ASTRONAUTICS and AERONAUTICS, 1978 Deveiopment Would Delay Initial Operational Capability Until 1987
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NASA SP-4023 ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1 A Chronology The NASA History Office The NASA History Series Scientific and Technical Information Branch 1986 National Aeronautics and Space Administration Washington, DC NASA maintains an internal history program for two principal reasons: (1) Spon- sorship of research in NASA-related history is one way in which NASA responds to the provision of the National Aeronautics and Space Act of 1958 that requires NASA to “provide for the widest practicable and appropriate dissemination of in- formation concerning its activities and the results thereof.” (2) Thoughtful study of NASA history can help agency managers accomplish the missions assigned to the agency. Understanding NASA’s past aids in understanding its present situa- tion and illuminates possible future directions. The opinions and conclusions set forth in this book are those of the author; no official of the agency necessarily en- dorses those opinions or conclusions. For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C. 20402 (paper cover) Library of Congress Catalog number 65-60308 Preface Astronautics and Aeronautics for 1978 is the 18th volume in a series of annual chronological digests of principal events in the fields of astronautics and aeronautics. Initiated in 1961 with a compendium of events from 1915-1960, this series is designed to serve as a reference for policymakers, reference librarians, and researchers. Each entry is fol- lowed by one or more citations of sources to which users may turn for further information on the particular event or development being chron- icled. The Astronautics and Aeronautics series is one way in which the NASA History Office has attempted to implement its charter to disseminate information about the activities of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and to provide support for historians and other researchers in the area of United States aeronautical and space pro- grams. As a result of staff and budgetary limitations, the NASA History Office has been unable to maintain the annual currency of this series. We expect, however, to bring the series up to date with a forthcoming com- pendium volume covering principal events over a six-year period. This volume was written by Ms. Bette R. Janson. Reliability is essential to the usefulness of any reference work of this scope. As with previous volumes, readers can contribute by notifying our office of any errors so that we can publish them in subsequent volumes. Sylvia D. Fries Director, NASA History Office July 1986 iii' Four varieties of spacecraft launched by NASA in 1978: top left, scientific inter- national ultraviolet explorer IUE I, launched Jan. 26; top right, eartl-resources satellite Landsat 3, launched March 5; bottom left, environmental meteosat Tiros N, launched Oct. 13; bottom right, comsat NATO 3C, launched Nov. 18. Contents ... Preface .................................................. IU January .................................................. 1 February ................................................. 25 March ................................................... 49 April .................................................... 77 May ..................................................... 103 ’ June ..................................................... 129 July ..................................................... 155 August .................................................. 181 September ................................................ 209 October .................................................. 235 November ................................................ 259 December ................................................ 289 Appendixes A .Satellites. Space Probes. and Manned Spaceflights. 1978 ...... 317 B . Major NASA Launches. 1978 ............................. 347 C . Manned Spaceflights. 1978 ............................... 351 D . NASA Sounding Rocket Launches. 1978 ................... 353 E . Abbreviations of References .............................. 361 Index .................................................... 367 Illustrations First women named by NASA as astronaut candidates ........... 9 Space Shuttle orbiter Enterprise ............................. 72 Six astronauts awarded Congressional Medal of Honor .......... 237 Photo mosaic from the Viking orbiter ........................ 267 NASA’s second high-energy astronomy observatory ............ 269 Artist’s concept. Pioneer Venus orbiter and multiprobe .......... 281 V January January 2: Aviation Week and Space Technology magazine reported that President Carter would soon receive from Secretary of Defense Harold Brown a plan for a unified U.S. space policy covering all government and private-sector programs. The plan was the product of a policy- review committee headed by Brown and consisting of representatives from NASA, the Dept. of Agriculture, Joint Chiefs of Staff, CIA, DOD, the office of the President’s national security adviser, and the Office of Science and Technology Policy; the Interior Dept. and NOAA had par- ticipated in a steering committee under the main group. After evaluating the effect of the U.S. space program on foreign policy, national security, and overall economic benefit, the group had agreed that national security considerations were the main hindrances to formulating a national space policy. The group had considered space-arms control (maximum pacification of space, with limitatidns on killer satellites); availability of reconnaissance-satellite data (greater federal agency access); regulation of private-sector remote sensing (resolution limits); interagency manage- ment (a coordinating committee, to be chaired either by DOD and NASA, or by the President’s science adviser); broadcast satellite policy (no restrictions on signals crossing national borders); and certain in- telligence, DOD, NASA, NOAA, and civilian programs. (AvWk, Jan 2/78, 14) Av Wk reported NASA’s announcement that it would send Pioneer IZ to fly just outside the rings of Saturn as a pathfinder for two Voyager spacecraft scheduled to reach Saturn in 1980 and 1981. Passing 15 OOOmi rather than 3700mi from Saturn’s surface, the new course would place Pioneer ZZ at about the same distance from Saturn as the trajectory of Voyager 2, if NASA should decide to use Saturn’s gravity to hurl Voyager 2 toward Uranus. The outside trajectory would permit NASA to achieve the maximum science return for all three spacecraft. Pioneer I1 should reach Saturn in Sept. 1978. (AvWk, Jan 2/78, 15; Lewis News, Jan 6/78, 2) * President Carter’s $100 million reduction in MX-missile FY 1979 fund- ing would not prevent DOD’s continuing advance MX development for another yr, Av Wk reported. The remaining $160 million would cover costs of assessing basing modes and alternatives for the missile. The President’s decision to continue MX without starting engineering 1 JANUARY ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1978 deveiopment would delay initial operational capability until 1987. Key administration officials doubted that MX would ever be deployed, said AvWk, because of its links to future SALT agreements preventing deployment of mobile-based systems. (AvWk, Jan 2/78, 13) January 5: NASA reported a board of inquiry’s findings on the Sept. 9, 1977, failure of an Atlas-Centaur launch vehicle destroyed 55sec into the flight. Launched from Kennedy Space Center, the vehicle had carried an Intelsat IV-A. The board attributed failure to a rupture in the high- pressure “omega joint” in the Atlas-stage gas-generator discharge line, caused by contamination during production. Technicians had tested joints on all completed vehicles, and all those at KSC had passed; a few in the factory that were corroded or questionable had been replaced. Changing the fabrication process should prevent further contamination, the report stated. (NASA Release 78-3) January 6: Lewis Research Center reported it had signed a $24 million 1 yr contract with Honeywell, Inc., Avionics Division, St. Petersburg, Fla., for management and engineering support of Centaur inertial guidance. This automatic self-contained navigation and guidance system with a digital computer unit would permit Centaur to compute and ad- just its flight for delivery of a spacecraft to a preselected orbit without ground command. The nation’s first high-energy liquid-hydrogen liquid- oxygen rocket, the Centaur, as an upper stage on both Atlas and Titan I11 boosters, had helped launch Voyager I and 2, scheduled to fly by Jupiter and Saturn in 1979 and 1980. (Lewis News, Jan 6/78, 2) 0 Preliminary analyses of Viking Orbiter I (VO-1) data on the Mars satellite Phobos revealed low density and a spectral reflectance and low albedo that suggested a composition similar to type I carbonaceous chon- drites, reported Science magazine. VO-1 had obtained a spectacular pic- ture sequence at 100km, an encounter by far the most demanding naviga- tion performance of any interplanetary-spacecraft exploration to date. Since Phobos had a mean radius of only 11km and was only partially il- luminated when viewed during the flyby, the VO-1 position relative to Phobos had required accuracy of within a few kilometers. Imaging data had revealed small positive features (hummocks), small craters with bright ejecta blankets, dark material on the floors of some craters, large variations in topography, and an abundance of linear features resem- bling crater chains. Further analysis would refine density estimates to determine Phobos’s origin. (Sci, Jan 6/78,