Nov 3 1976
From The Space Library
A Stanford Research Institute study requested by Ames Research Center of ways to detect possible intelligence signals from outer space reported that the most effective and economical technique would be use of a hemispheric antenna more than 3 km in diameter, orbiting the earth opposite the moon but shielded from earth's radio emissions. The orbiting antenna would occupy one of the points in the moon's orbit where the gravity field of earth and moon would balance one another. Two other strategies assessed in the study were an "orchard" of parabolic antennas (similar to that suggested in 1971 for Project Cyclops, a joint ARC-Stanford proposal to use massed 100m antennas for signal seeking and for radio astronomy), and a group of antennas in craters on the far side of the moon shielded from earth interference to sweep the entire range of the heavens during each month. Choice of the best strategy would depend on estimates of how far the system would need to look to find another technological civilization; Walter Sullivan noted in the NY Times "a strong suspicion that the nearest possible civilization may be 500 light years or more away." (NYT 3 Nov 76, 70)
Dr. Mary Helen Johnston, metallurgist at MSFC, was principal guest speaker at the Federal Women's Day program at Wallops Flight Center. Dr. Johnston, who said she wanted to be one of the first American women chosen for space flight, participated in 1974 as part of an all-women crew of experimenters in a 5-day tryout of the general-purpose laboratory at MSFC, a cylindrical mockup of the Spacelab being built in Europe for Space Shuttle flights. Using the neutral-buoyancy simulator, a working area for handling experiment packages in a zero-gravity environment, the crew developed techniques for use on Spacelab. As principal investigator for three scientific experiments and co-investigator on another, Dr. Johnston had planned the work in hopes of going on orbital missions in the 1980s. Also on the program was Audrey Rowe Colom, director of women's activities for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and current president of the Natl. Women's Political Caucus. Besides the speakers, the program included skits by WFC employees and a costumed narration of "Two Centuries of American Women on Parade." (WFC Release 76-15)
Dr. Harrison H. (Jack) Schmitt, astronaut on Apollo 17, was the victorious Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate from New Mexico, defeating Democrat Joseph M. Montoya, who was seeking a third term. Now a consulting geologist, the 41-yr-old Schmitt had a 3-to-2 lead in the returns. CBS commentator Walter Cronkite noted in a news broadcast at 10:25 p.m. EST on 2 Nov. that astronauts constituted only 2 ten millionths of the U.S. population, yet there would now be two U.S. senators who were astronauts-Schmitt and John Glenn (D-Ohio)-which was "representation out of all proportion." (W Post, 3 Nov 76, A-17; broadcast, 2 Nov 76)
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