Marshall Highlights for 1970

(Source Note: The following information is presented here as published in a news release issued in late 1970 by the Marshall Center Public Affairs Office.)

Launch of an Apollo-Saturn V vehicle - renaming the embryonic space station "Skylab" - continuing work on the space shuttle and space station - doing early planning on HEAO - Dr. Eberhard Rees becoming director of MSFC - these and other highlights combined to make the first year of the new decade an eventful one here.

Saturn V vehicle AS-508 launched the Apollo 13 mission April 11 from Kennedy Space Center. The Apollo 13 flight went well until an explosion rocked the ship shortly before the spacecraft reached the Moon.

The lunar landing attempt was canceled but astronauts James A. Lovell, Jr., John L. Swigert, Jr., and Fred W. Haise, Jr., returned safely to Earth using their Lunar Module as a "lifeboat."

Astronauts Alan B. Shepard, Jr., Stuart A. Roosa and Edgar D. Mitchell are scheduled to man the Apollo 14 mission scheduled for launch on Jan. 31, 1971. Apollo 15 is now set for July 25.

The Apollo Applications Program received its new name - Skylab - in March. NASA plans to launch the Skylab cluster into Earth orbit in late 1972 with a two-stage Saturn V vehicle.

A series of Saturn Workshop design reviews conducted at MSFC and at contractor plants during the year have resulted in a firm design for the spacecraft.

Apollo Telescope Mount test and flight hardware fabrication started here during the year. An ATM thermal systems unit was completed and shipped to Houston for thermal vacuum tests. Other units being built here include one prime spacecraft, a backup and ground test models.

NASA selected two firms in May for parallel 11-month definition and preliminary design studies of a reusable space shuttle vehicle for possible future space flight missions.

The two-stage space shuttle would transport crew, passengers and cargo from Earth to orbit and back.

Space station studies started here in 1969 were continued. The contractor studied for MSFC a 33-foot diameter space station. The firm will now study a space station which would be assembled in orbit from 14-foot diameter modules sent from Earth in the space shuttle.

The High Energy Astronomy Observatory (HEAO) project made progress during the year at the Marshall Center.

HEAO is a proposed unmanned satellite which would study very energetic radiation from space X-ray, gamma rays and high energy cosmic rays-previously seen only briefly by sounding rockets and balloons, and by small satellites with poorer resolution and sensitivity.

Dr. Eberhard F. M. Rees became Marshall Center director on March 1. He succeeded Dr. Wernher von Braun, who became NASA's deputy associate administrator for planning in NASA Headquarters, Washington, D. C.

The new director served as a deputy to Dr. von Braun for more than a dozen years.

In another important organization change, Richard W. Cook was named in June to the post of deputy director, management, replacing Harry H. Gorman. A special training vehicle was delivered to the Marshall Centers by the LRV prime contractor. The vehicle is called a "1-G trainer" because it will operate in Earth's gravity.

The LRV is now scheduled for its first space trip on the Apollo 15 mission in July, 1971.

Saturn V rocket stage testing ended during late 1970 at the Mississippi Test Facility. The final first (S-lC-15) stage and second (S-lI-15) were tested at MTF on September 30 and October 30.

NASA tests at the Mississippi test site have ended and the facility has been made available to other government agencies.

Marshall Center's personnel strength at the end of 1970 stands at 6,000, a decrease of 300 during the year. The Civil Service payroll for 1970 totaled more than $104 million.

NASA announced an agency-wide reduction in its personnel in mid-1970. The MSFC reduction was scheduled to be 190 positions but retirements reduced his to 121.