NASA's part in developing the apparatus had begun in 1970 when a national meeting of municipal officials identified the need for an improved system as their highest priority. NASA's effort had been carried out at JSC as an engineering applications project under the Technology Utilization Program. After a design had been chosen from a number of candidates, prototype units were successfully field tested under actual firefighting conditions by the Houston, New York City, and Los Angeles fire departments.

Scott Aviation was the first manufacturer to announce commercial production of an apparatus based on NASA effort. (JSC Roundup, 26 Sept 75, 4)

• Aetna Life and Casualty would become the third partner with Comsat General Corp. and International Business Machines Corp. in a venture to establish a domestic satellite system, the three companies jointly announced.

In a letter to the Federal Communications Commission, the three companies had proposed a corporate structure of the jointly owned CML Satellite Corp. under which each of the three companies would own a part of the organization. IBM would purchase 42.5% and Aetna would purchase 15% of CML stock, with Comsat holding the remaining 42.5%. Aetna would also purchase a convertible note, bringing its investment to the same level as Comsat and IBM; the three partners would have equal representation on the board of directors. The arrangement would comply with FCC's requirement that no partner own less than 10% nor more than 49% of CML's stock [see 23 Jan.]. After FCC approval, the three partners would each invest up to $55 million with additional funding obtained from outside financing.

CML had been formed in 1972, with other stockholders, to enter the U.S. domestic communications satellite business; Comsat had owned all the stock of CML since July 1975 and, with IBM, had been seeking a third partner. Both Comsat and IBM had been providing the interim financing. (Aetna-Comsat-IBM Release, 26 Sept 75)

28 September: Plans had been completed for the first U.S. experiments to be flown on a Soviet spacecraft, Dr. David L. Winter, NASA Director of Life Sciences, announced. As a result of joint U.S.-U.S.S.R. working group meetings on space biology and medicine, 4 U.S. lifescience experiments and 7 tissue investigations were to fly aboard a Soviet biological satellite scheduled for launch later in the year. The U.S. experiments-all passive and completely autonomous from spacecraft power, telemetry, and data recording-would be housed in 5 Soviet-built containers, each 17.8 cm long by 12.7 cm wide by 11.5 cm high. Maximum weight for each container, including experiments, would be 2.5 kg. Unique to this spacecraft was a Soviet-designed onboard centrifuge. U.S. experiments would be flown both on the centrifuge and on a stationary platform.

The 4 flight experiments included a plant tumor-growth experiment to study the effects of weightlessness on sensitive plant systems; a carrot-cell-culture experiment to assess the effects of weightlessness on plant systems and on normal development of embryonic tissues; a heavy-particle radiation experiment to measure high-charge and highenergy particle radiation aboard the spacecraft; and a killifish or mummichog (minnows) embryogenesis experiment to evaluate the effect of weightlessness on development of the vestibular system during embryonic development in a vertebrate animal.

Six of the tissue investigations would use rat tissue-and the seventh flies-supplied by the Soviets from their animal experiments. Soviet scientists would prepare the animal tissues for U.S. scientists to use in their investigations and would return the U.S. experiment packages upon completion of the flight.

Ames Research Center was managing 3 of the life-science experiments and all tissue investigations. Johnson Space Center would manage the fish-egg development experiment. (NASA Release 75264)

• Transfer of the Launch Vehicle and Propulsion Program from the Office of Space Science to the Office of Manned Space Flight, and transfer of the NASA Directorate for Life Sciences from the Office of Manned Space Flight to the Office of Space Science became effective. Also, the name of the Office of Manned Space Flight had been changed to Office of Space Flight, and the name of the Launch Vehicle and Propulsion Program had been changed to Expendable Launch Vehicle Programs.

In announcing the changes, NASA Administrator Dr. James C. Fletcher had said that the exchange of these functions would "provide a more logical alignment of responsibilities as we move into Space Shuttle operations. The new Office of Space Flight will be concerned primarily with launching... and conducting Shuttle operations, while Space Science will have responsibility for the science to be performed on these flights." (JSC Roundup, 26 Sept 75, 1)

29 September: Johnson Space Center announced that the first of two Space Shuttle training aircraft had been test flown at Grumman American Aviation's Bethpage, N. Y., plant. The modified Gulfstream II would be used to train crews for Orbiter descent and landing procedures. The cockpit layout and the aerodynamic modifications of the trainers provided motion and visual cues and handling qualities similar to those of the actual Orbiter. The two trainers would be delivered to Johnson Space Center early in 1976. (JSC Roundup, 10 Oct 75, 1)

30 September: Marshall Space Flight Center had resumed acoustic testing of a 6.4%-scale model of the Space Shuttle to provide information needed in designing the Shuttle and its launch facilities, MSFC announced. The tests would also produce data on effects of hot exhaust gases on the aft portion of the Shuttle immediately after ignition. Data from earlier testing of the model, which included the liquid-fueled engines and solid rocket motors, had alerted designers that special provisions would be needed to deflect hot gases out of the solid rocket boosters away from the facility fuel lines near the launch pad. A pad design based on this analysis had been tested and proven. During the tests, which had begun originally in August 1974, the model was held in a test stand while its engines were fired from 6 to 10 sec. (MSFC Release 75-205)

During September: NASA had invited nearly 5000 scientists worldwide to propose experiments for a possible 6-yr mission to Uranus, beginning with a November 1979 launch. The mission, which could include a swing by Neptune, was being studied for inclusion in NASA's FY 1977 budget request. A mission to Uranus and Neptune would mean that every planet in the solar system except Pluto would have been probed

by a U.S. spacecraft by 1988. The spacecraft itself would be adapted directly from the Mariner probe now under development at Jet Propulsion Laboratory for a planned 1977 mission to Saturn; like Mariner-Saturn, the Uranus mission would use the gravity of Jupiter to hurl the spacecraft on toward the more remote planet. If the spacecraft remained healthy after it investigated Uranus, it would use the gravity of that planet to fly on to Neptune, more than 1.6 billion km deeper into space. (GSFC Goddard News, Sept 75, 2; UPI, NYT, 4 Sept 75, 20)

October 1975

1 October: NASA and Rockwell International Corp. Space Div. had signed a $1.8-billion supplemental agreement for the follow-on development of the Space Shuttle Orbiter, NASA announced. The agreement formally incorporated into an existing contract awarded for Orbiter design, development, and test and evaluation, the construction of Orbiters 101 and 102, approach and landing tests, and six orbital flight tests. The supplemental agreement for the additional work brought the value of the Rockwell contract to more than $2.7 billion. (NASA Release 75-266; JSC Release 75-90)

• Marshall Space Flight Center had opened for competition a research and development program to develop and demonstrate cryogenic components for the Space Tug vehicle. Work would include design of a reusable cryogenic storage system, and fabrication and evaluation of a testing system. Proposals were to be submitted by 31 October. (SBD, 1 Oct 75, 159)

• NASA and the U.S. Coast Guard were jointly designing and developing a lightweight portable firefighting module to combat shipboard and dock fires, NASA announced. The module, a completely self-contained pumping system including pumps, hose, and firefighting suits, would pump sea water at a rate of up to 7300 liters per min (2000 gallons per min) for periods up to 3 hr. Marshall Space Flight Center was designing a prototype scheduled for construction early in 1976 and for testing 18 mos later. The Coast Guard had asked NASA to participate in the project because of its long experience with high-capacity lightweight fuel pumps developed for rocket engines. The project was being managed for NASA by MSFC's Technology Utilization Office. (NASA Release 75-267) NASA announced selection of Bendix Field Engineering Corp. and Raytheon Service Co. for competitive negotiations leading to award of a single contract to operate and maintain portions of NASA's worldwide Spaceflight Tracking and Data Network. Contractor services would include technical support, operation, and maintenance of the Goddard Space Flight Center's Network Operations Control Center, GSFC's Network Test and Training Facility, ten STDN stations, and the laser tracking subnet-one fixed station at Goddard Space Flight Center and 8 mobile stations at various sites around the world to support the San Andreas Fault Experiment, the Laser Geodynamic Satellite network, and the Geodynamic Experimental Ocean Satellite program-as well as operation of the magnetic-tape certification facility at GSFC. (NASA Release 75-268)

• Dr. Walter C. Williams' appointment as NASA Chief Engineer became effective. In his new position, Dr. Williams, who had been vice president and general manager of the Aerospace Corp. Vehicle Systems Div., would be responsible for reviewing the technical excellence of all NASA programs and for assuring their development on a sound engineering basis with proper programmatic controls.