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Aviation History
1968
1968 - 0035.PDF
i/GHT International, 4 January 1968 37 Ited, the spacecraft was 45 million miles (72 million km) out T, space and had travelled a total of 1,534 million miles b,400 million km) since being launched. RENEWED KAPUSTIN YAR ACTIVITY he launching in recent weeks of Cosmos 196 (Flight, Decem- er 28) and 197 satellites into 48" orbits from Kapustin Yar ollows a break of six months since the previous launch from at site, when Cosmos 166 was put into a 48.4° orbit, with a ,riod of 92.9min, on June 16, and Cosmos 163 was launched Jt'the same inclination and with a period of 93.1min on June 5. Kapustin Yar, on the River Volga, has been used to launch he smaller, non-recoverable scientific satellites of the Cosmos _ries, beginning with Cosmos 1 on March 16, 1962. The punching of non-recoverable Cosmos satellites with similar eriods and inclinations of 71° from the new northern launch lite at Plesetsk, starting with Cosmos 148 on March 16, 1967, to speculation among Western observers that Kapustin Yar /as being phased-out of the Soviet space programme. Cosmos 196, inclination 48.8°, period 95.7min was launched hardy before 0700 GMT on December 19, 1967. Cosmos 197, nclination 48.4°, period 91.6min, was launched seven days later t around 0900 GMT and was the sixtieth Cosmos satellite to orbited in 1967. This figure is made up of 22 recoverable nd nine fractional-orbit satellites, five connected with the nanned spaceflight programme and 24 others. These latter lclude probable Venus and Molniya failures. Subsequently, Cosmos 198 (inclination 65.1°, period 89.8min) ras launched, becoming the 61st satellite in the series to be cbited in 1967. i kPOLLO TRACKING SHIPS third Apollo insertion-injection ship, USNS Mercury, left he General Dynamics shipyard at Quincy, Mass, recently, fter completing final contractor instrumentation system tests, Ind subsequently docked at the Bethlehem Steel shipyard, Joboken, NJ, to undergo US Coast Guard and American jlureau of Shipping inspections. At the yard, NASA is making istrumentation adjustments in preparation for Apollo 503, eight-hour unmanned Earth orbital flight this month of Saturn V and the command and service module. Range sting and final preparations for Apollo 503 are to begin near he ©nd of this month when Mercury arrives in Florida waters. Mercury and her two inscrtionTinjection sister vessels, Van- uard and Redstone, and the re-entry ships Huntsville and Vatertown, are part of the National Range Instrumentation hip pool. For Apollo missions, they are operated as integral lembers of NASA's Manned Space Flight Network of 14 ind stations, five ships and eight instrumented aircraft. This ombination supports Apollo with tracking, command and oice and telemetry communications by way of landlines, licrowave, submarine cable and communication satellites. Mercury, Redstone and Vanguard will be equipped with pecial antennas for communications between the Apollo astro- auts and mission control via satellites over the Atlantic and 'acific. Mercury and Redstone will be stationed in the Pacific or this month's Apollo 504 (unmanned) lunar mission simula- ion and Vanguard in the Atlantic. The last-named is at the Juincy yard for completion of her satellite communications ntennae. Responsibility for operation of the Apollo ships is assigned o the US Air Force Western Test Range in accordance withJ ASA/Apollo mission network procedures. The sailing crew > provided by Military Sea Transport Service and technical istrumentation crew by the USAF. Operation of the Manned Pace Flight Network is the responsibility of NASA's Goddard Pace Flight Centre, Green belt, Md. GALLOPS' BUSY YEAR end-of-the-year report by Wallops Station of the National aeronautics and Space Administration, at Wallops Island, H-ginia, shows that during 1967 more than 350 scientific jjperiments were sent up from launch pads on the station, nese launches were performed for teams of scientists in US 'overnment, universities and industry and in foreign countries, xperimente carried were designed for upper atmosphere and leteorological research, investigations in the ionosphere, solar Working model (as demonstrated to the American Institute of Aero- nautics and Astronautics) of a new type of satellite which points the way towards giant spinning satellites on which antennae, laser beams, telescopes and solar panels can be aimed independently in any direction. The model is being shown by engineers at Hughes Aircraft Co, Culver City, Calif physics, astronomy, biological studies and in-flight tests of instrumentation and equipment. Off-base launch operations in 1967 included projects in Puerto Rico, Brazil and Alaska, and assistance with the Italian San Marco-B satellite launch from a platform in the Indian Ocean off the coast of Kenya (see "Italian-US Launch Agree- ment," facing page). A joint project between the US and Japan in March-April 1967 resulted in the launching of ten pairs of American and Japanese meteorological rockets, to conduct comparative meteorological research and to compare performance and payload systems of the two vehicles. The last experiment launched from Wallops in 1967, on December 5, was designed to study the behaviour of white rats in an artificial gravity field. The launch was by Aerobee vehicle and during the flight two trained white rats were able to select their own gravity level by walking along two tunnel runways in the extended arms of the 3001b payload, which was designed and built by engineers and technicians at Wallops in co-operation with scientists from the University of Kentucky. BLACK BRANT MODIFICATION A proposal by the Space Research Facilities Branch of the National Research Council of Canada that a Black Brant V-B rocket should be launched at a low elevation angle trajectory, to permit experiment sampling for an extended range within specific altitude limits, has led to a study of vehicle integrity under this requirement and resultant modification to the fins. The modified fins were successfully flown on vehicles VA-119 and -120 for evaluation purposes. Fin heating calculations were compared with data received from thermocouples mounted on one of the fins. Telemetry information and visual observation of the flight indicated normal rocket vehicle behaviour and complete integrity of the fin structures. Fins of vehicle -119 were set for a nominal zero roll rate and those of -120 for a peak roll rate of 3.75 c/s, the latter to provide minimum in-space coning amplitude. Net payload weight for both flights was 3301b (150kg); gross payload weight—including nose fairing and igniter housing— was 3901b 177kg). Among test packages flown were a micro- meteoroid distribution experiment by means of acoustic detec- tion, by Mr R. Wlochowicz of NRC radio and electrical engineering division (REED); ionosphere inhomogenities measurement by propagation of radio waves from an ejected transmitter, by Dr P. A. Forsythe, University of Western Ontario (on vehicle -119 only); and number particle density experiment, by Mr W. R. Bullock of Bristol Aerospace Ltd (on vehicle -120 only). Bristol Aerospace, of Winnipeg, prime contractor for the Black Brant series of sounding rockets, say that the flights, besides providing useful scientific data, have proved the feasi- bility of low elevation angle Black Brant V-B trajectories.
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