FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1969
1969 - 2974.PDF
586 FLIGHT International. 16 October 1961 WORLD NEWS SOYUZ 6 AND 7: INTERIM SPACE STATION ? Two Russian spacecraft, Soyuz 6 and 7, were launched from the Baykonour Cosmodrome, in Kazakhstan, into Earth orbit on October 11 and 12 respectively. These are the first Soviet manned flights to take place since the twin flights of Soyuz 4 and Soyuz 5 on January 14 and 15 this year, and are widely regarded as a further development in Russia's stated objective of establishing a manned space- station in Earth orbit. Soyuz 6 was flown by spacecraft commander Lt Col Georgy Shonin, a former Soviet Air Force pilot, and Valery Kubasov, a scientist-engineer, both aged 34. The crew of Soyuz 7 comprised three astronauts—Lt Col Anatoly Filipchenko, 41, spacecraft Handley Page US Setbacks Handley Page hopes of recovery through an American injection of capital suffered a double blow last week when the USAF cancelled its order for Jetstreams and the Cravens Corporation decided not to continue negotiations which were expected to lead to their acquiring a majority shareholding in the company. The USAF, which had 11 Jetstreams on order to fulfil its C-10 light transport requirement, with options on a further 68. cancelled the contract because of late delivery. The 11 Jetstreams were to have been delivered between November 1968 and June of this year, but none has been delivered because of the development troubles Handley Page has had with the aircraft. Representatives of the Cravens Corpor ation, which has been having talks with Handley Page with a view to acquiring commander; Lt Col Viktor Gorbatko, 33; and scientist-engineer Vladislov Vol- kov, 34. None of the five astronauts sent up last weekend had previously flown in space. Prominence was given to the presence of welding equipment on Soyuz 6, show ing that the emphasis was at least partly on technology development. As we closed for press there was speculation in Moscow that the two spacecraft would be joined by a third, to form the first three-unit space station. Soyuz 6 was placed in a 144 by 121- mile orbit with an inclination of 51.7° and a period of 88.6 min, while that of Soyuz 7 was 139 by 129 miles, with the same inclination and period. a majority shareholding in the company (Flight, August 21 and September 25), were due to come to London on Thurs day of last week for what were believed to have been final negotiations; but this meeting was cancelled after the USAF announcement. A possible backer for Handley Page, should the negotiations with Cravens finally collapse, is Northern Research and Engineering of Cambridge, Mass, the aviation equipment manufacturer. Hawker Siddeley studied the HP facilities about two months ago, but have not subsequently expressed any intention of acquiring an interest in the company. More Ministerial changes Closely following the establishment of an enlarged Ministry of Technology (last week's issue, page 550), the two Ministers of State under Mr Anthony Wedgwood Benn have been moved in further Government changes announced last weekend. Mr Reginald Prentice, who had been appointed in the October 5 reshuffle, resigned shortly afterwards in order to concentrate on overseas aid as a back bencher; the other, Mr J. P. W. Mal- lalieu, resigned at the Prime Minister's request as part of the latest ministerial changes which lowered the average age of junior Ministers from 60 to 38. The two new Ministers of State at Mintech are Lord Delacourt-Smith, a life peer who will have Cabinet rank, and Mr Eric Varley. As we went to press the allocation of their responsibilities within the Ministry had not been decided upon. At the Board of Trade Mr William Rodgers has been replaced as Minister of State by Mr Goronwy Roberts. Mr Rodgers, who has been made Minister of State at the Treasury, was responsible for the civil aviation department, which Mr Roberts will now take over—includ ing the still delayed policy White Paper on the Edwards Report. There are two new Parliamentary Secretaries at Mintech, Mr Neil Car- michael and Dr Ernest Davies; the Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Army) at the Ministry of Defence is now Mr Ivor Richard, formerly Mr Healey's Parlia mentary Private Secretary. UK Air Exports Up Exports by the British aircraft industry during August were nearly £23 million, an increase of 46 per cent over the com parable figure for August 1968, which was £15 million. The main reason for this increase was the larger export of aircraft and parts—nearly £13 million in August this year compared with £6i million for the corresponding month of 1968. Total UK air exports for the first eight months of 1969 were more than Lancashire's Jaguar Britain's first Jaguar, a single-seat version of the Anglo-French strike trainer, made its maiden flight from the British Aircraft Corporation airfield at Warton, Lancashire, last Sunday, October 12. Flown by Wg Cdr Jimmy Dell, the aircraft (designated S-06, the first of three British prototypes) was airborne for SOmin, during which a speed in excess of Mach I was attained. The two governments have a commitment for 200 aircraft each, comprising both single-seaters and two-seaters, in no fewer than five versions. A progress report on the British Jaguar programme begins on page 600
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
