Aug 23 1977
From The Space Library
MSFC announced that all systems aboard the HEAO 1 observatory launched Aug. 12 had been turned on and were operating as planned. Dr. Fred Speer, project manager for HEAO, said the observatory was already acquiring x-ray sources. Experimenters using HEAO 1 reported they were pleased with the early performance of their instruments. (MSFC Release 77-153)
August 23-26. The NY Times reported JSC had announced it could no longer afford to monitor instruments left on the moon by Apollo astronauts. "I sure hate to see them go, but NASA headquarters has notified us there will be no funds for operations beyond Sept. 30," said Wilbert F. Eichman, chief of JSC's payload requirements and operations branch.
Longest-lived lunar instruments were seismometers recording moonquakes and hits on the lunar surface by outer space objects; four seismometers were still operating, and scientists said some could send data for up to 4yr more. Data from other instruments, monitored in a small control room at JSC, had included measurements of the moon's field of gravity, heat inside the lunar surface, and solar wind and lunar ionosphere samples. Roy Kelly, a senior engineer for Bendix (manufacturer of the instrument packages), said the transmitters would be left on with no operational support available.
An Aug. 26 NYT editorial said NASA's decision to abandon monitoring was unfortunate because, if it continued the program "for just another year, there will be that much more data on lunar seismography and structure." Apollo had cost the nation close to $30 billion; shutting down to save a few hundred thousand dollars seemed to be "a repudiation of one of the finest chapters in American exploration," the paper said (NYT, Aug 23/77, 16; Aug 26/77, A-20)
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