Jan 14 1974
From The Space Library
Skylab 4 Astronauts Gerald P. Carr, Dr. Edward G. Gibson, and William R. Pogue (launched 16 Nov. 1973 in the final mission to crew the Orbital Workshop) set a new record for the longest manned flight time in space, completing 59 days 11 hrs 9 min at 10:10 pm EDT and surpassing the time set by Skylab 3 on its 28 July-25 Sept. 1973 mission. Skylab 4 had been given a go-ahead 10 Jan. for a seven-day extension, with weekly reviews through the end of a planned 84-day mission. (A&A73)
Three U.S.-U.S.S.R. Apollo Soyuz Test Project working groups began technical meetings at Johnson Space Center on mission plans and experiments, communications and tracking, and life support and crew transfer. Thirty-five Soviet scientists and engineers would work at JSC for periods from 16 to 90 days in preparation for the joint, manned, earth-orbital mission in July 1975 to test compatible rendezvous and docking systems and techniques. (NASA Release 74-9; NASA OMSF, interview, 9 July 74)
14-18 January: Final reports on six space tug system studies were presented to NASA at Marshall Space Flight Center by contractors Grumman Aircraft Corp., Martin Marietta Co., McDonnell Douglas Astronautics Co., General Dynamics Corp., and Lockheed Corp. The reports-covering a storable propellant version, a cryogenics propellant version, and a growth stage version-would become the basis for the completion of Phase A studies of the space tug program and recommendations for Phase B definition studies. (Marshall Star, 16 Jan 74)
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