this special aeronautics and space
report brought to you by NASA
aeronautics and space 1973 these were
the highlights
this was the gear of Skylab Skylab got
off to a shaky start when a heat
deflecting micrometeoroid shield was
ripped off during launch causing the
loss of one solar wing and jamming the
other although in orbit the big space
station was overheating at low on fire
people on the ground however hastily
designed a replacement an umbrella-like
device that would protect the workshops
thin skin from the hot Sun the first
crew then used the newly designed
sunshade to repair the overheating Space
Station they also deployed the jam
solder wing result an increase in
electrical power and a cooler place to
work and work they did three separate
astronaut crews have lived in Skylab for
extended periods of time proving that
man can withstand prolonged
weightlessness by training skylabs
onboard telescopes in the direction of
the Sun the science of solar astronomy
has been extended beyond the limits of
earth-based observations we're learning
more about the Sun than ever before
information that may one day help us use
this giant furnace as a means of
generating and controlling energy for
use on Earth using cameras and remote
sensors the crews have accumulated hours
and hours of intense observations of the
earth observations that have ranged from
taking measurements of Hurricane Ellen
over the Atlantic Ocean to photographing
possible huge new mineral deposits in
Nevada by the time Skylab ends more than
42,000 pictures of the Earth's surface
will have been taken they called her
Arabella the space spider actually
Arabella was one of several student
experiments on Skylab the question
raised by a young high school student
from Massachusetts was can a spider spin
a web in the absence of gravity the
answer as you can see was yes tiny fish
were another subject for study
this buck Roger like backpack was also
tested the well-dressed space man of the
future may very well get about like this
American astronauts and Soviet
cosmonauts trained this year to prepare
for a joint space mission in 1975 the
two crews will meet and join their
spacecraft while in orbit around the
earth beyond the rescue capability they
will demonstrate it is hoped the complex
project will lead to future
international cooperative programs it's
called the reusable space shuttle taking
off like a rocket and landing like an
airplane it will virtually replace the
way we transport manned and unmanned
spacecraft into orbit by the early 1980s
to prepare for the shuttle research and
development programs continued to move
ahead as high-speed wind tunnels were
used to help solve the problems of
reentry here undergoing tests are
special recoverable booster rockets that
will be retrieved after launch other
engineers prepare to make shuttle
vibration studies finding out where the
stress areas are at NASA's Flight
Research Center in California the x24 be
lifting body was air dropped several
times the X 24 is developing maneuvering
and landing capabilities for future
aerospace vehicles like the space
shuttle
this is an artist concept of the
asteroid belt a scientific spacecraft
pioneer 10 spent 210 days passing
through the thousands of rocks sand and
dust that make up the asteroid belt on
its way to this planet Jupiter on
December third after traveling half a
billion miles from Earth pioneer 10
returned close-up pictures and
scientific data as it passed within
81,000 miles of the giant planet data
about its temperature and the makeup of
its atmosphere mercury smallest planet
in the solar system and closest planet
to the Sun so close that it's difficult
to observe from Earth this Mariner
spacecraft is on its way there now after
swinging around Venus next February
picking up speed from that planet's
gravity it will be propelled on toward
mercury on March 29th 1974 as mariner
flies by the tiny planet it's two
television cameras will return pictures
while other instruments probe in an
effort to better understand its makeup
technicians work around the radio
astronomy Explorer satellite at the
Kennedy Space Center its job is to
explore the sources of low-frequency
radio noise in our galaxy and beyond
launched into orbit around the moon it
is expected to provide astronomers with
a better picture of extraterrestrial
radio signals work continued in the
preparation of Viking the spacecraft
scheduled to land on Mars in 1976 trying
to answer as many questions as possible
before landing on the red planet
scientists have been attempting to
simulate the Martian atmosphere progress
is also being made in preparing
biological sensing devices to determine
if life exists there
for years nASA has used sounding rockets
to probe the region of the Earth's
atmosphere just below satellite level
but above the area where balloons
returned 80 this year was no exception
with some 80 launches both here and
abroad several of the launches were in
support of the manned orbiting Skylab
comet kohoutek is on its way visible
between mid-november and late January it
will eventually be as bright or brighter
than the famous Halley's Comet of 1910
when kohoutek reaches its closest point
to the Sun on December 28 it will have
completed a journey that began about two
million years ago for NASA's spacecraft
sounding rockets balloons Skylab
ground-based observatories and telescope
carrying aircraft like this will team up
to form the most comprehensive comet
watch ever planned astronomers are eager
to determine the elements that make up
kohoutek elements that should tell us
more about the nature and origin of the
Sun and other planets Santa Barbara
California Louisiana and Mississippi
Cleveland Ohio all these places like
many others have one thing in common
each was photographed by the earth's
resources technology satellite orbiting
570 miles overhead since being launched
in mid nineteen seventy-two the earth
resources spacecraft has returned nearly
100,000 pictures of our planet
more specifically it is proving
extremely useful in such applications as
land use and timber inventory crop
identification water pollution and
improved maps to geologists this area of
California looks like this when the
appropriate geologic information is
superimposed investigators look forward
to even more exciting possibilities for
operational use in the future for
example during this past summer a remote
sensing station was tested that can tell
when conditions exist for a forest fire
to occur in less than an hour valuable
fire index data was relayed via the
earth's resources satellite to the
California Division of Forestry
headquarters in Sacramento the highly
successful experiment has important
implications for those areas troubled by
forest fires helping verify images from
spacecraft are the you to high-altitude
Earth's survey planes flying at
altitudes of 65,000 feet the u2 has
evolved into a sophisticated research
tool in its own right these are just a
few of the high quality pictures
returned pictures that have spotted
smoke from forest fires in California
and help survey the extent of damage
done by tree killing tussock malls in
Washington and Oregon the Lewis Research
Center in Cleveland is scene of a
program to explore and demonstrate how
navigation of the Great Lakes may be
extended year-round ice maps are made
with the help of a reconnaissance plane
on loan from the US Army it's special
radar provides detailed images similar
to black-and-white photographs another
plane records ice surface temperatures
NASA scientists also regularly fly in
Coast Guard helicopters equipped to the
type of radar that measures ice
thickness to verify these instrument
measurements with actual conditions on
the ice surface samples are taken along
the flight path the system is expected
to be in use this winter making it
possible to extend the ship
season and potentially saving millions
of dollars NASA's Aeronautics program is
geared toward improving civil and
military aviation noise abatement
airport congestion visibility tests
short and vertical takeoff planes and
all aspects of aircraft safety in great
demand or the many simulators that help
man work better with his machines some
simulators use motion to make the pilots
senses believe he is flying this
man-machine integration as it's called
tries among other things to determine
the proper roles for humans and
computers
mphasis continues on the rapidly growing
class of planes used by individuals or
as executive aircraft consider the
problem of wake turbulence tornado-like
patterns of air the trail behind large
jets these vortices as they are called
pose a hazard for smaller lighter weight
aircraft following in their weight
through laboratory and wind tunnel tests
and actual in-flight analysis NASA is
studying ways to break up the whirling
air masses eliminating the danger to
smaller planes a research program is
underway to identify acceptable airplane
ride qualities these passengers respond
to a variety of vibrations and motions
without actually flying simulators like
this one at the Langley Research Center
are used to study passenger response
under controlled conditions the
simulator work is correlated with flight
tests at the Flight Research Center
volunteer passengers read write eat and
drink typical passenger activities
during the flight they evaluate the
degree of motion and electronically
record their rating the US Army flying
crane helicopter is a unique machine
when the helicopter developed excessive
vibrations under certain payload
conditions the army was assisted by NASA
in solving the problem the solution
developed involved bonding stiff
lightweight Borana proxy materials to
the aluminum frame the process
eliminated the problem and provided a
weight saving of 60 pounds besides so
successful has the composite materials
program bin that test applications are
planned for the wing rudder and aileron
components of large transport aircraft
at the flight research center test
pilots are flying a plane without having
to leave the ground actually it's a new
way of flight testing advanced aircraft
that's both more economical and less
hazardous a typical flight involves air
launching a large scale model from high
altitude the research pilot in a
realistically recreated cockpit on the
ground complete with flight controls
flies the remotely piloted craft
using computers and television the
television camera is installed in the
model where the pilot would normally sit
this view is then transmitted to the
test pilot since the research pilot on
the ground has direct control over the
model he is able to perform high-risk
flight maneuvers such as stalls and
rolling at the end of a typical nine
minute test flight the model is lowered
by parachute in the final stages it is
recovered in midair by a helicopter and
brought gently to the ground for reuse
speed and fuel consumption these factors
have great impact on the design and
performance of future aircraft this Air
Force plane the why f12 is being test
flown to study such things other areas
of research include heating flight
stability and control structural
dynamics gust response and since the
plane cruises at three times the speed
of sound at 75,000 feet the physics of
the Earth's upper atmosphere
you
manned space flight space science and
applications Aeronautics and research
and development 1973 a year of
significant achievement
this special report brought to you by
nasa the national aeronautics and space
administration