Aug 19 1971
From The Space Library
Apollo 17 Astronauts Eugene A. Cernan, Harrison H. Schmitt, and Ronald E. Evans held press conference at Msc. Ph.D. geologist Schmitt defended his selection for mission and declared his readiness to "compete with anybody" in flying Apollo spacecraft. Schmitt, selected over Astronaut Joseph E. Engle, said Engle was "one of the most outstandingly qualified test pilots in the business" and speculated that Engle, transferred to space shuttle program, would "probably .. . contribute for the next 10 or 15 years a . . . lot more than maybe even we can contribute by a lunar mission." Sending a "professional observer" like himself to moon, Schmitt explained, would significantly increase knowledge gained, particularly concerning early history of earth and sun. (Transcript; Reuters, W Post, 8/20/71, A2)
NASA launched series of three sounding rockets from Wallops Station to measure diurnal oxygen, density, pressure, and temperature and to obtain comparisons of pitot and active-sphere density measurements. Rockets were launched during daylight hours and data would be compared with data from similar series to be launched during darkness Aug. 20. Viper Dart carried WSMR experiment to 135-km (83.9-mi) altitude to provide density, temperature, pressure, and wind data from 40 to 130 km (25 to 80 mi). Rocket and instruments functioned satisfactorily, with Robinette sphere ejecting and inflating as programmed. Nike-Cajun carried Univ. of Michigan and NOAA experiment to 126-km (78.3-mi) altitude to measure diurnal variation of atomic oxygen in 80- to 120-km (50- to 75-mi) region. Rocket and instruments functioned satisfactorily. Nike-Apache carried Univ. of Michigan and GSFC experiment to 171-km (106.3-mi) altitude to obtain diurnal measurements of density, pressure, and temperature and obtain com- parisons of pitot and active-sphere density measurements. Rocket and instruments functioned satisfactorily. (NASA Rpts SRL)
French Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales (cNEs) announced U.S.S.R. would cooperate in launching two space probes from France's Kourou Space Center. French Veronique rocket would launch Soviet radio-frequency spectrometer in mid-December in first use of Kourou facilities by U.S.S.R. France would also track Soviet MR-12 rocket carrying French mass spectrometer after launch in December from Soviet ship near Kourou. CNES also announced French Centaure rocket would launch Indian equipment Oct. 8 to test recovery system for space probe instruments. (Reuters, NYT, 8/22/71, 35)
Successful completion of over 2000 hrs of testing-equivalent to 80-day space mission-of prototype water vapor electrolysis system was announced by NASA. Developed at ARC, system converted moisture in air directly into hydrogen and oxygen and released reclaimed oxygen back into air. It could be used instead of heavy, bulky tanks of breathing oxygen on future long-duration space missions. It would also reduce load on humidity control equipment by removing excess water vapor from cabin atmosphere. (NASA Release 71-150)
NASA and Stanford Univ. Biomedical Technology Transfer Team (BATEAM), fourth BATEAM to be established and first formed at leading medical school, would apply NASA-generated aerospace technology to problems in cardiology, NASA announced. Team of five medical consultants and five aerospace engineering consultants under Stanford Univ. cardiologist Dr. Donald C. Harrison would concentrate on cardiovascular medicine. NASA had eight special teams-four working on environmental problems and four on biomedical activities. (NASA Release 71- 154)
Data obtained during Soviet Zond missions from September 1968 to October 1970 were described by Soviet scientists, including Oleg Gazenko of Academy of Sciences, in Moskovskaya Pravda article, Tass reported. Zond spacecraft had carried turtles, drosophilas, onions, wheat and barley seeds, chlorella strains, intestinal bacilli, and other objects. Total dosage of radiation had been same for all flights. After return to earth turtles were active and had good appetite. During experiments they lost 10% of weight. "Some blood tests . . . and electrocardiographs did not reveal essential divergencies from control animals," Morphological and histochemical analyses of organs and tissues of turtles aboard Zond 5 (launched Sept. 15, 1968) had revealed changes in glycogen and iron content of liver and structural changes in spleen. Subsequent experiments had not confirmed findings. Flight conditions had given rise to "comparatively large increase in the number of chromosome changes in the seeds of pine and barley, and a rise in the mutants of chlorella strains." (FBIS-Sov-71-161, 8/19/71, Ll )
NASA announced issuance of RFPs for eight-month study of applications of dual-mode nuclear rocket engine to propel spacecraft and generate electrical power for use on board. (NASA Release 71-157)
Long-term commitment and definition of policy for storage and curatorial handling of lunar materials had been urged by Cal Tech scientist Dr. Gerald J. Wasserburg, AP reported. A principal investigator of lunar material, Dr. Wasserburg had said lack of planning and handling could deny future generations use of moon rocks now being studied. (P Bull, 8/19/71)
Washington Evening Star editorial commented on selection of scientist-astronaut Dr. Harrison H. Schmitt for Apollo 17 crew: "The argument for the scientist-astronaut has come. So far as we are concerned, it always made sense. Therefore, any congratulations to [NASA] for finally putting one of the flying geologists to work might be accompanied by a raise of eyebrows over the obvious tokenism of the assignment and a reproachful question as to why they waited so long to put a scientist into the richest geological treasure house that man has yet discovered." (W Star, 8/19/71)
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