Apr 18 1973
From The Space Library
NASA released a preliminary timeline of the Skylab missions scheduled to begin with the Skylab 1 launch of the orbiting laboratory at 1:30 pm EDT May 14 from Kennedy Space Center. The Skylab 2 mission, carrying the first three crewmen, would leave the pad at 1:00 pm EDT May 15 and dock with the orbiting laboratory at 8:40 pm EDT. At 8:30 am May 16 the tunnel would be pressurized and the astronauts would enter Skylab. On the 28th day, at 8:46 am June 12, the crew would reenter the command module, undock, and return for splashdown at 1:44 pm, 1300 km (800 mi) southwest of San Diego.
Skylab was to operate for eight months in earth orbit, occupied at intervals by three-men crews who would make scientific and technical investigations and observations related to such areas as earth resources, physiological effects of long-duration weightlessness, solar phenomena, and metal processing in zero-g conditions. (NASA Release 73-78)
A series of calibration rocket (CALROC) launches at White Sands Missile Range during the manned Skylab 2 mission scheduled for May would provide a reference for the calibration of equipment used in two experiments on Skylab's Apollo Telescope Mount (ATM), Marshall Space Flight Center announced. CALROC launches were also scheduled during the Skylab 3 and Skylab 4 missions. The rockets would acquire solar flux data on specific regions of the sun in conjunction with. Skylab astronaut observations of the same regions with ATM experiments. Instrumentation on CALROC would be similar to but smaller than that aboard the ATM. Black Brant VCs would be used for all the launches. Taking part in the program, managed by MSFC, were Goddard Space Flight Center, Ames Research Center, the Naval Research Laboratory, Harvard College Observatory, and White Sands Naval Ordnance Missile Test Facility. (MSFC Release 73-42)
President Nixon issued Executive Order 11712 establishing a Special Committee on Energy and a National Energy Office in the Executive Office of the President. In a message to Congress on U.S. energy policy, he said: "If we are to be certain that the forward thrust of our economy will not be hampered by insufficient energy supplies or by energy supplies that are prohibitively expensive, then we must not continue to be dependent on conventional forms of energy. We must instead make every useful effort through research and development to provide both alternative sources of energy and new technologies for producing and utilizing this energy. For the short-term future, our ... strategy will provide technologies to extract and utilize our existing fossil fuels in a manner most compatible with a healthy environment.... from 1985 to the beginning of the next century, we will have more sophisticated development of our fossil fuel resources and ... full development of the Liquid Metal Fast Breeder Reactor. Our efforts for the distant future center on the development of technologies-such as nuclear fusion and solar power-that can provide us with a virtually limitless supply of clean energy.” (PD, 4/23/73, 389-406; 412-3)
Astronaut Fred W. Haise, Jr.-Apollo 13 lunar module pilot, Apollo 8 and 11 backup pilot, and Apollo 16 backup commander-had been named Technical Assistant to the Manager, Orbiter Projects Office, at Johnson Space Center, JSC announced. Haise, who had logged 142 hrs 54 min in space, would be responsible for assisting Manager Aaron Cohen in the overall management of the space shuttle orbiter development. (JSC Release 73-41)
The appointment of William J. Hamon, Director of Program Budget and Control in the Office of Manned Space Flight's Sortie Lab Task Force, as NASA Resident Liaison Officer at the European Space Research Organization's Research and Technology Center (ESTEC) in Noordwijk, The Netherlands, was announced by NASA. He would be responsible for liaison between NASA Hq. and Marshall Space Flight Center and the ESTEC sortie lab project. (NASA Release 73-70)
The Air Force Space and Missiles Organization (SAMSO) Air Force Satellite Facility (AFSF) received a Presidential Management Improvement Certificate for excellence in improving Government operations, from Secretary of Defense Elliot L. Richardson in Washington, D.C., ceremonies. The certificate was presented to Col. John J. Schmitt, Jr. (USAF), AFSF Commander. (AFSc Newsreview, 6/73, 4)
Aviation pioneer Roy W. Hooe died in Martinsburg, W. Va., at the age of 78. He had been a member of the five-man crew of the Question Mark, a trimotor aircraft which set a 151-hr endurance record during pioneer tests of mid-air refueling in 1929. Hooe had retired as an Air Force master sergeant in 1950 after 30 yrs in the Air Force and its predecessor flying services. (W Star & News, 4/21/73, A12)
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