The Proton / Block D launcher put the spacecraft into Earth parking orbit followed by translunar injection. On 12 January 1973, Luna 21 braked into a 90 x 100 km orbit about the Moon. On 13 and 14 January, the perilune was lowered to 16 km altitude. On 15 January after 40 orbits, the braking rocket was fired at 16 km altitude, and the craft went into free fall. At an altitude of 750 meters the main thrusters began firing, slowing the fall until a height of 22 meters was reached. At this point the main thrusters shut down and the secondary thrusters ignited, slowing the fall until the lander was 1.5 meters above the surface, where the engine was cut off. Landing occurred at 23:35 GMT in LeMonnier crater at 25.85 degrees N, 30.45 degrees E. The lander carried a bas relief of Lenin and the Soviet coat-of-arms. After landing, Lunokhod 2 took TV images of the surrounding area, then rolled down a ramp to the surface at 01:14 GMT on 16 January and took pictures of the Luna 21 lander and landing site. It stopped and charged batteries until 18 January, took more images of the lander and landing site, and then set out over the Moon. The rover would run during the lunar day, stopping occasionally to recharge its batteries via the solar panels. At night the rover would hibernate until the next sunrise, heated by the radioactive source. Lunokhod 2 operated for about 4 months, covered 37 km of terrain including hilly upland areas and rilles, and sent back 86 panoramic images and over 80,000 TV pictures. Many mechanical tests of the surface, laser ranging measurements, and other experiments were completed during this time. On June 4 it was announced that the program was completed, leading to speculation that the vehicle probably failed in mid-May or could not be revived after the lunar night of May-June. The Lunokhod was not left in a position such that the laser retroreflector could be used, indicating that the failure may have happened suddenly.

At a Manned Space Flight Management Council meeting, William C. Schneider (NASA Hq) emphasized the mounting pressures from open work at KSC and the demanding schedule for integrated systems testing during February and March. As examples he cited the following areas: February ATM system verification AM/MDA/OWS end-to-end system test SL-2 (first manned Skylab launch) vehicle roll March Stowage and crew compartment fit and function review SL-1 and SL-2 flight readiness test

MSFC began implementation of a plan for preparation and storage of unassigned Saturn hardware, phaseout of the Saturn V production capability, and amendment of the facility operations contract at the Michoud Assembly Facility for minimum surveillance of stored hardware.

Ames Research Center requested that six R4D rocket engines designed for use in the Apollo program be transferred from MSC to Ames. Possibly the engines would be suitable for the retro-injection function in the Pioneer Venus series of atmospheric probe and orbiter missions. First launch was planned for early 1977.

The Manned Spacecraft Center was renamed the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center by Public Law 93-8. The late President's interest and support of the space program began while he was Chairman of the Senate Committee on Aeronautical and Space Sciences and continued during his tenure as Vice President and President.

The improved model had an increased frequency range and on-board method of determining the position of fixed transmitters. The Tselina-2 prime contractors were TsNIRTI Minradioprom (M E Zaslovskiy) for the ELINT equipment and KB Yuzhnoye (KB-3, B S Khimrov) for the spacecraft bus. The launch vehicle was by OKB MEI Minvuza (A F Bogomolov) and the encrypted communications system by 0-TsNII KS MO.

A SAMSO-Navy Strategic System Program Office Memorandum of Agreement was amended to provide Minuteman I boosters in addition to the Atlas vehicles already scheduled. These were for HAVE FLY, the Trident Supplemental Flight Test (SFT) program managed by the Deputy for Reentry Systems.

The 68th Strategic Missile Squadron, the third and final squadron of the 44th Strategic Missile Wing (Wing II) at Ellsworth AFB, South Dakota, was returned to SAC control. This was after completion of Force Modernization, Upgrade Silo, and other miscellaneous force improvements. Turnover was completed 30 days ahead of schedule.

A Lunar Programs Office, under which the Lunar Data Analysis and Synthesis Program would be conducted, was established in the Office of Space Science, NASA Hq. The office was responsible for continued operation and collection of data from the Apollo lunar surface experiment packages and the Apollo 15 subsatellite; Apollo surface and orbital science data analysis by principal investigators; development of selenodetic, cartographic, and photographic products; continued lunar laser ranging experiment; continued lunar sample analysis; lunar supporting research and technology; and advanced program studies.

Second Skylab-B program between considered to fill late 1970's gap between the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project and the Space Shuttle. Consideration was being given to the feasibility of a second set of Skylab missions (designated Skylab-B) during the interval between the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project in 1975 and the start of Space Shuttle operations late in 1979. The inherent worth of a Skylab-B was recognized, but officials were reluctant to recommend it, on the premise that it would be unwise to allow it to delay or displace the development of the Space Shuttle and other programs already included in the FY 1974 budget.

Studies were conducted to determine the feasibility of conducting a controlled deorbit of the Orbital Workshop. Three methods were considered: (l) using the CSM service propulsion system; (2) using the CSM reaction control system; and (3) implementing an S-II (Saturn V second stage) deorbit. The service propulsion system deorbit was assessed as not feasible; the reaction control system deorbit was considered technically feasible but, like the service propulsion system, it had an inherent program and crew safety risk associated with it. Implementation of an S-II deorbit would have serious time and cost impacts on the program. A 1970 study, which indicated that the probability of damage from the deorbiting Skylab was so small that changes which caused major impact in cost and schedule were not worth pursuing, was confirmed.

The first flight of the Almaz manned military space station. In January 1973 the first Almaz OPS was delivered to Baikonur. Launch and initial orbital checkout went according to plan. But before a crew could be launched the station depressurized. It was concluded that a short in electrical equipment started a fire in pressure vessel, leading to rupture of hull and depressurization. An alternate theory was that debris from an explosion of the third stage of Proton penetrated the hull. Control was lost on April 25, 1973, and the OPS cased operations on 29 April. Decayed May 28, 1973. Initial crew was to have been Popovich and Artyukhin.
Officially: Testing of improved design, on-board systems and equipment; conduct of scientific and technical research and experiments. Additional Details: here....

Continued operation of the long-range telephone and telegraph radio-communication system within the Soviet Union and transmission of USSR central television programmes to stations in the Orbita and participating international networks (international cooperation scheme).

NASA's Atlas/Centaur was launched from Cape Canaveral carrying Pioneer 11 (Jupiter-Saturn). This was the first SLV-3D Atlas booster (vehicle 5011D), and the first SLV-3 to use the new 370,000-pound thrust MA-5 booster package for improved payload performance. Jupiter flyby December 1974; Saturn flyby September 1979. Solar system escape trajectory. Pioneer 11 was the second mission to investigate Jupiter and the outer solar system and the first to explore the planet Saturn and its main rings. Pioneer 11, like Pioneer 10, used Jupiter's gravitational field to alter its trajectory radically. It passed close to Saturn and then it followed an escape trajectory from the solar system. During its closest approach, December 4, 1974, Pioneer 11 passed to within 34,000 km of Jupiter's cloud tops. It passed by Saturn on September 1, 1979, at a distance of 21,000 km from Saturn's cloud tops. The spacecraft has operated on a backup transmitter since launch. Instrument power sharing began in February 1985 due to declining RTG power output. Science operations and daily telemetry ceased on September 30, 1995 when the RTG power level was insufficient to operate any experiments. As of the end of 1995 the spacecraft was located at 44.7 AU from the Sun at a nearly asymptotic latitude of 17.4 degrees above the solar equatorial plane and was heading outward at 2.5 AU/year. Routine tracking and project data processing operations were terminated on March 31, 1997 for budget reasons.

The Wing V Operational Snow Test was successfully completed at Francis E. Warren AFB with the firing of the Minuteman launcher closure door carrying a full-criteria load of snow and ice. This test verified the performance of the Upgrade Silo Program Launcher Closure System.

Deputy Secretary of Defense William P. Clements designated the Air Force as the Executive service for the Defense Navigation Satellite Development Program (DNSDP). In turn, the Air Force was authorized to establish a program manager and a joint Army, Navy, Air Force program office to prepare detailed plans for the Defense Navigation Satellite System and to manage the program if approved.

Anik I and Anik II also registered as United States objects. .The satellites, act as space repeaters capable of receiving transmissions from earth stations and retransmitting them to other earth stations in Canada. The antenna coverage of the satellite pr ovides the capability of serving virtually all of Canada. Anik I and II had weights of 1240.59 lb and 1246.48 lb. Each satellite has 12 RF channels each capable of transmitting a color television signal or up to 900 one-way voice channels. Positioned in geosynchronous orbit over the Americas at 109 deg W in 1973-1979; over the Americas at 106 deg W in 1979-1981; over the Americas at 114 deg W in 1981-1982 As of 26 August 2001 located at 0.59 deg E drifting at 1.690 deg W per day. As of 2007 Mar 9 located at 150.94E drifting at 1.684W degrees per day.

First and only US space station to date. Project began life as Apollo Orbital Workshop - outfitting of an S-IVB stage with docking adapter with equipment launched by several subsequent S-1B launches. Curtailment of the Apollo moon landings meant that surplus Saturn V's were available, so the pre-equipped, five times heavier, and much more capable Skylab resulted.

An unexpected telemetry indication of meteoroid shield deployment and solar array wing 2 beam fairing separation was received 1 minute and 3 seconds after liftoff. However, all other systems of the OWS appeared normal, and the OWS was inserted into a near-circular Earth orbit of approximately 435 km altitude. The payload shroud was jettisoned, and the ATM with its solar array was deployed as planned during the first orbit. Deployment of the Workshop solar array and the meteoroid shield was not successful. In fact the xternal solar/meteoroid shield had ripped off 63 seconds into ascent, tearing away one solar panel wing and debris jamming the remaining panel. Without shield temperatures soared in station. Repairs by crews led to virtually all mission objectives being met.

Following the final manned phase of the Skylab mission, ground controllers performed some engineering tests of certain Skylab systems--tests that ground personnel were reluctant to do while men were aboard. Results from these tests helped to determine causes of failures during the mission and to obtain data on long term degradation of space systems.

Upon completion of the engineering tests, Skylab was positioned into a stable attitude and systems were shut down. It was expected that Skylab would remain in orbit eight to ten years. It was to have been visited by an early shuttle mission, reboosted into a higher orbit, and used by space shuttle crews. But delays in the first flight of the shuttle made this impossible.

On July 11, 1979, Skylab disintegrated when it re-entered the earth's atmosphere after a worldwide scare over its pending crash. The debris stretched from the south-east Indian Ocean into Western Australia. Additional Details: here....

The Directorate for Defense Navigation Satellite System (XRN) of the Deputy for Development Plans became the Deputy for Defense Navigation Satellite System (YE) and the Defense System Applications System Program Office (S'ZH) became the Deputy for Defense System Applications (YD), later to be redesignated Deputy for Defense Meteorological Satellite Systems in January 1974.

Epic repair mission which brought Skylab into working order. Included such great moments as Conrad being flung through space by the whiplash after heaving on the solar wing just as the debris constraining it gave way; deployment of a lightweight solar shield, developed in Houston in one week, which brought the temperatures down to tolerable levels. With this flight US again took manned spaceflight duration record.

Skylab 2 , consisting of a modified Apollo CSM payload and a Saturn IB launch vehicle, was inserted into Earth orbit approximately 10 minutes after liftoff. The orbit achieved was 357 by 156 km and, during a six-hour period following insertion, four maneuvers placed the CSM into a 424 by 415 km orbit for rendezvous with the Orbital Workshop. Normal rendezvous sequencing led to stationkeeping during the fifth revolution followed by a flyaround inspection of the damage to the OWS. The crew provided a verbal description of the damage in conjunction with 15 minutes of television coverage. The solar array system wing (beam) 2 was completely missing. The solar array system wing (beam) 1 was slightly deployed and was restrained by a fragment of the meteoroid shield. Large sections of the meteoroid shield were missing. Following the flyaround inspection, the CSM soft-docked with the OWS at 5:56 p.m. EDT to plan the next activities. At 6:45 p.m. EDT the CSM undocked and extravehicular activity was initiated to deploy the beam 1 solar array. The attempt failed. Frustration of the crew was compounded when eight attempts were required to achieve hard docking with the OWS. The hard dock was made at 11:50 p.m. EDT, terminating a Skylab 2 first-day crew work period of 22 hours.

A Skylab Program Director's meeting was held to identify further actions required for the SL 2 mission and actions required for the SL-3 mission. The following agreements were reached: The parasol installed on the OWS would not be jettisoned until a replacement thermal shield was on board, if a twin-boom thermal shield had not been deployed during the SL-2 mission. The twin-boom sunshade and the JSC sail would be retained in the OWS at the end of the SL-2 mission.

Russian test pilot. Graduated from the Zhukovsky, 1950. Worked as an engineer and senior test pilot for Tupolev. Flew MiG-21 Tu-144 wing testbed. Proposed on 1964-06-29 as cosmonaut for Voskhod flights, but not confirmed. Died in the crash of a Tu-144 supersonic transport during an aviation demonstration at the 1973 Paris Airshow in Le Bourget.

First generation geosynchronous ballistic missile launch detection satellite, remained in service for over seven years. Positioned in geosynchronous orbit over the Indian Ocean at 75E in 1973; over the Americas at 105 deg W in 1979-1980. As of 1983 Jan 3 located at 73.21W drifting at 1.648W degrees per day.

The first flight of the 400th Strategic Missile Squadron of the 90th Strategic Missile Wing at Francis E. Warren AFB, Wyoming, was returned to SAC. The Wing V Integrated Program at Warren included Force Modernization, replacement of LGM-30Bs with Minuteman III missiles, installation of Command Data Buffer (CDB), Extended Survivability, and Upgrade Silo program modifications.

"Lonely Bull" by Herb Alpert & Tijuana Brass; preceded by Boatswain's Call; the boatswain's pipe was directed to Pete Conrad by Paul Hand, probably because Conrad was Navy. "You should have started doing that on about day 2" Conrad quipped. "And the crew down here couldn't find a song for three bulls, it was only one" replied Capcom. Conrad countered with,"Here's a little old song, love" And then PAO filled in the background:"That last song coming down from Skylab was out of Pete Conrad's repertoire of country-western music he has aboard"

The Air Force accepted the first Titan IIIE (E-1) from the Martin Marietta Corporation. The vehicle was then shipped to the Eastern Test Range for final assembly, checkout, and mating with Centaur upper stage prior to the planned proof launch in January 1974. SAMSO procured the Titan HIE, a Titan HID modified to accept a Centaur upper stage, for NASA's use in its Viking Mars Lander program and other future projects.

Continued operation of the long-range telephone and telegraph radio-communication system within the Soviet Union and transmission of USSR central television programmes to stations in the Orbita and participating international networks (international cooperation scheme).

Technical Positions for MOK development.
1. MOK - the minimum number of the most standardized rocket and space systems, to solve all problems in the foreseeable future in near-Earth space in the interests of science, the economy and defense.
2.) Space-based MOK systems - the most cost-effective solution to the problem of getting a significant increase in the service life of the missile and space vehicles.
a) ZB -> TS (UMTS) -> MKBS
b) MKBS -> MSA -> SSS
3. The modular structure of MOK's standardized elements, components, systems and assemblies.
Standardized systems:
- Propulsion systems (DO, DPO, SKD, main engines).
- Life-support systems.
- Power supply systems.
- Control and orientation systems.
- Navigation systems (automatic and manned spacecraft).
The elements of these systems must be maintainable and interchangeable.
4. All satellites modules should be automatically controlled spacecraft providing for the possibility of repair of all their vital elements with special manned spacecraft for on-orbit service, or repair modules from the MKBS delivered orbit-to-orbit by MKBS special spacecraft.
5.) There should be a phased approach to create MOK with maximum use in the initial phase of existing rocket and space vehicles. (Mishin Diaries 3-97)

Failed; did not enter Martian orbit as planned; intended to be a Mars orbiter mission. Mars 4 reached Mars on 10 February 1974. Due to use of helium in preflight tests of the computer chips, which resulted in degradation of the chips during the voyage to Mars, the retro-rockets never fired to slow the craft into Mars orbit. Mars 4 flew by the planet at a range of 2,200 km. It returned one swath of pictures and some radio occultation data. Final heliocentric orbit 1.02 x 1.63 AU, 2.2 degree inclination, 556 day period.

Mars probe intended to enter Martian orbit and comprehensively photograph Mars. Parameters are for Mars orbit. Mars 5 reached Mars on 12 February 1974 and was inserted into a 1760 km x 32,586 km orbit. Due to computer chip failures the orbiter operated only a few days and returned atmospheric data and images of a small portion of the Martian southern hemisphere.

Continued maintenance of the Skylab space station and extensive scientific and medical experiments. Installed twinpole solar shield on EVA; performed major inflight maintenance; doubled record for length of time in space. Completed 858 Earth orbits and 1,081 hours of solar and Earth experiments; three EVAs totalled 13 hours, 43 minutes.

The space vehicle, consisting of a modified Apollo command and service module payload on a Saturn IB launch vehicle, was inserted into a 231.3 by 154.7 km orbit. Rendezvous maneuvers were performed during the first five orbits as planned. During the rendezvous, the CSM reaction control system forward firing engine oxidizer valve leaked. The quad was isolated. Station-keeping with the Saturn Workshop began approximately 8 hours after liftoff, with docking being performed about 30 minutes later.

On 2 August the service module reaction control system engines were inhibited, and the isolation valves closed because of another leak. Acceptable control modes and deorbit and entry procedures were defined, consistent with the constraints imposed by the two reaction control system problems.

Mars probe intended to make a soft landing on Mars. Total fueled launch mass of the lander and orbital bus was 3260 kg. It reached Mars on 12 March 1974, separated from the bus, and entered the atmosphere, where a parachute opened, slowing the descent. As the probe descended through the atmosphere it transmitted data for 150 seconds, representing the first data returned from the atmosphere of Mars. Unfortunately, the data were largely unreadable due to a flaw in a computer chip which led to degradation of the system during its journey to Mars. When the retro-rockets fired for landing, contact was lost with the craft. Mars 6 landed at about 24 degrees south, 25 degrees west in the Margaritifer Sinus region of Mars. Bus ended up in a final heliocentric orbit 1.01 x 1.67 AU, 2.2 degree inclination, 567 day period.

National Air and Space Museum Director Michael Collins advised JSC that NASM had established a center for research and study with responsibility for a complete library of lunar photos to document scientific results of the Apollo missions. The library would be used for original research and for planning and updating scientific parts of exhibits.

Installed second sunshade. Replaced solar camera film cartridges. During EVA by crew members of Skylab 3, a twin-boom sunshade, developed by MSFC, was deployed over the parasol of the OWS. A redesigned and refined thermal parasol had been launched with Skylab 3. However, its use would have required jettisoning the parasol deployed by crew members of Skylab 2, with the possibility of creating the same thermal problems that existed on the OWS prior to the parasol deployment. Following erection of the twin-pole sunshade, the cabin temperature stayed at a comfortable 293-297 K (67.7°F-74.9°F).

Mars probe intended to make a soft landing on Mars. Mars 7 reached Mars on 9 March 1974. Due to a problem in the operation of one of the onboard systems (attitude control or retro-rockets) the landing probe separated prematurely and missed the planet by 1,300 km. The early separation was probably due to a computer chip error which resulted in degradation of the systems during the trip to Mars. Ended up in a final heliocentric orbit 1.01 x 1.69 AU, 2.2 degree inclination, 574 day period.

NASA decided to delete the Skylab backup Saturn V Orbital Workshop launch capability effective 15 August. All work associated with the completion, checkout, and support of Skylab backup hardware, experiments, software, facilities, and ground support equipment would be canceled immediately, except for the work that would directly support SL-3, SL-4, and rescue missions.