Sep 22 1978
From The Space Library
NASA reported that President Jimmy Carter had named six astronauts to receive the Congressional Space Medal of Honor, first such medal ever awarded by the U.S. The six were Neil A. Armstrong; Frank Borman; Charles Conrad, Jr.; John Glenn; Virgil I. Grissom (posthumous); and Alan B. Shepard, Jr. The President would present the medals Oct. 1 during a visit to KSC on the 20th anniversary of NASA's establishment. Congress had authorized in 1969 the award "to any astronaut who in the performance of his duties has distinguished himself by exceptionally meritorious efforts and contributions to the welfare of the Nation and of mankind." Citations were as follows: -Neil A. Armstrong, for actions during Gemini 8 in Mar. 1966 to overcome problems and land his spacecraft safely, and for "steady cool professionalism, repeatedly overcoming hazards" on the Apollo 11 mission in July 1969, when he became the first person to walk on the moon.
Frank Borman, who had commanded Gemini 7 in Dec. 1965 and Apollo 8 in Dec. 1968, both of which "significantly hastened and facilitated achievement of the manned lunar landing objective." On Apollo 8 he had commanded the first manned spacecraft to escape the earth's gravity.
Charles Conrad, Jr., who from Aug. 1965 to June 1973 had participated in four spaceflights of increasing duration, complexity, and achievement. His contribution had culminated in the first manned Skylab mission in May and June 1973, when he commanded the crew that performed "lengthy, dangerous, and strenuous activities that were necessary to repair damage inflicted on the orbital workshop during launch and thereby save the two-billion-dollar program." -John Glenn, Jr., first American to orbit the earth in the third manned mission of Project Mercury in Feb. 1962, when his professional handling of extreme difficulties with the spacecraft "demonstrated the value of the human pilot in space.... He returned to a nation and a world that seized on him as a major hero. This difficult role he handled with the same polite dignity that he brought to all his assignments." -Virgil Grissom (posthumous), second American in space who from July 1961 to Jan. 1967 had participated in Mercury and Gemini spaceflights and had lost his life during preparation for the first Apollo flight. Experience gained from the first manned Gemini flight in March 1965, which he commanded, led to "procedures necessary for the support of subsequent long-duration and rendezvous missions." -Alan B. Shepard, Jr., first American in space aboard a Mercury spacecraft in May 1961, which "demonstrated that his country lacked neither the courage nor the technology to compete in the new arena of space." He also was cited for showing in Feb. 1971 "the highest qualities of leadership" as commander of Apollo 14, the third lunar landing mission. (NASA Release 78-146)
JSC announced it had selected General Electric Co., Space Division, Valley Forge, Pa., for negotiations leading to a contract for the Space Shuttle orbiter food system galley. The estimated $1.2 million cost-plus fixed-fee contract, beginning December 1978 and ending January 1981, would be for a facility including food-preparation equipment (hot and cold water dispensers, oven, water heater) and serving equipment (meat trays). (JSC Release 78-43)
Dryden Flight Research Center reported that the KC-135, testbed aircraft to be modified with winglets in early 1979, had made its first flight at DFRC as a fully instrumental research aircraft. The data package would be ferried by air to Tinker AFB where it would undergo fatigue inspection. The transport-sized aircraft would return to DFRC in mid Nov. for reinstallation of the data package. Baseline-data flights with the conventional wing would begin in 1979, followed by installation of the winglets for full-data flights. (DFRC X-Press, Sept 22/78, 2)
DFRC announced it had returned its unmanned spin research vehicle (SRV) to flight status, following several mo of downtime for aligning the aircraft's nose and adding tufts to study airflow. A B-52 had dropped the SRV at 45 000ft; it had gone into a spin down to 20 000ft and a lakebed landing. DFRC had scheduled a second flight test to be followed, if successful, by additional nose modifications. Changing nose shape would alter aircraft-spin characteristics. (DFRC X-Press, Sept 22/78,4)
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