerosols, 17, 77, 216, 261 

Aerospace Corp. See Grumman. 

Aerospace Industries Association, 3, 17, 81 

aerospace industry, 18, 61, 72, 81, 82, 87, 

135,165,166,180,187,192,211,249,277 

Aerospace Medical Division, USAF, 172 

aerospace sciences, 18,63, 256 

aerospace technology, 13, 18, 80, 126, 256 

Aerospatiale (French contractor), 97,130,180, 

187, 188. 195 

Aetna Insurance, 78 

AF. See Air Force, U.S. 

AFML. See Air Force Materiel Laboratory. 

hca, 18, 73, 79, 84, 106, 136, 146, 176, 

AFSATCOM. See Air Force Satellite CommuAgency for International Development (AID), 

aging, 55, 111, 113,255 

agriculture, 40, 47, 73, 81, 137, 141, 178, 

198, 221, 228, 237, 245, 262, 279, 282, 

298,299,305 

Agnculture, U.S. Dept. of (USDA), 141, 150, 

198,201,254,274,299 

agronomy, 254 

Ahlborn, Dr. H., 96 

Ahmadabad, India, 228 

AIAA. See American Institute of Aeronautics 

and Astmnautics. 

AID. See Agency for International Development. 

AIDSAT. See AID space-age technology. 

AID space-age technology (AIDSAT) program, 

aileron, 118 

air-breathing engine, 47 

Air Commerce Act of 1926,85 

air-cushion system, 84, 292 

air-drag balance measurement, 20 

Air Force, U.S. (USAF) 

-contracts, 99, 108, 149, 186,248,271,287 

--cooperative pmgrams, 27, 49, 90, 125, 233, 

210 

nications System. 

105-106, 175,281,293 

175,281,293 

242 

-flight testing, 14, 44, 47, 53, 84, 95, 123, 

-people, 19, 29, 44, 69, 70, 80, 99, 129, 

--Dlanes. 58. 81.92. 184. 246.285.287 

273,276,283,288 

14S,2 178, 231 

Glicy, 158, 193, 199,257,285, 287 

--satellites, 50, 79, 102, 133, 141, 195, 214, 

-technological utilization, 17, 24, 61, 130, 

Air Force Academy Foundation, 145 

Air Force Association, 125, 161 

Air Force Flight Test Center, 14 

Air Force Geophysics Laboratory, 233 

Air Force Materials Laboratory, 162 

Air Force Satellite Communications System 

(AFSATCOM), 118 

Air Force Space and Missile Systems Organization. See Space and Missile Systems 

Organization (SAMSO). 

Air Force Systems Command (AFSC), 129, 

130, 159, 170,257,267,276,283,305 

Air France, 3, 103,269 

air-launched missile, 286 

Air Line Pilots Association, 16 

Air Mail Act of 1925,67 

Air Mobility Research and Development LaAir National Guard, 109 

air pollution, 3, 17, 19, 34, 39, 64, 76, 88, 

102, 105, 117, 160, 189, 216, 221, 227, 

261 

294 

134, 162, 172 

boratory (US. Amy), 258 

355 
air safety, 17, 66, 84, 89, 94, 97, 114, 134, 

135, 149, 167, 209, 214, 229, 257, 263, 

277.282 

air stewardess, 229 

air-tr&ic control, 16,33,66,68,84,94, 167, 

Air Transport Association, 124, 134, 166 

Airborne Observatory. See Kuiper obsematory, Galileo II. 

Airbus (European passenger transport), 134, 

188 

airconditioning, 19,47,78,108,271,288,302 

aircraft 

-communications, 4, 212, 263, 276 

-design, 8, 33, 71,84,87,90,95, 113, 123, 

144, 181, 229, 231, 246, 248, 253, 258, 

273,274,280,282 

-flight control, 61, 68, 95, 113, 167, 170, 

194,214 

-fuel conservation, 89, 230, 280 

-improvement, 33, 66, 84,87, 95, 113, 125, 

134, 149, 160, 164,273, 280,282, 285 

Tmanufacturing, 17, 81, 89, 125, 135, 149, 

161, 180, 190,211 

-technology, 8, 14, 33, 285 

-testing, 84,95, 164, 229 -use for research: 

AF, 14, 28 

Army, 4Q, 258 

Coast Guard, 2,236 

FAA, 67 

NASA, 33, 44, 46, 76, 95, 132, 144, 145- 

146, 194,249,256,261,272, 280,295- 

296 

181, 198,214,229,263,274 

NOAA, 17,204,277 

university, 300 

USSR, 6, 8, 73 

AiResearch Manufacturing Co. of Calif.. 142 

airfoil, 5, 29, 81 

airlines, 15, 16, 26, 85, 124, 125, 134, 149, 

166, 180, 181, 182, 198, 212, 256, 269, 

277,285, 286 

airlock, 271 

airmail, 67 

Airplane Research Institute, Vienna, 28 

Akasofu. Dr. Svun-ichi. 2% 

airport, 4, 33, '56, 68, '84, 89, 118, 124, 134, 

airships, 6,41,97 

167, 181, 198,229,257,274,276 

airs&am, 33, 130, 132 

Aksenov, Vladimir, 220-221, 342 

Alabama, 106,241,276 

Alamogordo, N.M., 27,238,259 

alarm system, 102 

Alaska, 29, 37, 62, 63, 69, 93, 94, 247, 261, 

295,296,343 

Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act of 1971, 

69 

Alaska, Univ. of, 69, 2% 

Alberta, Univ. of, 2% 

Alcator (fusion machine), 36 

Aldrin, Edwin E., Jr., 178 

Aleksandmv, Anatoly P., 76, 221 

Aleuts, 69 

Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, 166 

Algernon Blair Co., 262 

Algonquin Radio Observatory, Ontario, 302 

alien, 252,264 

All-American air race, 275 

Allegheny mountains, 109 

Allen, H. Julian, award, 48 

Allende meteorite, 56 

alluvial deposits, see geology. 

Alma Ata, USSR, 8,286 

Alpha Building Corp., 265 

ALSEP. See Apollo lunar scientific experiment 

ALT: approach and landing tests 

Altai territory, USSR, 177 

altimeter, 46 

altitude 

-aircraft, 47, 76, 123, 164, 165, 170, 280, 

300 

alloys, 95-96 

package. 

-balloon, 216,229,230, 272,304 

-missile, 53 

--over (earth, moon, planet) surface, 46, 64, 

-rocket, 126,250 

--spacecraft, 66,79,166,218,227,271,279, 

82, 119, 122, 131, 138,291 

282 

aluminum, 17,61,67,%, 134,146,157,160, 

amateur radio, 195, 248, 263, 276 

170, 197,222,225 

Amazon river, 24Q 

ambassador, 79 

American Association for the Advancement of 

American Astronautical Society (AAS), 241 

American Broadcasting Co. (ABC), 152 

American Chemical Society, 216 

American Federation of Government EmployAmerican Geophysical Union, 77, 281, 290, 

American Heart Association, 259 

American Indians, 69,288,299 

American Institute for Chemical Engineering, 

American Institute of Aeronautics and AstroAmerican Institute of Industrial Engineers, 99 

American National Standards Institute, 78 

American Physical Society, 25, 238, 242 

American Radio Relay League, 1% 

American Revolution Bicentennial Assn., % 

American Rocket Society, 241 

American Society for Mechanical Engineering, 

186 

American Society of Engineering Education, 

241 

American Telephone and Telegraph (AT&"), 

18,94, 157, 186 

Ames Research Center (ARC) 

--contracts, 94,97 

meetings, 103 

-missions, 49,58 

-people, 48, 144, 156, 175, 177, 218, 231, 

-programs, 33,38,45,61,77,117,127,168, 

amphibious craft, 90, 251, 265 

Science (AAAS), 1, 32,33,35 

ees, 191 

296,301 

186 

nautics (AIAA), 3,65, 106 

275, 277, 278, 295 

194, 231, 258, 261, 269-270 

356 
amplifier, 6 

Am 1 (DOD advanced meteorological satellite), 

214, 327 

AMSA advanced manned strategic aircraft 

Amsat (amateur radio comsat, W. Germany), 

An Analysis of Federal R&D Funding by Funcanaerobic, 40 

Anders, William A., 48, 79 

Anderson, Arthur T., 151 

Anderson, Dr. Don L, 237 

Anderson, Jack, 78 

Anderson, Dr. James G., 216 

Andes, 45 

Andover, Me., 200 

Andoya range, Norway, 301 

Andrews Air Force Base, 129 

animals, 38,64, 113, 172, 298, 305 

anomaly, 15, 17, 71,78, 183,250-251, 277 

anorthosite, 55 

Antarctic, 17, 79, 175, 200, 209, 261, 293 

Antares (star). 115 

248 

twn, Fiscal Years 1967-1977, 192 

antenna,'31,'62, 79, 84, 123, 141, 150, 165, 

181, 197, 205, 207, 213, 228, 229, 233, 

268,269,272,275, 278,292 

antiaircraft missile, 287 

antiballistic missile, 151, 230 

antigen, 251 

Antilles, 83 

antisatellite spacecraft. See interceptor satelantisubmarine warfare, 292 

Apollo (program) 

-history, 10, 29, 51, 66, 76, 80, 90, 112, 

119, 126, 129, 147, 148, 231, 285, 298- 

299 

lite, 

-people, 18, 19, 27, 37, 39, 48, 50, 53, 54, 

57, 70, 79, 91, 96, 137, 178, 231, 238, 

259, 270, 277,278,282-283.305 

-results, 11, 20, 36, 37, 57, 60, 63, 66, 74, 

78,97, 111, 116, 158, 179,246,256,264, 

272,300 

Aplb 8, 48, 79,283 

ApoUo9, 19 

Aplb 10, 51 

Apolb 11, 18, 35, 54, 112, 137, 148, 150, 

Apb 12, 11,37, 272 

Aplb 13, 37 

Apolb 14, 11, 19, 36, 74, 150 

Aplb 15, 11,66,272 

Aplb 16, 11,272 

Aplb 17, 11, 50, 131, 246,270,272 

Apollo 204 fire, 54 

Apollo lunar scientific experiment package 

(ALSEP), 11,36, 74,272 

Apollo-Soyuz. Test Project (ASTP), 20, 27, 29, 

51, 53,54,73,76,80, 119, 126, 129, 163, 

190,193,221,231,244,277,282-283,298, 

304 

178,246, 305 

Apollo telescope mount (ATM), 179 

Apple (Ariane passenger payload experiment), 

Applications Technology Satellite (AB) proIndia comsat, 248 

gram (see also Ats 6), 47,228 

approach and landing (Shuttle tests), 53, 62, 

66, 98, 204, 210, 220, 222,229,250-251, 

301 

AFT: automatic picture transmission 

Aquila (constellation), 150 

Arab states, 69, 210 

ARC. See Ames Research Center. 

ARCO. See Atlantic Richfield Co. 

Arctic research, 6, 73,209, 247,301 

Arcturus (star), 155 

Ardashat, Armenia, 231 

Arecibo, P.R., 33,77,84, 148,213 

Argentina, 149,293,295 

argon, 83, 139, 146, 155, 181 

Argyre (region of Mars), 162 

Ariane (ESA launch vehicle), 80, 88, 97, 192, 

Aries (rocket), 49 

Arizona, 7, 71, 121, 139,209, 225,240 

Arizona, Univ. of, 82, 132 

Arkalyk, USSR, 251 

Arlington, Tex., 258 

Armament Development and Test Center, 

USAF, 170 

Armenia, 231 arms limitation agreement, 230,286 

arms race, 1,30,32, 47, 238, 281, 286,289 

Annstrong, Neil A., 18,63, 147, 238, 255 

Army, U.S., 25, 28, 40, 72, 113, 193, 237, 

261,262, 271, 279,285,286, 304 

Army Communications Command, 298 

Army Missile Command, 25 

Army Signal Corps, 40 

Arnold Engineering Development Center, 

US*, 24, 130,283 

Arnold, Dr. James R., 131 

ARO, Inc., 131 

arrays. See solar conversion devices. 

arsenic, 157 

artificial gravity, 38 

artificial limbs, organs, 37, 63 

Artsimovich, Dr. Lev, 36 

AS-W17 (sailplane), 109 

239,248,249,287 

art, 137 

asepsis, 23 

Asia, 74, 106, 177,215,238,276,289, 303 

Asimov, Isaac, 176 

Askins, Barbara S., 158 

Aspin, Rep. Les (D-Wis), 7, 58, 160 

assembly, 97, 112, 169, 198, 222, 245, 258, 

270,278,295,300 

ASSESS (airborne science Spacelab-experiment systems simulation), ESA program, 

194,227 

ASSESS 11, 194,227 

Associated Universities, Inc., 32 

Association of Universities for Research in 

Astronomy (AURA), 7 

asteroid, 25, 35, 105, 168 

ASP. See Apollo-Soyuz Test Project. 

Astrain, Santiago, 21,238 

astrogeology, 77 

astronaut (see also names of individuals) 

--administration, 19,46,57,95,224,270 

-history, 4-5, 10, 25, 27, 51, 66, 119, 137, 

147,222, 231, 238,255,282-283,285 

357 
-research, 11,14-15,20-21,26,36,52,59- 

60,63,66,74,80,90,111, 127, 145, 159, 

232-233,255,256,264,272,300 

-training, 118,142,162,194,220,227,229, 

257,301 

Astronautics Engineer Award, 49 

astronomers, 7,23,27,46,74 

astronomy, 7, 32, 33, 35, 77, 93, 108, 158, 

170, 179, 198, 220, 227, 244, 272, 277, 

283,294,298, 302, 305 

astrophysics, 148, 193, 198,298,343 

asylum, political, 210 

ATA. See Air Transport Association. 

Atkinson, Dr. Richard T., 185 

Atlanta, Ga., 35,247 

Atlanta International Airport, 257 

Atlantic City, N.J., 257 

Atlantic ocean, 14, 18, 31, 47, 60, 66, 83, 

89, 103, 115, 118, 129, 143, 145, 169, 

181, 186, 195, 200, 212, 223, 239, 242, 

249,256,267, 276 

Atlantic Richfeld Co., 37 

Atlantic Science Corpomtion, 132 

Atlas (launch vehicle), 99 

Atlas-Centaur, 18, 49, 94, 157, 211, 218, 

290,295 

Atlas MA-5, 149 

ATM. See Apollo telescope mount project. 

atmosphere (see also individual planets) 

--ionosphere, 20, 32, 142,233,239,250 

-magnetosphere, 11,49,68, 142, 301 

-planetary (see individual planets) 

-protonosphere, 250 

-research, 15, 27, 32, 53, 76, 77, 119, 142, 

148, 187, 189, 249, 272, 277, 279, 288, 

295,300,304 

--stratosphere, 17,32, 53, 64, 76, 216,272, 

295,304 

--thermosphere, 19, 27, 300 

-upper atmosphere, 27, 46, 53, 64, 73, 148, 

163,187,221,230,233,250,261,272,300 

Atmosphere Explorer (AE) project, 19,27 

Atmospheric Cloud Physics Laboratory, 249, 

278 

atmospheric pollution, 3, 17, 64, 105, 189, 

atmospheric pressure, 8, 19, 104, 146 

Atomic Energy Commission. See ERDB; 

atomic physics, 254, 273 

atomic power, 36, 74, 127, 146, 149, 252, 

atomic research, 7 

ATS. See Applications Technology Satellite. 

Ats3, 10 

Ats 6, 49, 93, 105, 111, 175, 228, 281, 293, 

301 

graph Co. 

232,235, 261,300 

NRC. 

254,297 

AT&T. See American Telephone and Teleattitude control, 20,59,218,297 

Auburn, Mass., 51 

Auburn Univ., Ala., 241 

AURA. See Association of Universities for 

Atwood, J. Leland, 275 

Research in Astronomy. 

Auriga (constellation), 108 aurora, 37,49,63,68,233,2%, 301 

Australia, 35, 93, 150, 151, 172, 251, 261, 

Austria, 143,237,238 

automatic beam fabrication, 278 

automatic picture transmission (APT), 133 

automated systems, 60,76,79,144,148,160, 

168, 177, 182, 197,227,288,295,342 

automobile, 29,39, 135, 146 

autoradiographic film intensification, 158 

AV8 "Harrier" (STOL aircraft), 164 

Avco Corporation, 248 

Avco Everett Research Laboratory (AVCO 

Electronics), 35, 39, 80 

Aviation Historical Foundation, 67, 97 

Aviation Ministry, USSR, 286 

aviation policy, 125,212,274 

aviation safety. See air safety. 

avionics, 28, 81, 117, 247 

Aviation Space Writers Association, 96 

awards, 18, 40, 48, 49, 65, 79, 90, 99, 133, 

143, 165, 186, 196, 2@4, 229, 231, 235, 

237, 241, 247, 254, 256, 259, 275, 280, 

282,283,293 

Azores Is., 83, 242 

AflK (joint U.S.-FRG satellite), 7 

263,294 

185, 2&, '257,'285, 287 

B-52 (bomber), 47, 58,97, 286,Z 

B-747. See Bming 747. 

El (bombed. 51.81.92. 108,123,158,161, 

87 

background radiation, 15, 217, 277 

Backus, John W., 254 

bacteria, 44,45,60, 149,216, 267 

Bahamas, 19,57 

Bahrein, 3, 269 

Bailey, Dorinda S., 282 

Baker, Dr. William O., 9 

Balachandran, Nambath, 300 

Baldwin, Jack, 124 

ballistic missiles, 286-287 

balloon, 6, 11, 17,29,68,88, 115, 117, 136, 

138, 145, 160, 171, 190, 212, 216, 229, 

230,242,272,288, 304 

balloon-borne telecommunications and broadcast system, 136 

bdoon-borne ultraviolet stellar spectrometer 

(BUSS), 115 

Baltic Sea, 263 

Baltimore, Md., 36, 37, 73, 80,99 

Banana River, 169 

Bandanaraike International Airport (Colombo, 

Sri Lanka), % 

Bangladesh, 176, 293 

banks, 142, 191 

Barents Sea, 288 

Barfield, Dr. Joseph N., 301 

barium, 49,63 

Barron, James, 127 

Barstow, Calif., 197 

basalt, 55,122,148,215,272,281,300 

basic research, 238,251 

Basov, Nikolai, 278 

Battelle Memorial Institute, 94 

358 
Battelle-Northwest Research Institute, 95 

battery, 15,144, 181,213,219,275,280,291 

Baykonur cosmodrome, USSR, 140, 204, 220, 

221,250,273 

beacons, 66,233 

beam separation, 18 

Beckman, Dr. John, 194 

Bedford, Mass., 190’ 

Beech Aircraft Corp., 145 

Beer, Dr. Reinhold, 46 

behavior, 148, 159, 199 

Belenko, Lt. Victor I., 210 

Belgium, 4,130 

Bell, Alexander Graham, 139,292 

Bell Laboratories, 9 

Bell X-1 (supersonic aircraft), 137 

Bell Helicopter Textron, 258 

Bendix Corporation, 36, 262 

Bendix trophy, 275 

Benedict, Manson, 254 

Benefidd, Doug, 124 

Benjumin Franklin (research sub), 159 

Bennett (comet), 45 

Beregovoy, Maj. Gen. Georgy, 304 

Bering Strait, 143 

Bering, Vitus, 143 

Berkeley, Calif., 56 

Berlin, Germany, 224 

Bermuda, 46,83, 181,212 

Bern, Univ. of, 187 

beryllium, 25 

Bethe, Hans W., 254 

Bethpage, N.Y., 118 

Bicentennial, U.S., 66, 135,243,292 

-NASA and centers, 25, 29, 70, 107, 123, 

-NAA, 85,97,98 

132, 139, 144, 145, 150,210, 270 

-NASM, 137 

-USAF, 80 

Biemann, Dr. Klaus, 157, 236, 274 

“big bang” theory, 32 

“Big Bird” (reconnaissance satellite), 141 

Bignier, Michel, 241, 269 

Bijvoet, Jan A., 48 

bilharzia, 306 

Biliu, David S., 227 

Bimini, 57 

Binder, Alan S., 155 

biochemistry, 1, 40, 273 

bioengineering, 15,20, 23,37,63,65, 172 

biogas, 40, 306 

biohazard, 11 

biology 

-international research, 148, 212, 306 

-Mars, 17,100,139,154-157,177,199-2~, 

203-204,208,215,217,236-237,260,274, 

295 

-NASA research, 35, 126, 169 

-USSR research, 38, 119, 159, 193,231 

biomedicine, 71, 148, 188, 190 

biosat, 38 

biosensor, 60 

Biospherics, Inc., 156, 175, 275 

biotechnology, 172, 199 

Bir, James E., 98 

birds, 134, 172 

Black Brant (sounding rocket), 95,297 

Black Businessmen’s Assn. of Los Angeles, 

black holes, 26, 32 

Black Sea, 195 

Bledsoe, Maj. Adolphus (Pat), 164 

Bliiov, Nikolay, 6 

Block 5D (USAF metesat program), 214 

303 

.- 

block grants, 13 

blood, 20,23,47,63, 171,251,255 

Blumberg. Dr. Baruch S., 251.255 

Board on Science and Technology for International Development, NAS, 306 

boats, 50, 117 

Boeing 7x7 (proposed jet aircraft), 187 

Boeing 707, 124, 180, 191,209 

Boeing 727, 124, 188 

Boeing 131, 180, 188 

Boeing 747, 37, 62, 66, 134, 137, 170, 180, 

191,210,282,287 

Boeing Aerospace Corp. (see also Boeing Commercial Airplane Co., Boeing Co.), 47, 53, 

60,75,186, 187, 193,270 

Boeing Commercial Airplane Co., 33 

Boeing Company, 60,75, 180, 186, 187, 188, 

198,229,230,240,277,287, 302,304 

Boldt, Dr. Elihu, 101 

Bolivia, 191, 293 

bomb. See weapons systems. 

Bombay, India, 48, 128 

bomber aircraft, 47, 58, 158, 161, 191,257 

Bmnet, Dr. Roger, 178 

booster. See launch vehicle. 

Bootes (constellation), 115 

boranes, 254 

Borman, Frank, 283 

boron-epoxy composite, 222 

Boston, Mass., 33, 36, 51, 96, 98, 102, 143 

Boston Univ. School of Medicine, 176 

Boulder, Colo., 179, 304 

boundary layer, 5, 231 

Boyce, J.C., 298 

Bradsher, Henry S., 229 

Bradt, Dr. Hale, 101 

Braginsky, Prof. Vladimir B., 45 

brain, 252 

braking, 121 

Brand, Vance, 27,282 

Brazil, 5, 117,238,240. 293 

breakthrough, 36,80 

Bredt, James H., 65 

breeder reactor, 11 

Brekhovskikh, Leonid, 15 

Bremen, W. Germany, 113, 292 

Brigham City, Utah, 188 

Britain. See United Kingdom. 

British Aircraft Corp., 165,239,301 

British Airways, 3, 103, 180, 190, 212, 214, 

British Interplanetary Society. 108,283 

bromine. compounds, 64 

Brookhaven National Laboratory, 66, 242, 304 

Brooks, Rep. Jack (D-Tex.), 218 

Broome, G. Calvin, 271 

269 

359 
Broten, N.W., 302 

Brown University, 166 

Broyles, Howard, 172-173 

Buchwald, Art, 154 

Buck Rogers, 154 

budget (federal), 1, 12, 14, 16, 43, 58, 134, 

-NASA. See NASA, funding. 

Budget Reform Act of 1974, 12 

Buffalo (transport aircraft), 33 

Buffalo, N.Y., 36 

Bugayev, Boris, 286 

Bulgaria, 128, 163,219,224,250,304 

Bumper 8 (captured V-2 rocket), 261 

buoys, 29, 119, 145,267 

Burch, Dr. James L., 142 

Burger, Jan J., 91 

Burroughs, Edgar Rice, 100 

Bushveld area, S. Africa, 294 

BUSS balloon-borne ultraviolet stellar spectroBykovsky, Col. Valery, 220-221,342 

C-3 experiment (HEAO), 278 

C-8 “Buffalo” (transport plane), 33 

C47 ‘‘Gooney Bird” (transport plane), 66, 

138, 151, 160-161, 193, 201, 274 

meter 

C-5A galaxy, 134 

11s 

C-G-(research aircraft), 119, 133 

C-band telemetry, 115 

CAB. See Civil Aeronautics Board. 

cadmium, 41 

Cal-Doran Metallurgical Services, 82 

calcium, 157, 187,224 

calendar, 12 

calibration, 62 

caliche, 224 

California, 24, 38, 115, 121, 124, 150, 173, 

198,218,224,225, 240,243 / 

California Institute of Technology (Gdtech), 

23,25,45,64,69, 72, 101, 119, 132, 133, 

151,225,237,275, 278,300 

/ 

California, Univ. of 

-Berkeley, 254, 2% 

-Livermore Laboratory, 216 

--Lax Angeles, 132, 226, 301 

-San Diego, 1, 101, 131 

-San Francisco, 45 

Calio, Dr. Anthony, 100 

Calspan Corp., 67 

Caltech. See California Institute of Technology- Cambridge Light Co., 125 

Cambridge Research Laboratory, USAF, 69 

camera, 43, 101, 119, 121, 130, 133, 

152,154,220-221,224,225,288,2%, 

342 

Cameroon, 181,293 

Canada, 1, 9, 14, 48, 76, 84, 114, 117, 141, 

149, 179, 200, 212, 214, 247, 249, 289, 

296, 302, 304, 337, 338, 343 

Canadian Department of Communications 

(CDC), 10,337, 338 

Canadian Department of Mines and Resources, 

244 

360 

Canadian Department of National Defence, 

canals of Mars (see also Mars), 100, 154 

Canaveral. See Cape Canaveral. 

cancer, 11,35,99, 137,216 

Cannon AFB, N.M., 184 

Cannon, Sen. Howard (D-Nev.), 67 

Canoga Park, Calif., 63,219 

capacity, 118, 120, 162,291 

Cape Canaveral, Fla., 1, 31, 107, 131, 133, 

157, 193, 223, 224, 261, 271, 276, 295, 

301 

114 

Cape Fear Technical Institute, 119 

Cape Kennedy. See Cape Canaveral. 

Capella (star), 108 

Capri Chasm (Mars), 139 

capsule, 251 

“capture cell,” 167 

carbon, 37, 56,60,61,64, 224 

carbon-14, 199 

carbon-based life forms, 215,224, 236 

carbon dioxide, 83, 139, 146, 155, 156, 199- 

carbon monoxide, 46,64, 146, 189, 199-200, 

carcinogenic materials, 9,60, 80 

cardiovascular research, 255 

career, 72, 164 

Carey, Governor Hugh (N.Y.), 3 

Cargill Investor Services, 141 

cargo, 59,97, 166, 257,292 

Caribbean Sea, 66, 76, 176, 182 

Carr. Gerald P., 129 

Cam, Dr. Michael, 218 

carrier rocket, 299 

cartel, 182 

Carter, President Jimmy, 91, 161, 185, 238, 

285,287 

cartography, 73,262 

Casani, John R., 43, 71,245 

Case, Sen. Clifford P. (D-N.J.), 128 

Case Institute of Technology, 62 

Caspian Sea, 41, 177, 273 

Castor (rocket booster), 65 

catalyst, 200,216,274 

catastrophe, 154 

Cavailk, Marcel, 187, 269 

CDC. See Canadian Dept. of Communications. 

celestial mechanics, 8 

cells, 64 

CEMA (international socialist standing committee for post and telecommunications), 225 

censor, 29 

census, 262 

Centaur (rocket), 49, 128 

Centennial exposition, U.S., 138, 292 

Central African Republic, 293 

Central America, 76, 106,176 

Central Asian power grid, 29 

Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), 141 

Centre National de la RBcherche Scientifique 

Centre National d’ktudes Spatiales (CNES), 

centrifuge, 38 

200,215,226 

215,261 

(CRNS), Paris, 178 

Paris, 88, 212,241,269 
ceramic, 53, 126, 130, 166, 236 

CERN. See European Center for Nuclear ReCeman, Eugene A., 50, 51, 57 

Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory, 7 

certification, 114, 134,233,235 

cervit, 7, 53 

cesium ion thruster, 181 

Cessna 402 (aircraft), 231 

CF6 (GE engine), 134 

CFM 56 (GE-Snecma engine), 188 

challenge, 22 

channels, on Mars. See Mars. 

Chappell, Dr. Charles R., 142 

charged particle, 36, 58, 278 

Charleston, S.C., 143 

charter flights, 182,213 

Charyk, Joseph V., 92 

Chattanooga, Tenn., 77 

chemical analysis, 300 

chemistry 

-awards, 254 

search. 

-Mars, 146, 147, 154, 178, 199-200, 203, 

205,215-216,224,236237,274,295 

-moon, 54,183-184,300 

-pollution, 35,60-61,80,88, 117, 160,235, 

272 

-technology utilization, 37, 81, 131, 143, 

158, 167, 193, 280 

chemotherapy, 254 

Chern, Shiing-Shen, 254 

Chetveryakov, S. D., 246 

Chicago, Ill., 35, 67, 68, 85, 141, 167, 257 

Chicago, Univ. of, 105, 255 

“chicken soup,” 156 

Chile, 7, 45, 191, 238 

China. See Peoples Republic of China; RepubChina 4, 5 

China 5, 306 

China 6, 196, 306, 307, 327 

China 7, 290,307,332 

Chitwood, John S., 293 

chlorine compounds, 17.61, 64,216 

chloroform, 60 

chlorophyll, 45 

chrome, 141 

chromosphere, 88 

Chryse (region of Mars), 77, 121, 138-140, 

146, 148, 153, 155, 203, 205, 208, 215- 

216,217,226,274 

lic of China (Taiwan). 

CIA. See Central Intelligence Agency. 

Cicerone, R.J., 216 

Cincinnati, O., 36 

Cincinnati, Univ. of, 63 

circuits, satellitelairplane, 18, 30, 153, 247 

citizen groups, 124 

Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA), 66 

Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB), 26, 182 

civil aviation, 15, 26, 33, 61, 67, 81, 84, 

187, 195, 198, 209, 212, 214, 229, 230- 

231, 242, 253, 257, 263, 269, 274, 275, 

277,282,283,285,286,300,304 

85, 113,134-135, 167, 180-181,181-182, 

civil service. See federal employees; personCivil Service Commission (CSC), 167, 191, 

Civil Transport Development Corporation 

civilian space program, 21, 37, 66, 71, 185 

Clark, Dr. Benton, 157 

Clark, Dr. John F., 51, 77, 133 

Clark, Leonard, 261 

Clarke, Arthur C., 21, 159 

Clayton, N.Mex., 280 

clean room, 271 

cleaning, 112, 227 

Clemson Univ., 93 

Cleveland, O., 36, 67, 143, 145, 280 

Cleveland Pneumatic Co., 81 

climate. See meteomlog. 

Climatic Impact Assessment Program, 2%, 

clocks, 45, 126, 304 

cloud, 132, 143, 148, 150, 177, 249, 278, 

cloudcover, 10,14,39, 46, 165,192,213,247 

Clovis, N.Mex., 16 

CNES. See Centre National $Etudes Spatiales. 

coal, 11, 35, 58, 125, 151, 176 

Coast Guard, U.S., 4, 130, 236, 247,303 

Coleman, William T., Jr., 3, 102, 124, 212, 

Collet, Jacques, 91 

Collier trophy, 40 

collimator, 101 

Collins, Michael J., 137, 231, 278, 305 

Collins Radio, 29 

collision, 25, 26, 214 

Colom, Audrey Rowe, 270 

Colombia, 10, 238, 293 

colonization of space, 80, 107, 127, 139, 159, 

color, 10, 106, 133, 141, 143, 153, 155, 186, 

Colorado, 66, 150, 179, 2% 

Colorado, UNv. of, 31, 296 

Colson, Jack, 1% 

Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS), 152, 

nel, U.S. govt. 

192, 198,267,282 

(Japan), 187 

304 

279,305 

285 

176, 244 

204,209, 215,221,279, 281,293 

270 

Columbia Univ., 25, 254, 289, 300 

combat aircraft. See military aircraft. 

combustion, 58, la, 216 

comet (see also individual comets), 8, 31, 45, 

168,252,343 

command and data acquisition, 8 

commemoratives, 67 

Commerce, US. Dept. of, 26, 85, 107, 177, 

201 

commercial aviation, 15, 26, 67, 81, 85, 89, 

commercial broadcasting, 18,37, 152 

102, 124, 134,230,261,269 

commercial spacecraft, 58, 31, 75, 117, 1% 

commercialization, 29, 188, 203, 211, 223, 

227,239,248,268,269,288,289,299,301 

Committee on Peaceful Uses of Outer Space, 

128 

361 
Committee on Space Research (COSPAR), 

Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Recommunications 

--commercial, 9, 30, 35-36, 77,82,92, 125, 

-galactic, 268,269-270 

-Intelsat, 18, 20, 21, 73, 119, 186 

-international, 9, 10,69,105-106,114,135, 

136,141,175-176,181,200-201,209-210, 

282, 286-287,293 

233,249,264,280,288 (see also data relay; 

satellite relay) 

-satellites, 1, 2, 6, 18, 29, 31, 37, 57, 60, 

61, 79, 89, 93, 94, 115, 132, 157, 195, 

197,223,226-227,233,249,263-264,292, 

294-295 

(See also individual comsats: Aerosat, AIDSAT, 

Ats, Comstar, Copernicus, Cts, Ekran, 

Goes, Intelsat, Marisat, Nato IIIA, Oscar, 

Palupa, Raduga, Satcom, Seasat, Symphonie, TDRSS, Westar) 

263, 272,276,298 

114 

171,222 

search organization, 261 

252,288 

211-212,213,228,239,240,24%, 275,281- 

-relay, 4, 146, 205, 215, 223, 225, 226, 

-USSR, 59, 117-118, 214-215, 224-225, 

Communications Research Center, Canada, 

Communications Satellite Act. of 1952. 21 

Communications Satellite Corporation (ComSatCorp), 6, 9, 21, 30, 76, 77, 92, 115, 

149, 181, 196, 201,245,252, 307 

Communications Technology Satellite (Cts I), 

Canadian comsat, 1, 9, 247, 249, 308, 337, 

338 

compatibility, 113 

competition, 182, 188, 204, 265, 275, 285, 

components, 259 

composite materials, 61, 62, 67, 89, %, 135, 

computer, 8, 43, 61, 78,80,81, 89, 112, 114, 

131, 141, 154, 155, 159, 16$, 172, 177, 

189, 193, 204, 224, 229, 232, 254, 263, 

268, 279, 303 

303 

, 222 

Computer Sciences Corp., $1, 114 

COMSAT; ComSatCorp. See CommunicaComsat General Corp., 2, 14, 31, 37, 60, 82, 

comsats. See communications satellites. 

Comstar D-I (1 A-1), AT&T satellite, 2, 94, 

Comstar D-2, 157,290,324,337, 339 

Concorde (SST aircraft), 3, 102, 125, 149, 

188,189, 195,269,300 

condensation, 56, 121, 139 

Conference on Applied Science and TechnolConference on Trade and Development, 293 

confirmation, 129 

Congo, 293 

Congress, U.S., 12, 16, 39, 50, 58, 124, 138, 

tions Satellite Corporation. 

89,94, 157,212,223,249,252 

252,317,337,339 

ogy in the Arab World, 176 

165, 185, 192, 193, 228, 235, 246, 247, 

253,287,299 

-House of Representatives, 58,75, 111,149, 

160, 161, 185,222 

-House Committee on: Government Operations, 218-219 

Science and Technology, 19,222, 224, 235 

-Joint Committee on Defense Production, 57 

-Senate, 58,67,91,128,129,151,161,184, 

-Senate Committee on: 

185, 195,222,270,305 

Aeronautical and Space Sciences, 13, 62, 

112, 126 

Armed Services, 158 

Commerce, 3 

Foreign Relations, 128 

of Congress. 

Congressional Research Division. See Library 

Connecticut, 113, 115, 150, 304 

Conn. Dept. of Commerce, 188 

Conn. Product Development Corp., 188 

Conn., Univ. of, 188 

conservation, 11,30, 41, 137, 230, 256 

consortium, 21, 101, 187,209,214,249, 289 

Constellation (transport aircraft), 72 

Constitution (suggested name for Space Shutconstruction, 58, 59, 62, 77, 248, 270 

construction of facilities, 72, 225, 265, 271, 

consumables, 142 

consumers, 94, 182,216 

contained reaction, 36 

containerless processing, 297 

contamination, 23, 57, 105, 216, 232, 236, 

Contemporary Arts Museum, 127 

contractors 

-airmail, 67 

--ComSatCorp, 91 

tle orbiter), 211 

278 

249,267,297,304 

-DOD, 81,92,99, 108, 141, 158, 161, 162, 

164, 184, 186, 248, 266, 287, 292, 302, 

304 

225,270 

214,249,286,292 

-ERDA, 52, 94, 116, 124, 142, 167, 181, 

-European, 6, 113, 130, 190, 195,209,212, 

-FAA, 257,304 

-FCC, 125 

-NASA, 1, 47, 57, 65, 78, 81, 94, 97, 101, 

-Intelsat, 15, 20, 179, 181, 186, 239 

107, 111, 112, 113, 114, 130, 149, 168, 

170, 179, 190, 191, 198, 211, 226, 230, 

232,259-260,265,267,278,280,296,298, 

299 

-NOAA, 242 

-NSF, 7 

-Shuttle, 19, 25, 73, 74, 77, 78, 82, 98, 

145, 150, 161, 162, 168, 188, 192, 198, 

203,218,262,271,277, 289,300,303 

Control Data Corp., 112 

control systems, 168, 188, 193-194, 199-200, 

225,240,251,257,262,279,282 

362 
Convair (division of General Dynamics), 211, 

Convair 990 (“Galileo II,” NASA research 

convection, 186 

conventional weapons, 113, 257, 281 

converter, 264,270 

cooling systems. See airconditioning; heat 

Cooper, Dr. Robert S., 77, 133,271, 293 

Cooperative Institute for Research in Environcoordination, 44, 53, 59, 91, 142, 293 

Copemieus. See Orbiting Astronomical Observatory. 

copper, 41 

core sampling, 32, 289, 300 

ComeUUniv., 32,33,82, 166,208,254,274 corona. See solar corona. coronagraph, 298 

Corporation for Public Broadcasting, 18, 125, 

Corps of Engineen. See Army, US. 

correlation, 67 

corrosion, 17, 81, 169, 236 

cortisone, 254 

Cortright, Edgar M., 18 

cosmic dust, 8, 15, 105 

cosmic event, 45, 253 

“cosmic galmall,’’ 23, 87, 337 

cosmic radiation, 8, 11,33,88, 190,212,221, 

229,230, 249, 272, 278 

Cosmic Research Institute, USSR, 212 

“cosmic soccerball” (rescue system), 59 

cosmonaut, 5,73,76,129,140,176,190,193, 

197,204,219,221,245,250-251,260,282. 

303,304, 341 

COSMOS (consortium of European aerospace 

companies), 130, 214, 249 

Cosmos (series of USSR satellites), 73, 307 

Cosmos 782, 38, 119, 212 

Cosmos 787, 308 

Cosmos 788, 308 

Cosmos 789, 307, 309 cosmos 790,309 

Cosmos 791, 309 

Cosmos 792, 309 cosmos 793, 309 

Cosmos 794, 310 

Cosmos 795, 310 

Cosmos 796,310 

Cosmos 797, 310 

Cosmos 798, 310 

Cosmos 799, 3 1 1 

Cosmos 800,307,311 

Cosmos 801, 31 1 

Cosmos 802, 3 1 1 

Cosmos 803, 34,311 

Cosmos 8U4, 34,312 

Cosmos 805, 312 

Cosmos 806, 313 

Cosmos 807,313 

Cosmos 808,314 

Cosmos 809,314 

Cosmos 810,314 

253 

aircraft), 194,277 

transfer; solar heating and cooling. 

mental Sciences, 2% 

270 

Cosmos 811, 315 

Cosmos 812, 315 

Cosmos 813, 315 

Cosmos 814, 315 

Cosmos 815, 316 

Cosmos 816, 316 

Cosmos 81 7, 317 

Cosmos 818, 318 

Cosmos 819, 318 

Cosmos 820, 318 

Cosmos 821, 318 

Cosmos 822,318 

Cosmos 823, 307, 319 Cosmos 824, 319 

Cosmos 825, 319 

Cosmos 826, 319 

Cosmos 827, 320 

Cosmos 828, 320 

Cosmos 829,320 

Cosmos 830, 320 

Cosmos 831, 320 

Cosmos 832, 321 

Cosmos 833, 321 

Cosmos 834, 321 

Cosmos 835, 322 

Cosmos 836, 322 

Cosmos 837, 322 

Cosmos 838, 322 cosmos 839 (target spacecraft), 163, 323 

Cosmos 840, 323 

Cosmos 84I, 323 

Cosmos 842, 307,324 

Cosmos 843, 324 

Cosmos 844, 324 

Cosmos 845, 325 

Cosmos 846, 325 

Cosmos 847, 325 

Cosmos 848,326 

Cosmos 849, 326 

Cosmos 850, 326 

Cosmos 851, 326 

Cosmos 852,326 

Cosmos 853, 327 

Cosmos 854,214,327 

Cosmos 855, 328 

Cosmos 856, 328 

Cosmos 857,328 

Cosmos 858, 32% 

Cosmos 859, 329 

Cosmos 860,307,329 

Cosmos 861,307,329 

Cosmos 862,330 

Cosmos 863,330 

Cosmos 864,307,330 

Cosmos 865, 330 

Cosmos 866, 330 

Cosmos 867,331 

Cosmos 868, 331 

Cosmos 869, 303, 331 

Cosmos 870, 331 

Cosmos 871, 332 

Cosrms 872,332 

Cosmos 873, 332 

Cosmos 874, 332 

Cosmos 875, 333 

363 
Cosmos 876, 333 

Cosmos 877, 336 

Cosmos 878, 333 

Cosmos 879, 333 

Cosmos 880,306,334 

Cosmos 881, 305,334 

Cosmos 882, 305,334 

Cosmos 883, 307,334 

Cosmos 884,334 

Cosmos 885, 334 

Cosmos 886, 306,335 

Cosmos 887, 307,335 

COSPAR. See Committee on Space Research. 

cost control, 1, 53, 58, 161, 193, 228, 260, 

265, 270,279 

cost reduction, 6, 7, 66, 67, 70, 102, 111, 

114, 124, 125, 131, 135, 141, 160, 166, 

167, 169, 183, 187, 194, 213, 219, 229, 

239,247,268-269,271,276, 292 

Costa Rica, 293 

Council on Wage and Price Stability, 285 

counterfeiting, 259 court cases, 191,209,253,267, 280 

coverage, 152, 165, 269 

CPB. See Corporation for Public Broadcasting. 

Crabbe, Buster, 154 

Craig, Jimmie, 88, 160 

crash, 120, 253, 282,286 

crater, 25, 35, 122, 162, 218, 270 

crew safety, 5, 59, 89, 92, 172 crew training. See training; Space Shuttle trainCrimean Astrophysical Observatory, 151 

Croatia, 143 

Cronkite, Walter, 270 

crop survey, 35, 141, 171, 198,279,299 cross polarization, 94, 275 

cruise missile, 47, 53, 158, 285, 287 

crustal activity, 23, 146, 155, 305 

Cruzen, Paul J., 32 

cryogenics, 50, 63,77, 145 

crystals, 126,140,225,300 

CS (Japanese comsat), 290 

CSS-X-3 (PRC booster), 290 

CSC. See Civil Service Commission. 

CTS. See Communications Technology SatelCuba, 219,224, 304 

culturing, 20 

current-machine chamber (Tokemak), 36 

Currie, Dr. Malcolm R., 57, 129, 164, 193 \ 

Cutler Hammer Corp., 98 

cyclone, 74, 83 

Cyclops (joint ARC-Stanford project), 270 

cyclotron, 235 

Cydonia (region of Mars), 77, 153, 155 

Cygnus (constellation), 115 

cytology, 193 

Czechoslovakia, 128, 163, 219, 224, 250, 304 

Da Vinci I (balloon), 88,160 

Da Vinci N, 88, 117, 160 

Da Vinci III, 160 

Dallas, Tex., 35, 73 

DAM. See detection and mapping system. 

coty, ugo, 102 

ing. 

lite. 

damage, 16,33,127,135,151,168,171,183, 

Dana, William H., 241 

danger, 128, 216, 230, 251, 268, 277, 299, 

Dantzig, George B., 254 

Dartmouth College, 28 

Dassault-Breguet (French contractor), 187-188 

data 

-acquisition, 5, 6, 72, 80, 168, 229, 248, 

2%, 302,303 

-analysis, %, 131, 133, 142, 144, 160,221, 

230,232,268,272,274,275,279,295,297 

-ollection, 20,82, 101,113, 115, 160, 171, 

247,267,270,280,300, 302 

-distribution, 6, 128, 179, 198, 225, 235, 

242,276,302 

-management, 44,82,296,303 

-processing, 43, 60, 79, 81, 112, 114, 127, 

133,153,158,162,171,232,239-2443,242, 

248,254, 263,268, 275,276, 302,303 

-relay, 4, 5, 10, 37, 93, 120, 146, 151, 154, 

205,207, 229 

-transmission, 36, 62, 82, 101, 147, 148, 

155, 165,205, 223,225,235 

-utilization, 4, 22, 24, 119, 171, 279, 304, 

305 

Davies, Merton E., 119, 132 

Davis, Hallowell, 254 

daylight, 36, 45, 74, 165, 215, 245 

DC-3 (G-47; Gooney Bird), 66 

DC-8,124 

208,215,279,281,304 

305 

DC-9, 124,214,222 

DC-10, 134, 180, 253,282 

death, 5, 15, 16, 28, 29, 39, 44, 51, 71, 135, 

237,251,253,273,280, 281,282, 303 

Death Valley, Calif., 121 

debris, 25, 187, 214, 281 

decision-making, 39 

Declaration of Independence, 98, 132 

decontamination, 147 

Deep Space Network (DSN), 24, 71, 151, 205 

defector, 210 

Defense, Department of (DOD) 

-budget, 13, 185, 192-193,201,257,274 

---contracts, 19, 53, 57, 81, 92, 99, 107, 108, 

149,184,186,248,259,260,292,302,304 

-history, 25, 199, 231, 233, 242, 246, 261, 

295 

-people, 19,37,44,50,70,83,%, 99,129, 

145,163,164,178,193,255-256,283,305 

-policy, 30,32,57, 129, 135,158, 161, 165, 

172, 185, 192, 228, 257, 259, 271, 285, 

287 ~ 

-programs, 46, 47, 58, 60, 79, 80, 89, 90, 

95, 99, 102, 115, 117, 123-124, 133, 158, 

160, 161, 164, 184, 203. 214, 219. 223. 

229-230,276,280-281,283,294-295,298; 

305 

-research. 14. 24. 27. 4Q. 50. 61. 84. 87. -? --, - , 106, 113, 130, 135,’156, 142, 170, 172, 

229,247,258,265,267,273, 279,2% 

Defense Electronics Supply Center, DOD, 259 

Defense Meteorological Satellite Program. 

USAF, 296 

364 
Defense Supply Agency, DOD, 163 

Defense Systems Acquisition Review Commitdeficit, 12 

dehydration, 19 

Deimos (moon of Mars), 220,264,295 

Deissler, Robert G., 186 

deJager, Cees, 116 

De La Vaulx medal, 282 

De Loach, Dr. Anthony C., 194 

Deloffre, Bernard, 91, 133, 134 

Delpech, J.-L., 7 

Delta (launch vehicle), 9, 28, 61, 63, 65, 73, 

79, 87, 99, 115, 131, 133, 141, 165, 223, 

249,271,289,295,297 

Delta 1, Delta 2 (Soviet nuclear-submarine 

Deming, Wash., 38 

demolition, 285 

dendrite, 95, 225 

Deneb (star), 115 

Denmark, 4,45,130,230,294,343 

density, 36, 288, 290 

Denver, Colo., %, 98, 116, 257, 265 

Denver, Univ. of, 68 

deployment, 136, 257 

depreciation, 78 

Des Moines, Iowa, 263 

desalination, 45 

DESC. See Defense Electronics Supply Center. 

desert, 120, 153, 154, 155, 157,305 

design, 133, 134, 162, 168, 169, 172, 218, 

220, 241, 242, 247, 24.8, 249, 251, 253, 

262, 265, 268, 269, 275, 278, 279, 283, 

286,292 

destruction, 34, 118, 163, 176,215, 229-230, 

236.277.280.285.289. 305 

tee, DOD, 172, 285 

classes), 283, 288 

detection, 41, 47, 57; 61,’88, 93, 118, 130, 

132, 139, 154, 156, 171, 215, 225, 230, 

255,267,268,269-270,274,277,281,300, 

304 

detection and mapping system (DAMS), 4 

detente, 119 

deterrent, 7 

Detroit, Mich., 23, 36, 67,85, 257 

Detroit, Univ. of., 193 

deuterium, 149,278 

developing nations, 106, 112, 119, 281, 293 

de Waard, Johannes, 194 

DFRC. See Dryden Flight Research Center. 

DGA International, 195 

diagnostic aid, 236 

diet, 11, 40 

dinitrogen pentoxide, 304 

direct-broadcast satellites, 18, 243-244 

Direct Communications Link (hotline), 298 

dirigible, 6,41,97 

dirt, 208 

disarmament, 16, 30, 47, 149 

disaster, 10, 22, 38, 142, 171, 175, 214, 252, 

Discoverer 36 (USAF project), 195 

discrimination, 111 

disease, 251, 267, 306 

Disher, John H., 106 

253,273,282, 306 

display, 133,245,274,279 

distance, 151, 160, 162, 196,220, 252, 264, 

Distinguished SeDIice Medal (NASA), 39, 99, 

268,270,277,282,288,291,302 

241 

dis& signal, 114, 171,205 

docking, 38,53,129,140,162,163,220-221, 

251,260,282.299 

documents, 127, 150, 163,253 

DOD. See Defense, (U.S.) Department of. 

-satellite (launched 19 Feb.), 312 

-satellite (launched 22 Mar.), 314 

-satellite (launched 2 June), 319 

-satellite (launched 26 June), 321 

-satellite (launched 8 July), 322 

-satellite (launched 15 Sept.), 328 

--satellite (launched 19 Dec.), 335 

DOI. See Interior, Department of. 

domestic communications, 119, 157, 287 

Domestic Council, White House, 92 

domestic satellites, 1, 10, 35, 61, 65, 73, 239, 

Donn, Dr. William L., 300 

Doolittle, Gen. James M., 255 

Doppler shift, 114 

Dora (solar-power generator), 136 

d’Omano, Michel, 88 

DOT. See Transportation, Department of. 

Douglas Division, McDonnell Douglas Corp., 

253 

Doyon, Inc., 69 

draft, 13 

drag reduction, 81, 231 

Drake, Dr. Frank, 32, 33 

Draper Sboratories, 28 

drogue parachute, 24 

drone, 47 

drought, 141 

drugs, 39,250 

Dryden Flight Research Center (DFRC) 

-missions, 5,37 

-people, 66, 70,99,241,295 

-programs, 95, %, 97, 98, 144, 164, 193, 

204,210,280 

Dryden, Dr. Hugh L., 5, 62 

drying, 127 

DSCS: defense satellite communications sysDSCS-2 (military comsat), 117 

DSCS-3 (military comsat), 118, 228 

DSN. See Deep Space Network. 

dual-satellite mission, 143 

Duewer, William H., 217 

Duke, Dr. Michael G., 246, 300 

Dulles International Airport, Va., 3, 16, 102, 

257,269,300 

DuPont, 24 

Dupree, Kirby, 280 

Durant, Dr. Frederick, 238 

duration, 96, 129, 133, 140, 171, 190, 221, 

229,272,282,306,341 

Dusey, Michael, 102 

dust, 76,105, 14.8, 171, 295 

dust storms, 101, 295 

Dutch. See The Netherlands. 

240 

tem 

365 
Duxbury, Dr. Thomas C., 162 

dynamics, 15,24, 166, 169-170,262 

dynamite, 255 

Dyson, Dr. Freeman, 35 

Early Bird (helsat I), 21, 92 

early-warning satellites, 133, 280 

earth, 71, 114, 139, 151, 156, 218, 226-227, 

earth resources, 69, 77, 106, 170, 203, 227, 

Earth Resources Laboratory, La., 179, 204 

earth sensing, 10, 76, 229, 235, 293 

earth station (see also individual listings) 

-international, 21,31,69,76, 119-120, 128, 

163,179,181,200,205-207,213,224,235, 

-monitoring, 38,46-47, 79, 114, 165-166, 

171,213-214,229,242,247,264,267,272, 

279, 2% 

-remote, 5, 10, 29, 105-106, 111-112, 117- 

118,214-215, 223,228,244,276, 293 

-unmanned, 6,82,98-99 

-use in research, 23, 35-36, 38, 45, 87, 93, 

115,120,197,211-212,22&227,233,249, 

261, 288,292,302 

275,289,304,337 

262,276,291,294,302 

239,240, 252,272,281,286, 302-303 

Earthnet (ESA program), 302 

earthquake, 1,23,38,140 

East Coast, 38, 111, 143 

East Germany. See German Democratic RepubEastern Airlines, 15, 198, 283 

Eastern Test Range (ETR), 9, 60, 61, 79, 94, 

115, 141, 249,290 

Ecastar (project), 241 

Echo 1, 28, 149 

echo canceler, 181 

eclipse, 52, 80, 291, 297 

ecology, 33, 67, 176, 204, 256 

Economic Development Administration, 93 

economics, 12,18,75,84,107,139,141, 149, 

166, 167, 176, 181, 182, 221, 244, 250, 

255, 269,272,277,280, 304, 306 

ECS (European communications satellite), 209 

Ecuador, 293 

Edison Company, 143 

Edison Light Co., 125 

education, 10, 13, 22, 39, 72, 106, 111, 175, 

195,228,241,274,282,283,288,297 

Edwards AFB, Calif., 5, 14,44,98, 106, 123, 

164,248,283 

EEC. See European Economic Community. 

EEO. See equal employment oppoztunity. 

efficiency, 50, 83, 159, 169, 181, 197, 212, 

213, 24Q, 248, 262, 280, 291, 299, 301, 

302 

Eglin AFB, Fla., 170 

Egypt, 20,69, 122, 149, 305,306 

Ehricke, Dr. Krafft, 107,245 

Einstein theory, 52, 126, 337 

Eisenhower, President Dwight D., 21,92, 185 

ejection, 44,80,214, 246 

Ekran (Statsionar lC, Soviet comsat), 272, 330 

elastic-loop mobility system, 264 

Elder Statesman of Aviation, 275 

lic. 

elderly, 11, 111 

ELDO European Launcher Development Organization. 

elections, US, 12, 91, 161, 185, 211, 238, 

270,285,287 

electric car, 213 

electricity, 34, 36, 45, 63, 75, 102, 112, 125, 

131, 143, 144, 167, 173, 197, 219, 225, 

240, 249, 259, 268, 271, 278, 280, 281, 

290,296,303 

electrochemistry, 291 

Electrodynamics Explorer satellite, 142 

electromagnetism, 75, 172, 297 

electron, 25, 63, 105, 242 

electron-beam fusion, 9 

electronics, 1, 11, 46, 58, 60, 61, 132, 153, 

171, 184, 208, 215, 228, 230, 240, 244, 

254,259, 267,287, 297,298 

Electronics Industries Assn., 260 

electrophoresis, 20, 126 

elementary particle, 25, 56 

Ehabeth Bolton (W. Ger. tanker), 242 

Ellington AFB, Tex., 118, 170, 220 

Elliott, Maj. Lany A., 164 

Elmira Heights, N.Y., 109 

ELT: emergency locator-transmitter. 

emergency, 20,59,66,93, 102,114, 171,194, 

emissions, automobile, 189, 216 

employment (see also personnel, U.S. govt.; 

NASA management), 72, 79, 81, 82, 161, 

172,262,287,304 

195,232, 255 

Enchanted Valley, Antarctica, 293 

Encke (comet), 8 

endangered species, 32 

endurance, 129 

energetic particles, 49, 105, 301 

energy 

-conservation, 11, 58, 68, 71, 97, 115, 144, 

241,265. 280 

-research, 11, 13, 22, 27, 30, 49, 58, 71, 

99,101,102, 116, 133-134,213,247-248, 

278 

stration (ERDA): 

contracts, 94, 102, 116, 124, 142, 270 

history, 11, 219, 247, 255 

participation with NASA, 13, 27, 29, 67, 

72, 112, 116, 124, 141, 144, 167, 181, 

policy, 11, 13-14, 48, 133-134, 201,271, 

pollution, 88, 117, 160, 304 

solar power, 13, 27, 29, 52, 72, 75, 94, 

-Energy Research and Development Admini239, 280,301-302 

274 

111-112, 116-117, 124, 141, 142, 14.4, 

219,225,239,240, 247-248,270,301 

280 

wind power, 67, 102, 124-125, 167, 181, 

--source, 36, 101, 102, 137, 176, 181, 225, 

Engelmann, Dr. Rudolf J., 88, 160 

engineering, 30, 35, 64, 65, 72, 81, 97, 113, 

118, 133, 156, 172, 204, 241, 256, 274, 

278,279,287 

268,271,301 

Engineers, Corps of. See Army, US. 

366 
engines (see also Space Shuttle main engine), 

Engins Matra (France), 286 

England. See United Kingdom. 

Engle, Joe H., 222 

Enterprise (Ti’ space ship), 159,211 

Enterprise (Space Shuttle orbiter prototype 

environment, €6, 22, 24, 40, 45, 48, 53, 60, 

70, 71,80,82,84,87,104, 113, 127, 140, 

165, 168, 169, 192, 195, 208, 222, 241, 

255,267,271,274,276,287,304 

Environmental Data Services, NOAA, 2% 

Environmental Effects Oflice, JSC, 272 

environmental impact, 3,18,80,84,237,269, 

environmental monitoring, 5, 82, 267, 272, 

58,160,167 

OV-101), 210,211,222,301 

306 

301 

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), 3, 

61, 105, 117, 124, 133, 160,189,201,267 

enzyme, 20 

EPA. See Environmental Protection Agency. 

Epsilon (star in Gemini), 83 

Epstein, William, 30 

equal employment opportunity (EEO), 250, 

282 

equator, 5, 10, 19, 38, 59, 62, 79, 94, 121, 

128, 139, 141, 153, 157,279,293,301 

equivalence, 52, 126 

ERDA. See Energy Research and Development 

Administration. 

ERN0 (Raumfahrttechnik GmbH), VFWFokker subsidiary, 113, 209, 292 

error, 153-154, 156,218 

ESA. See European Space Agency. 

Escondido, Calif., 299 

Eskimo, 69 

ET: external tank (see Space ShuttIe). 

ETR. See Eastern Test Range. 

Ethiopia, 306 

Europa (ESA launch vehicle), 80 

Europe, 18,238,270,289 

European aerospace industry, 87, 186 

European Center for Nuclear Research (CERN), 

European Common Market, 182 

European Economic Community, 268 

European Launcher Development Corporation 

European Southern Observatory, 31 

European Space Agency (ESA) 

-cooperative propms, 14,68,95, 130, 194, 

epoxy, 62 

242 

(ELDO), 6 

211-212,227,239,248,271,275,283,286- 

287,294 

--people, 48, 133, 134, 241,248, 269 

--policy, 4,80,209,214,244,249,279, 292 

-Spacelab, 44, 53, 78, 91, 113, 123, 192, 

European Space Conference 1975,88 

European Space Research and Technology Center (ESTEC), 194 

eutectic (alloys), 95 

EVA. See extravehicular activity. 

197-198 

Evans, Ronald E., 57 

Evans, R. Adm. Stuart J., 83 

Evans, Gen. Willii J., 158,257 

evaporation, 45, 50,224 

Everest, Mt., 218 

evolution, 54, 56,82 

Exceptional Service Award, 186,241 

exercise, 92, 140 

exhaust gases, 216,261, 267 

exhibit, 25, 137, 163, 215, 246,270 

exobiology, 100,146,203,208,215-216,217- 

Exosat (ESA cosmic-ray satellite project), 249 

expedition, 143 

expendable equipment, 90, 218, 229, 289, 

experiment 

---data, 26,177,199,236,260,272,279,296, 

218,236-238 

299 

297 

-design, 36,44, 52,66, 101, 114, 126, 132, 

139, 140, 148, 154, 155, 166, 178, 197, 

224, 225, 226, 239, 275, 278, 280, 297, 

305 

experimental aircraft, 164,258 

exploration, 22, 139, 147, 149,205,225,254, 

256,264,301 

Explorer I, 25, 65 

Explorer 51, 19 

Explorers Club, 256 

explosion, 56, 134, 149, 163, 252, 255, 273, 

280,281,305 

explosive, 268, 285 

exports, 81, 268 

exposure, 172,216 

extinction, 33 

extrapolation, 56 

extraterrestrial life 

-indications. 22. 24. 56. 104. I 

199. ~ ,--- 252 

-Mars, 15, 17, 49, 77, ’100, 121, 139, 146, 

149,152-154,177,200,203-204,205,207- 

208,215,217-218,224,225-226.236-237, 

274275,295 

-radio detection, 33, 268, 269-270 

extraterrestrial materials, 250, 272, 300 

extravehicular activity, 73, 76, 232, 278 

F3 (Orion CPl40, Canadian aircraft), 179 

F-4 (fighter aircraft). See Phantom. 

F-4c (tighter aircraft), 44 

F-4e (fighter aircraft), 273 

F-4E.J (Japanese interceptor plane), 247 

F-5e (fighter jet aircraft), 14, 165 

F-14 (Tomcat, fighter aircraft), 160, 184 

F-14a (fighter jet aircraft), 184 

F-18 (fighter aircraft), 184 

F-104 (Starfighter, fighter aircraft), 165 

F-111 (fighter jet aircraft), 184 

FAA. See Federal Aviation Administration. 

fabrication, 73, 135, 188,248,278,291, 303 

fabrics, 23,24,26, 59-60,93 

facsimile, 62, 79, 115, 206 

Faget, Dr. Maxime A., 241 

FA1 Fkdkration Aeronautique Intemationale 

s modification, 78,98, 298 

(Intl. Aeronautical Federation, Paris) 

367 
failure, 15, 39, 49, 59, 156, 163, 183, 200, 

203, 207, 214, 217, 239, 251, 255, 259, 

260,275,306,337 

Fairchild Industries, Inc., 99,211,2% 

fallout, 172 

family planning, 105, 228 

fan, 134, 184 

Far East, 262 

fare systems, 124, 166, 182,213 

Farley, Clare F., 163 

Farmer, Dr. Barney, 122 

Farnborough Intl. Aerospace Exhibition, 192 

fatality, 15, 16, 44, 209, 214, 216 

fatigue, 15, 17, 247 

fault, geological, 84 

fauna, 38 

FCC. See Federal Communications Commission. 

Federal Aviation Act of 1958, 229 

Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), 14, 

16, 48, 66, 89, 94, 103, 124, 125, 134, 

149, 167, 212, 231, 253, 257, 262, 274, 

282,285,304 

Federal Communications Commission (FCC), 

18,30,35,78,92, 125, 157,252,263,276 

Federal Coordinating Council for Science, 

Engineering, and Technology, 185 

federal employees, 13,57,191, 193,267,278, 

282 

Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany), 

1, 4, 7, 29, 43, 49, 50,69, 113, 117, 123, 

130, 135, 165, 186, 187, 190, 194, 209, 

210, 213, 238, 242, 249, 263, 287, 292, 

294,306, 308, 337, 338 

federal spending, 1, 7, 12, 58, 75, 134, 185, 

191, 192, 201, 222, 224, 225, 228, 229, 

238,265,274,281,285 

Federal Women’s Program, 164,270 

Federally Employed Women (FEW), 164, 288 

federally sponsored research. See governmentFkdhration Aeronautique Internationale (FAI), 

female physiology, 255 

Feoktistov, Konstantin, 5, 92 

Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, 25, 

fertilizer, 40, 64, 216 

FEW. See Federally Employed Women. 

Fiat, 165 

fiber research, 93 

fighter aircraft (see also individual aircrd), 

14,95, 160, 165, 172, 179, 184, 191,210 

film, 45,158, 281 

filter, 146, 153-154, 156 

Finland, 59, 179 

fire, 38, 57, 59, 93, 127, 177, 184, 199, 273, 

sponsored research. 

109,164,282 

242 

280 

firefighting equipment, 26, 102, 130 

firefly, 1 

fiscal year, 12,75 

fish, 24, 34, 45, 67, 74, 119, 140, 204, 267, 

306 

Fisher, Adrian, 149 

Fisk Univ., 247 

fission, 36 

Fitzmoms, Gov. James (La.), 150 

flag, American, 70 

Flash Gordon, 154 _.... 

Fleet Satellite Communications Svstem 

(FLTSATCOM), 31,118,211,249 ’ 

Fletcher, Dr. James C., 21, 28, 62, 117, 129, 

138. 143, 147, 148, 163, 171, 211. 222, 

243,292 

flexibility, 72 

flight control. See aircraft; missile control. 

Flight Inspection Natl. Field Office, FAA, 66 

flight operations, 15, 17, 53, 121, 140, 146, 

160,232,263,272 

flight readiness, 123, 218 

Flight Research Center. See Dryden Flight 

flight safety. See air safety. 

qght simulator (at JSC), 91 

flight test, 37, 44, 47, 96, 97, 118, 123, 144, 

Flight Test Center, USAF, 283 

floating platforms, 6 

flooding, 38, 121, 139, 177 

flora, 38 

Florida, 40, 108, 132, 151, 169, 171, 224, 

Florida State Univ., 159,209 

Florida, Univ. of, 132, 279 

FLTSATCOM. See fleet satellite communicaFluid Dynamics Laboratory, Princeton Univ., 

fluid-transfer system, 23, 64 

fluids, 126, 186, 225, 227, 299 

fluorocarbons, 17, 64, 216,261,272 

fluorosensing, 61, 105, 155, 216 

fly-by-wire (aircraft control system), 193 

flying lunar-excursion experimental platform 

(training device), 66 

Flying Yacht (aircraft), 40 

foam insulation, 170 

fog, 139, 205, 249,251, 279 

foil sampler, 77 

Fokker-VFW, 209 

food, 9, 11, 16, 22, 34, 105, 111, 123, 141, 

footprint, 150 

Ford (automobile), 29 

Ford, Dr. Arthur B., 294 

Ford, President Gerald M., 12, 16, 48, 50, 57, 

70, 91, 107, 126, 129, 137, 143, 147, 14%, 

151, 176, 185, 211, 212, 238, 243, 254, 

262,282,285,287,292,293 

Research Center. 

248,258,273,277,287, 343 

225, 240,242,264,271,279 

tions system, DOD. 

189 

156, 176, 204,279,294, 306 

Ford, Henry, 85 

Ford, Sen. Wendell H., 13 

Ford Motor Co., 92 

Fore (tribe of New Guinea), 252 

“A Forecast of Space Technology 1980-2000” 

forecasting. See meteorology. 

Foreign Apicultural Service, 198 

forest monitoring (see also timber), 38, 73, 

Fort, D.N., 302 

(NASA report), 21 

177,221,237,268-269 

368 
Fort Belvoir, Va. 271 

Fort Detrick, Md., 298 

Fort Huachuca, Ariz., 298 

Fort Worth, Tex., 116 

fossils, 11, 44, 58, 121, 138, 167, 237, 274, 

“Foundations of Space Biology and Medicine” 

289 

(report), 159 

Fourth of July, 120, 138 

Fowler. Dr. William A.. 238 

Foxbat (aircraft). See MiG25. 

France, 3, 4, 6, 7, 50, 69, 80, 87, 88, 117, 

128, 130, 135, 178, 180, 186, 187, 188, 

195, 209, 212, 230, 238, 241, 249, 259, 

269, 275 

Frank, Dr. Neil, 177 

Frascati, Italy, 211, 303 

free flight, 37, 66 

freeze, 19, 70, 279 

freight, 135 

French, Dr. Bevan, 300 

freon, 77,216,272 

Fresnel lens, 227,299 

Friedman, Dr. Herbert, 101 

Friedman, Prof. Milton, 255 

Friedhip 7, 223 

“frog suit,” 23 

frontier, 80, 137 

frost, 139,205, 279 

Frutkin, Arnold W., 91, 95 

FSCS. See Fleet Satellite Communications 

Fucino, Italy, 303 

fuel, 26, 30, 36, 61, 68, 89, 99, 103, 120, 

123, 134, 144, 145, 149, 170, 172, 187, 

216,230,248,267,268,280,285,286 

System. 

Fuller, Maj. John, 164 

Fullerton, Lt. Col. Charles G., 37,222 

Fulton, Fitzhugh L. Jr., 66 

funding, federal, 1, 58, 59, 129, 134, 135, 

Fuqua, Rep. Don (D-Fla.), 224 

fusion (nuclear), 9, 11, 26, 36, 58, 99 

future, 12, 18, 21, 22, 35, 75, 80, 99, 107, 

137, 144, 148, 160, 168, 171, 176, 203, 

211, 225, 229, 235, 245, 265, 268, 269, 

275, 292,296295,298 

151,158,160,185,192-193,201,222,246, 

265 

Gagarin, Yuri, 73, 76,238,282,304. 

Gaja Mada, 141 

Gajdusek, Dr. D. Carlton, 252, 255 

Galaxy (aircraft). See G5A. 

galaxies, 23, 24, 32, 33, 74, 82, 150, 302, 

Galilean satellites (of Jupiter), 104 

Galileo Galilei, 52, 100 

Mile0 IZ (NASA research aircraft; see Convair 

990). 194,261,277 

Gamma Boiites (star), 132 

gamma rays, 8, 101, 131, 190,212,229, 230, 

273,278,290 

GAO. See General Accounting office. 

Gardner, Mass., 190 

Garmire, Dr. Gordon, 101 

343 

Ganick, LE., 18 

Ganiott, Owen K., 176 

Gartrell, Harold E., 91 

gas chromatograph, 49, 61, 146, 155, 156, 

157,200,217 

gas-exchange experiment, 15, 17, 156, 175, 

200,215,217,261 

gases, 82,104,108,123,126,135,155,167, 

169, 170, 177, 181, 193, 199, 215, 236, 

250,267,280,304 

Gaviria, Fernando, 238 

Gay, Kenneth B., 303 

geiger counter, 177 

Gelles, Dr. S.H., 95 

Gemini (constellation), 83 

Gemini program, 39, 50, 70,90 

Gemini 6, 90 

Gemini 7, 283 

Gemini 9, 50 

General Accounting mice (GAO), 7, 57, 184, 

228 

General Dynamics Corp., 53, 70, 184, 186, 

211, 253,302 

General Electric Co., 19, 91, 92, 93, 134, 

167, 181, 188,212,214, 287,297,302 

General Electric Space Division, 142, 297 

General Services Administration (GSA), 28, 

218,288 

General Telephone & Electronics Corporation 

(GTE), 94, 186 

generation (of power; of signals), 67, 81, 136, 

genetics, 11, 193,251 

Geneva, Switzerland, 31,45,243,263 

Geochemistry and Analytical Chemistry Instigeodynamic experimental ocean satellite 

172-173,263, 268, 270-271, 278,280 

tute (Sov. Acad. of Sci.), 183 

(GEOS), 5-6, 87, 271,294 

geography, 44 

Geological Survey, US., 77, 82, 121, 208, 

218, 293-294 

geology, 20,35, 55,69, 73, 79,84, 121, 155, 

177, 208, 218, 221, 224, 237, 262, 270, 

272,300 

geomagnetism. See magnetic phenomena. 

geometry, 254 

geophysical research, 23,27,68,69, 170, 171, 

193,208,250 

George A. Towns elementary school, 247 

George Washington University (D.C.), 65, 75, 

Georgia, 161,247 

Georgia Institute of Technology, 2.28 

Georgia Tech. See Georgia Inst. of Technology. 

Geos (proposed ESA satellite), 68, 213, 271, 

GEOS geodynamic experimental ocean satelGeos 3, 5, 46, 119 

Geosari (proposed ESA program), 239, 248 

geostationary operational environmental satellite (GOES), 1, 4, 5, 10, 29, 38, 93, 242, 

247,271,275,286,289 

geostationary orbit, 14, 35, 50, 68, 135, 192, 

212, 213, 275,286 

190 

275 

lite. 

369 
geosynchronous orbit, 62, 79, 265, 289, 293, 

geothermal energy, 58, 137, 176 

German Democratic Republic (East Germany), 

79, 128, 163,219,221,224,250,304 

German Institute for Space Research, 136 

German Space Operations Center, 8 

Germany, East. See German Democratic ReGermany, West. See Federal Republic of Gergermination, 150 

getaway special (Space Shuttle payload), 245 

Gibraltar, 242 

Gibson, Edward G., 129 

Gibson, Roy, 88, 91, 134,213,241,244 

Gilinsky, Victor, 268 

Gillam, Isaac, IV, 99 

Gilruth, Dr. Robert R., 259 

glacier, 79,289 

Glacier (U.S. Coast Guard icebreaker), 247 

glass, 55, 123, 167, 171, 250 

Glenn, Sen. John (D-Ohio), 223,270,285 

Glennan, Dr. T. Keith, 62 

global climate, 34 

Global Communications, Inc. (RCA), 62, 226 

global comsat system, 21, 252, 275 

Global Information Services Satellite System 

global satellite system, 171,200,291,294 

Globcom. See Global Communications, Inc. 

GMS (Japanese meteorological satellite), 271, 

Goddard, Dr. Robert, 49,51, 138 

Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) 

-contratts, 73, 226, 2% 

-meetings, 291,292 

-missions, 27 

-people, 77, 133, 171, 178, 190, 1%, 237, 

248,269,271,277,285,291,293,295,2% 

-programs, 23, 28, 29, 46, 51, 60, 63, 101, 

132, 133, 143, 145, 151, 187, 204, 226, 

272,279,307,343 

301 

public. 

many. 

(future project), 235 

294 

Godtrey, Arthur, 98 

GOES. See geostationary operational environmental satellite. 

Goes 1, 4, 5, 10, 38, 279 

&?s 3.93 

Goes 2 ~Goes-B), 1,294 

gold, 41 

Goldstone tracking station, 84, 120, 197 

Goldwater, Sen. Barry M. (R-Ariz.). 222 

Goodell, Charles E., 195 

Goodlette, John D., 120 

Goodyear Aerospace Corp., 97 

“Gooney Bird” (C47; DC-3), 67 

Gordon, Robert V., 142 

Gorove, Dr. Stephen, 244 

government-furnished materials, 77 

government-industry cooperation. See industryGovernment Printing Wice (GPO), 159 

Government Radio Administration (Republic 

government regulation, 9 

government. 

of China), 20 

government-sponsored research, U.S., 7, 93, 

111, 113, 117, 162 

GPA. See gravity probe. 

Grace, Donald, 102 

grain, 141,299 

Grand Canyon, 121, 122, 139 

Grand Tour (exploration of outer planets), 265 

Grant, Carl E., 193 

grants, 184 

gratuities, 57 

gravitational waves, 45 

gravity, 20, 38, 43, 52, 82, 104, 105, 126, 

131, 132, 162, 166, 225, 249, 256, 270, 

291 

Gravity Probe-A (GPA) red-shift experiment, 

126,321,337, 339 

Gray, Laurence F., 6 

Great Britain. See United Kingdom. 

Great Galactic Ghoul, 15 

Great Lakes, 4, 236, 247 

Great Plains, 151, 280 

Great Race of 1908, 145 

GFeat Red Spot (on Jupiter), 104, 189 

Greece, 49 

Green Bank, W. Va., 302 

Greenland, 55, 343 

Grew, Dr. Edward S., 294 

Griffin, Gerald D., 70 

Griggs, David, 229 

Griner, Carolyn, 95,225 

Gm, E.S. (Todd), 63 

gross national product, 50 

groundcontrol, 17,43,98,144,190,224,229, 

ground station. See earth station. 

ground support, 15, 78, 189, 223, 226-227, 

ground tracking, 29, 143,240 

grounding, 184 

“group flight,” 282 

Grumman Aerospace Corp., 4.6, 47, 96, 118, 

125,184,211,218,220,229,297,301,302 

GSFC. See Goddard Space Flight Center. 

GSR-A. See hr. 

GTE. See General Telephone & Electronics. 

Guest, Dr. John, 218 

Guiana Space Centre, 88 

guidance system, 47, 53, 99, 120, 230, 232, 

Guidry, Louis E., 66 

Gulf Coast, 10,60 

Gulf of Suez, 123 

Gulf Stream, 118 

Gulfstream (Grumman twin-engine jet), 118, 

220, 229,301 

Gursky, Dr. Herbert, 101 

Gyorgy, Paul, 254. 

gyroscope, 34, 297 

H-1 (Hughes-designed aircraft), 71 

H-1 (rocket engine), 299 

Haack, Robert W., 179, 191 

Hady, Ahmed Abdel, 122 

Hagood, Carlos C., 194 

Hague (The), Netherlands, 119 

230,264,2% 

233,242, 279, 300 

276 

370 
Haise, Fred W., Jr., 37, 222 

Haiti, 281,293 

Haley, Andrew e., awd, 241 

Hall, Charles F., 278 

Hall, Floyd D., 283 

Halley's comet, 168 

halocarbons, 77,261 

Halpert, Gerald, 291 

ham radio. See amateur radio. 

Hamburg, Univ. of, % 

Hamilton, Mass., 233 

Hamilton-Standard Division, United Techn. 

handicapped, 66 

Hanscom AFB, Mass, 190 

hardware, 25, 58, 72, 78, 81, 83, %, 101, 

Hargrave, Dr. Robert B., 156 

Harrier (STOL aircraft). See AV8. 

Harrington, Rep. Michael J. (D-Mass.), 111 

Harris, Ruth Bates, 250 

Harvard College Observatory, 298 

Harvard Univ., 39, 83, 90, 254, 298 

harvest, 141, 299 

Haskins, Dr. Larry, 54 

Hauzeur, Max, 44 

Hawaii, 5,62,94,%, 132, 196,261,343 

Hawaii, Univ. of, 71, 102, 105, 125, 179 

Hawaiian Electric Co., 125 

Hawker Siddeley Dynamics Ltd., 164, 209 

Hayman, Dr. Deter, 54 

Hays, Dr. James D., 289 

hazard, 26, 59, 64, 121, 128, 132, 134, 153, 

haze, 121 

health, 13, 22, 34, 92, 105, 175, 221, 228, 

Corp., 108, 145, 167,181,232 

112, 131, 172 

158, 172, 193,208,285 

267.282 

Health, Education, and Welfare, U.S. Dept. 

HEAO. See High-Energy Astronomy Observaof (HEW), 201,274 

tory. 

HEAO-A, 294 

heart, 137 

Hearth. Donald P.. 22 

heat, 23, 26, 37, k, 54, 56, 61, 70, 71, 74, 

104, 107, 130, 131, 146, 147, 156, 170, 

193, 203, 208, 215, 220, 226, 227, 235, 

236,274,278,288,297,299, 305 

Heat Capacity Mapping Mission, 303 

heat mapping, 24,67, 115, 122, 303 

heat sensine. 67. 105. 115.279 

heat transf;, 70, 72,'94, 1@4, 124, 130, 141, 

Heathrow airport, London, 89, 103 

186,189, 198,227,278 

heavy lifter, 97 

heavy metals, 41 

heavy particles, 278 

helicopter, 51, 97, 113, 117, 130, 251, 258, 

274,286,304 

Helios program, 272 

Helws 1, 8, 49 

Helios2, 1, 7,49,272,308,337,338 

heliostat, 240 

helium, 9,26, 78,88,97, 171,230,242,272 

Hellas (region of Mars), 76 

helmet, 172,274 

Helt, Capt. Robert C., 164 

hemoglobin, 63,171 

Henderson, Clifford W., 275 

Hendricks, Sterling Brown, 254 

Henebry, John P., 229 

Henry, Joseph, 138 

hepatitis, 251 

herbicide, 306 

Heronemus, William, 102 

Herrington, Preston B., 160 

Hess, Dr. Seymour L., 209 

HEW. See Health, Education, and Welfare, 

Heyman, Joseph S., 47 

High, Richard W., 167 

High Altitude Observatory, Colo., 179 

High-Altitude Pollution Program, 304 

high-altitude research, 142, 170, 229, 301 

High-Energy Astronomy Observatory (HEAO), 

High Flight Foundation, 66 

high frequency, 37, 106, 143,276 

higher education, 274 

highly maneuverable aircraft technology 

(HIMAT) program, 95 

Hilsenrath, Ernest, 2% 

HIMAT. See highly maneuverable aircraft techHidenburg (airship), 41 

Hinners, Dr. Noel W., 53, 100, 142 

Hirsch, Robert, 52 

Hirschfelder, Joseph O., 254 

Hispanics, 18, 72 

historical exhibit. See exhibit. 

history, 28, 35, 54, 79, 222 

HL-10 (lifting body), 241 

Hlasa, Jerry, 190 

HMSBounty, 173 

Hokkaido, Japan, 210 

hold, 170 

Holland. See The Netherlands. 

Holloway, Paul F., 285 

holography, 106 

Holzer, Dr. Thomas E., 32 

home terminals, 235,287 

Honduras, 177 

Honeywell, Inc., 116, 142, 240, 274 

Hong Kong, 5, 182 

Honolulu, Hawaii, 96 

Honorary Group Diploma for Astronautics, 

honors, 18,238,251,259,282 

Hoover, Richard, 93 

Horowitz, Dr. Norman, 156,226,237,275 

Horton, Victor W., 66 

hotline, 59,298 

Hotz, Robert B., 87 

House Committee on. See Congress; general 

housekeeping, 15 

Housing and Urban Development (HUD), U.S. 

Dept. of, 30 

Houston, Texas, 35, 71, 127-128 

Houston Baptist Univ., 116 

U.S. Dept. of. 

62,101, 149,211, 230,278,294 

nology (program). 

282 

subject. 

371 
Houston Intl. Airport, 257 

Houston, Univ. of, 128 

Howard, Paul W., 33 

Hq: Natl. Aeronautics and Space Administration, Headquarters 

HSD. See Hawker Siddeley Dynamics. 

HUD. See Housing and Urban Development. 

Hughes, Howard R., 71 

Huehes. W. J.. 301 

Hu&es’Aircraft Co., 15, 71, 92, 94, 141, 

human factors, 22, 172 

183,186,249 

human relations, 250 

humanitarian, 48 

Humboldt State Univ., 24 

humidity, 38, 179, 248 

Humphrey, Marshall, 61 

Hungary, 128, 163, 219, 224, 238,304 

hunter satellite. See interceptor. 

hunting, 19 

humcane, 10, 74, 177 

hydraulic systems, 169, 170, 259 

hydrazine, 80, 99, 172 

hydrocarbons, 189,216 

hydrochloric acid, 172 

hydroelectric, 123 

hydrofluoric acid, 56 

hydrogen, 26,36, 50,97, 104, 145, 170, 171, 

hydrogen bomb, 12,36 

hydrogeology, 20 

hydrology, 5, 6, 67, 73, 82 

IAF: International Astronautical Federation 

IBM. See International Business Machines. 

ICAO. See International Civil Aviation OrganiICAS Interdepartmental Committee for AtmosICBM. See intercontinental ballistic missiles. 

ice, 4, 6, 35, 46, 70, 73, 74, 138, 145, 225, 

Ice Age, 289 

Iceland, 122 

Icewarn (project), 4 

Idaho, 214, 240 

ignition, 267, 273 

IL86 (Soviet jumbo jet), 277, 286 

Illinois, 23, 145 

Illinois, Univ. of, 187, 302 

illiteracv. 228 

240, 250, 259, 262,268 

zation. 

pheric Sciences 

236,247, 251, 294 

imaging, 131, 133, 151, 153-155, 158, 165, 

171, 177, 207, 242, 247, 262, 263, 273, 

279,295,299,303,305 

Imboden, Otis, 88 

IMCO. See Intergovernmental Maritime Conimmigrant, 143 

IMOS. See inadvertent modification of the 

stratosphere. 

impact, 55,84,134, 140, 148, 162, 167,214, 

239,251,252 

Imperial College, London, 301 

implants, 37 

sultative Organization. 

improvements. See new products; new techinadvertent modification of the stratosphere 

incubation, 156, 199-200,215,217,261 

India, 47, 78, 106, 128, 149, 175, 228, 248, 

293 

Indian Ocean, 79, 181, 186, 200, 223, 249, 

280,289 

Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), 

111,228 

Indiana, 117 

Indians. See American Indians. 

Indonesia, 1, 2, 96, 141, 293, 306, 337, 339 

Industrial Contractors, Inc., 240 

industrial Research (magazine), 47,235 

industrial waste, 41 

industry-government cooperation, 29, 61, 65, 

75, 81, 93, 117, 125, 135, 141, 148, 149, 

159, 162, 188, 204, 212, 225, 227, 247, 

253, 269,285, 289, 291 

niques. 

(IMOS), 64 

inertia, 52, 297 

inert gases, 181 

Inex Adria Airways, 214 

infection, 252 

inflation, 18, 50, 58, 124, 171 

inflation, economic, 141, 201 

influence, 161 

information retrieval, 63,68,303 

information transfer laboratory, GSFC, 151 

infrared, 5, 7, 24, 46, 69, 119, 166, 189, 

-cameras, 5, 7, 10, 130, 132-133, 220 

-mapping, 67, 69 

-radiometry, 67, 277 

-spectrometer, 43 

-telescope facility, Hawaii, 53, 54 

injury, 26, 280 

inland waterways, 4 

INMARSAT: International Maritime Satellite 

innovations. See new products; new techniques. 

Innsbruck, Austria, 23 

inorganic matter, 155, 157,213,216, 236, 295 

insects, 113, 280,306 

inspection, 106, 118, 188 

Institute for Solar Research, 52 

Institute of Nuclear Energetics, USSR, 297 

instrument landing, 66,98,257 

Instrument Society of America, 241 

instrumentation, 35, 44, 58, 62, 74, 77, 88, 

93,115,117,123,131,132,145,146,150, 

153, 156, 165, 175, 178, 203, 208, 213, 

217, 221, 222, 223, 224, 229, 230, 239, 

241, 247, 250, 252, 257, 262, 267, 272, 

273,274,275,279,288,294,296,302 

192, 227,247, 277, 279 

Organization 

insulation, 50,61, 115, 170,220,236 

integrated subsystem test bed, 25, 64 

integration, 44, 53, 97, 117, 148, 159, 166, 

169 

intelligence, 24, 34, 163, 263, 268, 269, 288, 

INTEISAT. See International Telecommunica305-306 

tions Satellite Corporation. 

372 
International Council of Scientific Unions, 68, 

International Geophysical Year, 68 

International Institute of Space Law, 244 

International Magnetospheric Study, 49, 68 

International Maritime Satellite Organization 

International Organization for Radio and TeleInternational Radio Amateur Satellite OrganizaInternational Solar System Decade, 65 

International Sun-Earth Explorer (ISEE), 68, 

294 

International Telecommunications Satellite 

Organization (INTELSAT), 15, 18, 20, 21, 

73, 119,179,181, 186,200,206,237,239, 

275 

International Telecommunications Union, 21, 

73,263 

International Xme Bureau, Paris, 305 

international trade, 141, 268 

International Ultraviolet Explorer (WE) proInternational Union of Pure and Applied 

interplanetary medium, 24 

interplanetary spacecraft, 24,80, 197 

Inter-Soyuz (USSR program), 303 

Intersputnik (International Organization for 

interstellar medium, 32,82,291 

invention, 39, 50, 90, 102 

Inventions and Contributions Board, NASA, 

inversion, atmospheric, 105 

Io (moon of Jupiter), 105 

ion, 36,45, 142, 272 

ion-beam fusion. 9 

171 

(INMARSAT), 205 

vision. See OIRT. 

tion, 248 

ject, 283, 294 

Physics, 242 

Cosmic Telecommunications), 224 

87 

Intelsat (comsat) program, 49, 59, 118, 186, 

200,252 

InteZsat 1,92 

Intelsat IV program, 186 

InteZsat N-A, 21,92, 181, 186,252 

InteZsat N-A F-1, 18, 78 

InteZsat N-A F-2, 18, 78, 311, 337, 338 

Intelsat IVA-C, 294 

Intelsat V program, 21, 73, 186, 211, 238 

interceptor (aircraft; satellites), 34, 163, 164, 

intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM), 1, 

Intercosmos program (USSR), 212, 219, 220, 

Intercosmos 15, 128, 321 

Intercosmos 16, 163,325 

Interdepartmental Committee for Atmospheric 

Sciences (ICAS), 64 

interference, 29, 31, 146, 213,263, 270, 276, 

281, 306 

interferometry, 78, 213, 290 

intergalactic space, 75 

Intergovernmental Maritime Consultative 

Intergovernmental Science, Engineering, and 

interim test stand, 25 

interim upper stage (IUS) for Space Shuttle, 

Interior, Dept. of, 116, 144, 201 

International Academy of Astronautics, Paris, 

International Aeronautical Federation. See 

International Air Transport Association 

International Amateur Radio Union, 263 

International Astronautical Federation (IAF), 

International Astronomical Union, 298 

International Business Machines (IBM), 78, 

112, 232,248, 254 

International Civil Aviation Organization 

(ICAO), 14,212 

international communications, 21,47, 92, 176, 

276 

international cooperation 

-general, 1, 10, 21, 27, 28, 44, 48, 49, 68, 

69, 73, 77, 79, 119, 128, 168, 175, 176, 

205-207,237,242,243,246,281,306 

-European, 4, 6, 44, 54, 78, 87, 128, 130, 

165,249,292 

229,246,280-281,305 

32,49, 106, 149,257,283,287,289 

225,244,245,304,307 

Organization (IMCO), 205 

Technology Panel, 185 

90, 186, 193 

238 

Fkd6ration Aeronautique Internationale. 

(UTA), 283 

65,241,243 

-USSR, 78,80,95,119, 191,212,219,299, 

303,304 

-US.-Africa, 20, 41, 122 

-U.S.-Asia, 1, 47, 111, 187 

-U.S.-Canada, 1,9, 10, 14, 302 

-US.-South America, 7 

-U.S.-USSR, 15,38,39,45,59,73,83,159, 

-U.S.-W. EWW, 1, 7, 19, 23, 31, 45, 48, 

163, 195,231,294,298,304 

49, 53, 93, 95, 113, 116, 125, 135, 149, 

164, 165, 198,239,302 

ionosphere research (see also atmosphere), 20, 

Iowa, 264 

Iowa, Univ. of, 105, 298 

IR-100 (award), 235 

Iran, 44, 76, %, 117, 149,269,282 

Ireland, Republic of, 4 

iridium, 162 

iron, 157, 175, 183, 187,209,236,294 

Itwin, Col. James B., 66 

Isabelle (proton collider), 243 

Isaksen, Dr. I.S.A., 32 

SEE. See International Sun-Earth Explorer. 

Isle Royale National Park, 116 

isotopes, 158, 230, 235, 254 

Israel, 122, 210, 305 

Israel, Dr. Martin, 278 

ISRO. See Indian Space Research OrganizaIstanbul, Turkey, 145 

Italy, 4,20,46,130,165, 187,190,209,210, 

Ithaco, Inc., 298 

Itos program, 133, 165 

ITOS E-2,295 

44,233,239,250,2% 

tion. 

211,238,249,271,275,294 

373 
ITOSH. See Nom 5. 

IUE-A. See International Ultraviolet Explorer. 

IUS (interim upper stage for Space Shuttle). 

Ivey’s Plumbing and Electrical Co., 72 

Ivory Coast, 293 

J particle, 255 

Jaenicke, Joachim, 238 

Jde, Dr. Leonard, 244 

Jakarta, Indonesia, % 

Jakob, Max, memorial award, 186 

Jakobowski, Walter, 100 

Jamaica, 293 

James, Jack N., 22 

jamming, 50, 118, 153,287 

Japan, 44, 50, 68, 179, 186, 187, 210, 239, 

Javelin (sounding rocket), 143 

JBF Scientific Corp., 125 

Jeppesen Sanderson, IN., 209 

jet, 47, 53, 67, 81, 85, 118, 124, 165, 170, 

180, 187, 189, 190, 191, 194, 220, 227, 

261,269,277,282,304 

Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) 

--contracts, 63, 219 

-meetings, 226, 274 

-missions, 16, 43, 49, 100, 120, 131, 138- 

140, 146, 148, 152, 155, 160, 168, 175, 

See Space Shuttle, upper stage. 

244,246447,271,294,307,312 

177,203, 205, 207-209,223, 224 

-patents, 23, 299 

-people, 64, 69, 70, 71, 133, 139, 162,227, 

254,271, 290,299 

-programs, 22, 46, 47, 61, 63, 71, 75, 84, 

132, 144, 166, 172, 217, 237, 245, 264, 

268, 272,295 

JFK airport. See Kennedy International Airport. 

Jodrell Bank Observatory, U.K., 233 

Joenz, Capt. Elden, 164 

John F. Kennedy Airport. See Kennedy InterJohns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, 

Johns Hopkins Hospital, 99 

Johns Hopkins Univ., 31, 95, 2% 

Johnson, Dr. Bruce B., 161 

Johnson, Clarence ‘‘Kelly,” 18 

Johnson, David S., 38 

Johnson Gage, 78 

Johnson, President Lyndon B., 39 

Johnson, Dr. T.V., 132 

Johnson Space Center (JSC) 

--contracts, 27, 47, 91, 112, 145, 161, 162, 

-meetings, 35, 54,65, 72 

-missions, 11, 36, 53, 74, 112, 142 

-patents, 167 

-people, 18, 37, 39, 54, 66, 70, 116, 241, 

246,259,277,278,281,288,295,300,301 

-programs, 4, 11, 14, 54, 59, 60, 90, 93, 

115, 118, 127, 132, 161, 188, 220, 224, 

249,255,256,257,272,279,281 

Johnston, Bradford, 90 

Johnston, Dr. Mary Helen, 95,225, 270 

Johnston, Moira, 253 

national Airport. 

1% 

170,179,199,220,232-233,265,270,280 

Jones, Gen. David C., 231 

Jones, Dr. Robert T., 144 

Jordan, 176,293 

JPL. See Jet Propulsion Laboratory. 

JSC. See Johnson Space Center. 

judicial ruling, 191 

jumbo jet. See jet aircraft. 

Jupiter (planet), 13, 24, 35, 43, 46, 58, 69, 

Jupiter (rocket), 25 

Justice, U.S. Dept. of, 195 

Kalinin, USSR, 297 

Kamchatka, 143 

Kamide, Dr. Yohsuke, 296 

Kamunay, Mt., Philippine Is., 209 

Kansas, 55 

Kansas City, Mo., 242 

Kansas City International Airport, 257 

Kantrowitz, Dr. Arthur, 35, 39 

kapton, 24 

Karl Marx collective farm, USSR, 193 

Karl Zeiss Jena, 220 

Kaufman, Gerald, 269 

Kazakhstcin, USSR, 8, 38, 193,221,250,286 

Keefe, Dr. J. Richard, 152 

Kellermann, K.I., 302 

Kemayoran airport (Indonesia), 96 

Kennedy International Airport, N.Y., 3, 15, 

89, 102, 134, 257,269 

Kennedy Space Center (KSC) 

-contracts, 78, 113, 145, 271, 300 

-meetings, 107, 279 

-missions, 98 

-people, 159, 164, 295 

71, 103, 168, 189,245,271, 291,294 

-programs, 50,70,78,90,%, 113,123,132, 

148,164,168-169,199,210,211,261,285, 

300,301 

Kentucky, 151 

Kentucky State Univ., 113 

Kenya, 106, 176, 237,293 

kerosene, 51,80, 111 

Kerr, Joseph H., 144 

Kerwin, Joseph P., 111 

Ketchum, Rep. William M. (R-Calif.), 222 

kevlar, 24, 25, 59 

Khabarovsk, USSR, 262 

Khrushchev, Nikita, 273 

kidnev. 20 

KieffLri 6. Hugh H., 122, 226 

Kiev, USSR, 276 

killer (satellite) system. See interceptor. 

Killian, Dr. James R., 185 

Kingsland, Dr. Louis, 153, 156,236 

Kissinger, Henry, 34, 106, 128, 293 

Kistiakowsky, Dr. George B., 185 

kites, 138 

Kitt Peak National Observatory, Ariz., 46, 53, 

71,82 

Kitty Hawk Flyer, 137,229 

Klate Holt Co., 170 

Klein, Dr. Harold P., 139, 175, 177, 217, 275 

Klimuk, Pyotr. 92, 129, 171,222 

Knowles, S. H., 302 

Kohoutek (comet), 31 

374 
Komarov, V.M., 282 

Kondo, Yoji, 116 

Korean War, 145, 158, 178 

Kourou, New Guinea, 6,88 

Kraemer, Robert S., 100,271 

Kraft, Dr. Christopher C., Jr., 259,278,301 

Kramer, Dr. James J., 285 

Kratzer, Myron, 149 

Krier, Gary, 95, 194 

Krvehl, Herbert W., 2% 

Krstic, Dr. D., 245 

krypton, 226 

KSC. See Kennedy Space Center. 

Kuhn, Dr. Peter M., 277 

Kuiper airborne observatory, 82 

Kurchatov Institute, 36 

Kursk, USSR, 297 

kuru (laughing disease), 252 

GlOll flriStar, Lockheed jet transport), 179, 

Lband telemetry, 115, 229 

labeled-release experiment (Viking), 156, 175, 

labor unions, 120, 198,206 

LACIE. See large-area crop inventory experiLadish Co., 82 

Lageos (laser geodynamic satellite), 1, 23, 87, 

317,337, 339 

LaGuardia airport, N.Y., 198 

Laird, Melvin, 158 

Lake Cowichan, B.C., 201 

Lake Superior, 117 

Lambda-Airtron Div., 162 

Lambert glacier, Antarctica, 294 

laminar-flow control, 231,280 

Lamont-Doherty Geological Observatory, 300 

Land, Elwood W., 89 

land lines, 18 

land use, 105, 237, 262, 305 

lander, 146, 147, 153, 160, 207, 217, 223, 

224,260,263,264, 295 

landing, 84,98,120-122,138-140, 142,146, 

147, 148, 151, 153, 155, 160, 162, 168, 

203,205,208,221,232,251,257, 260 

landing rights, 3, 103, 195 

Landsat program, 4, 20, 69, 80, 133, 144, 

151,171,204,237,262,268-269,282,302, 

305 

La&& 1,69,204 

Landsat 2,303 

Landsat-C, 294 

Langley medal, 40 

Langley Research Center (LaRC) 

--contracts, 101, 231 

--missions. 100 

180,190,191,282 

177, 199,216,260 

ment. 

-people, 18, 38, 47,87, 100, 148, 171, 271, 

-programs, 30, 47, 60, 66, 101, 117, 267, 

277,285,295 

280,303 

language, 119,207,214 

LaRC. See Langley Research Center. 

large-area crop inventory experiment (LACIE), 

198 

Large Space Telescope (future project), 230, 

LaRock, Ralph I., 75 

laser (light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation), 9, 14, 17, 23, 35, 52, 83, 

87,105,144,162,172,197,227,273,276, 

278,280,305 

laser-augmented target acquisition and recognition (latar), 14,273 

latar. See laser-augmented target acquisition 

and recognition. 

Latimer, Allie D., 288 

Latin America, 106 

latitude, 17, 261,2% 

Latter, Robert, 157 

launch. See individual mission; appendixes. 

launch-abort system (for Space Shuttle), 89, 

launch complex 14, KSC, 285 

launch complex 41, KSC, 148 

launch facility, 1, 6, 7, 9, 18, 19, 27, 29, 

launch registration, 128 

launch vehicle (see also Ariane; Delta; Saturn; 

Titan), 7, 9, 18, 25, 28, 31, 44, 49, 50, 

51, 64,65, 73, 79, 80,82, 87,88, 90, 94, 

95, 97, 99, 102, 149, 150, 198, 211, 218, 

235, 239, 240, 243, 249, 250, 261, 262, 

268, 275, 276, 279, 283, 289, 290, 295, 

297,299,300,301 

265 

169 

32, 88, 97, 168, 230, 267, 283 

launches, DOD. 

-AMSl, 214,327 

-9, 50,313 

-NOS 1, 316 

-P-76-5, 102,318,339 

SDS-2, 325 

4ESP 74-2,323 

Solradlla, llb, 50,313 

-TZP3. 203.327.340 

SSU-1, -2,3, 316-317 

-unspecified; 133; 141, 219, 312, 314, 319, 

launches, NASA 

-Corntar 1, 2,94,252,317,339 

-Corntar 2, 157,290,324,339 

-Cts 1, 1,9,249,308,338 

--Gravity Probe A, 126,321,339 

4elws 2, 1, 7,49, 272, 308, 338 

-Zntekat N-A F-2, 18, 78, 311, 338 

--Lageos, 1, 23,87, 317,339 

4arisut 2, 115,249,319,339 

-Marisat 3, 223,249,329,340 

-Nom 5 (JTOSH), 165, 192, 295, 325, 339 

2-76-5(DOD), 102, 318, 339 

-Pahpu 1, 1-2, 133, 141, 323, 339 

Suteom 2, 61,65,315,338 

lava, 122, 146, 148,213-214,281 

law, 65, 161, 165, 172, 195,229, 244 

Lawson, Dr. James R., 247 

lawsuit. See court cases. 

LDEF. See long-duration exposure facility. 

lead (element), 41 

321,322,323,328,335 

---Marisat 1,2,31,60,89,115,249,312,338 

-Nata I[Z-A, 2, 79, 315, 338 

-TIP 3 (DOD), 203,327,340 

375 
leakage, 120, 170 

Lear 4 (1974 Spacelab mission), 227 

Learjet, %,98, 231 

Lebedev Physics Institute, USSR, 278 

Le Bourget International Airport, Paris, % 

Lederberg, Dr. Joshua K., 204 

Lee, Chester M., 91, 245 

Lee, Gentry, 236 

Legostayev, V.P., 246 

Lemonnier crater (moon), 183, 197 

Leningrad, USSR, 212 

Leningrad Arctic and Antarctic Institute, 6 

Leninsk (USSR launch site), 29, 221 

Leonov, Aleksey, 73, 282 Les 8, Les 9 (Lincoln experimental satellites, 

DOD comsats), 50, 313 

leukemia, 20 

Levin, Dr. Gilbert, 156, 175, 178, 275 

levitators, 297 

Lewin, Dr. Walter, 101 

Lewis Research Center (LeRC) 

-contracts, 149, 181,211 

-people, 37, 49, 54, 186, 277, 285, 295 

-programs, 4, 10, 81, 112, 115, 116, 117, 

144, 167,213, 235, 247, 261, 280, 285 

lexan (material), 59, 201 

Lexington, Ky., 160 

Leyden, John F., 167, 198 

LGB (laser-guided bomb), 276 

liability, 244, 253, 280, 287 

liaison, 48,65 

Libbey-Owens-Ford Co., 116 

Liberia, 31, 293 

Library of Congress, 1 11, 112 

Libya, 20, 176, 293 

licensing, 188, 231 

life forms, 32 

life in space. See extraterrestrial life. 

life-detection instruments, 17, 146, 203, 205, 

life sciences, 28, 104, 197, 274, 287 

life support, 59,60, 145, 160,232 

lifetime (satellite; instrument), 44,62,80, 118, 

123, 159,212,213,236, 291 

lifting-body program, 44 

light, 1, 14, 26, 45, 60, 71, 83, 101, 115, 

132,200,215,221,227,235,245,272 

lighter-than-air vehicles. See airships; balloons. 

light years, 23 

lightning, 132, 249, 279 

Lin, Robert P., 132 

Lincoln, President Abraham, 138 

Lincoln Laboratory, MIT, 233 

Lind, Dr. David, 297 

Lindbergh, Charles A., 137, 255 

Lindley, Robert N., 248 

Lippisch, Dr. Alexander M., 28 

Liwcomb, Pmf* William N.. 254 

208,236-237,274,295 

likid, 156, 193, 302 ” 

liquid fuel, 51, 138, 170, 172,240, 259,262, 

283 

liquid metallic hydrogen, 104 

Lisbon, Portugal, 277 

Littlefield, Robert, 150 

Litton Industries, Inc., 162, 302 

Livermore Laboratory (Univ. of Calif.), 216 

loading, 24, 77 

lobbying, 161, 195 

location-reporting system, 184, 251 

Lock Haven, Pa., 109 

Lockheed Aircraft Corp., 47, 70, 72,102,164, 

179,180,186,190,191,219,231,282,302 

Lockheed Electronics Go. of Houston, 179 

Lockheed Missiles and Space Co., 141, 186, 

Loening, Grover, 39, 90 

Logan International Airport, Boston, 51, 96 

logistics, 163, 232 

London, England, 3, 102, 181,205406,269, 

London, Univ. of, 218 

Long, Rep. Clarene D. (D-Md.), 149 

long-duration exposure facility, 101 

Long Island, N.Y., 133, 242 

long-range planning, 12 

Lop Nor (PRC test and launch facility), 255 

Los Alamos, N.M., 36,83 

Los Angeles, Calif., 18, 35, 37, 46, 60, 82, 

Los Angeles International Airport, 198, 257 

Louisiana, 40,204 

Louisville, Univ. of, 152 

Love, Lt. Col. Michael A., 44 

Lovelace, Dr. Alan M., 129 

Low, Dr. George M., 13, 28, 54, 80, 129, 163 

low-temperature research, 170 

Lowell. Percival. 100 

220 

300,301 

120, 257 

Lowell Observatory, 76, 100 

Lucas, Dr. William R., 126, 150 

Lucey Boiler Co., 77 

LTV Corp., 53 

luminescence, 1, 14 

Luna 16, 183, 1% 

Luna 17, 183 

Luna20, 183,1% 

Luna21, 183 

Lwta23, 183 

Luna 24, 182, 196, 300,307, 326 

lunar landing, 5, 11, 19, 35, 36, 39, 50, 51, 

Lunar Orbiter 5. 183 

131, 183, 194,205 

lunar research,’ 11, 35, 36, 52, 54, 69, 74, 

76,131,168,171,183-184,192,205,212, 

246,264,272,281,300 

lunar sampIe curatorial facility (at JSC), 28, 

57,246.300 

lunarsamples, 54,76,119,196, 215,246,300 

Lunar Science Conference, 35,M 

Lunar Science Institute, Houston, Tex., 35, 54, 

Lundin, Dr. Bruce T., 49 

Lunetta (proposed space reflector), 245 

Lunney, Glynn S., 277 

Lunokhod (Soviet mobile moon lander), 183, 

Lynchburg, Va., 239 

Lyra (constellation), 115 

M-2 (lifting body), 44,241 

M-1008 (India rockets), 128 

300 

197,209 

376 
McCeney, Pad, 293 

McCord, Dr. Thomas B., 132 

McCoy, Gene, 159 

MacCracken, William P., Jr., 85 

McDonald, Rob Roy, 22 

McDonnell Douglas Astronautics Corp., 47, 

50, 53, 91, 94, 124, 127, 163, 164, 180, 

184, 187, 191, 198, 214, 230, 240, 253, 

258,282,289,296,302 

McDowetl. Ed. 124 , --I ~~ 

McE~Y, Dr. William D., 1 

Mchtyre, Sen. Thomas J. (D-N.H.), 158 

McLucas, Dr. JohnL., 16,125,134,149,257, 

274,282 

McKinley Climatic Laboratory, USAF, 170 

McMaster, L. Roy, 109 

McMurdo Sound, Antarctica, 79,294 

McMumy, Thomas C., 66 

McPhemn, R.L., 301 

McNamara, Robert, 158 

macrosegregation. 95 

Madison Square Garden, N.Y., 120 

Madrid, Spain, 46 

Magellanic Cloud, 7 

magnesium, 187 

magnetic phenomena, 14, 15, 33, 36, 43, 45, 

49, 54, 58, 68, 75, 131, 143, 160, 197, 

230, 290, 294, 296, 301 

magnetometer, 132, 290, 296, 297 

magnetosphere. See atmosphere; see also Jupimail carriers, 135,286 

Maine, 242 

maintenance, 15,74,112,113,190,220,231, 

302, 303 

malaria, 306 

malfunction, 60, 89, 93, 135, 140, 143, 169, 

170,205,208, 214, 224, 239,260, 263 

Mali, 293 

management, 4.2,90,153,159, 161,164,166, 

204, 224, 232, 241, 24.2, 257, 268, 276, 

277, 293,298 

ter. 

Management and Technical Services Co., 242 

Manchester, Univ. of (U.K.), 132 

maneuver, 95, 120, 264 

Manicouagan, Quebec, 55 

Manila, P.I., 96, 209, 239 

manmade materials, 25,64, 135 

manned space flight 

-future, 34, 35, 65, 74, 92, 107, 113, 127, 

160,166,176,188,198,203,222,232,289 

-history, 25, 37, 38-39, 54, 75, 91, %, 130, 

147,162,178,231,238,241,243246,264, 

270,277,281,282,283,285,298-299,305 

--policy, 8,89-90, 142, 145, 159, 192, 270 

-?raining, 118, 163, 194, 220,224,227,229, 

255,256,257, 259, 301 

-USSR, 5, 12, 15, 41, 73, 76, 92, 112, 129, 

140, 171, 188, 190, 193, 204, 219, 220- 

222,250-251, 255,260, 303,304 

ather countries, 4.95, 123, 14.8 

Manned Spacecraft Center, 54, 

manpower. See employment. 

man-powered flight, 79 

Manson, Al, 229 

maons (particles), 243 

mapping, 4, 20, 32, 67, 69, 84, 120, 131, 

marble, 137 

maria (“seas” on moon), 214 

Marine Corps, U.S., 98, 164, 184,265 

marine life, 67, 169,237 

Mariner project, 15, 43, 49, 65, 71, 100, 245, 

Mariner 7, 16 

Mariner 9, 52,76, 121, 162,295 

Marisat (maritime satellite system), 1, 31, 37, 

Marisat I, 2, 31, 60, 89, 115, 223, 249, 312, 

Marisat 2, 115, 223,249,319,337, 339 

Marisat 3 (Marisat-C), 223, 249, 329, 337, 

maritime communications, 89, 115, 205-206, 

Maritime Safety Committee, IMCO, 206 

Marots (ESA maritime comsat), 130, 192,209 

Mars (planet). See also Viking. 

-data, 35,46,55,76,83,@, 119, 162,194, 

151, 168,209,213,247 

271, 272, 294 

60, 78,89,223, 249, 252 

337,338 

340 

223,249,263 

220,246, 263-264, 281,294 

226,235,264-265 

-future, 13, 160, 166, 168, 196, 211, 225- 

-manned mission, 12, 34 

-Viking mission, 15, 17, 43, 49, 77, 100- 

101,120-122,137,138-140,146-147,14& 

149,151-157,175,177,178,192,199-200, 

203,205,207-209,215-216,217-218,223- 

224,236-237,245,260-261,271,274-275, 

295 

Mars I (USSR spacecraft), 15 

Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) 

-contracts, 47, 72, 77, 82, 107, 116, 130, 

142, 150, 168, 169, 188, 190, 191, 198, 

203, 211, 218, 232, 240, 24.8, 258, 262, 

278, 300 

-meetings, 75, 106, 148, 179, 218, 279 

-missions, 23, 123, 148, 194 

-patents, 33, 70, 144, 158 

-people, 81, 142, 158, 170, 194, 225, 227, 

267, 270, 276, 278, 290, 295, 297 

62, 63, 72, 80, 82, 90, 93, 95, 97, 101, 

115, 124, 126, 141, 144, 150, 166, 168, 

169, 179, 198-199, 204, 210, 225, 227, 

232, 235, 239, 240, 241, 249, 262, 265, 

267, 276 

marsquake, 153, 154, 155,208,224,237,295 

Martin, James, Jr., 43, 100, 121, 138, 148, 

Martin Marietta Aerospace Co., 73, 108, 116, 

Marvin, Dr. Henry H., 219 

Maryland, 19, 57, 111, 151, 262 

Maryland Point, Md., 151 

Maryland, Univ. of, 104 

mascons (mass concentrations), 131, 183 

maser (microwave amplification by stimulated 

Mason-Reguard, 199 

-programs, 25, 26, 27, 29, 37, 47, 48, 50, 

153, 156, 207-209, 217, 224, 271 

150, 170, 186, 209, 2444 271 

emission of radiation), 127, 150 

377 
Masri, Sid, 191 

mass production, 227, 271 mass spectrometer, 17, 142, 146, 155, 156 

Massachusetts, 124, 233 

Mass. Institute of Technology, 23, 36, 69, 101, 

132, 208, 233, 236, 254, 268, 274, 297 

Mass., Univ. of, 74, 102 

Masunky, Dr. Harold, 77, 121 

materialsengineering, 24,61,88,93, 117, 166 

materials processing in space, 22, 65, 95, 96, 

107, 126, 203, 225, 250, 279, 292, 297, 

342, 343 

materials (see also ceramics; composites: crystals; metals; synthetics), 7, 60, 131, 140, 

162, 166, 169, 184,225, 236, 272, 275, 

290 

mathematics, 254 

Mathews, Charles W., 6, 38, 90 

matter, 25, 82 

Matthofer, Hans, 213 

Mauna Kea, Hawaii, 53 

Maxwell (area of Venus), 214 

Maxwell, James Clark, 214 

ME 163B (aircraft), 28 

Meal Systems for the Elderly, 11, 111 

mechanical problems, 143, 154, 156, 200, 

203, 217, 223, 224, 251, 253, 260, 261, 

290 

media, 39, 100, 105, 151, 154, 187, 195, 220, 

230, 250, 262, 269, 270, 273, 280 

medical-data communication, 93, 106 

MedicadMedicaid, 13 

medicine (see also technology utilization), 10, 

13, 20, 37, 64, 66, 93, 106, 126, 130, 148, 

159, 167, 171-172, 188, 203, 236, 251, 

254, 255 

Medicine Hat, Utah, 288 

Mediterranean, 20, 45, 123 

Medvedev, Zhores, 273 

melting, 55, 297 

memorial, 5, 25, 41, 51, 255, 282, 285 

Mendeleyev elements, 184 

Mendenhall, Ted, 229 

Mendota, Va., 109 

Meng, Dr. Ching, 2% 

Menges, Constantine, 182 

Menzel, Dr. Donald H., 297 

Menzies, Dr. Robert T., 227 

Merck & Co., 254 

Mercure (French jet aircraft), 180, 187 

mercury (element), 41 

Mercury (planet), 35, 52, 55, 105 

Mercury (program), 39, 90 

Mercury 6, 91 

Mercury capsule, 90 

Mercury-Redstone (rocket), 25 

Memll, Dick, 98 

MESH: European consortium comprising 

Matra (France), ERN0 (W. Germany), 

Saab-Scania (Sweden), Hawker SiddeleyBritish Aerospace, INTA (Spain), FokkerVFW (Holland), and Aeritalia (Italy), 209 

Messerschmitt-Bolkow-Blohm, 28, 165, 249 

metabolism, 156,177,203,208,216-217,237 

metallurgy, 184,270 

metals, 60,95, 1W, 126, 140, 141,147, 183, 

187,222, 236,250,268, 285,294,303 

meteor, 37, 140, 187, 214, 236 

Meteor (Soviet weather-satellite program), 73, 

Meteor24 (USSR metesat), 315 

Meteor 25,317 

Meteor 26,329 

meteorite, 35, 55, 56, 162, 171, 300 

meteoroid. 105. 107. 252 

307 

I, 

meteorology, 5, 6, 10, 19, 34, 35, 44, 46, 51, 

65, 74, 76, 77, 79, 97, 106, 119, 132, 143, 

145, 165, 177, 189, 190, 192, 195, 203, 

209, 214, 217, 224, 225, 235, 236, 249, 

250, 257. 261. 262, 279. 289. 291, 295, 

296.348 

Metkat (proposed European satellite), 130, 

metesats, 192,214,271,289, 293,294 

192, 213,248,271,294 

methane, 40, 70, 77 

Methodist Hospital, Houston, Tex., 127 

methodology, 57,228 

Metric Conversion Act of 1975,274 

metric system, 135, 274 

Metropolitan Wayne County Airport, 257 

Mexico, 5, 10, 56, 205 

Miami, Univ. of, 132 

Michigan, 116, 171 

Michigan, Univ. of, 123, 216, 247 

Michoud Assembly Facility, La., 72, 150, 169, 

microbe, 156,274 

microcomputer, 229 

microdetection, 47 

microexplosion, 278 

micrometeorites, 8 

microorganisms, 156,217,226,274-275,289 

microphones, 300 

microprocessors, 229, 240 

microshock, 140 

microwave scanning-beam landing system, 98 

microwaves, 10, 46, 80, 132, 150, 197, 219, 

Middendorf, J. William, 230 

Middle East, 27 

MiG25 (Foxbat, Soviet aircraft), 210, 246 

military aircraft, 18, 81, 117, 138, 210, 257, 

military communications, 50, 117 

military procurement, 268, 271 

miyitary space activity, 7, 13,50, 79, 112, 117, 

Milky Way (galaxy), 33, 75 

Mill Village, N.S., 201 

Miller, Charles O., 253 

Miller, James C., In, 285 

Milwaukee. Wis.. 36 

170, 258 

247,275, 288 

273,304 

133,255, 257,260 

minerals, 69, 122, 131, 155, 171, 175, 209, 

221,223,224,237,245,272,293,301 

miniaturization, 147, 292 

mining, 41, 127, 151, 191 

Ministry of Higher and Specialized Secondary 

Education, USSR, 297 

Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, 

India, 228 

378 
Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications, 

Minneapolis, Minn., 116 

Minneapolis Honeywell. See Honeywell Inc. 

Minnesota, Univ. of, 278 

Minor Planet Center (IAU), 298 

minority, 142, 283, 303 

Minority Institutions Research Program, 

Minuteman (ICBM), 49 

mirror, 7, 53, 62, 94, 173, 241) 

MIRV. See multiple independently targeted re- entry vehicle. 

missile (see also individual missiles; types of 

missile; missile systems), 32, 47, 53, 106, 

151, 158, 165, 184, 229, 261, 286, 287, 

288 

mission control, 61, 112, 142, 146, 148, 153, 

155,200, 224, 232,261,264 

mission specialists, 46, 59, 142, 222 

Mississippi, 40, 225, 232, 240, 244 

Mississippi River, 117 

Missouri, Univ. of, 145 

MIT. See Mass. Institute of Technology. 

Mitchell, Cdr. Edgar D., 11, 19 

MJS-A and B (Mariner Jupiter-Saturn mismobile landers, 208, 264 

mobility, 31, 60, 118, 264, 289 

Mobility -Equipment Research and DevelopUSSR, 263 

276 

sions), 294 

ment Command, U.S. Army, 271 

mockup, 15, 113, 270 

model, 25, 27, 41, 43, 58, 78, 113, 131, 146, 

159, 168, 172, 189, 195, 218, 267, 279, 

287,291, 292 

Modisette, Jerry L., 115 

modular construction, 47, 60, 198, 278, 

Mogavero, Louis, 75 

Mohr, Col. George C., 172 

moisture, 57, 179, 226 

Moldavia, 177 

molecular structure, 104 

molecule, 139, 150, 199, 215, 225, 236, 254, 

Molniya (Soviet comsat) pmgram, 59, 262, 

Molniya 1-AH, 309 

Molniya 1-AJ, 313 

Molniya I-AK, 314 

Molniya I-AL, 324 

Molniya 2-R, 331 

Molniya 111, 59 

Molniya 3-E, 317 

Molniya 3-F, 335 

Molodezhnaya (USSR) base, Antarctica, 294 

molybdenum, 157 

Mondale, Sen. Walter F. (D-Minn.), 161 

Mongolia, 219,224,3@4 

monitoring, 7, 24, 38, 41, 50, 60, 67, 71, 98, 

105, 119, 145, 151, 165, 171, 175, 176, 

229, 230, 237, 240, 244, 250, 255, 267, 

279,280,288,291,300,303,305 

2% 

290 

272,307 

Montana, 214,294 

Montgomery, Dr. Oscar, 276 

Montgomery, Ala., 262 

Montgomery Ward, 70 

Montoya, Sen. Joseph M. (D-N.M.), 270 

Montreal, Canada, 200, 205,218 

monument, 51 

moon, earth's (see also lunar research) 

-history, 5, 18, 19, 37, 50-51, 54, 76, 90, 

97,137,146,147,148,150,211,215,233, 

243, 245, 256, 294, 298-299, 305 

-proposed missions, 131, 168,203,212,264 

-USSR missions, 112, 119, 182-184, 1%- 

197,204-205,209,300 -use in research, 25, 35, 46, 49, 54-57, 63, 

69, 128, 131, 171,213-214,246 

ALSEPs (Apollo lunar-surface experiment 

packages), 11, 36, 52, 74, 272 

rocks, 55, 57, 171, 183,215,246,272,300 

tree, 150 

moonquakes, 11,37, 74 

Moore, R. Gilbert, 245 

Moran, John, 105 

Morgan, Maj. George T. Jr., 164 

Morgan, Thomas H., 116 

Morley, Lawrence, 244 

Morocco, 176, 293 

Moms, Dr. Elliott C., 208 

Morrison, Dr. David, 71, 105 

Morton, Louis, 28 

Mory, Robert, 48 

mosaic, 138 

Moscow, USSR, 8, 36, 76, 78, 80, 129, 140, 

183,212,219,220,262,277,286,298,300 

Moscow Institute of State and Law, 244 

Moscow State Univ., 45 

Mosely, Terrell E., Inc., 239 

Moss, Sen. Frank E. (D-Utah), 62, 151 

Mossinghoff, Gerald A., 65 

motion pictures, 41, 71, 154 

motion sickness, 256 

Motoren-und-Turbinen Union, 165 

mountains, 11, 31, 35, 84, 218 

Mt. Kamunay, Philippine Is., 209 

Mt. Palomar Observatory, 25 

Mozambique, 306 

MRCA: multirole combat aircraft 

MSFC. See Marshall Space Flight Center. 

MSBLS. See microwave scanning-beam landMueller, Dr. George E., 243 

Muhleman, Dr. Duane O., 132 

multichannel spectral analyzer, 268 

multinational convention (on registration of 

objects launched into space), 128 

multiple independently targeted reentry vehicle 

(MIRV), 283 

multiple sclerosis, 252 

multirole combat aircraft. See Tornado. 

Munich, Federal Republic of Germany, 200 

municipality, 280 

Murray, Dr. Bruce C., 69, 71, 119, 139,245 

museums, 66, 127, 137, 159, 163, 215 

Musgrave, Dr. Story, 14, 132 

music, 190 

Mustang (P-51 aircraft), 275 

Mutch, Dr. Thomas, 153, 166,207 

ing system. 

379 
MX (intercontinental ballistic missile), 1, 32 

mylar, 171 

N (Japanese liquid-fuel rocket), 44, 307 

NAA. See National Aeronautic Association. 

NACA. See National Advisory Committee for 

Nace, David A., 293 

Naeher, Willis K., 59 

Naimbi, Kenya, 106,237 

Nantucket Island, 303 

NaPO. See NASA Pasadena Office. 

NASA. See National Aeronautics and Space 

NASA Pasadena Office, 63 

NASA Planetary Geology Wice, 166 

NASA Tech Brie&, 63 

NASA Technology Utilization Office, 63, 75 

NASA-unique requirements, 90 

Nashville, Tenn., 73 

Nathanael Greene (nuclear submarine), 159 

National Academy of Sciences, 52, 68, 101, 

216,306 

National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics 

(NACA), 5, 38, 54, 62, 186 

National Aeronautic Association, 79, 85, 96, 

98, 109, 164,229, 275,282 

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). See also aeronautical research; 

aircraft; Apollo program; astronaut; biology; 

communications; contractors; international 

cooperation; launches, NASA: (separate) listings for NASA centers (ARC, DFRC, 

GSFC, JPL, JSC, KSC, MC, LeRC, 

MSFC, WFC); manned space flight; Mars; 

moon; power sources; safety; Space Shuttle; space station; Viking project. 

--commemorations, 5, 25, 28, 62, 70, 107, 

132, 137, 143, 147, 187, 210, 222, 238, 

243, 285,292 

-development, 11,23,26,33,38,40-41,50, 

5W, 61, 69, 81, 83, 87, 89, 90, 93, 97, 

102, 111, 113, 117, 145, 166, 188, 225, 

258,262,291 

-funding, 1, 12, 13, 43, 58, 75, 91, 129, 

192,201,224,230,267, 274 

-management, 1, 23, 53, 57, 63, 76, 89, 93, 

%,99, 111, 117, 129, 133, 145,224,228, 

267, 271, 277, 280, 285, 289, 295, 298, 

303 

-people, 6, 12, 13, 17, 19, 28, 38, 48, 49, 

50, 51, 53, 54, 64, 65, 69, 70, 71, 75, 

77, 79,83,90,%, 99, 133, 145, 163, 164, 

178, 190, 193, 231, 237, 241, 247, 248, 

250,259,271,277,278,285,288 

-plans, 1, 21-22, 34, 46, 53, 65, 68, 75, 

80,84, 126, 131, 142, 168, 171, 197,230, 

235,288,294, 2% 

-programs, 13, 17, 35, 47, 66, 72, 75, 82, 

91,95, 100, 103, 111, 126, 142, 166, 194, 

210,213,235,263,290,2% 

AID, 106 

Air Force, 49, 50, 61,90,99, 102, 170 

Amy, 113 

Aeronautics. 

Administration. 

-research (joint projects): 

Coast Guard, 4, 130 

Commerce, 26 

DOD, 129 

EDA, 93 

ERDA, 13, 27, 29, 67, 75, 83, 94, 102, 

FAA, 94, 103 

HUD, 30 

Interior, 116 

NAS, 101 

Navy, 46,95,97, 115, 132, 151 

NIH, 23 

NOAA, 119, 132, 165 

NSF, 63 

states, 38,44,60,69,93, 111, 113 user communities, 57, 101 

112, 116, 124, 141, 142, 144, 167 

National Aeronautics and Space Council, 48 

National Air and Space Museum, 41, 137, 163, 

National Air Races, 275 

National Archives and Records Service 

National Association of Black Manufacturers, 

National Association of Home Builden, 30 

National Astronomy and Ionosphere Center, 33 

National Broadcasting Company (NBC), 152 

National Bureau of Standards, 30, 290, 305 

National Center for Atmospheric Research 

National Civil Service League, 259, 278 

National Committee for Space Research (India), 

National Environmental Policy Act, 172 

National Environmental Satellite Service 

National Fire Prevention and Control AdminiNational Gallery of Art, 137 

National Geographic Society, 88, 231, 283 

National Heat Transfer Conference, 186 

National Humcane Center, 177 

National Institute for Neurological Diseases, 

National Institutes of Health, 23 

National Medal of Science, 133, 254 

National Needs Science Faculty Professional 

Development (NSF progam), 283 

National Oceanic and Atmosoheric Administra215,231,278,299,305 

(NARS), 28, 199 

303 

(NCAR), 32, 77, 190, 272 

111 

(NESS), 24,38, 192,279 

stration, 26 

255 

tion (NOAA), 5, 10, 17, k, 32, 38, 47, 57, 

88,117,119,132,160,165,177,189,192, 

204, 241, 261, 277, 279, 294, 296, 301, 

304,307,337,339 

National Operational Meteorological Satellite 

System (NOMSS), 165 

National Parachute Test Range, 98 

National Park Service, 116 

National Patterns of R&D Resources, 192 

National Plan for Energy Research, A, 133 

national policy, 18, 22, 102, 107, 191, 228, 

national priorities, 9, 16, 34, 119, 265, 282 

National Public Radio (NPR), 125 

National Radio Astronomy Observatory, 32, 

229,250,263,268,274,286, 287 

33,302 

380 
national research centers, 7 

National Research Council (NRC), 272 

National Research Council, Canada, 302 

National Safety Council, 79 

National Science and Technology Policy, 

Organization, and Priorities Act, 185 

National Science Foundation (NSF), 1, 6, 7, 

13, 17, 32, 50, 63, 74, 82, 151, 184, 191, 

192,201,274,283, 287,289,294,302 

National Security Council, 92, 185 

National Security Industrial Association, 158 

National Space Club, 49 

National Space Institute, 12 

National Space Technology Laboratories 

(NSTL), 25,40,64,93,114, 169,190,232, 

235,240,295 

National Transportation Safety Board, 15, 16, 

134,253, 263,282 

National Weather Service, 190,247 

National Women’s Political Caucus, 270 

native Americans, 72 

NATO. See North Atlantic Treaty OrganizaNATO IIIA, 2, 79,315,337,338 

NATO IIIB, 79,294 

natural gas, 41,50,58,281 

Naugle, Dr. John E., 235 

Navajo, 288 

Naval Observatory, U.S., 305 

Naval Research Laboratory, U.S., 31, 47, 99, 

101, 132, 150,229,302,343 

Naval Weapons Center, 88, 160 

navigation, 24, 50, 51, 61, 66, 74, 106, 124, 

146,148,181,20~206,229,235,247,274, 

Navigation Technology Satellite (SN), 181, 

nebula, 56 

Navy, U.S. (see also Naval Observatory; Naval 

Research Lab; Naval Weapons Center), 46, 

50, 53, 60, 83, 89, 95, 96, 97, 115, 160, 

181,184,203,223,230,247,285,292,294 

Research. 

tion. 

294,299,306 

291 

NCAR. See National Center for Atmospheric 

Nedelin, Marshal Mitrofan, 273 

Nellis AFB, Nev., 184 

neoprene, 60 

Neptune (planet), 43 

NESS. See National Environmental Satellite 

Netherlands, 4, 23, 4.8, 119, 194, 207, 209, 

neurology, 37,254 

neutral-buoyancy simulator, 270 

neutrinos, 26 

neutron stars, 93 

Nevada, 121 

New Bedford Gas Co., 125 

New England, 51 

New England Research Applications Center, 

New Guinea, 252 

new metals, 104 

Service. 

279 

188 

New Mexico, 9, 16, 27, 31, 51, 88, 238, 241, 

270,280 

New Mexico Institute of Mining & TechnolNew Mexico State Univ., 72 

New Orleans, 41, 72, 132, 144, 150 

new products, 6, 23, 24, 26, 37, 47, 50, 59, 

61, 70, 75, 102, 135, 147, 162, 166, 167, 

169, 188, 203, 213, 235, 246, 273, 276, 

291,298,299 

new techniques, 6, 11, 17, 19, 20, 24, 30, 33, 

38,4Q, 45,46,59,63, 126, 135, 14Q, 158, 

159, 167, 188, 203, 205, 225, 249, 254, 

257,267,270,275,279,291, 302 

New York, 19, 29, 35, 102, 121, 145, 152, 

187, 195,218,257,267,269, 273 

New York, State Univ. of, 25, 155 

New York, Univ. of, 132 

New Zealand, 64, 261,294 

Newcomb, Simon, 305 

Newfoundland, 46 

Newman, Robert A., 145 news (see also media), 36, 151, 154, 220, 262 

Niagara Falls, N.Y., 143 

nickel, 41, 141, 181, 213, 291 

Nigeria, 73, 136 

nighttime operations, 10, 66, 74, 115, 165, 

215,245,250 

NIH. See National Institutes of Health. 

Nike-Cajun (rocket), 239 

Nike-Tomahawk, 187 

Nile River, 20, 41, 123, 306 

Nimbw 6, 29, 146 

Nimbus-G, 303 

1976-AA (asteroid), 25 

Nippon Electric Company, 239 

nitrogen, 78, 153, 155, 170, 271 

nitrogencompounds, 17, 33, 57, 76, 80, 189, 

Nitze, Paul, 32 

Nixon, President Richard M., 48, 91, 151, 

158,185 

NOAA. See National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. 

NOM 4, 119,192,295 

ogy, 132 

216, 236, 304 

NOUQ 5 FOS-H), 165, 192, 295, 325, 337, 

339 

Nobel prizes, 204, 251,254,278 

noise, 3, 27, 33, 103, 113, 117, 124, 125, 

144, 149, 168, 172, 240, 258, 267, 277, 

285,286 

Nolan, Bernard T., 195 

nominations, 129, 151 

NOMSS. See National Operational Meteorological Satellite System. 

nonprofit groups, 52, 1% 

Noordwijk, The Netherlands, 194, 207, 279 

Nordberg, Dr. William, 237 

Norflor Construction Co., 271 

North America, 18,144 

North American Air Defense Command 

North American Div., Rockwell Intl. Cop., 

North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), 

North Carolina State Univ., 119, 190 

(NORAD), 214 

107, 137, 275 

1, 2,48, 117, 315, 337, 338 

38 1 
Noah Pole, 6, 27, 74 

Northern Research & Engineering Co., 130 

Northrop Cop, 19,27,57,95,165,273,302 

Northrup Inc., 116 

“Northwest Territory” (on Mars), 138 

Northwestern Univ., 37 

Norway, 48, 79, 117,263,276,294,301,343 

NOSS 1 (Navy ocean-survey satellite), 316 

nova, 56 

Noyes, Blanche W%ox, 275 

NPR. See National Public Radio. 

NRAO. See National Radio Astronomy ObserNRC. See National Research Council. 

NRL. See Naval Research Laboratory. 

NSTL. See National Space Technology Lamoranuclear arms agreement, 1, 34 

nuclear energy, 9, 11, 12, 24, 48, 50, 57, 83, 

99, 101, 118, 236, 238, 253, 254, 268, 

273,278,297 

nuclear fuel, 9, 11, 24, 48, 50, 83, 99, 125, 

149, 167, 238, 252, 268,278 

Nuclear Regulatory Commission, U.S., 48, 

79, 149,268 

nuclear waste, 11, 36, 41, 273 

nuclear weapons, 32, 47, 83, 149, 154, 238, 

nutrition, 9, 11, 13, 105, 111, 175, 199, 208, 

nylon, 24, 25, 84 

vatory. 

tones. 

255, 257, 268, 283, 288-289 

216,254 

OA. See Office of Applications, NASA Hq. 

OAO. See orbiting astronomical observatory. 

OASI. See Office of Aeronautics and Space 

objectives, 22 

Obninsk, USSR, 297 

observatory, 82, 101, 108, 151, 220, 305 

occultation (stellar eclipse), 80, 82 

Occupational Health and Safety Act, 172 

ocean, 14, 61, 74, 97, 99, 119, 137, 171, 

odeanography, 5, 15, 24, 35, 46, 57, 83, 119, 

Odenwald (W. Ger. earth station), 213 

odor, 255 

Office of Aeronautics and Space Technology, 

Office of Applications, NASA Hq, 96, 119, 

Office of Energy Programs, NASA Hq, 75 

Office of Lunar and Planetary Programs, 

NASA Hq, 271 

Office of Management and Budget (OMB), 16, 

124, 129, 185 

Office of Manned Space Flight, NASA Hq, 

75,106 

Office of Science, Engineering, and Technology (White House), 9, 16, 39, 58, 92, 151, 

184-185 

Office of Space Flight, NASA Hq, 70, 245, 

Technology, NASA Hq. 

239, 244,267,294, 303 

195, 204,237 

NASA Hq, 96,166,285 

194, 293 

“7- 

LI 1 

Office of Space Science, NASA Hq, 77, 96, 

101,271 

offshore installations, 6,31,89,93, 118, 304 

O’Hare International Airport, Chicago, 68, 89, 

Ohio, 54, 91, 151, 270 

Ohio State UNv., 298 

oil, 6, 11, 37, 41, 58, 102, 111, 122, 123, 

171, 176, 177, 181, 213, 237, 245, 280, 

301,303 

167,257 

oil spills, 105, 303 

OIRT (International Organization for Radio 

and Television), 225 

O’Keefe, Dr. John A., 171 

Okero, Isaac Omolo, 238 

Okhotsk, USSR, 143 

Oklahoma, 66, 213,257 

Oklahoma State Univ., 123 

Olympic games, 10, 23, 154, 200 

Olympus Mons (on Mars), 218 

Oman, 176,293 

OMB. See Office of Management and Budget. 

omnidirectional equipment, 66 

ONA: Overseas National Airways 

onboard computer (processor), 98, 224, 240 

O’Neill, Gerard K., 127 

O’Neill, William J., 120 

Ontario, 294,302, 304 

OOE. See out-of-ecliptic mission. 

Operation Paperclip, 29 

operations research, 61, 166, 254 

optical navigation, 100, 273-274 

optics, 53, 144, 150, 213, 256, 273, 290 

orbit, 6, 10, 16, 23, 25, 34, 35, 44, 48, 58, 

59,114,120,121,128,135,140,141, 142, 

146, 148, 163, 183, 186, 196, 218, 244, 

251, 270-271,289,293 

Orbita (USSR communications network), 76, 

272 

orbital plane (earth‘s), 290 

orbiter, Viking (see also Space Shuttle orbiter), 

orbiting astronomical observatory (OAO), 49, 

orchards, 270, 279 

organic matter, 17, 37, 41, 49, 61, 104, 121, 

146,155,156,158,199-200,207,215,217, 

236-237,274 

162, 215 

132 

organization, 159, 205-207 

orientation, satellite, 34, 62, 165, 221, 229 

origins, 35,275 

Orion (Canadian aircraft). See F3. 

Orion 2 observatory (USSR instrument), 108 

OSCAR (orbiting satellite carrying amateur 

radio), 195 

Oscar I, 195 

Oscar 4, 1% 

Oscar6, 114, 1% 

Oscar 7, 1% 

osmosis, 45 

Os0 8 (orbiting solar observatory), 88, 178 

OSS. See Office of Space Science, NASA Hq. 

Otay Mt., Calif., 264 

otolith, 256 

OTS (ESA orbiting test satellite), 130, 192, 

209,271,287,294 

Otterman, Joseph, 305 

382 
Patterson, William Allen, 229 

payload, 51, 95, %, 148, 169, 194, 195, 244, 

267,271,272,277,279,286,287,301 

-recovery, 150, 230, 257,272,279 

-specialist, 59 

PBS. See Public Broadcasting Service. 

peace, 147, 238, 281, 282 

Pecora, William T., award, 237 

Peking, PRC, 4 

Pennsylvania, 151,304 

Pennsylvania, Univ. of, 254, 255 

Pensacola Mountains, Antarctica, 294 

Pentagon (see also Defense, U.S. Dept. of), 

19,117,158,164,165,281,285,287,305 

Penthouse magazine, 281 

Peoples Republic of China, 4, 128, 196, 198, 

238,255,290,305, 307, 332 

PEP (positive-electron project), 243 

Pepin, Dr. Robert, 54 

Perek, Dr. Lubas, 238, 244 

perihelion (Mars), 295 

permafrost, 122, 208, 253 

permanent space station, 130 

Perseids (meteor shower), 187 

Pershing (U.S. Army missile), 261 

personnel, U.S. government (civil service), 

Peru, 191, 293 

pesticide, 9, 39 

Peterson, Dr. Laurence, 101 

petroleum. See oil. 

Petrov, Dr. Boris N., 244, 245, 250 

Petrov, Georgy, 204 

Phantom (bomber aircraft). See F4. 

pharmaceuticals. See drugs. 

Phi Beta Kappa, 247 

Philadelphia, Pa., 19, 36, 129, 138, 150 

Philadelphia Centennial Exposition. See centennial exposition, U.S. 

Philippine Islands, 209, 239 

Phillips, Dr. Roger J., 132 

phlebitis, 20 

Phobos (moon of Mars), 162,220, 264,295 

photofax, 279 

photography, 5, 39, 43, 80, 122, 131, 138- 

140, 143, 146, 148, 151, 153, 156, 158, 

162, 168, 171, 177, 194, 205, 207, 213, 

215,217,219,220-221,224,226,247,269 

photosynthesis, 44, 156, 203, 208, 215, 226, 

275 

photovoltaic technology, 14, 116, 144 

physical sciences, 274 

physiology, 254, 255 

physics, 25, 35, 51, 68, 77, 142, 166, 173, 

204,242,254,278 

Pickard, Robert H., 29 

Pickering, Dr. William H., 64, 69, 133, 173, 

pigap (USSR experiment), 15 

piggyback launch, 37, 50,210 

pilot, 16, 44, 66, 71, 94, 95, %, 98, 142, 

194,225,231, 240,251,256,274 

-training (see also training, Space Shuttle), 

229,273-274 

pilotless craft, 47 

193, 263,267,282,295 

254 

Oulu, Univ. of (Finland), 179 

out-of-ecliptic (OOE) mission (proposed ESANASA joint project), 239 

outer planets, 70, 71 

Outer Space Affairs Division, UN, 238,244 

“Outlook for Aeronautics” (report), 84 

“Outlook for Space” (report), 21 

OV-101 (orbiter vehicle). See Shuttle orbiter; 

Overseas National Airways, 134 

Owen Enterprises Inc., 299 

Owen, Dr. Tobias, 155 

Owens-Illinois Inc., 18, 53 

Owens Valley, Calif. 151 

oxygen, 51,80, 113, 145, 155, 175,200, 215, 

217, 232, 236, 240, 250, 259, 262, 268, 

274, 298 

Oyama, Vance I., 136,218, 275 

ozone, 3, 17, 27, 32, 38, 76, 160, 216, 261, 

Enterprise. 

272,296,304 

P-5 “Mustang” aircraft, 275 

P-38 (fighter aircraft), 72 

P-76-5 (USAF satellite), 102, 318, 339 

pacemakers, 291 

Pacific coast, 38 

Pacific Ocean, 5, 28, 31, 60, 76, 115, 118, 

172, 181, 186, 191, 200, 223, 249, 261, 

288,293,299 

paint, 70, 131, 169 

Pakistan, 176, 293 

Pal, Dr. Yash, 228 

Palapa I (Indonesian comsat), 133, 141, 323, 

Palapa-B, 294 

Paleozoic era, 44 

Palestine, Tex., 190 

Palmer, Arnold, 96, 98 

Pan American Technical Services, Inc., 78 

Pan American World Airways, 4Q, 74, 166, 

Panama City, Ha., 292 

Panavia, 165 

Papago Indian reservation, N. Mex., 93 

Papazian, Dr. John, 297 

parachute, 24,82,93,97,116,146, 148,150, 

193, 199, 230, 262, 272, 279, 288, 297, 

300 

337,339 

209,213,261 

paralysis, 37 

Paris, France, 3, 4, 29, 41, 44, 48, 91, 95, 

96, 97, 98, 102, 130, 164, 238, 239, 248, 

253,256,269,282,286,300,302 

particle accelerator, 25, 242-243 

particle physics, 25, 64, 77, 104, 242-243, 

Pasadena, Calif., 43,63 

passengers, 8, 26, 59, 67, 84, 85, 103, 134, 

166,180,198,212,232,253,269,277,286 

passive systems, 72,87, 171 

PATCO. See Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization. 

Patent Office, U.S., 50 

patents, 6, 23, 33, 40, 50, 65, 70, 87, 102, 

158,167,188,299 

Patten, Dr. James W., 95 

255,272 

383 
pinkeye, 45 

Pioneer project, 39,49, 103,272, 278 

Pioneer IO, 24, 58 

Pioneer 11,104,189,290 

Pioneer Parachute Co., 150 

Pioneer Venus, 211,288 

pipeline, 281 

Pitcairn Is., 172 

Pittsburgh, Pa., 35 

planetary atmosphere. See atmosphere, planetary. planetary nebula, 108 

planetary research (see also individual planets), 

14, 15, 34, 35, 39, 59, 70, 76, 90, 104, 

120, 127, 137, 138, 146, 147, 148, 152, 

154, 160, 162, 166, 168, 192, 193, 196, 

204,212,217-218,225,235-236,245,264, 

271-272,283 

planets (see also individual planets), 25, 45, 

54,69,70, 76,225,265 

planning, 44, 142, 272, 282 

plants, 38 

plasmas, 49,92,102,127,142,148,250,343 

plastic, 61, 63, 88, 147, 160, 227, 245 

Plateau of the Moon (region of Mars), 140 

platinum, 56 

Plesetsk, USSR, 283 

Plum Brook Station, LeRC, 67, 181 

Pluto (planet), 35, 43, 70, 291 

plutonium, 48, 149, 268 

pneumatic testing, 170 

Pogue, Col. William R., 66, 129 

Poker Flat Range, Alaska, 63 

Poland, 128, 219, 224,304 

Polar Experiment North-76 (USSR), 73 

polar research, 6, 73, 79, 139, 225, 261 

polar-orbiting spacecraft, 24, 54, 131, 142, 

165, 192, 203,215,219,225,239,2% 

polarity, 33 

polarization, 88, 162 

police, 199, 210 

politics, 141, 151, 161, 163, 181, 195, 210, 

Pollack, Dr. James B., 48 

Pollack, Louis, 6 

pollution (see also air pollution; heat sensing; 

noise reduction; water pollution), 3, 34, 39, 

40, 76, 133, 137, 160, 171, 195, 227,235, 

261,267,285,300,303 

286 

“pollution tax,” 285 

polyethylene, 167, 230 

Polymde (USSR experiment), 23,83 

polyurethane foam, 50 

polyvinyl chloride, 24 

Pond, Robert B., 95 

Ponnamperuma, Dr. Cyril, 104 

PoDe Paul. 10 

po&~tion, 34, 47, 111, 154, 159, 171, 176, 

Porcupine (project), 49 

Port Matilda, Pa., 109 

portable equipment, 10, 24, 60, 93, 232, 278, 

Portland (Ore.) International Airport, 257 

Pon-Wahn, W. Germany, 44, 194 

228,230,270 

281,293 

position determination, 114, 205 

positron, 25 

Postal Service, U.S., 67, 213 

potassium, 187 

Potemra, Dr. Thomas A., 296 

Poulos, Leah, 23 

Powder Puff Derby, 275 

power sources, 11,22,58,127,133-134,176, 

203,241 

--chemical, 80, 145, 213,291 

--electric, 143 

-galactic, 101, 105, 132, 301 

-nuclear, 36,48,83,99,118,149,181,242- 

243,252,268,297 

--solar, 13, 26, 29, 52, 70, 72, 75, 80, 94, 

111,116-117,124,136,141,142,144,160, 

247,265,270,271,288, 291,299,301 

172-173,197,219,225,227,239,240,243, 

--steam, 35 

-thermal, 115, 189,278 

-wind, 67, 102, 124-125, 167, 181, 280 

“power tower,” 240 

Pratt 81 Whitney Aircraft Group (United Technologies), 134 

precipitation, 132 

precision, 290, 302 

prediction (see also future; meteorology), 142, 

preservation, 11 1 

Presidential Medal of Merit, 40 

President’s Committee on Science and Techpresolar particles, 56 

press conference. See media. 

pressure, 39, 60, 78, 92, 95, 123, 168, 170, 

198,229,255,262,278,279,282,286,300 

prestige, 265 

prices, 141,219 

Princeton Institute for Advanced Study, 35 

Princeton Univ., 189, 298 

printing, 262,279 

Priroda (USSR science journal), 278 

private enterprise, 67,134,191,212,267,289 

probe (see also rockets), 126, 128, 280, 288 

process. See data processing; materials procesprocurement, 63, 78, 83, 111, 158, 163, 164, 

productivity, 9, 50,81 

Profesional Air Traffic Controllers OrganizaPrognoz (Soviet science satellites), 73, 212, 

Prognoz 5, 307,331 

program planning, 22, 268 

programming, 254 

progress, 137 

Project Blue Book (WAF), 199 

Project Icewam, 4 

propagation, 44, 102, 187,287 

propane, 259 

262,283 

176,277,289,299 

nology, 185 

sing; new techniques; sewage. 

206, 226,260,287,289, 303 

tion (PATCO), 16, 167, 198 

307 

-propellant, 82, 83, 106, 181, 188, 216, 259, 

propellers, 5,67,81 

propulsion system, 123, 149, 169, 181, 259 
propulsive-lift technology, 33 

protection, 130, 236, 280 

proton, 25,26, 165,242, 250 

protostar, 1M 

prototype, 47, 53, 108, 123, 142, 164, 185, 

provinces (planetary regions), 218 

Proxmire, Sen. William A. (D-Wis.), 1, 228 

Pryor, Harold E., 163 

psi particle, 255 

Public Broadcasting Service, 18, 125 

public communications, 44,63,195,228,235, 

251, 253,273, 293 

public health, 60, 216 

public lands, 69 

public opinion, 12, 51, 54, 56, 75, 119, 152, 

158, 195,208, 211, 246 

public policy, 17, 22, 39, 50, 124, 125, 152, 

172, 176,228,244,250,268,272, 292 

248,249,287,292 

public radio, 125 

Public Registry of Space Flights (UN), 307 

public television, 18. 125, 228 

public transportation, 18 

public utilities, 125, 225, 24Q, 268, 280 

Puerto Rico, 33, 77,94, 213,225,24Q 

Pulitzer prize, 28 

pulsar, 23, 74 

pulse, 26, 63, 263 

pump, 130, 146 

Puppis A (supernova remnant), 93 

Purdue Univ., 276 

Purkey, L. L., 98 

“purple pigeons,” 168 

Puthoff, Richard L., 181 

pyrolytic reaction, 61 

pyrolytic-release experiment (Viking), 156, 

200, 215,217,260 

Qantas Airways Ltd., 261 

Qattara Depression, 123 

QSRA. See quiet short-haul research airplane. 

quality control, 78, 259, 267, 292 

quantum mechanics, 254 

quarks (particles), 243 

quartz, 290 

quasars, 31,45, 52,82, 302 

quiet short-haul research airplane, 33 

Quonset Point, R.I., 79 

R&D. See research and development. 

Rabat, Morocco, 176 

racine. 145 

radarY.4, 14, 16, 47, 52, 73, 77,84, 102, 108, 

132, 14Q, 153, 165, 168, 171, 177, 184, 

213, 214, 225, 227, 233, 236, 247, 251, 

274,281,305 

radiation, 26, 33,35,39, 105, 122, 150, 172, 

229,236,253,273,277,290 

radio, 16, 34, 38, 45, 66, 75, 105, 125, 127, 

136, 143, 144, 146, 148, 154, 225, 250, 

263,268,276,291,295,298 

Radio Amateur Satellite Corp., 114, 1% 

radioastronomy, 32, 41, 77, 150-151, 213- 

214,233,270,302 

Radio Corporation of America (RCA), 34, 62, 

65,186,212,214,226,337 

radioactivity, 36, 156, 158, 175, 177, 178, 

199,208,215,226,236,253,254,273 

radioisotope thermal generator (RTG), 118 

radiolaria, 289 

radiometer, 44, 67, 165, 277 

radiotelescope, 31, 33, 46, 77, 84, 150, 213, 

Radojlovic, Zika, 238 

Rad~lga (Soviet comsat, Statsionar lB), 214, 

RAF: Royal Air Force 

Ragusa, Dr. James, 159 

railroads, 142, 219,276 

rain, 162, 177,226, 249, 279, 305 

Rainey, Ed, 229 

Raleigh, N.C., 119 

Ramo, Dr. Simon, 9 

RAMS: random-access measuring system 

Ramstein, W. Germany, 242 

Rancho Los Amigos, 37 

RAND Corp., 119, 132 

random-access measuring system, 29 

Ranger (project), 65 

ranging, 133 

Rasquin, John, 290 

ratification, 128 

Rayhrer, Benno, 302 

Raymond, Dr. Louis, % 

RB-57 (USAF research aircraft), 2% 

RCA. See Radio Corporation of America. 

RCA-B. See Satcorn 2. 

reaction control, 20, 297 

reactor, 149, 268, 273, 278 

real property, 218 

receiver (communications), 6, 106, 242, 263- 

recession, 12, 26, 166, 181 

reclamation, 151 

RECON (information-retrieval system), 303 

reconnaissance (see also surveillance), 7, 141, 

164,219,230 

record systems, 103, 127, 131, 133, 147, 150, 

221,230 

recovery (equipment; payload; vehicle), 5, 82, 

97, 169, 189, 229, 239, 251, 272, 279, 

297,300, 301,305 

rectenna, 197 

recycling, 61, 83, 291 

red shift, 126, 337 

Redstone test site, 25, 170 

redundancy, 90, 181 

redwoods, 38 

Reed, Jack, 290 

Reed, John H., 15 

Reed, Thomas C., 161,287 

reentry, 33,87, 168,221,303 

refan program, LeRC, 285 

refitting, 285 

reflector, 23, 52,62,87, 157, 171, 245, 290 

refraction, 46 

registration (of objects launched into space), 

268,302 

327 

RCA-C, 295 

264,292 

128,244,307 

385 
rehabilitation, 25, 39, 66 

Reid, Dr. George C., 32 

reimbursable launch, 1,28,62,149,223 

relativity (see also Einstein), 52, 126, 337 

relay. See communications relay; data relay; 

reliability, 6, 20, 28, 61, 67, 81, 144, 149, 

remote control, 71, 198, 219 

remote manipulator, 59, 198, 257 

remote sensing, 20, 43, 46, 54, 82, 105, 118, 

122, 131, 204, 235, 237, 244, 261, 267, 

276, 282,293, 303 

satellite relay. 

161,232,240,259,272,276,277 

remote transmission, 10, 93, 281 

remotely piloted research vehicle (RPRV), 144 

rendezvous, 162, 251, 260, 268, 282 

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, 54, 89 

reorganizations, NASA, 63 

repair, 118, 160, 247, 253, 303 

repeaters, communications, 94, 264 

replication, 104, 113 

reprocessing, 11, 83, 268 

Republic of China (Taiwan), 20, 128 

rescue, 59, 114, 171, 1%, 232,242,243-244 

research and development (R&D), 50, 58, 59, 

113,149,191,201,219,221,229-230,252, 

265,274,275, 276 

Research Initiation in Minority Institutions 

(NSF program), 283 

residence, 142, 301 

resolution (optical; spectral), 32, 84, 88, 166, 

“resonance region” (of magnetosphere), 301 resource survey, 123,175,192,204,244,276, 

306 

retirement, 12, 13, 18, 19, 38, 48, 50, 54, 

64,67, 77, 83,96, 133 

retrieval, 101, 160, 169, 199, 257, 276, 297, 

300 

reusable equipment, 37,61,82, 118,130, 145, 

169,188,199,220,229,235,239,299,300 

reverse polarity, 33 

Rho Sigma Company, 116 

Rhode Island, 225, 24x) 

rhodopsin, 45 

Rice Institute, 72 

Rice Univ., 54 

Richter, Prof. Burton, 254 

Richter scale, 11 

Rincon Indian reservation, 299 

Rind, David, 300 

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 3, 269 

Ripley, S. Dillon, 137 

rivers, 121, 138, 177,306 

RMI Co., 81 

Robinson, Prof. Alan, 83 

Robinson, Charles, 212 

robot, 47, 139, 160, 183 

Rockefeller, Vice President Nelson, 92, 137 

rocket (see also launch vehicles; probe), 6, 27, 

35, 46, 51, 61, 68, 73, 79, 93, 95, 137, 

138,140,160,163,172,267,288 

Rocketdyne Division, Rockwell Intl. Corp., 

25, 73,94, 149, 169, 211, 232, 235 

262,273 

rocket launches, 6, 17, 28, 49, 51, 63, 128, 

187,239,250,273,297,301 

mcket-powered aircraft, 28,241 

Rocket Propulsion Laboratory (USAF), 106 

rocks, 57, 139, 148, 155,207, 223,236,260, 

294 

Rockwell International Corp., 25, 47, 50, 57, 

66, 73, 78,81, 94,99, 107, 108, 123, 149, 

158, 161, 168, 187, 203, 204, 210, 218, 

222, 232, 235, 244 245, 248, 257, 259, 

275,277,287,301,302,303 

Rockwell Intl. &iece Center, 297 

Rockwell, Willard F., Jr., 99, 222 

Roddenberry, Gene, 159,222 

Rodina (Soviet ship), 143 

Roederer, Juan G., 68 

Rogaland, Norway, 276 

Rohr Industries, Inc., 82,292 

Rohr Marine, Inc. See Rohr Industries. 

Rolls Royce (Aero Engines Inc.), 134, 165, 

Romania, 219,238,304 

Roosa, Col. Stuart A., 19 

Roosevelt, President Franklin D., 92 

Ross Ice Shelf Project (RISP), 294 

Rossiyu (Soviet ship), 143 

Rostoker, Dr. Gordbn, 2% 

Rotary Club, 51 

rotation, 189,290,304 

rotor, 67, 102,113, 167 

rotor aircraft, 84, 113 

round-the-world flight, 72 

roving vehicle (planet exploration), 168, 235, 

Royal Academy of Sciences (Sweden), 254 

Royal Air Force (U.K.), 165 

Royal Navy (U.K.), 164 

Rozhdestvensky, Lt. Col. Valery, 250, 255, 

RPI. See Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. 

RPRV. See remotely piloted research vehicle. 

RS-27 (engine), 73 

RSRA: rotor systems research aircraft 

Rumania. See Romania. 

Rumsfeld, Donald H., 129, 161,281, 285, 287 

Russell, Dr. Christopher T., 132 

Russia (see also USSR), 59, 69, 76, 250, 281 

Rutland, Mass., 290 

Rutland, Vt., 167 

Saab-Scania AB, 209 

Sabreliner, 66 

Sacramento, Calif., 38 

Sacramento Peak Observatory, N.M., 27 

Sadat, Anwar, 20 

safetv 

180 

264 

342 

-ai&&spacecraft, 15, 16, 66, 77, 78, 89, 

94, 100, 120, 138,148, 153,243,257,277 

-airport. See air safety. 

--environmental, 158,168,172 

--equipment, 59, 89-90, 102, 169, 172, 205, 

-manned flight, 59,231,243 

-maritime, 205 

232-233,277 

386 
-NASA contract, 199 

--nuclear, 9, 268, 273 

Sagamore Hill Observatory, 233 

Sagan, Dr. Carl, 33,153,166,208,274 

Sagdeyev, R. Z., 246 

Sagittarius (constellation), 23 

Sahara, 122, 154,297 

sailplanes, 109 

St. Augustine, N.M., 31 

St. Louis, Mo., 36, 65, 88, 99, 117, 160, 186 

St. Joseph‘s Hospital, Houston, 128 

St. Peter (Bering ship), 144 

Saito, Shigebumi, 244 

salinity, 20, 45 

Salisbury, Winfield W., 298 

SALT: strategic arms limitation talks 

Salt Lake City, Utah, 80,218 

Salyut program (USSR), 49, 73, 80, 245, 260, 

Salyut 3, 41, 260 

Salyut4, 5, 38,92, 129, 140, 171, 222 

Salyut 5, 129, 140, 177, 190, 193, 204, 221, 

250,255,260,307,321,341,342 

Samoa, 261 

sampling, 60, 61, 154, 155, 156, 160, 183, 

SAMSO. See Space and Missile Systems 

San Antonio Logistics Center (USAF), 99 

San Diego, Calif., 60, 73,244 

San Francisco, Calif., 35, 94, 145, 187, 242, 

San Francisco International Airport, 257 

San Gabriel mountains, 43 

Sun Marc0 C-2, 19 

San Mateo, Calif., College of, 231 

Sanchez, Maria-Elena, 231 

sand, 220 

Sandia Laboratories, ERDA, 9, 160, 241 

Sanduskp, Ohio, 67 

Santiago, Chile, 7 

SAO. See Smithsonian Astrophysical ObservaSarett. Lewis H.. 254 

307 

1W200,204,208,223,300 

Organization, USAF. 

301 

torySarychev, Vasily A., 246 

Sas 3,23 

Satcom 1, 34,65 

Satcom 2, 61, 65, 315, 337, 338 

“Satellite Access Cities,” 35 

Satellite Business Systems, 78 

satellite communications, 6, 14, 21, 37, 59, 

65,82, 117, 135, 175, 179, 181,212, 213, 

214,225,226,227,239,240,262 

--control, 240,250-251 

-imagery, 24, 120, 143, la, 198,225,262, 

Satellite Instructional Television Experiment 

satellite interception. See interceptor. 

satellite power systems (see also power sources), 

satellite relay (see also communications relay; 

Satellite Telecommunications Experiments 

268-269,279 

(SITE), 111, 175, 228 

75, 118, 120,127,203,270-271 

data relay), 47,93 

F’roject (STEP), 248 

Saturn (planet), 13, 24, 43, 58, 71, 104, 168, 

189,245,271,291,294 

Saturn (program), 64, 72, 302 

Saturn (rocket), 50, 51, 64, 137, 150, 24.0, 

Saturn-Apollo, 298 

Saudi Arabia, 27, 165, 179 

SCAD strategic armed cruise-missile decoy 

scandal, 191 

scanning, 93, 146, 165, 268 

Scanoprobe, 298 

Schafer, Charles F., 297 

schedule, 68, 73,85, 162, 167, 207, 300 

Schempp-Hirth Standard Cirrus (sailplane), 

Schiaparelli, Giovanni, 100 

Schiff, Prof. Harold, 304 

Schmitt, Sen. Harrison H. (R-N.M.), 51,270 

Schneider, Dr. William C., 248,277 

Schnittker Associates, 141 

Schonfeld, Ernest, 281 

Schuler, Ed, 145 

Schurmeier, Harris M. “Bud,” 71 

Schutzenhofer, Luke A., 33 

Science Academy, USSR, 129 

science adviser, White House, 151, 184-185, 

Science Applications, Inc., 203 

science court, 9,39 

science fiction, 20, 100, 152, 154, 176, 281, 

Science Research Council, U.K., 283, 301 

Scientific and Technical Information Office, 

scientific community, 1, 7, 9, 16, 27, 30, 57, 

scientific equipment, 117, 26.2 

scientists, 30, 35, 36, 48, 133, 142, 14.8, 151, 

scintillation, atmospheric, 20, 179 

Scorpio (constellation), 115 

Scott, James E., 280 

Scott, Dr. Ronald, 156 

Scott Aviation, Inc., 102 

Scout (launch vehicle), 99,102, 126,203,295 

Scoville, Herbert, 149 

SDAS: site data acquisition system 

SDS-2 (DOD satellite data system spacecraft), 

Sea of Crises (Mare Crisium) on moon, 183, 

Sea of Felicity, on moon, 183 

Sea of Serenity, on moon, 183 sea state, 46 

sea-surface temperature, 24 

seagulls, 134 

Seamans, Dr. Robert C., Jr., 11, 134, 231 

search and rescue, 114, 171, 196, 205, 242, 

262,299 

109 

239,299 

298 

NASA Hq, 163, 194 

107, 126,230, 238 

153, 160,166, 168, 193,265,287 

325 

300 

251 

search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI), 

268.269 

Seasat’program, 57, 144,302 

seasonal variations, 17 

Seattle, Wash., 166, 187 

Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, 257 

387 
security, 22, 199, 210, 215, 229, 245, 246, 

sediment, 138,281, 289 

257,273,305 

Sedov, Leonid, 41 

seed, 150 

Seep project, 173 

seismic activity (seismology, seismometer), 

11,23,27,37,84,140, 153,155,177,178, 

208,224,237, 281,294, 295 

bneiz, USSR, 151 

Semenov, Y.P., 246 

semiconductors, 259 

senior citizens, 12, 111 

Senate Committee on. See Congress; general 

sensors, 8, 14,43,60,88,131,155,229,235, 

sensory deprivation, 190 

SEP. See Socidtd Europdenne de Propulsion. 

Serling, Robert J., 96, 98 

SESP 74-2 (DOD spacecraft), 323 

SETI. See search for extraterrestrial intelliSuss, Hans, 56 

Sevastyanov, Vitaly, 92, 129, 171 

747 aircraft. See Boeing 747. 

sewage treatment, 40, 60, 61, 267 

Shackleton Range, Antarctica, 294 

shale, 11 

Shamsin, V., 272 

SHAPE. See Supreme Headquarters, Allied 

Powers in Europe. 

Shatalov, Lt. Gen. Vladimir, 219, 221, 251 

Shavchenko, USSR, 273 

Sheldon, Dr. Charles S., 11, 112 

Shepard, Capt. Alan B., Jr., 11, 19, 25 

Shimada, Dr. Katsunori, 299 

ship, 129,130,143, 145, 154, 159, 173,204, 

shipping, 4, 31, 38, 50, 60, 73, 89, 115, 142, 

shipset (aircraft; spacecraft), 220, 248 

shock waves, 33, 267, 281 

short takeoff and landing (STOL) aircraft, 33, 

shortwave, 1%, 250,263,264,276 

Shuang-Cheng-Tze (PRC launch site), 196, 

Shuttle. See Space Shuttle for all entries. 

Siberia, 90, 215, 252, 272,280, 297 

Sicily, 190 

side-looking airborne radar system (SLAR), 4, 

171,247 

Sidewinder (missile), 165 

Sierra Club, 150 

Sierra Leone, 293 

Signal Corps, U.S. Army, 40,237 

signal-relay satellites, 10 

Signe 3 (proposed French satellite), 212 

Sikorsky Aircraft Division, 113, 304 

silica (insulation), 220 

silo (launch complex), 1 

silicon, 56, 109, 123, 157, 272 

silver, 122, 158 

Silverman, Jack, 94 

subject. 

256,267,279,2%, 297,302 

gence. 

205, 230,303 

236, 247,249 

84,164 

290 

Simonds, Dr. Charles, 300 

Simons, Vera, 3, 160 

Simpson, Dr. John, 105 

simulation, 15, 25, 43, 44, 64, 72, 91, 113, 

114, 117, 118, 127, 130, 162, 169, 194, 

199, 204, 220, 226, 227, 240, 257, 262, 

267,270,280,288,301, 302 

simultaneous measurement, 46, 67, 121, 131, 

163,261,268-269,296,301,304 

Sinai, 122 

Singapore, 73 

Singer Co. Simulations Products Div., 91, 162 

Sioux Falls, S.D., 230, 242 

Sirio (Satellite Italian0 Ricerca Industriale 

Orientata), Italian comsat, 249, 271, 294 

SITE. See Satellite Instructional Television 

Experiment. 

site data-acquisition system (SDAS), 247 

Sivertson, Gene, 171 

skating, 23 

skin, 172, 231 

Skylab project, 11, 26, 39, 49, 60, 96, 109, 

Skylab 2, 96 

Skylab 3, 66 

Skyjab 4, 129, 190 

Skylab solar workshop, 179 

Skylark (U.K. mcket), 93, 301 

SLAR. See side-looking airborne radar. 

Slayton, Donald K. “Deke,” 27, 53, 259, 282 

SLBM (surface-launched ballistic missile), 257 

Slidell Computer Complex. See Earth Resources 

slingshot effect, 43, 291 

Sloan Foundation. See Alfred P. Sloan Founslowdown, 167, 198 

small business, 116 

Small Business Administration, 193 

Smith, Cliff, 264 

Smith, Dr. Edward J., 290 

Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, 101, 

127, 166, 298,343 

Smithsonian Institution, 40,913, 103, 137, 193, 

238,278,299 

smoglsmoke, 46, 105 

Smolensk, USSR, 297 

SMS. See synchronous meteorological satelSmylie, Robert E., 285 

SNECMA: SociCtd National #Etude et de ConSNIA-Viscosa (Italy), 275 

SNIAS: Socidtd Nationale Industrielle Aero126, 137, 140, 172,256,267, 298 

Laboratory, La. 

dation. 

lite. 

struction de Moteurs #Aviation 

spatiale (France) 

snow, 51, 74, 138, 139, 249, 251,279 

soaring, 109 

social goals, 119, 149, 159, 199,262,287 

social security, 13 

social services, 13 

Socictd des Tdlkommunications InternationSociCtd Europdenne de Propulsion (SEP), 275 

Socidt6 Nationale d’ktude et de Construction 

ales du Cameroun, 181 

de Moteurs d’Aviation (SNECMA), 188 

388 
soCi&t& Nationale Industrielle Aerospatiale 

Society of Automotive Engineers, 81 

Soffen, Dr. Gerald S., 100, 156, 157, 215, 

soft landing, 148,221 

software, 28, 112, 162, 194,232 

soil, 142, 155, 157,209,224,254, 281 

--erosion. 76 

(SNIAS), 286 

226 

sampling and analysis, 49, 146, 154, 155, 

156,160,175,177,178,183,199-200,208, 

215, 217, 223, 224, 226, 236, 253, 260, 

274 

sampling and analysis, 49, 146, 154, 155, 

156,160,175,177,178,183,199-200,208, 

215, 217, 223 

274 

Sokolov, M.V., 246 

sol (Mars day), 120 

solar activity, 5, 8, 12, 50, 88, 92, 180, 229, 

278,295, 296 

solar array. See solar conversion devices. 

solar atmosphere, 178 

solar cells. See solar conversion devices. 

solar conjunction, 261 

solar conversion devices 

-array, 8, 10, 26, 75,94, %, 111, 136, 144, 

-cell, 45, 111, 116, 117, 136, 144, 145, 146, 

--collector, 124, 141, 227, 235, 247, 302 

-concentrator, 227, 299 

Tenerator, 172, 240 

-panel, 19, 70,96, 118, 165, 186,203, 227, 

-receiver, 94, 240 

solar corona, 8, 80, 179, 297 

solar emission. See solar radiation. 

solar energy (see also solar conversion devices; 

solar heating and cooling; solar radiation; 

solar wind), 7, 8, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 26, 

52, 58, 62, 70, 75, 80, 94, 96, 99, 107, 

111, 116, 124, 127, 136, 137, 141, 144, 

243, 248,254, 265, 270,288,301 

2% 

165, 186,219, 271, 291 

297 

156,172-173,176,197,225,227,235,240, 

Solar Energy Products Co., 116 

Solar Energy Research, Development, and 

Solar Energy Systems, Inc., 116 

solar flares. See solar activity. 

solar heating and cooling, 11, 14, 29. 30, 72, 

116, 141, 142, 227, 239, 247, 254, 301 

solar magnetic field, 290, 301 

Solar Maximum Mission, 296 

solar nebula, 56 

solar observatories, 163. 290-291 

solar orbit, 8, 31 

solar panel. See solar conversion devices. 

solar physics, 12, 26, 88, 92, 127, 198, 254, 

solar polar mission (ESA), 239 

solar power. See solar energy; see also solar 

conversion devices; solar heating and cooling; solar radiation; solar wind. 

Demonstration Act of 1974, 52 

278, 343 

solar-Dower satellite. 265. 270 

solar iadiation, 5,33,88: 124, 127, 160, 163, 

168, 175, 193, 196, 200, 235, 236, 250, 

274. 291 

solar research, 8, 12, 26, 27, 52, 80, 88, 92,- 

Solar Sailor (future project), 160, 168, 235 

solar simulator, 124 

solar system, 24, 25, 35, 43, 55, 56, 58, 65, 

solar wind, 8, 11, 14, 58, 74, 235, 236, 291 

Solargenics, Inc., 116 

Solaron Corp., 116 

Soletta (proposed space reflector system), 245 

solid-fuel (rocket) booster (SRB), 33, 65, 82, 

89, 97. 168, 188, 198, 210, 232, 262, 275, 

solid-fuel (rocket) motor (SRM), 82, 89, 188, 

solid-propellant rocket. See solid-fuel rocket. 

solid-rocket booster. See solid-fuel rocket. 

solid waste disposal. See sewage treatment. 

Solrad 11-A, 11-B, 50, 313 

sonar, 106 

Sones, William K., 6 

sonics, 27, 144. 267, 300 

sounding rocket (see also Appendix D; individual rockets), 49,128, 143,166,250,272 

127, 178, 179-180, 187,239,294 

69, 70, 71, 76, 104, 139,218, 254 

289,300 

198-199,267,283,295,300 

South Africa, 149, 294 

South America, 18, 76, 106, 176, 279 

South Carolina, 151 

South Dakota School of Mines, 132 

South Pole, 27 

Southern California, Univ. of, 37 

Southwest United States, 18 

sovereignty, 293 

Soviet Academy of Sciences, 76, 160, 183, 

Soviet Intercosmos Council, 212, 244 

Soviet space activity (see also USSR), 5, 14, 

38, 39, 41, 59, 73,95, 112, 119, 120, 127, 

196,204,214,220-222,230,250-251,255, 

256, 260,272, 280-281, 303,305, 307 

Soviet Union. See Union of Soviet Socialist 

Republics (USSR). 

Soyuz pmgram, 80, 245, 303, 306, 307, 341, 

342 

Soyw I, 251 

Soyw3, 251, 260 

212,221,246, 278 

129,140,146,171,177,182-184,190,193, 

soyw2,260 

soyw5, 140 

Soyur 7, 260 

sqw 13, loa 

Soyur 8, 251,260 

Soyur 11, 251,303 

Soyur 15, 251,260 

Soyw IS, 90, 171, 222 

Soyw 19 (ASTP), 282 

Soyw 20,38 

Soyw21, 140. 190, 193, 204, 221, 250, 255, 

Soyuz22,220,221, 328,341,342 

Soyw 23, 250,255, 260,329,341,342 

Space Activities Committee of Japan, 244 

322, 341, 342 

Space Age, 171 

Space and Missile Systems Organization ~ 1- - (SAMSO), USAF, 90. 106, 193,267 

solar receiver. See solar conversion devices. “Space as a Habitat,” 160 

389 
space biology and medicine, 14, 15, 17, 38, 

49,66, 100, 126, 148, 153, 155-156, 159, 

177, 178, 199-200,212,215,218,231 

-animal experiments, 140 

-human research, 5, 20, 23, 171, 172, 190, 

space colonies. See colonization. 

space exploration, 7, 12, 14, 17, 22, 23, 24, 

25, 26, 27, 31, 32, 33, 35, 39, 43, 44, 45, 

46, 48,49, 50, 52, 54-57, 58, 59.65, 80, 

127, 139, 150, 152, 238, 241, 282 

231, 255, 256 

Space Exploration Day, 147 

space facilities, 112 

Space Hall of Fame, 238,241,259 

space industrialization, 75, 80, 106-107, 203, 

“Space Industrialization as a Concept,” 107 

space law, 243-244 

space manufacturing, 80, 107, 184, 193, 203, 

space medicine, 14, 159, 203 

“Space Medicine and Biotechnology,” 160 

space physics, 14, 272 

space platform. See space station. 

space power source, 83, 107, 127, 237, 270, 

space processing applications rockets (SPAR), 

space processing of materials. See materials 

Space Sailer, 160 

space science, 68, 77, 95, 142, 195, 265 

Space Sciences Board, 225 

Space Science Steering Committee, 148 

Space Shuttle 

-administration, 12, 33, 53, 61, 64, 75, 80, 

91, 192, 211, 224, 227, 243, 245, 259, 

289 

-budget, 13, 59, 95, 192, 193, 222, 224, 

228,246 

-cargo bay, 218 

-contractors, 19, 28, 77, 78, 80, 81, 112, 

145, 150, 162, 188, 192, 232, 259, 277, 

300,303 

--crew, 14, 46, 59, 66, 89, 91, 95, 96, 118, 

123, 142, 145, 162,222, 232,255, 301 

-data, 107, 112, 232 

design, 130,220 

-development, 33, 35,72,90, 118, 130, 161, 

192, 194, 198,222, 228,232, 257,262 

-experiments, 65, 116, 126, 230 

-external tank (ET), 72, 73, 77, 81, 82, 168, 

169,170,198-199,210,222,240,258,262 

-launch, 27,64,65,66,82,89, 160,301 

-main engine (SSME), 25, 33, 64, 89, 168, 

169,172,198-199,204,210-211,232,235, 

240,245,262,295,300 

-operations, 17, 53, 89, 91, 99, 118, 142, 

235 

250,278 

278 

95, 126,225, 279,297 

processing in space. 

162,227,232,245,249,257-258,265,289, 

292. 297. 299. 300. 301 

-orbiter, 14, 27, 28,’59, 62, 66, 78, 90, 98, 

118, 123, 129, 130, 145, 166, 169, 187, 

193, 199, 204, 210, 220, 222, 229, 240, 

245, 257,295 

-payload, 96, 101, 113, 126, 142, 159, 160, 

169, 203, 218, 222, 245, 249, 257, 270, 

271, 277,279,289 

-propulsion, 33, 81, 82, 90, 150, 168, 186, 

188, 193, 232,240,295,300 

-safety, 78, 130, 169, 245 

-testing, 14, 25, 27, 33, 37, 53, 61, 62, 64, 

77, 80, 81, 90,96, 98, 99, 113, 130. 161, 

267 

168-171,192,210,232-233,235,2~,262, 

-training, 91, 118, 162, 220, 222, 224, 229, 

-upper stage, 90, 186, 193, 218,289 

257-258,301 

space station 

-assembly, 166, 204, 265, 278 

--crew, 92, 159, 190,204,255 

-mission, 22, 35, 75, 129, 140, 148, 204, 

---observations, 41, 177, 204 

-planning, 47, 193, 203, 204, 265, 278 

-power, 83, 265 

-research, 5, 15, 38, 73, 159,204 

space suit (see also rescue), 59, 63, 145, 255, 

Space Task Force Group, NASA, 241, 277 

space technology, 21, 64, 69, 76, 83, 197, 

Space Telescope (future project), 53, 80, 239 

space tourism, 59, 107,203,244 

Space Transportation System (STS, Shuttle), 

space vehicle debris, 214, 252-253, 281 

spacecraft 

--communications, 127, 146, 291 

design, 18, 54, 65,83, 186,220, 275, 303 

-handling, 23, 127, 152, 220, 221 

-operations, 121, 221, 245 

Spaceflight Tracking and Data Network 

(STDN), 227 

Spacelab (ESA program), 14, 48, 53, 65, 66, 

78,91, 113, 123, 133, 134, 136, 148, 159, 

192, 194, 197, 203, 227, 241, 244, 248, 

249, 269, 270, 279,292 

250-251,260 

303 

205, 235, 265 

75, 80, 91, 201, 222, 243, 245 

Spacelab 1, 148, 197-198, 270 

Spacelab 2, 194, 197 

Spacelab payload integration and coordination 

spaceport, 132,301 

spacewalk. See extravehicular activity (EVA). 

Spain, 4 

SPAR. See space processing applications 

rockets. 

SPEAR (Stanford positron-electron accelerator), 243 

Special Committee on Solar-Terrestrial Physics, 68 

spectrum (spectrography, spectrometry, spectroscopy), 17, 63, 88, 108, 115, 131, 142, 

146, 155,217, 221,227,247,268, 278 

speed, 23, 44, 51, 52, 71, 74, 87, 96, 108, 

144, 164, 165, 220, 231, 267, 275, 277, 

287,292,302 

in Europe (SPICE), 44 

Speny, Albert F., award, 241 

Speny Rand, 161, 190 

Spica (star), 115 

390 
SPICE. See Spacelab payload integration and 

spin-scan camera, 10 

spinning solid upper stage (SSUS), 218 

spinoff, 20,41, 111 

Spirit of St. Louis, 137, 256 . splashdown, 251 

spare, 24 

sports, 23,36 

spray cans, 216 

Sputnik (Soviet satellite), 76, 92 

spy satellite, 7 

SR-71 (reconnaissance aircraft), 164 

SRB. See solid-faeled rocket booster. 

Sri Lanka, 96 

SRM. See solid-fueled rocket motor. 

S.S. Arco Prudhoe Bay, 37 

SSME. See Space Shuttle main engine. 

SSN-8 (Soviet missile), 283, 288 

SS-NX-18 (Soviet ICBM), 283 

SST (supersonic transport). See Concorde. 

SSU-I, SSU-2, SSU-3 (spacecraft support 

unit, DOD satellite), 316 

STA: Shuttle training aircraft 

stability; stabilization, 10, 20, 24, 62, 108, 

135, 186, 200, 205, 208, 210, 218, 221, 

249. 289.290 

coordination in Europe. 

Stafforh, Maj. Gen. Thomas P., 27, 51, 231, 

282,283 

standardized parts list, 1 

Standing Committee for Post and Telecommunications. See CEMA. 

Stanford Research Institute, 269-270 

Stanford Univ., 127, 203, 243, 254 

Stapleton Airport, Denver, 89, 257 

star, 32, 33, 52, 62, 69, 82, 93, 104, 108, 

“Star Trek” (TV series), 159, 211, 222 

state governments, 52, 219, 246, 276 

State, U.S. Dept. of, 59, 128, 149, 212, 281 

static testing, 114, 262 

statistics, 141, 263 

Statsionar 1 series (Soviet comsat. See Ekran; 

status review, 218 

STDN. See Spaceflight Tracking and Data Netsteady-state operation, 25 

steam, 27, 35, 94, 115, 173, 225, 240 

steel, 67, 137, 210, 246, 285 

stellar eclipse. See occultation. 

stellar object, 23 

STEP. See Satellite Telecommunications 

Experiments Project. 

Stephens, Col. R.L., 164 

Sterba, James P., 246 

stereoscopy, 131 

sterilization, 23, 24, 147, 157, 200 

Stever, Dr. H. Guyford, 27, 151. 184-185,299 

stewardess, 229 

Stoeckenius, Dr. Walter, 45 

Stoewer, Heinz, 91 

STOL. See short takeoff and landing. 

Stone Age, 252 

Stone, Dr. Edward, 278 

115, 132, 150,297 

Raduga), 214,307 

work. 

storage, 23, 50, 72, 162, 165, 262, 268, 273, 

276,291,298,302 

straddle carrier transporter, 258 

strategic armed cruise missile decoy system, 

strategic arms limitation talks (SALT). 47, 230 

strategic weapons, 47, 81, 108, 158,229-230, 

257, 281, 286, 287, 289 

stratosphere. See atmosphere. 

stress, 47, 167, 170, 172, 210, 222, 290 

Striedieck, Karl, 109 

strike, 26, 150, 198, 288-289 

strip mining, 105, 151 

structure, 61, 71, 80, 81, 117, 123, 130, 137, 

142, 159,225, 262, 278,303 

STS. See Space Transportation System. 

student, 166, 172, 231, 245,276 

Sturtevant Aeroplane Co., 41) 

submarine, 47, 53, 159, 249, 283, 286, 287, 

subsatellite, 131 

subsidy, 125,212, 285 

subsonics, 84, 123, 65, 189, 220, 230, 269 

Sudan, 41, 176, 293, 306 

Sudbury, Ont., 294 

Suez, 123 

Suitland, Md., 38, 242 

Sukhanetr, Sribhumi, 238 

Sukhoi-22 (Soviet aircraft), 191 

sulfur compounds, 117, 158, 160 

sulfuric acid, 48 

sun-earth physics, 68, 105, 150 

Sunbelt, 111 

Sunfire project, 172 

sunlight, 45, 111, 116, 122, 189, 216, 227, 

Sunworks, Inc., 116 

Superdome, 132 

supernova, 56, 93 

superoxides, 175 

supersonics, 3, 8, 51, 58, 84, 87, 102, 123, 

125, 130, 144, 149, 151, 168, 185, 189, 

195, 217,269,286,300 

support facilities, systems, 6,8, 145, 162, 165, 

179, 199, 249, 265, 267, 269, 272, 273, 

275,278, 280, 289, 303 

Supreme Headquarters, Allied Powers in 

Europe (SHAPE), 48 

surface-effect ship, 292 

surfaces, planetary; lunar, 49, 71, 119, 121, 

146, 148, 154, 155, 157, 160, 168, 175, 

183,189,1%,19%200,203,216,218,221, 

223, 261,274,281, 294, 307 

158 

288,301 

subsystem testing, 1 2 3 

240,248,302,305 

surgery, 28,47,63 

surplus, 66, 219 

Surinam, 293 

surveillance (see also reconnaissance), 7, 99, 

101, 106, 131, 133, 142, 170, 204, 219, 

271, 295 

Surveyor (spacecraft), 49,65, 100 

survival, 204 

suspension, 297 

Sweden, 4, 49, 130, 163, 209, 254, 263, 343 

Swenson, Dr. George W., 302 

391 
Swider, Nancy, 23 

swing-wing aircraft, 123, 165,287 

Switzerland, 4, 23, 46, 130, 238, 243, 263, 

294 

Syrnphonde 1, 2 (Fr.-German comsats), 69, 

135, 186,249 

Synchronous Meteorological Satellites (Sm 1, 

sm 2), 4, 5, 10, 38, 301 

synchronous orbit, 6, 10, 21, 34, 47, 60, 61, 

65,115,165,218,226-227,229,265,272, 

290,294 

synchrotron, 242 

synthetics (see also manmade materials; new 

products), 24, 56, 134, 156, 254 

System Development Corp. 243 

systems analysis, 47, 116, 166, 265 

tactics, 47, 257 

Tanegashima, Japan, 44 

tape recorder, 147, 205, 214, 221, 230, 237, 

264,291, 293 

target, 120, 163, 229, 273, 281, 305 

--spacecraft, 34 

Tarzan, 154 

Taurus-Littrow (on moon), 51 

taxes, 12, 106, 160, 269, 285 

TCOM Corp., 136 

TDRSS. See tracking and data-relay satellite 

teacher in the sky. See Ats 6. 

Teague, Rep. Olin E. (D-Tex.), 19, 222 

Tech House, 30 

technicians, 120 

technological innovation (see also new products; new techniques), 9, 50, 70, 147, 235, 

256 

technology applications, 4, 5, 17, 71, 148, 

152, 188,251,265,267 

technology exchange, 48, 93, 106, 175, 245, 

291. 293 

system. 

Technology Utilization Office, NASA Hq, 63, 

66,93, 130, 163 

tectonics, 84, 208, 218 

Teem, Dr. John M., 13 

Tehran, Iran, 44, 96. 98 

tektites, 171 

Tel Aviv Univ., 305 

telecommunications, 6, 209, 213, 244, 263, 

287,288, 293 

Teledyne Brown Engineering, 77 

Teledyne McCormick Selph, 99 

Teleglobe Canada, 200 

telegraph, 206, 215, 225 

telephone, 21, 31, 69, 92, 94, 120, 136, 137, 

141, 152, 157, 186, 206, 215, 225, 276, 

288,292,302 

Telesat (Canadian comsat), 141 

telescope, 7, 31, 35, 48, 53, 62, 77, 82, 83, 

93, 123, 148,213,230,272, 283, 288, 302 

teletvoe. 279 

tele&on, 10, 18, 36, 70, 92, 106, 111, 115, 

136, 141, 144, 147, 151, 154, 159, 200, 

215, 222, 225, 227, 250, 257, 264, 270, 

272,281,287, 293 

telex, 31,62, 79, 115 

temperature 

-air, 8, 38, 70, 305 

-atmospheric, 27, 170, 301 

-building, 11, 29, 30, 71, 115, 116, 227, 

--earth, 19.34-35, 74, 165,279, 289 

-moon, 36, 54, 74 

-planetary, 39,43,48,70,76,104,108,120, 

239, 247-248, 301-302 

122,139,146,189,1W-200,205,208,209, 

226, 288,295 

--simulation, 8, 72, 124, 127, 274, 288 

-solar, 26, 56 

--space, 165, 245, 291 

-utilization, 19, 21, 23-24, 32, 35, 36, 49, 

50, 60, 83, 94, 130-131, 142, 145, 166- 

167,220,236,240,278,279,290,299 

-water, 4, 6, 24, 67-68, 118-119, 192, 247 

Tengiz, Lake, 251 

Tennessee, 137, 151 

Tennessee State Univ., 99 

Tereshkova, Valentina, 4.6 

Terman, Frederick E., 254 

terracing, on Mars, 225 

terrain, 122, 140, 146, 148, 165, 171, 207- 

209,218, 230, 264,277,281 

terrestrial applications. 112, 244 

Tesla, Nikola, 143 

test facility, 8, 25, 27, 64, 72,-77, 78, 124, 

169, 170, 188, 227, 240, 249, 255, 258, 

262,271, 27%279,295, 301-302 

test pilot. See pilot. 

testing, 24, 25, 64, 78, 80, 95, 99, 113, 116, 

159, 167, 171, 194, 204, 222, 231, 249, 

255,259-260,261,276,277,280,283,288, 

303, 306,343 

tethered satellite, 166 

Texas, 111, 115, 224, 225, 240, 262, 264, 

279 

Texas Governor’s Committee on Aging, 11 1 

textiles, 23, 93 

Thailand, 176, 238, 293 

theoretical physics, 26, 51, 52, 56, 291 

thermal coating. See thermal protection. 

thermal mapping. See heat mapping. 

thermal protection, 26, 59, 236, 245 

thermal scanning, 115 

thermodynamics, 56, 104 

thermonuclear reaction, 26, 273, 278 

thermosphere (earth). See atmosphere. 

Thiokol Corp., 82, 188, 199, 232, 245,283 

Third Century America (exposition), KSC. 70, 

107, 147, 210 

Thomas, Colin, 263 

Thomas, Dr. Roger, 178 

Thompson trophy, 275 

Thor-Agena (launch vehicle), 195 

Thor-Burner 2, 214 

Thor-Delta, 218, 276, 299 

Thorne, Dr. Kip S., 45 

thrust-vector control, 232 

Rumba, India, 128 

thunderstorm, 10, 132 

tidal wave, 38 

Tidbinbilla, Australia, 151 

tiles (Shuttle insulation), 130, 220 

392 
tilt-rotor aircraft, 258 

timber, 34,69, 252-253 

time, 104, 126, 127, 129, 146, 152, 159, 167, 

time capsule, 150,210 

Ting, Prof. Samuel C.C., 254 

TIP. Transit Improvement Program (U.S. 

TiP4,203,327,3# 

Tim (metesat) program, 165 

Titan (moon of Saturn), 168 

Titan (missile), 99 

Titan IIIB, 219 

Titan IIIC, 50, 133, 228 

Titan IIID, 141 

Titan IIIE-Centaur, 295 

Titan-Centaur, 7, 49 

titanium, 81, 157, 222 

Titanium Metals Corp., 81 

Tito (Josip Broz), 143 

Todd, Webster B., Jr., 134 

Tokamak (fusion machine), 36, 278 

Toksoz, Dr. Nafi, 208 

Tokyo, Japan, 187,256 

Toledo, Ohio, 116 

Tomahawk (Navy solid-fuel rocket), 267, 286 

Tomcat. See F-14 aircraft. 

tools, 135 

topography, topology, 218,254,281 

tornado, 10 

Tornado MRCA (multirole combat aircraft), 

Toronto, Univ. of, 302 

torpedo, 53, 286 

tourism, 107, 182, 203, 215 

Toth, Robert, 36 

Toulmin, Dr. Priestly, 111, 157, 236 

Toulouse, France, 187 

toxic substances, 11, 40, 172 

trace elements, 41, 157, 216 

tracking and data-relay satellite system 

tracker station. See earth station. 

tracking systems, 14, 29, 31, 67, 100, 119, 

144, 145, 165, 181, 240, 273,297,305 

training, 14, 44, 51, 66, 91, 118, 140, 142, 

158, 162, 164, 190, 194, 219, 220, 222, 

224,227,231, 251,256, 270,280,301 

170,305 

Navy) 

165 

(TDRSS), 226-227 

traffic, 61, 120, 144, 166, 198 

trajectory, 43, 118 

Trans Siberian Railroad, 297 

Transworld Airlines, 16, 26, 166 

transatlantic communications, 18, 59, 87, 195, 

transatlantic flights, 102, 182, 212, 256, 269 

transcontinental flight, 71, 229,275 

transfer orbit, 18, 94, 276, 290 

transcomer, 143 

transfusion, 251 

transistor, 259, 275 

Transit 19 (Navy navsat), 294 

Transit 20, 295 

Transit Improvement Program (TIP), U.S. 

transition period (budget), 12, 75, 285 

233 

transmitter, 6, 138, 147, 152, 155, 196, 217, 

transoceanic aircraft, 14,212 

transonics, 24, 33, 168 

transponder, 18,62, 125,275 

transportation, 16, 18, 71, 72, 81, 84, 89, 

97,118, 138, 144, 149,166,276,293,294 

Transportation, U.S. Dept. of, 3, 102, 124, 

201, 212, 285, 296, 304 

traveling-wave tube (TWT), 6, 10, 62 

Treasury, U.S. Dept. OS, 299 

treaty, 128, 243, 263, 281 

Trella, Prof. Massimo, 134, 241 

Triad (U.S. Navy satellite), 296 

Tricentennial, U.S., 80, 150, 154, 210 

Trident 3, 214 

trisonic facility (MSFC), 168 

TriStar (jet transport). See L-1011. 

Tritonis Lacus (region of Mars), 121 

Trombka, Dr. Jacob L., 132 

trucking, 38, 62, 72 

Truly, Richard H., 222 

TRW Systems, Inc., 20, 81, 92, 101, 145, 

TRWIAerojet Defense Support Program, 133 

tumors, 130 

tungsten, 124 

Tsarev, A.I., 2% 

Tselinograd, USSR, 193,221, 251 

Tucson, Ariz., 7 

Tucumcari, N.M., 16 

Tunguska, Siberia, 252-253 

Tunney, Sen. John B. (D-Calif.), 222 

Tupolev-144 (TU-144, Soviet supersonic transturhines, 236, 240 

Turbo-Union, 165 

turbulence, 5, 64, 186, 231, 267, 277, 280 

Turkey, 253 

Turkish Airlines, 253 

TWA. See Transworld Airlines. 

200 Yankee (aircraft), 98 

TWT: traveling-wave tube. 

Tyuratam (Soviet launch site), 29, 34, 250,273 

U-2 (earth-survey aircraft), 76, 158, 170 

UFO. See unidentified flying objects. 

Uganda, 293 

Uhlmann, Dr. Donald R., 297 

U.K. See United Kingdom 

Ukraine, 177, 276, 297 

ultrahigh frequency (UHF), 223 

ultrasonic equipment, 47, 102 

ultraviolet, 105, 109, 115, 131, 163, 175, 216, 

223,236, 272, 274,283 

Urn (ISS-1, Japanese ionosphere-sounding 

satellite), 44, 307, 312 

U.N. See United Nations. 

U.N. Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer 

underground testing, 255 

underwater communications, 301 

underwater testing, 283 

Underwood, Maj. E.B., Jt., 44 

unemployment, 12 

225,260,262,272,281, 292 

186, 212,214 

port), 4,8,286 

Space, 128 

393 
unidentified flying objects, 16, 199 

Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). 

See also Russia; Soviet listings. 

-cooperative activities, 45, 68, 78, 80, 83, 

119,128,141,150,159-160,162,191,195, 

198, 212, 219, 224, 231, 243-246, 250, 

293- 294, 296, 299, 300, 304 

-history, 1, 29,46, 47, 59, 76, 90, 92, 128, 

143, 149, 158, 163, 207, 214, 238, 252- 

253, 265,273 

-technology, 4, 6, 8, 9, 15, 30, 32, 34, 36, 

50, 73, 79, 108-109, 117-118, 176-177, 

210,214-215,220,229,242-243,246,262, 

263,276,277,278,280-281,283,286,287, 

288-289,297,298,299,30.5-306 

space. See Soviet space activity. 

United Air Lines, 229, 261 

United Aircraft Corp. See United TechnoloUnited Arab Emirates, 27, 176, 293 

United Kingdom (U.K.), 4, 87, 93, 115, 117, 

130, 164, 165, 181, 187, 192, 209, 212, 

233, 238, 263, 269, 273, 283, 294 

United Nations (U.N.), 21, 30, 106, 107, 128, 

205,238, 244,273, 307 

United Space Boosters, Inc., 198, 300 

United States Air Force (USAF). See Air Force, 

United States Arms Control and Disarmament 

United States Army. See Army, U.S. 

United States Bicentennial. See Bicentennial, 

United States Coast Guard. See Coast Guard, 

United States Department of Defense. See 

U.S. Geological Survey. See Geological SurUnited States Marine Corps. See Marine Corps, 

United States Navy. See Navy, U.S. 

United States Postal Service, 67 

United Technologies Corp., 108, 134, 145, 

167, 198,232, 300,302 

Univac 110/46 (computer), 161 

universe, 32, 56, 82, 139 

Universities Space Research Assn (USRA), 

101, 148 

university community, 1, 52, 56, 101, 104, 

166, 179, 191, 241, 247, 274, 276, 287, 

2% 

gies. 

us. 

Agency, 149 

U.S. 

U.S. 

Defense, U.S. Dept. of. 

vey, US. 

U.S. 

Univ. of Calif. See California, Univ. of. 

unmanned space flight, 35, 131, 146, 152, 

unpowered flight, 37 

unsymmetrical dimethyl hydrazine, 99 

upper atmosphere (earth). See atmosphere. 

Upper Volta, 293 

“upside down” aircraft wing, 87 

upsilon particle, 25 

upwelling, 24 

Ural mountains, 273 

uranium, 48, 122, 123,254,268 

Uranus (planet), 24, 43, 294 

182, 1%, 219, 264,272, 298,303,305 

urethane, 59 

Urey, Dr. Harold C., 56 

urokinase, 20 

Uruguay, 293 

USAF. See Air Force, U.S. 

USDA. See Agriculture, U.S. Dept. of. 

user-operated communications, 4, 10 

USGS. See Geological Survey, U.S. 

USRA. See Universities Space Research Assn. 

USSR. See Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. 

80,82, 188,216, 232 

es, 167, 225, 240, 265, 280 

208,215-216, 217,224,237,274 

Utopia Planifia (region of Mars), 203, 205, 

Uzbekistan, 41 

VAB. See vehicle assembly building, KSC. 

Vachnadze, V.G., 246 

vacuum, 19, 51, 70, 105, 107, 127, 170, 183, 

215, 235, 247,271,281 

Valles Marineris (region of Mars), 121, 139 

Van Allen, Dr. James, 105 

vanadium, 157 

vandalism, 215 

Vandenberg AFB, 1, 23, 87, 99, 102, 141, 

165, 168, 172, 193, 195, 203, 214, 219, 

267,295 

Vanguard project, 29 

Vaughn, O.H., 249 

VC-10. See Vickers. 

Vega (star), 115 

vegetation, 5, 105, 305, 306 

vehicle assembly building (VAB) at KSC, 70, 

vehicle systems, 142, 144, 160, 207, 213,232, 

velocity. See speed. Venera 9, IO, 39, 59, 120, 127, 212 

107 

264,343 

ventilation, 71 

Venus (planet), 14, 39, 46, 48, 52, 55, 59, 

69,84, 120, 127, 168, 197, 211,212,214, 

288, 294 

Vereshchetin, Dr. V.S., 244, 246 

verification, 154, 164,262, 281,286 

Vermont, 102 

vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL), 97 

Vertikal4 (Soviet geophysical rocket), 250 

Vertol Div., Boeing Corp.. 304 

Very Large Amy (telescope), 31 

very long-baseline interferometry (VLBI), 150 

Vessot, Dr. R.F.C., 127 

veterans, 13, 161 

VFW-FokkerERNO, 113,292 

vibration, 15, 26, 113, 140, 155, 168, 170, 

204,210, 237,240,286 

Vickers VC-10 (British jet aircraft), 180, 191 

video broadcasts, 36 

videotape, 150 

Vietnam, 13, 138 

Viking (mission), 80, 83, 100, 146, 152, 154, 

160, 166, 175, 194,235,245,271,295 

Viking (project), 15, 49, 76, 77, 80, 83, 100, 

138, 153, 166, 192, 194, 200, 260-261, 

263, 264, 271, 272, 274, 295 

394 
Viking 1, 17, 43, 49, 76, 120, 137, 138, 139, 

146, 147, 148, 151-152, 154, 155, 160, 162, 

168, 175, 177, 178, 194, 196, 199, 203, 

208,215,217,224,225-226,236,246,263, 

281 

VLking2, 15, 17, 43, 49, 77, 121, 148, 153, 

155, 203, 205, 207, 215, 217, 223, 224, 

225-226,25237,246,260 

“Viking 1 Early Results,’’ 194 

Viking Undergraduate Intern Program, 166 

village programs, 11 1 

Villar Furtado, Romulo, 238 

Virgin Islands, 246 

Virginia, 3 

Virginia, Univ. of, 101 

Virgo (constellation), 115 

virus, 61, 252 

visibility, 247, 257, 274, 281 

vision, 45 

vitamins, 254 

VLA. See Very Large Array. 

Vladivostok, USSR, 143 

VLBI. See very long-baseline interferometer. 

Vogel, Orville A., 254 

voice, 36, 62, 79, 89, 93, 94, 115, 120, 223, 

volcano, 35, 55, 139, 148, 171, 218, 273,281 

Volynov, Boris, 140, 177, 190, 193, 204, 342 

von Braim, Dr. Wernher, 12, 49, 51,99, 159 von Eckardt, Wolf, 137 von Khin lecture, 18 

vortexes, ocean, 83 

Voskhod 1, 92 

Voskhod 2, 73 

Vostok (Soviet spacecraft series), 38, 46 

Vought Cop., 53 

Voyager mission, 100 

vulnerability, 163 

Wabash College, 90 

WAC Corporal (rocket), 261 

Waddington, Dr. Cecil, 278 

Waddy, Judge Joseph, 191 

Wadi el Arish, 123 

Wake Island, %. 98 

wake vortexes, 89 

Wall Street, 19 

Wallops Flight Center 

-people, 282, 295 

-programs, 47, 79, 118-119, 126, 133, 143, 

Walsh, John B., 158 

Walterhouse, Mae, 164 

Wdton, Bob, 263 

Walton, W.B, 302 

war, 154, 230, 276, 281 

Wasatch Div., Thiokol Corp., 82, 188, 232 

Washington, D.C., 17,35,137,150,242,257, 

Washington State, 38, 214 

Washington, State Univ. of, 254 

Washington Univ. (St. Louis, Mo.), 254, 278 

Washington, Univ. of, 166 

Wasserburg, Prof. Gerald J., 300 waste disposal, 11, 36, 60, 61, 107, 142, 144, 

275 

187, 239, 242,247, 270,303 

298 

273 

water, 27, 35, 61, 70, 77, 78, 83, 120, 122, 

130, 138, 141, 153, 155, 157, 169, 171, 

178, 179, 199, 204, 209, 224, 226, 239, 

240,251, 268,276,280,281 

-hyacinths, 10, 306 

-pollulion, 40, 60, 61,67, 105, 267, 303 

--resources, 4, 20, 41). 60, 61, 67, 83, 123, 

-vapor, 122, 150, 183, 200, 203, 216, 226, 

“waterhole,” 268 

Waters, Dr. Joe W., 46 wave measurements, 119, 277 

weapons systems, 13, 14, 135, 149, 165, 172, 

257,273,276,280,283,285,288,304,305 

--testing, 299, 305 

weather. See meteorology. 

Weatherfax (weather facsimile broadcast system, NOAA), 10 

Weaver, Leon B., 227 

Webb, James, E., 62, 90 

weight, 15, 20, 26, 61, 64, 65, 66, 67, 75, 

89, 140, 169, 222, 240, 246, 248, 264, 

270, 272 

weightlessness (see also zero gravity), 5, 20, 

92, 95, 140, 150,225,249,257, 297 

Weitz, Paul J., % 

welding, 247 

West (comet), 31, 45 

West Ford (project), 41 

West Germany. See Federal Republic of GerWest-Northwest region (of Mars), 140 

West, Richard M., 31, 45 

West Virginia, 151, 302 

Westar (comsat system), 35, 125, 141 

Western Hemisphere, 106 

Western Test Range. See Vandenberg AFB. 

Western Union Telegraph Co., 18, 35, 125, 

Westford, Mass., 233 

Westinghouse Aerospace Electric Div., 81 

Westinghouse Electric Corp.. 136, 248 

Westphal, Prof. James, 69 

Weyerhaeuser Corp.. 269 

Weymann, Dr. Ray J., 82 

Whalen, Albert A., 293 

Whipple, Dr. Fred L., 298 

Whitcomb, Richard T., 87 

White, Gen. Thomas D., trophy, 231, 283 

white dwarf (star), 104 

White House, 9, 16, 39, 48, 75, 151, 184, 

171,267, 276,306 

261,277,295,296, 305 

many. 

226 

211.299 

White House science adviser, 91 

White Nile, 41 

White Sands Missile Range, N.M., 47, 95, 

227,229, 279,288,297,301 

White Sea, 283 

Whitecloud (Navy surveiilance system), 99 

Whitten, Les, 78 

Wichita, Kans., 81 

wideband communications, 263 

widebody jet. See jet aircraft. 

Wieland, Richard J., 288 

Wilcox Electric Co., 257 

wildlife, 256 

395 
Wilhelm, John, 293 

William Research Corp., 53 

Williams, Darrel, 269 

Williams, Dr. Gareth P., 189 

Williams, Dr. Robert E., 82 

Wilmington, Del., 36 

Wilmington, N.C.., 119 

Wilson, E. Bright, Jr., 254 

wind, 5, 63, 89, 120, 125, lb, 146, 209, 

wind-operated power generators, 14, 67, 102, 

wind tunnels, 5, 24,33,95, 130, 168,258 

windmills, 67, 102, 167, 181, 280 

windshield, 172 

wing, aircraft, 87, 144, 231, 248, 280 

Winkfield, England, 46 

wireless, 143 

Wisconsin, Univ. of, 254 

Woiceshyn, Peter M., 76 

Wolfe, Dr. John H., 58 women in space, 46, 59, 95, 142, 250, 255, 

Wonder of Engineering award, 241 

Woodfin, R.Adm. Kenneth L., 83 

Woomera rocket range, Australia, 93 

Worcester, Mass., 190 

Worden, Col. Alfred M., 66 

workshop, 81, 179 

World Administrative Radio Conference, 10 

world government, 176 

World Health Organization, 146 

world records, 40, 71, 96, 98, 109, 140, 164, 

World War 11, 3, 17, 28, 67, 92, 98, 143, 

World Wildlife Fund, 256 

Wouch, Jerry, 247 

Wright brothers, 40, 137, 229 

Wright Patterson AFB, 29, 129 

Wu, Chien-Hsung, 254 

Wyle Laboratories, 227 

Wyoming, 121 

Wyoming, Univ. of, 17 

X-15 (supersonic research aircraft), 137, 241 

248,277,280,300 

125, 167, 176, 181,280 

270,288 

190, 242,253, 256, 282 

211, 256 

X-24A (lifting body), 44 

X-24B, 44, 241 

x-lay test facility, MSFC, 62 

x-rays, 23, 45, 62, 88, 93, 101, 106, 131, 

132, 155, 156, 157, 163, 188, 216, 217, 

223-224, 229 

xenon, 181, 200, 226 

XV-15 (tilt-rotor research aircraft), 258 

Yak-42 (Soviet transport plane), 286 

Yakutsk, USSR, 272 

Yalta, USSR, 195 

Yankee Clipper. See space sailer. 

Yardley, John F., 17, 91, 95, 243, 290 

Yeliseyev, Aleksey, 221 

Yemen, 176, 293 

Yen, J.L., 302 

YF-12A (lightweight fighter plane), 164 

YF-16 (USAF fuselage design), 135 

YF-17, 95 

Ying Manufacturing Corp., 116 

York Univ., Ontario, 304 

Yost, Ed, 242 

Young, A> Thomas, 100, 154, 245, 271 

Young, Sheila, 23 

Yugoslavia, 143, 207, 214, 238, 245 

Yuri Gagarin (training) Center, USSR, 219, 

Yuri Gagarin medal, 282 

Zaire, 73, 293 

Zamengoe, Cameroon, 181 

Zeiss MKF-6 (multispectral camera), 220-221 

zerogravity, 95-96, 107, 140, 172, 249, 256, 

Zholobov, Vitaly, 140, 177, 190, 193, 204, 

zinc, 213 

Zinno, Joseph A., 79 

zipper, 60 

Zirker, Jack, 179 

zodiacal light, 8 

Zolotov, Aleksey, 252-253 

Zond2 (USSR spacecraft), 15 

Zook, Herbert A,, 167 

Zudov, Lt. Col. Vyacheslav, 250, 255, 342 

304 

270, 279 

255,342 

396 
ERRATA 

In Earlier Volumes of Astronautics and Aeronautics 

Astronautics and Aeronautics, 1966 

p. 331: In top line, first two words, substitute “October 26” for “October 

27 .’I) 

At beginning of next item, insert “October 27:” 

lntelsat 11-A. 

Oct. 26 for lntelsat 11-A. 

p. 410: Appendix A, launch table, top item: Change date to Oct. 26 for 

p. 421: Appendix B, NASA launch table, top item: Change launch date to 

Astronautics and Aeronautics, 1967 

p. 432: Appendix B, NASA launch table: In Feb. 4 entry, change launch 

vehicle to Atlas-Agena D, instead of B. 

Astronautics and Aeronautics, 1969 

Science and Applications.’’ 

Astronautics and Aeronautics, 1973 

p. 1 10: In second sentence from the bottom of the page, delete “for Space 

p. 289: Substitute for first sentence at top: “An early explorer, probably 

Lucas Vasques de Ayllon, gave the name Cape Canaveral some 

time before 1536. It appears on a map dated 1536 and on most 

maps thereafter.” In next to last line of item (sources), insert 

“4/17/73, S7555;” following “H8880;”. 

Astronautics and Aeronautics, 1974 

p. 146: In lines 6 and 8 from bottom, change “Castro 11” to “Castor II.” 

p. 203: In third line of last paragraph, change “Office” to “Organization.” 

p. 314: Index, under U.S. Air Force, change “Space and Missiles Systems 

(Index entry is correct.) 

Office” to “Space and Missile Systems Organization.” 

Astronautics and Aeronautics, 1975 

p. 110: Last item on page, second and seventh lines, change “Kramer” to 

p. 313: Index, change “Kramer, Robert S.” to “Kraemer, Robert S.” 

“Kraemer.” 

397 
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