Date. Projeed Future NASA Programs Planned for the 1970'S Are Discussed Under the Headings Skylab, Space Shuttle, and Space Station
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DOCURENT RESUME ED 050 993 SE 011 364 AUTHOR Froehlich, Walter TITLE Man in Space, Space in the Seventies. 7MSTITUTION National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Washington, D.C. REPORT NO EP-B1 PUB DATE Jan 71 NOTE 31p. AVAILABLE FROM Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C. 20402 ($1.00) . EDRS PRICE EDRS Price MF-$0.35 HC riot Available from EDRS. DESCRIPTORS Aerospace Technology, *Program rescriptions, *Resource Materials, *Space, *State Agencies IDENTIFIERS National Aeronautics and Space Administration ABSTRACT Included is a summary of the Apollo lunar program to date. Projeed future NASA programs planned for the 1970's are discussed under the headings Skylab, Space Shuttle, and Space Station. Possibilities for the 1980's are outlined in the final section. (Author/AL) JUN 2 1 U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH, EDUCATION . " & WELFARE OFFICE OF EDUCATION THIS DOCUMENT HAS SEEN REPRODUCED EXACTLY AS RECEIVED FROM THE PERSON OR ORGANIZATION ORIGINATING IT. POINTS OF VIEW OR OPINIONS STATED DO NOT NECES SARILY REPRESENT OFFICIAL OFFICE OF EOU MAN IN SPACE CATION POSITION OR POLICY Space In The Seventies Ilk National Aeronautics and Space Administration SPACE IN THE SEVENTIES Man has walked on the Moon, made scientific observations there, and brought back to Earth samples of the lunar surface. Unmanned scientific spacecraft have probed for facts about matter, radiation and magnetism in space, and have collected data relating to the Moon, Venus, Mars, the Sun and some of the stars, and reported their findings to ground stations on Earth. Spacecraft have been put into orbit around the Earth as weather observation stations, as communications relay stations for a world-wide telephone and television network, and as aids to navigation, In addition, the space program has accelerated the advance of technology for science and industry, contributing many new ideas, processes and materials. All this took place in the decade of the Sixties. What next? What may be expected of spare exploration in the Seventies? HASA nas prepared a series of publications and motion pictures to provide a look forward to SPACE IN THE SEVENTIES. The topics covered in this series include: Earth orbital science; planetary exploration; practical applications of satellites; technology utilization; man in space; and aeronautics. SPACE IN THE SEVENTIES presents the planned programs of NASA for the coming decade. January, 1971 COVER: The components of Skylabworkshop, airlock, multiple docking adapter and the Apollo Telescope Mount (ATM) are being checked out by the crew of a docked Apollo Command/Service module. 7 y. 411'11 ts4 %iv,IMO14:\ ,%114,M004110,440,,11 , ,-1 '\\, $0$:`OW11 Q-----r,I ,. 4_ :*" ".SI..A .c1011dNUN'1151%111111%,vmsa,-tus lAym111, " TABLE OF CONTENTS v INTRODUCTION 1 THE 1960's IN RETROSPECT: Man's Great Plunge Into Space 5 APOLLO: Man on the Moon in the 1970's 9 SKYLAB: A House in Orbit 11 THE SHUTTLE: Space liner of Tomorrow 13 SPACE. STATION/SPACE BASE: A City in Orbit 17 A LONG LOOK AHEAD: From the 1970's Into the 1980's NOTE: Illustrations of Skylab, Lunar Rover,, Space Station, Space Shuttle, Lunar Surface Base, Space Tug, Lunar Colony, and Planetary Base (Mars) are artist's interpretations of planned and proposed programs. /0 r. INTRODUCTION The endless frontier now lies open. Outer space These new concepts and approaches are gen- is accessible to Man in the 1970's. He gained erating new expectations and new opportunities. entrance to it in the 1960's. These first travels Hopefully, these visions will turn into new beyond the immediate vicinity of the Earth triumphs,Hopefully too, from these will blossom fulfilled an old dream. They culminated a pri- new knowledge, inspiration, technological mordial human aspiration, and started advances and economic and social benefits a movement that will never stop. even greater that those which emanated from the Daring and ingenious as were these first space U.S. Moon exploration program in the 1960's. voyages, they were only a beginning. These aims are not vain ambitions. In time, they will seem puny and primitive; Research and development for the U.S. space ventures into the solar system will become increas- program of the 1970's is already far advanced. ingly sophisticated in the 1970's. Colossal as was the Many of the teams of scientists, engineers, impact of the recent missions on Man's astronauts and administrators who blue-printed the image of himself and of his Earth, even more projects to send astronauts to the Moon profound implications are inherent in the in the 1960's are planning the U.S. space thrust space ventures now in the making. for the 1970's. "Man on the Moon" became the theme of President Nixon has announced these projects the 1960's. Building the capability for landing as part of his comprehensive space program astronauts there and bringing them back for the next 10 years. wal., the prime objective of America's manned space The Congress has approved and funded the exploration program in that decade. initial steps for that program. No such single overriding focus exists for the This publication is a guided tour through the 197J's.In this new decade, U.S. space planners outlines for Man in Space in the 1970's. have set multiple objectives.Perhaps the most promising among the new goals is development of facilities that would permit non-astronauts to fly into space and perform research work there. ,,,40%. 4116614, of ay `f:' it.4.. ,.--'44r -1-9411161101.4_ ) . .. 26 4 too. 771:: -. 4.....34A-",Pr"=",- .72114C*.t. ". 444. - -ft(511111c4. 411 -, , 'Owe VT: 1l - . , . 2., 6641411M6MINEMLL =Tv' -S "'"Milow, . Armstrong on July 20, 1969. Apollo 11 astronaut Edwin E. Aldrin,Jr. is photographed on the Moon by Neil "We choose to go to the Moon in this decade and to do other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and shills." President John F. Kennedy as he proposed the U.S. Man-to-the-Moon program in May 1961. "Through You, We Touched the Moon" Inscription on hand-lettered sign held by a youngster watching Apollo 11 astronauts in a New York motorcade, August 1969. THE 1960's IN RETROSPECT: Man's Great Plunge into Space After eons of longingly gazing up at it, point in the universe was named "Tranquility Base," men finally looked down on the Moon during the to be known by that designation for all generations 1960's. Thwarted since time began by distance to come as the first landing site of men in a and the intractability of Earth's gravity, place other than Earth. men solved the problems by 1969. They went That first manned landing on the Moon took place to the Moon, picked up pieces of it, and carried them at 4:17 p.m., (EDT), Sunday, July 20, 1969, back to Earth for scientific examination. on a lunar plain known to astronomers Investigation so far suggests that no life existed as Mare Tranquillitatis, the Sea of Tranquility. on the Moon until the astronauts arrived. A little over six hours later at 10:56 p.m., When the 1960's began, no human had ever (0256 GMT, July 21) came one of history's flown above the atmosphere. At the decade's end, monumental moments. A 38-year-old American, U.S. astronauts had orbited the Earth 959 times Apollo 11 Commander Neil A. Armstrong, lowered and the Moon 116 times.In 22 flights they his left foot from the landing pad of the spent 5,834 man-hours in space, the equal of landing craft. As the sole of his boot made one man living in space for eight months. contact with the surface below, he became the first In one flight, two men remained in Earth orbit for human to stand upon another celestial body. nearly two weeks. Four astronauts lived on the A few minutes later, he was joined in his Moon for a total of 106 man-hours and spent "Moon walk" by Astronaut Edwin E. Aldrin, Jr. more than 20 man-hours outside their Alone, as these two men were, nearly 250,000 miles landing craft. from Earth, they were simultaneously the most The 1960's were years of almost incredible widely observed human beings in history. achievement. Inspired by the manned Moon More than 500 million persons in almost every landings, newspapers ran headlines: "The Future country watched the astronauts on television 1 Has Commenced" and "Farewell, Science Fiction." or listened by radio to their conversations. Terms like "countdown," "launch" and "orbit" The two astronauts spoke with Mission Control in became household words. A formerly obscure Houston, Texas, and with their colleague, astronaut 1 Michael Collins, who was piloting the Command/ reared the vehicles for launch. They erected Service Module in Moon orbit awaiting the and manned the ground tracking and commu landing craft's return. nications stations, arid they managed what A similar Moon landing was successfully carried came to be the most massive science and engineering out in November 1969 by Apollo 12 astronauts project of all time. Charles Conrad, Jr., and Alan L. Bean in Six flights in the one-man Mercury capsule the lunar Ocean of Storms. They became the between 1961 and 1963 proved men could survive third and fourth humans to live and walk on in space. Ten Earth-orbital flights in the twoman the Moon while astronaut Richard F. Gordon, Jr., Gemini craft in 1965 and 1966 demonstrated tended to the Command Module in Moon orbit. that men could steer their craft in space and In 1961, President Kennedy had proposed that link up with other orbiting objects.