Jan 31 1974
From The Space Library
A background science press briefing on Mariner 10's approaching 5 Feb. encounter with the planet Venus was held at NASA Hq. Launched by NASA 3 Nov. 1973 toward Venus and Mercury, Mariner 10 would be the first two-planet mission, the first spacecraft to use gravity-assist from one planet to reach another, and the first to take closeup photos of Venus.
Dr. S. Ichtiaque Rasool, NASA Deputy Director for Planetary Pro-grams, said Venus was the planet most similar to the earth in size, density, and distance from the sun. If its atmosphere were like the earth's, Venus should also have similar temperature, but the temperature had been found to be very high, 755 K (900°F) . And the atmosphere was 100 times denser than the earth's, in one theory acting as a blanket, absorbing the radiation that tried to leave the surface and giving a "greenhouse effect." Further, the Venus atmosphere had been deter-mined by measurements from the earth and by U.S.S.R. spacecraft to be mostly carbon dioxide.
Chief questions were: Why such a high temperature? Why such a heavy atmosphere? Why did the earth get all the liquid water and on Venus everything stayed in the atmosphere? The earth had life because it had oceans. Why did it happen on earth and why did it not happen on Venus? And what could happen to the earth if pollution or other causes should increase its temperature? "How much increase in temperature do you need to have the whole thing go this way, and you become like Venus, not next week, but [in] millions of years. Is a process like that feasible at all on the earth?" (Transcript)
Chairman Don Fuqua (D-Fla.) and members of the Subcommittee on Manned Space Flight of the House Committee on Science and Astronautics received an annual program review at Kennedy Space Center, preliminary to FY 1975 congressional space budget hearings. The Sub-committee was briefed on preparations for the space shuttle, manpower, and plans for the Apollo Soyuz Test Project. Center personnel would be further reduced in the next five months, with the closeout of the Skylab program. Runway construction was to begin in the spring for the shuttle. (KSc Release 18-74)
Kennedy Space Center had extended its contract with Chrysler Corp. Space Division for the period 1 Jan. 1974 through 31 July 1975, KSC announced. The $7 092 547 extension, which brought total value of the contract to $36 467 389, provided for prelaunch, launch, and postlaunch support of the Saturn IB 1st stage for a Skylab rescue vehicle, if required, and for the launch of an Apollo spacecraft in the 1975 U.S.-U.S.S.R. Apollo Soyuz Test Project. (KSC Release 17-74)
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