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Aviation History
1969
1969 - 1028.PDF
936 FUGHT International, 5 June 1969 ,::- ::; : riiiiissi'i The Martin-Marietta Venus sonde is a very ambitious unmanned planetary atmosphere probe. It is purely a private-venture study, but the American Academy of Sciences has strongly recommended such a programme DIAMOND JUBILEE SALON SPACEFLIGHT It is only just over 11 years since the first artificial Earth satellite was launched; and yet, as one stands in the main exhibition hall at Le Bourget, it is impossible to fail to be impressed by the space activity which abounds on all sides. Standing out from all other exhibits, both figuratively and literally, is the exhibition of Apollo which forms the theme of the American Pavilion. A full-scale mock-up of the lower part of the S-1C stage of the Saturn V rocket is impressive by its sheer size, while visitors may examine a real Rocketdyne F-l first stage engine, with its 8ft-diameter nozzle, which generates nearly 700 tons of thrust. The upper section of the Saturn V, which contains the escape tower, the com mand and service modules and the adapter section housing the lunar module, is also present as a full-size mock-up. Seen against a simulated lunar background in the American pavilion is a full-size lunar module, while a sectioned ascent stage, with animation and tape-recorded commentary, puts across the "atmosphere" as the two astronauts approach the Moon. But the most impressive exhibit is to be found outside again: the actual charred and scarred command module of Apollo 8 in which Frank Barman, James Lovell and William Anders made their historic flight round the Moon last December. This exhibit was officially unveiled in the presence of the three astronauts of the Apollo 9 flight of last March—McDivitt, Scott and Schweickart. By contrast, the Soviet exhibition shows a complete lack of appreciation of the current public interest in spaceflight; no effort, it seems has been made to compete with the impres sive American Apollo showmanship. The apparent success of the two spacecraft Venus 5 and 6, which entered the atmo sphere of the planet Venus last month, was marked by a .replica of the Venus 4 spacecraft which was flown on a similar mission in 1967. It is understood that the Venus 5 and 6 probes are almost identical with their predecessor. The largest Russian exhibit is Proton 4 which, weighing 17 tons, is the largest unmanned spacecraft ever to be flown. The satellite, which appears to be about the same size as the previous Protons, carries a large payload, of which 12.5 tons are experiments. Purely scientific, the satellite is studying cosmic rays. A full-size Molniya satellite represents Russia's operational 12hr-orbit communications system, while two Cosmos satellites, one representative of Cosmos 166 and Cosmos 230 (used for solar studies) and a model of the RD-214 liquid-fuel rocket engine for the Cosmos launcher completes an unimpressive display. Next time, perhaps, may we see a Soyuz or a Zond? Advanced American thinking on planetary research is shown in hardware form on the Martin-Marietta stand. Here are two outstandingly interesting exhibits: a Venus sonde and a soft-lander for a Mars mission. The first is a gondola weigh ing 1751b, suspended from a 16ft-diameter balloon designed to float in the Venus atmosphere at an altitude of 60km, under the cloud layer. The gondola itself resembles a spin-stabilised spacecraft, with two compartments devoted to systems-manage ment, data-processing and science experiments. The latter comprise a mass spectrometer, gas chromatograph, altimeter/ surface-mapper, drop-sondes, and temperature and pressure transducers. The spacecraft itself (launched by Atlas-Centaur) is contained America's military manned spaceflight programme is MOL (the manned orbiting laboratory) which employs the advanced Martin-Marietta Titan 3M launch vehicle (right) with two seven-segment United Technology Centre solid-propellant motors. A modified two-man Gemini capsule will be employed. Six launches are planned, the first to take place in 1971- 1972 left, Soviet Venus 4 probe. The original spacecraft entered the Venus atmosphere on October 18, 1967. The probe weighs 1,106kg, while the capsule (which is ejected and enters the atmosphere by parachute) weighs 383kg
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