Mar 15 1975
From The Space Library
Helios 1, the U.S.-West German solar probe launched 10 Dec. 1974, passed within 0.309 AU (46 million km) of the sun at 5:13 am EDT, closer than any previous spacecraft had come to the sun. During the perihelion, while traveling at 238 000 km per hr, Helios 1 measured the solar wind, magnetic fields, solar and galactic cosmic rays, electromagnetic waves, micrometeoroids, and zodiacal light. Although the spacecraft encountered a heat load from the sun 10.5 times that encountered on earth, good data were obtained and the spacecraft continued to operate well. Helios 1 was in a solar elliptical orbit with a 0.985-AU aphelion, 0.3095-AU perihelion, 190.15-day period, and 0.02° inclination. It would reach a second perihelion 21 Sept.
Helios 1, built by West Germany in cooperation with the U.S., carried 10 experiments, 7 of them West German. Spacecraft operations were controlled from the space operations center near Munich. Goddard Space Flight Center was responsible for U.S. participation. A second spacecraft, Helios-B, was scheduled for launch in early 1976. (NASA MORs 16 Jan 76, 11 April 76,; Powers, GSFC Helios thermal control mgr, interview, 21 Sept 76)
NASA announced establishment of the Office of Program Assurance under the Office of the Associate Administrator. Responsibilities and personnel of the former Reliability and Quality Assurance Div. and the Systems Safety Branch of the Office of Safety and Reliability and Quality Assurance were being transferred to the new office. George C. White, who had been director of the Office of Safety and Reliability and Quality Assurance, had been appointed director of the new office. (NASA anno)
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