L-5 NEWS A PUBLICATION OF THE L-5 SOCIETY

Carolyn Henson, Editor

Membership Services:Marc BooneJolene AronsonJanet Tarney

William WeigleAdministrative Services

Board of Directors:Isaac AsimovBarry Goldwater, Sr.Robert A. HeinleinGordon R. WoodcockBarbara Marx HubbardKonrad K. DannenbergHon. Edward R. Finch, Jr.James E. ObergLeonard DavidJ. Peter VajkJack D. SalmonPhillip ParkerDavid M. FradinRomualdas SviedrysKeith HensonCarolyn HensonWilliam WeigleMark HopkinsNorie HuddleMagoroh MaruyamaHarlan SmithCarol Motts

VOL. 3 NUMBER 4 APRIL 1978

In this issue:

7

8

9Publication office: the L-5 Society,1060 E. Elm, Tucson, Arizona85719. Published monthly.Subscription: $12.00 per year,included in dues ($20.00 per year,students $15.00 per year). Secondclass postage paid at Tucson,Arizona and additional offices.Copyright ©1978 by the L-5Society. No part of this periodicalmay be reproduced withoutwritten consent of the L-5 Society.The opinions expressed by theauthors do not necessarily reflectthe policy of the L-5 Society.Membership Services: L-5 Society,1620 N. Park Avenue, Tucson,Arizona 85719. Telephone:602/622-6351.

Change of address notices, undeliverablecopies, orders for subscriptions, andother mail items are to be sent to:L-5 SocietyMembership Services1620 N. ParkTucson, AZ 85719

1

2

3

4

5

6

12

14

16

17

Sunsat Energy Council Formed

Jimmy C. Will Increase NASA’s Budget If Good Friend JerryB. Will Take Permanent Space Walk.

High Frontier Bill Introduced

Convair to Design System For Space Orbit Assembly

UN Committee Discusses Space Issues

Tethered Satellite to be Studied

Art Form for Space?

Shuttle Update

So You Want to be an Astronaut?

Astronaut Candidates Selected

Be Your Own Astronaut Space entrepreneur Paul Siegler reports on a

daring plan by Robert Truax to lob people into space.

Space Mines, Space Law, and the Third World by Eric Drexler

Russia’s Bios-3 Mini-Colony by Phill Parker

Compliments and Caveats T.A. Heppenheimer comments on the

Salut-6 space station.

Salyut-6 Facts & Figures by James E. Oberg

OTRAG News

Bibliography Update

Conferences

Inside the L-5 Society

Front Cover: Interior view of a Bernal Sphere space colony one mile in diameterhousing ten thousand people. A detail of this picture is shown in The HighFrontier, by G.K. O’Neill, paperback, Bantam Books, 1978. (Art work courtesyDon Davis . )

Sunsat Energy Council Formed

Peter Glaser, shown standing, at the first organizational meeting of the Sunsat Energy Council Dec. 7, 1977. Glaser, founder of theCouncil, is the originator of the solar power satellite concept and a Vice President of Arthur D. Little, Inc.

Representatives of 42 major Americanenergy and aerospace companies joined inWashington, D.C. April 6 to announcef o r m a t i o n o f t h e “ S u n s a t E n e r g yCouncil,” a group promoting productionof electric power from solar energy as al o n g t e r m s o l u t i o n t o U . S . e n e r g yproblems.

According to the council, electricitywould be produced from sunlight by large

power plants orbi t ing in space. Thiselectricity would be sent back to earth foruse in homes and factories. Each of thesatellite designs now under study by NASAcould supply enough electricity to run acity the size of New York. “Solar electricpower would be clean and inexpensive,”says Art Dula, aerospace lawyer and Sunsatmember, “both industry and government

studies show that by generating electricityin space, where sunlight is strong andc o n t i n u o u s , e n o u g h e n e r g y c o u l d b eprovided to reduce U.S. dependence onimported oil and allow continued econ-omic growth.”

Studies by Boeing and Arthur D. Littlesuggest that the first commercial satellitecould be in operation as early as 1995.

1

Jimmy C. Will Increase NASA’sBudget If Good Friend Jerry B.Will Take Permanent Space Walk

©1977 New Times magazine

Jimmy Carter, who as late as the lastpresidential e lect ion was known as amaster’ of political symbolism, has notescaped the cosmical message of the manwith an even more perfect grasp -- the39-year-old perfect master of politicalsymbolism, Jerry Brown. Brown’s mostrecent display came in his flashy supportfor American space initiatives -- supportwhich could cause a skittish President tocripple the federal program.

“There seems to be a back-lash fromthe White House whenever Brown talksabout space,” a senior staff scientist atNASA headquarters in Washington toldus. “ E v e r y t i m e J e r r y B r o w n s a y ssomething about space, the OMB (Officeof Management and Budget) comes afterour budget,” another high NASA officialsaid.

NASA con t r ac to r s r epo r t ed ly havebeen “encouraged” t o s t e e r c l e a r o fBrown. on pain of thinner contracts.

Brown’s fabulously ambitious Califor-nia dreaming goes far beyond little thingsl i ke t he Whi t e House : Las t Augus t ,Brown and his state hosted a convocationof aerospace executives, NASA officialsa n d m e d i a a n d s p a c e s u p p o r t e r s f o rsomething called Space Day. RockwellInternational -- central contractor for thespace shuttle -- paid for the celebration.Introducing his cabinet, Brown chilledWhite House spines with his unvei ledecotopian threat : “We have plenty ofmoney for space. In fact, I’d like to pointout that our state surplus is just slightlysmaller than the entire NASA budget. I’mnot offering it . . . (laughter) but I do setit as a yardstick of what’s possible.”

Astronaut Jack Swigert (Apollo 13)recent ly announced his candidacy asRepublican nominee for the Senate seath e l d b y t h e D e m o c r a t i n c u m b e n t i nC o l o r a d o . H e j o i n s A s t r o n a u t s J o h nGlenn and Harrison Schmidt in turning topolitics as a career choice.

Dear President Carter:I respectfully urge maximum feasible

funding of the nation’s space program.S p a c e i s t h e e n e r g y a n d r e s o u r c e s

frontier of the future--the only genuinefrontier we have left. Sharp cutbacks inN A S A ’ s b u d g e t n o w , j u s t a s w e a r ediscovering the unexpected, pract icalp a y o f f s o f t h e s p a c e p r o g r a m u n d e rpresidents Kennedy and Johnson would beto let go fal low the enormous capi talinvestment the nation has already made inspace and to delay momentous develop-ments in energy, resources, communi-cations, and environmental managements y s t e m s w h i c h a r e n o w w i t h i n o u rtechnological grasp and capability.

I received a copy of Majority Leader JimWright’s letter to you of 29 March 1977,and also of Bert Lance’s reply to Mr.Wright’s of 16 June 1977. I fully supportJim Wright’s pleading for the Solar PowerSa te l l i t e p ro j ec t , and was ex t r eme lydisappointed by the tenor of Mr. Lance’sreply. I have the sense we are “stalling out”just at the time we should be making amaximum effort in this vital area.

As a Democrat, a businessman, and oneof your strongest supporters, I plead withyou to reconsider and not shortchange theneeds of the U.S. Space Program.

Respectfully yours,Sam E. DunnamAustin, TX

High FrontierBill Introduced

Senator Harrison A. Williams, Jr. (D-NJ) has introduced a bill which calls for a 2year, $1 million study on solar powersatellites by the National Science Found-ation. “The two-year invest igat ion Ipropose,” Williams said, “would be thenecessary first step, and a decision whetherto proceed could be made by 1980. . . If Dr.O’Neill and his colleagues are correct,solar satellite power generation, at the veryleast, would supply cheap energy for halfthe world’s electricity needs, without theneed fo r ma jo r t e chno log i ca l b r eak -throughs.”

The legislation would provide for ananalysis of the benefits, costs, and impactsof implementing the “High Front ier”program in relation to jobs, environment,international relations, and national se-curity. Williams asked that $l,000,000 beauthorized for fiscal years 1979 and 1980 tothe National Science Foundation whichwould make recommendations to Con-gress and the President, based on dataobtained during the study to determinewhether the program should be adopted asa national goal, as was the moon programin 1961.

“Congress has been inundated withenergy legislation to correct the immediateand short-term supply problems,” Will-iams said, “but it is necessary to considerlong-range solutions and alternatives forfuture generat ions as wel l . The HighFrontier program could offer such anenergy alternative, and I hope that actionwill be taken quickly on this legislation.”The bill will fall under the jurisdiction ofthe Senate Commit tee on Human Re-sources, which Williams chairs.

2 L-5 News, April 1978

Convair to Design SystemFor Space Orbit Assembly

Gene ra l Dynamics ha s r ece ived acontract from the U.S. Air Force to providea conceptual design of a large space systemthat could be assembled in orbit using theSpace Shuttle Orbiter.

C o n v a i r d i v i s i o n w a s a w a r d e d t h e$750,000 contract by the Air Force’s Spacea n d M i s s i l e S y s t e m s O r g a n i z a t i o n(SAMSO) who also awarded a competingpa ra l l e l con t r ac t t o Mar t i n Mar i e t t aAerospace. The basic task wil l be todevelop a conceptual design of a space-craft that will be assembled in space fromlarge deployable modules. The assembledmodules will result in a final spacecraftthat is between 600 and 1,000 feet indiameter.

According to Russ Thomas, ProgramManager, Convair wil l a lso design aprototype spacecraft to demonstrate thed e p l o y m e n t a n d o n - o r b i t a s s e m b l ytechnologies using a single Shuttle flight.“We see this design as being a total spacesystem; a spacecraft with an upper stage,avionics and guidance package,” he said.

Mr. Thomas regards the new Air Forcecontract as a significant addition to thecompany’s Advanced Space Programs andone which complements existing NationalAeronautics and Space Administrat ionprograms.

“Our initial effort,” he said, “will definean operational spacecraft system. We ‘willt h e n d e f i n e t h e f l i g h t d e m o n s t r a t i o nmodel.”

Subsequent phases of the project involveground validation, including simulationof techniques for rendezvous, alignmentand final docking.

T h e h e x a g o n - s h a p e d m o d u l e s a r eenvisioned as large as 400 feet across. Threeor more of the modules linked togetherwould form the spacecraft antenna systemw h i c h w o u l d b e u s e d f o r g e n e r a lcommunications or as a space-based radar.Thomas said that each packaged modulewould first be carried into a 180-mile lowearth orbit in the Orbiter’s cargo bay. Afterdeployment from the Orbiter and erection,a t ransfer s tage would then boost thesystem into a 22,000-mile-high ear thsynchronous orbit, where it would dockwith previously deployed elements.

According to SAMSO, the prototypedemonstrat ion model could provide aplatform to perform tasks unique to thespace environment, such as servicing,rendezvous and docking as well as testing.Plans call for automated assembly in spacewith manned supervision.

The flight demonstration article will beused to verify the Shuttle’s capability todeploy future Department of Defensespacecraft that might require assembly inorbit.

Thomas said the on-orbi t assemblycould mature into an operational system in1986 with continuing missions at least 10years beyond that.

U.N. CommitteeDiscusses SpaceIssues

New York -- The 15th annual meeting ofthe Scient i f ic and Technical Subcom-mittee of the U.N. Outer Space Commit-tee concluded on March 2. The Subcom-mittee spent much of its time discussingquest ions ra ised by Cosmos 954, thenuclear-powered Soviet radar ocean recon-naissance satellite that disintegrated overCanada in January. The full Outer SpaceCommittee may decide to set up a study tolook into possible regulations or safetystandards for nuclear power sources inspace.

On remote sensing, the Soviet Unionproposed a cutoff at 50 meters resolutionon the dissemination of data. Other dele-gations expressed doubt about the utilityof resolut ion as a cr i ter ion to just ifycontrol of dissemination, but most did feelt h a t c o n t r o l o f s o m e k i n d w o u l d b eappropriate for information about naturalresources. Some third world countriessupported the idea of creating a panel ofexperts to coordinate the activities of statesand organizations in the remote sensingfield. The Subcommittee alsodiscussed themonitor ing o f p o l l u t i o n b y r e m o t esensing.

Certain equatorial countries insistedthat the question of sovereignty over geo-synchronous orbit be referred to the fullOuter Space Committee, despite the U.S.posi t ion that there is no scient if ic ortechnical basis for any claim of extensionof national sovereignty to portions of geo-synchronous orbit.

L o o k i n g t o w a r d t h e f u t u r e , t h eSubcommittee set the stage for a finaldecision in 1979 on a world conference onouter space. At the initiative of the USSR,the Subcommittee also recommended thatit add one new item to its agenda for 1979:questions relating to space transportationsystems.

TETHERED SATELLITESTO BE STUDIED

by Phill Parker

Two companies, Martin Marietta andBall Brothers , have been selected byNASA to look into tethered satel l i tes.Such a satellite, attached to an orbitingSpace Shuttle by a cable up to 62 mileslong, has several potential applications.The primary application would be to gainscient i f ic data f rom the Earth’s upperatmosphere in order to map the Earth’smagnetic and gravity fields and to assistin the studies of atmospheric or plasmaphysics. Other potential applications are:cargo transfer between space vehicles;retrieval of satellites or debris withouthaving to maneuver the Shut t le ; andtransfer of large amounts of energy to aremote experiment or f rom a remote,possibly dangerous, power source to aspace station.

ART FORM FOR SPACE?A Canadian ar t workshop, Resolute

Art Works of Toronto, announced plansfor a possible orbiting artform, on the27th November 1977. This group initiat-ed a project to place a work of art into a1½ hour orbit.

In describing the project, Resolute ArtWorks announced that they were ap-proaching NASA on the feasability of a1980 space s h u t t l e l a u n c h f o r t h i ssculpture. The work would be a series ofnine silvery spheres, each of 300 feetdiameter, placed in orbit 100 feet apartgiving a total length of 3500 feet. Thespheres would be made of segmentedsections of thin plastic membranes withspecially prepared reflective surfaces formaximum visibility. The spheres wouldhave a skin thickness of 0.004 inches andbe made of aluminised mylar. The totalsurface area of each sphere would beabout 6½ acres . The spheres wil l begas-inflated, using sublimating powder, inorbit. Each sphere will be packaged into alaunching cannister, this splitting intotwo halves on reaching orbit, ‘when thegas inflat ion takes place. The orbi talheight being suggested is for this art workis apogee -- 290 miles, perigee -- 250miles and inclination 49 degrees, revolu-tion period 96 minutes.

Describing the work, the Resolute ArtWorks say that what makes this a ‘workof art’ would be the tension in it betweenthe natural and the artificial. It makes itsappearance in the natural sky, nei therdominating it or being dominated by thesky. It bears a resemblance to stars butthe resemblance is superficial since ninestars of equal size do not occur togetherin a straight line spaced equally apart nortraverse the sky every 96 minutes. Theyreason that the orbiting art work is anexperiment in monumental building andt h a t i t i s c o n c e i v e d a s a m o n u m e n tappropriate to the Twentieth Century.

3

Shuttle Update

Next fall, more than three years since thelast Saturn roared skyward from launchcomplex 39, the characteristic hustle andbustle of piloted space flight once againwill dominate the scene at the KennedySpace Center.

It will begin next October when orbiter102, f resh from the assembly l ine inCalifornia, soars piggybark into KSC atopits 747 carrier aircraft. The stubby delta-winged craf t-designed to rumble intoorbit like a rocket. maneuver beyond theatmosphere like a spareship and return toe a r t h a n d l a n d o n a r u n w a y l i k e a nairplane-will be the first of its kind to testthe rigors of celestial flight.

I n N o v e m b e r a n d D e c e m b e r . t h eremainder of the Space Shuttle flight kit --orbiter main engines, external tank andsolid rocket booster motors (SRBs) -- willarrive at KSC. Along with the orbiter, theywill enter the test, assembly and checkoutpipeline that will culminate in a scheduledlaunch from complex 39 in March of thefollowing year.

After completion of six developmentflights. including four landings at theDryden Space Flight Center. the SpaceS h u t t l e w i l l c o m m e n c e o p e r a t i o n a lmissions from the Kennedy center in May1980. KSC was selected in 1972 as theprimary l a u n c h a n d l a n d i n g s i t e f o rShuttle operations.

Construct ion of new faci l i t ies andmodificat ions to existing ones areproceeding on schedule at KSC to supportthe Shuttle’s debut.

The landing facility. where the Shuttleorbiter will land on its return to Earth, wasc o m p l e t e d l a s t A u g u s t . S u p p o r t i n gfacilities such as the mate-demate device, tooffload the orbiter from its 747 carrieraircraft, a n d t h e m i c r o w a v e l a n d i n gsystem, to guide the orbiter to an automaticlanding, will be completed in April 1978.Meteorological sites to support landingoperations were completed in November1977.

One of the world’s longest concreterunways, the orbiter landing facility is 4.5kilometers long, 91 meters wide and has a300-m safety overrun at each end. Thefacility is located northwest of the vehicleassembly building (VAB).

The orbiter processing facility, locatedadjacent to the VAB and connected to thelanding facility by a 3.2-km towway, isessential ly completed except for the

4

installation of some remaining stands andsystems expected to be in place by April.The two-bay structure will serve as anaircraft “hangar.” It is here, in a “cleanroom” environment, that ordnance andresidual fuels will be rendered safe, flightand landing systems will be refurbisheda n d p a y l o a d s w i l l b e r e m o v e d a n dinstalled.

The orbiter landing facility and theorbiter processing facility are the only newfacil i t ies required to support Shutt leoperations at KSC. The remaining Shuttlepreparations consist of modifications toexisting facilities originally designed andbuilt IO support the Apollo lunar landingmissions.

Only one structure on Cape CanaveralAir Force Station will be modified tosupport Shuttle operations. Hangar AFwill be transformed into a solid rocketbooster recovery and disassembly facility.It will serve as a receiving and disassemblysite for the reusable SRBs after theirretrieval from the ocean following Shuttlelaunches. Modifications, which began inJanuary, will be completed in the lastquarter of next year, and will include abarge slip at the rear of the building.

The eventual cost of construct ion,modification work and ground supportequipment to suppo r t Space Shu t t l eoperations at the Kennedy Space Centerwill be about $700-800 million.

Shuttle’s Runway

So You Want To Be An Astronaut?

So you are a would-be astronaut withthree s tr ikes against you. . . but youaren’t out yet, by any means. Not by along shot.

Strike one: you aren’t an experiencedjet fighter pilot with thousands of hoursof flight time, so you weren’t picked as apilot-astronaut and have little chance ofever being picked.

S t r i k e t w o : Y o u d i d n ’ t m a k e t h e‘Mission Specialist’ selection either, as atest engineer or as a scientist. You mightsomeday, but the odds are not good.

Strike three: You couldn’t get close tothe Spacelab ‘payload specialist’ selectionpanel either. These part-time researchersw i l l b e n o m i n a t e d b y t h e p a n e l o f“Principal Investigators” who themselveswere picked by NASA boards determinedto get the most productive science andengineering from each Spacelab mission.

But you are not out., because most ofthe Space Shuttle seats for the 1980s arest i l l empty, s t i l l unassigned. They arepossibly still available for use. Only userdemand will open them up.

These are the four extra seats on eachferry Shuttle flight, the missions devotedto launching synchronous comsats orother cargo payloads. Nominally, theseflights will carry three people: two pilotsand an engineer, and will last for one tothree days. Their sole purpose will berunning freight service into orbit -- buteven on earth, freighters carry passengerssometimes, too. One seat on the flightdeck, and all three on the middeck, aree m p t y . A n d t h a t d o e s n ’ t c o u n t t h r e emore possible seats (“rescue configura-tion”) in the middeck.

Putting people into those four ‘emptyseats’ on the freighter missions would notcost much extra , s ince the weight isnegligible a n d t h e c o n s u m a b l e s a r estandard. So, if it is to be possible tohitch-hike a three-day space ride, how canit be done?

NASA has not set up mechanisms forthis , and has not considered i t in anydetail. But it is these seats which will beused to fulfill NASA’s unwritten promiseto send a representat ive of the newsmedia in to orbi t in 1981-1982. Otheroccupants of these seats could be poets,medical patients, visiting scientists, andthe President of the United States. Andyou.

So how? More than curiosity will beneeded a s j u s t i f i c a t i on . P r o p o s e a nexperiment or some other act ivi ty toNASA. Create a market, and compel theSpace Shuttle management to considerthis option.

F i l l t hose s ea t s ! Fo rge t t he t h reestrikes: the game has just begun.

AstronautCandidatesSelected

NASA Administrator Dr. Robert A.Frosch recently announced the selection of35 new astronaut candidates for the SpaceShuttle program. The group will report tothe Johnson Space Center July 1, 1978,w h e r e t h e y w i l l j o i n t h e a s t r o n a u t scurrently on flight status.

NASA received 8,079 applications dur-ing a year-long recruiting period whichended June 30, 1977. Since August, 208finalists have been interviewed and haveundergone medical examinations at theJohnson center.

After two years of training and evalua-t ion there , successful candidates willbecome astronauts and enter the Shuttletraining program leading to selection on aSpace Shuttle flight crew.

Those chosen as pilots will operate theSpace Shuttle orbiter, maneuvering it inEarth orbit and flying it to Earth for arunway landing. Mission specialist astro-nauts will be responsible for the coordina-tion, with the commander and pilot, ofSpace Shuttle operations involving crewactivity planning, the use of consumables,and other Space Shuttle activitiesaffectingexperiment operations. They may partici-pate in extravehicular activities (spacewalks), perform special payload handlingor maintenance operations using the SpaceShuttle remote manipulator system, andassist in specific experiment operation att he d i s c r e t i on o f sponso r s o f g ivenexperiments.

The newly selected candidates include14 civilians and 21 military officers. Of thegroup, s i x a r e w o m e n , a n d f o u r a r emembers of minority groups. Currentlythere are 27 astronauts on active status (17pilots and 10 scientist astronauts) and oneon leave of absence.

The new astronaut candidates are:Maj. Guion S. Bluford, 35, Air Force

engineering specialist, from Dayton,Ohio

Lt. Cdr. Daniel C. Brandenstein, 35, Navypilot, of Oak Harbor, Wash.

Capt. James F. Buchli, Marine, 32, ofLexington Park, Md.

Lt. Cdr. Michael L. Coats, Navy pilot, ofGreat Mills, Md.

Maj. Richard O. Covey, Air Force Pilot, 32,of Fort Walton Beach, Fla.

Lt. Cdr. John O. Creighton, 32, Navypilot of Lexington Park, Md.

Maj. John M. Fabian, 39, Air Force astro-nautical engineer, of Colorado Springs.

Dr. Anna L. Fisher , 28, physician, ofRancho Palos Verdes, Calif.

Lt. Dale A. Gardner, 30, Navy physician,of Camarillo, Calif.

Lt. Robert L. Gibson, 31, Navy pilot, ofLeonardtown, Md.

Maj. Frederick D. Gregory, 37, Air Forcepilot, now attending the Armed ForcesStaff College in Norfolk, Va.

Stanley D. Griggs, 38, NASA engineer, ofSeabrook, Texas.

Terry J. Hart, 31, Bell Telephone Labora-tories engineer, of Long Valley, N.J.

Cdr. Frederick H. Hauck, 36, Navy pilot, ofOak Harbor, Wash.

Dr. Steven A. Hawley, 27, astronomer, ofSanta Cruz, Calif.

Dr. Jeffrey A. Hoffman, 34, astrophysicistat the Mass. Institute of Technology.

Dr. Shannon W. Lucid, 35, biochemist, ofOklahoma City.

Lt. Cdr. Jon A. McBride, 34, Navy pilot, ofEdwards, Calif.

Dr. Ronald E. McNair, 27, physicist at theHughes Research Laboratories, Malibu,Calif.

Capt. Richard M. Mullane, 32, Air Forceengineer, of Fort Walton Beach, Fla.

Capt. Steven R. Nagel, 31, Air Force pilot,of Edwards, Calif.

Dr. George D. Nelson, 27, astronomer atthe University of Washington, Seattle.

Capt. Ellison S. Onizuka, 31, Air Forceengineer from Kealakekua, Hawaii.

Dr. Judi th A. Resnick, 28, e lectr icalengineer, Xerox Corp., El Segundo,Calif.

Sally K. Ride, 27, researcher at StanfordUniversity, Calif.

Maj. Francis R. Scobee, 38, Air Force pilot,of Edwards, Calif.

Dr. Margaret R. Seddon, 30, surgical resi-dent at the Memphis City Hospital ,Tenn.

Capt. Brewster H. Shaw, 32, Air Force pilot’of Edwards, Calif.

Capt. Loren J. Shriver, 33, Air Force pilot,of Edwards, Calif.

Maj. Robert L. Stewart, 35, Army aero-nautical engineer, of Edwards, Calif.

Kathryn D. Sullivan, 26, geologist, ofCupertino, Calif.

Dr. Norman E. Thagard, 39, a physician,of James Island, S.C.

Dr. James D. van Hoften, 33, engineer, ofHouston, Texas.

Lt. Cdr. David M. Walker, 33, Navy pilot,of Virginia Beach, Va.

Lt. Cdr. Donald E. Williams, 36, Navypilot, of Lemoore, Calif.

5

by Paul Siegler

Would you l ike to be an astronaut?Robert Truax, of Saratoga, California,thinks he has just the solution. For $1million, he’ll put together a launch vehiclewhich will lift you to 50 miles -- to the edgeof space. From your vantage point in therocket, you’ll briefly be able to viewthousands of square miles of the earth’ssurface, as well as peer into the near-blackof interstellar space. This-the dream of arocket pioneer from the beginning of ournation’s space program.

R o b e r t T r u a x h a s e x p e r i e n c e i ndesigning rockets. After leaving AerojetGeneral, he built a steam-rocket poweredracing car. He’s also the person responsiblefor building the rocket which lifted Eve1Knievel over Snake River Canyon severalyears ago. Now he’s graduated to a morepowerful vehicle which can lift a humanpayload to 50 miles.

Basically a sounding rocket, Truax’svehicle is composed of parts from manyother programs. The four 1000 poundthrust engines are surplus vernier enginesfrom the Atlas program. The basic gyroswil l come from a Nike Hercules , andothers parts may come from the X-15 andPolaris programs. The benefi t of thistechnique is to reduce the cost and increasethe reliability of the whole program byusing tried and true components-therebysaving unnecessary development cost andtime, a n d u s i n g p a r t s w i t h k n o w nreliability factors.

The vehicle itself will be 24 feet long,with 25 inches outside diameter. (Thisnarrow diameter means the astronaut willbe somewhat cramped and will have tosquat inside the payload compartment tofit.) Fully fueled, it weighs 3100 pounds;dry, it weighs 1100 pounds. The fourengines give a total thrust of 4000 pounds,which means the astronaut will experiencea maximum of 3G thrust during ascent.

Before flight, there will be many groundtests to assure as high a reliability aspossible. (Truax estimates a 90% to 98%chance for survival in the first pilotedflight.) There have already been some testsof the engine components.

On the day of launch, all will be set up ata base near a large body of water-such ast h e P a c i f i c O c e a n o r a l a r g e l a k e .According to Truax, the vehicle will be

6

erected on the pad and serviced unt i lalmost ready for flight-without the nosecone. Nearby, the astronaut will be putinto the nose cone-which has a shirtsleeveenvironment-and the life support systemwill be activated. There will be just enoughair inside to last 30 minutes. Quickly, ac r a n e w i l l h o i s t t h e n o s e c o n e w i t ha s t r o n a u t a t o p t h e v e h i c l e , a n d t h ecountdown will continue on to firing. Atliftoff there will be television crews tomonitor the whole flight-as well as a TVcamera inside the vehicle showing viewerswhat the astronaut is seeing outside thewindow. Maximum acceleration of 3Gwill come at about 100,000 feet. At thatpoint, engines will shut off and the vehiclewill coast to 50 miles.

The astronaut will have a clear view ofthe earth and sky through the window, andwill be likely be describing the experienceto viewers on the ground through a specialcommunications link. At some point thev e h i c l e m a y b e g i n t o t u m b l e . T h i stumbling is undesirable, but cannot beremedied until the vehicle is back down toabout 100,000 feet altitude. At that pointthe drogue chute will pop out to stabilizethe system and help slow the descent. Bythe time it reaches 20,000 feet, its rate ofdescent will have slowed to about 400 milesper hour, and the main chute will popopen. This will be a 48 foot diameter chuteof a type tested successfully and used manytimes. Also, a port will be opened at 20,000feet to replenish the air in the nose cone. Bythe time it lands in the water, flight timewill have been ten minutes. A recovery fleetwill lx on its way in minutes. Truax’srecovery fleet consists of a 120 foot cutterwith two helicopters and a fixed wingairplane. Skin divers make up part of theteam.

The Volks-Rockets, as Truax like to callit, would then be recovered and reused forfuture flights, and the astronaut will havemade headlines across the country. Whencould all this come about? Perhaps no laterthan 1980, depending on when fundingbecomes available. In a sense, Truax hopeshis vehicle would be the world’s firstreusable shuttle. And therein lies part ofthe object of his intent. He’s doing this notjust to make money (and let there be nodoubt that monetary gain is one of the

ob jec t i ve s ) , bu t a l so t o show NASAengineers that they’re going in the wrongdirection by powering the Space Shuttlewith large solid rockets. Instead, Truaxfeels the best solution is to use “big dumbboosters” of a liquid fuel type. He wants tos imp l i fy t he ove ra l l app roach t o t heShuttle. To the contrary, he says, theShutt le program is too sophist icated,m a k i n g f o r u n a c c e p t a b l e t u r n a r o u n dtimes. He further feels that a ballistic typerecoverable vehicle stands a better chancethan a winged gl ider . A parachute islighter and simpler than wings, possiblymore reliable, having been proven manytimes in past programs such as Mercury,Gemini, a n d A p o l l o . I n h i s w o r d s ,designing a spacecraft to land at an airportmakes about as much sense as designing anaircraft to land at a railroad station.

This project, dubbed Project PrivateEnterprise, has already evoked considera-ble interest from the TV networks. As abackup to the astronaut’s own one milliondollars, the networks would likely payalmost the whole amount for viewingrights. Most of the gain from this firstflight, says Truax, would be used to makethe system even more reliable. Subsequentflights would cost but $10,000. Who’sinterested? Truax has already had severalpeop l e app roach h im to be t he f i r s tastronaut in his vehicle. One potentialastronaut is sel l ing T-shir ts to t ry tofinance his way. The first person to comeup with the money will be the first personto go.

Like Lutz Kayser of Germany, RobertTruax is moving out on his own, usingprivate capital in an attempt toaccomplisha space first and make some money doingit. Also like Kayser, Truax is using simplecomponents in an attempt to keep the totalcost down and reliability high. And itlooks like he might succeed.

The requirements are simple. And ifyou’re the first with the million dollars, theTV networks will likely repay you in full.Consider Robert Truax’s dream, then, asyour opportunity to be the first privatea s t r o n a u t i n t h e w o r l d - w i t h a l l t h eaccompanying benefits. He’s waiting tohear from you, right now.

L-5 News, April 1978

Space Mines, Space Law,and the Third World

by K. Eric Drexler

Can a U.S. company legally mine themoon? Some lawyers say yes, others sayno. Some say a special internationalentity must do the job. The 1967 OuterSpace Treaty, the primary source of lawon such matters, says:

“The exploration and use of outerspace, including the moon and othercelestial bodies, shall be carried out forthe benefit and in the interests of allcountries, irrespective of their degree ofeconomic or scientific development, andshall be the province of all mankind.”(Article I, first paragraph)

“Outer space, including the moon andother celestial bodies, is not subject tonational appropriation by claim ofsovereignty, by means of use or occupa-tion, or by any other means.” (Article II)

Jack Salmon states (L-5 News, May1977): “. . . Certainly the mining of lunarmaterials and their transport into spacefor construction purposes is more than astrict reading of the treaty permits; J.H.Glazer has even argued that constructionof a fixed-orbit colony might be con-strued as ‘national appropriation’ of aportion of outer space.”

However, a strict reading of the treatywould prohibit activities that are appar-ently considered to be legal. Currentmilitary activities are a use of outer spacenot “in the interests of all countries,”while operation of current communica-tions satellite systems are a use of outerspace not “carried out for the benefit . . .of all countries, irrespective of theirdegree of economic or scientific develop-ment.” Whatever the first paragraph ofarticle I may mean, precedent suggeststhat it does not prohibit a nation fromusing outer space for the benefit of itselfor whoever it pleases.

With regard to “national appropria-tion,” we must remember that the treatysays nothing about scale. If collecting afew rocks during project Apollo did notconstitute “national appropriation” ofthe moon, neither will collecting morerocks during mining operations. If orbit-ing a small inhabited spacecraft for a fewdays fails to violate the treaty, orbiting acolony for a few centuries can do noworse.

Moreover, since the treaty explicitlypermits the use and occupation of outerspace, article II can scarcely prohibitthem. In fact, article II declares thatouter space is not subject to nationalappropriation by any means whatsoever.This suggests that “national appropria-tion” is not an accidental byproduct of

space activities, but would require anational intent-to-appropriate.

Because all relevant paragraphs of thetreaty refer to “outer space, including themoon and other celestial bodies,” use ofthe moon is no more restricted than useof space. Space has been used freely byindividual nations and companies with nolegal challenge. Because all relevantparagraphs of the treaty refer to “explo-ration and use,” use of the moon is nomore restricted than exploration of themoon. A single nation explored the moon(initially) and removed lunar materialwithout legal challenge. Nowhere in therelevant paragraphs does the treaty makeany distinction between actions permis-sible in the use of the moon, the use ofspace, and the exploration of the moon.

We should also note paragraph two ofarticle I:

“Outer space, including the moon andother celestial bodies, shall be free forexploration and use by all States withoutdiscrimination of any kind, on a basis ofequality, and in accordance with interna-tional law, and there shall be free accessto all areas of celestial bodies.”

This appears to guarantee free use ofcelestial bodies by all nations, withoutneed for the special international agree-ments that some claim are required.Please note that the treaty says nothingto suggest that mining is a special orproscribed form of use.

Article IV states:“States party to the Treaty shall bear

international responsibility for nationalactivities in outer space, including themoon and other celestial bodies, whethersuch activities are carried out by govern-mental agencies or by non-governmentalentities . . . ”

This appears to imply the right ofnongovernmental entities, including com-panies, to operate on the moon or othercelestial bodies.

To summarize, no precedent exists forinterpretations of the treaty which wouldrequire special international agreement topermit use of outer space, including themoon and other celestial bodies. Noprecedent exists for interpretations re-quiring specially negotiated internationaldistribution of benefits from such use.Precedent exists for removal of lunarmaterials, and the treaty does not suggest

A mass dr iver f l inging lunar ore in to space .

7

that such activities constitute nationalappropriation of the moon. The treatyestablishes that non-governmental entitiesmay carry out activities in space undernational supervision. From this we mayconclude that U.S. companies can, withfederal permission and oversight, legallymine the moon.

I am not a lawyer, and the aboveinterpretation may prove faulty. If so,article XVI provides a way out:

“Any State Party to the Treaty maygive notice of its withdrawal from theTreaty one year after its entry into forceby written notification to the DepositoryGovernments. Such withdrawal shall takeeffect one year from the date of receiptof this notification.”

The 1967 Outer Space Treaty seemsincapable of blocking space mining, butmore than just signed treaties affectsinternational relations. Many have sug-gested seabed mining as a legal analogy tospace mining. Fruitless negotiations con-tinue on a comprehensive Law of the SeaTreaty (see L-5 News, January 1978).Disagreement in these negotiations cen-ters on the concept of the “commonheritage of mankind,” which supposedlydescribes the seabed and other extra-national resources. Developing countriesare said to “contend that the conceptprohibits the United States, or any othernation with the technological ability todo so, to develop these resources orreduce them to possession.” Regardless oftreaties, this posit ion could pose apolitical problem if extended to spaceresources. The developing countries’ re-flex response to talk of space miningseems to be “Stop! Leave some for us!”Need such conflicts arise?

The developing countries have goodreason to block exploitation of theseabed. Exploitation of seabed resourcesby the advanced nations would hurt somedeveloping economies by undercuttingthe market for their mineral resources,which are all many of them have to sell.Exploitation could well deplete seabedresources before the developing countriesbecome capable of benefiting from them.They have nothing to lose and everythingto gain from delay.

Nevertheless, the developing countrieshave good reason to favor exploitation ofspace. Space will return energy (andeventually materials) at a future timewhen the world’s supplies may be runningshort and the developing countries’demand should be rising sharply. Exploi-tation, far from depleting space resources,would make them increasingly availableas the developing countries become ableto use them. In space, with the long leadtimes for resource development, thedeveloping countries have nothing to gainand quite a bit to lose from delay.

Much conflict could be avoided ifeveryone concerned realized that theresources of space are effectively limit-less. In every second, the sun pours out a

two million year supply of energy. Asingle asteroid, Ceres, contains resourcesenough to build a land area over 600times that of Earth -- assuming weconstruct enormous, inefficient colonieswith lots of dirt. Fears that the developedworld could soon gobble up the thirdworld’s share of space resources aregroundless, yet fears continue.

Educating the world about spaceresources would dispel these fears, buteducating the world is an awesome task.A more practical solution would be tomake a dramatic concession to thedeveloping countries. Congress could passa resolution limiting U.S. exploitation ofspace resources over the next century (oruntil an international allocation agree-ment is reached) to no more than l/1000of the resources of the asteroid belt, or ofthe moon, or of any other celestial body,with no more than l/100,000 to beconsumed in any given year. Simplecalculations show this resolution to be amere gesture: the U.S. couldn’t comeclose to exceeding this limit if it tried.Now, consider the propaganda value:“Look! We’re opening space to the worldand using less than our share of itsresources. In fact, we are leaving over99.9% to the future and to the thirdworld!” Such a resolution would helpdefuse objections to space mining, andhelp to shock people into a sorely needednew pattern of thinking.

Russia’s BIOS-3Mini-Colony

Some years ago, back in 1972/73, theSoviet Union conducted a six monthexperiment of a closed-loop environmentusing people and higher plants. Thissmall-scale experiment has many fascinat-ing aspects that have relevance to spacecolony design. The BIOS-3 experimentpoints successfully to the possibility oftotally closed ecological systems on spacecolonies.

The BIOS-3 unit comprised a stainlesssteel body of 9 x 14 x 2.5 meters with

four compartments. Two compartmentswere called phytotrons and housed, atdifferent stages of the experiment, higherplants such as wheat and vegetables, whilethe third compartment was used, at somestages, to house Chlorella unicellularalgae. The fourth compartment was thecrew compartment with three cabins,kitchen, laundry, toilet and washingfacilities. Each phytotron had 20.4 sq.meters of growing area, each equippedwith trays for aerial sub-irrigation cultureof wheat and for growing vegetables inhydroponics on a porous clay filler, asystem for distributing nutrient solutionsand for ventilation and heat dissipation.Twenty valves were installed to imitatesunshine guides. The rated capacity was1,000 liters of oxygen per 24 hours perphytotron. The food requirements of thethree man crew were provided by thehigher plants.

A six month program was carried outwith the BIOS-3 unit. The first stage ofthe experiment lasted two months. Theyused the two phytotrons in a “man-higherplant” system. The two phytotrons wereplanted with wheat, Bordeaux cabbage,Chante carrots, Dill, Petrovsky turnip,Peking leaf cabbage, Virovsky whiteraddish, Batun onions, Din-Zo-On cucum-bers and sorrel. Culture conditions were145-l80 W/m2 of uninterrupted illumina-tion, an air temperature of 22-25°Crelative humidity of 72-78% and a carbondioxide concentration of 0.2-1.5%. Theresults from this first stage were veryencouraging and seemed to point the wayto a successful cycle of closed ecologicalsystems. However, for the second andthird stages of the experiment, one of thephytotrons was replaced by a compart-ment of Chlorella. In the second stage,wheat was planted. It appears that thewheat was severely affected by thepresence of the Chlorella in the systemand the toxic levels in the vegetables alsorose. The third stage saw only thevegetables and Chlorella being plantedand grown. Again, high toxic levels werefound although the crew were able tofunction normally. It seems the toxicitywas due to the presence of the chlorellain the system. The overall result of thisexperiment, however, is that it doesappear to be possible to create abiological life support system withinlimited space and that that system becontrolled from within i.e. space colonystyle.

(PJP)(Readers of the above article are directedto a more detailed account of the BIOS-3unit and the results from the experimentscontained with ‘Acta Astronautica’, Vol.3 pp.633-650 under the t i t le “Lifesupport System With Autonomous Con-trol Employing Plant Photosynthesis’ byI.I. Gitelson, et al, of the L.V. KirenskyPhysics Institute of the Siberian Branchof the USSR Academy of Sciences,Krasnoyarsk, USSR).

8 L-5 News, April 1978

From the Center -T.A. Heppenheimer

The Soviets have made a noteworthyaccomplishment. Climaxing a decade ofconcerted and often disappointing effort,they have succeeded in establishing a spaces t a t i o n i n o r b i t . T h e i r S a l y u t 6 h a ssupported the cosmonauts Grechko andR o m a n e n k o i n o r b i t f o r s o m e t h r e emonths, as this is written; and they havesuccessfully resupplied the orbiting Salyutvia shuttle rockets from Earth.

I n t h e h i s t o r y o f a s t r o n a u t i c s , t h epermanent space station is a desideratumwhich has served to focus effort and studyfrom the earliest days of the science. Theclassic concept is the orbiting wheel of vonBraun or of Arthur Clarke -- a designclosely resembling the Stanford Torusspace colony. Indeed, a quarter-centuryago, von Braun’s ideas were receiving thesame sort of attention as the ideas of spacecolonization are receiving today.

In the real world, the early von Brauna n d C l a r k e c o n c e p t s h a v e n o t b e e nrealized. Yet the Salyut must be regarded asa true space station, albeit one not soelaborate as one might wish. Such astatement follows from an understanding

of the question: What is a space station?What is the threshold which separates atrue space station from a long-durationmanned orbiting flight?

I think the common judgment would bethat this threshold consists of maintainingthe s t a t i on a s a l ong- t e rm fac i l i t y ,resupplied by flights from Earth. This isdistinct from even a very long flight by aspacecraft, if that craft is not resuppliedbut ins tead re turns to Ear th af ter i tsmission.

The U.S. Skylab was also a space station;it was abandoned after being in use lessthan a year. It may yet see further service inthe shuttle era. Plans are afoot for an earlyshuttle flight to boost it to-higher orbit; butsuch plans must go forward quickly, forSkylab’s orbit is decaying.

There are several ways in which theseearly space stations are pertinent to thegoal of space colonization. One is that thehistory of the space station may be, to anextent, repeated: Twenty-five years afterthe initial public discussions of elaborateconcepts, there may be space systemswhich, while much less elaborate, still

truly accomplish the goals of those earlierideas.

What, then, would be a threshold fors p a c e c o l o n i z a t i o n ? H o w w o u l d o n edistinguish a large space station from anembryonic space colony? I would arguethat the difference is reliance on nonter-restrial resources: Once there is a lunarmine and a mass-driver serving a spacemanufacturing plant, then we will be atthe “Salyut 6” stage of space colonization.

But will the Soviets play a leading role?Here the technical gulf between a spacestation and a space colony yawns wide. Foroperations in high Earth orbit, or on theMoon, the use of hydrogen as a propellantis essential . The Soviets have yet todemonstrate its use. We flew our firsthydrogen-fueled stage in 1962.

Beyond that, for all the hopes of U.S. --Soviet space cooperation, there still is this:The U.S. space program is civilian incharacter; the Soviet’s is entirely controlledby their military. It is the Soviet army andair force which set their priorities in space.And no consideration of space cooperationcan ignore this.

SALYUT-6 FACTS & FIGURESJAMES E. OBERG

The following data is extracted in rougha r r a n g e m e n t f r o m t h e S o v i e t p r e s s ,describing various features of the missionof Salyut-6. Soviet sources have been quiteexplicit and forthright about many aspectsof this mission, but, regrettably, much ofthe interesting data has not been relayed tothe Western public.

The Salyut-Soyuz combination weighsin excess of 26,000 kg and has an interiorvolume of more than 100 cubic meters. Thelength of the complex is more than 20meters. The Salyut has three cylinders: thetransfer compartment, sealed at each endby a hatch, and possessing a ‘side-door’ forE V A - t h i s c o m p a r t m e n t i s a b o u t t w ometers in diameter and 2.5 meters long.N e x t i s t h e s o - c a l l e d ‘ w o r k i n gcompartment’ wi th a diameter of 2 .9meters and a length of 3.8 meters. Thewidest section of the station houses most ofthe scientific apparatus (total weight ofapparatus: 1500 kg), and is 4.15 meters in

diameter and 6 meters long (of which only4.1 is pressurized -- the rest houses themaneuvering engines, fuel tanks, and aftdocking equipment).

Three solar power wings are attached tothe middle compartment. They measure 3by 15 meters and can articulate to followthe sun. Their peak power is 4000 watts,although accounting for battery chargingfor darkness, normal operating power is2000 watts.

The maneuvering engines are straddlingthe docking port at the aft end. Their totalthrust is 600 kg. Fuel is not described(NOTE: We suspect it is hydrazine andnitric acid).

The Salyut-6 is a ‘heavy spacecraft of anew type.’ I t h a s o n - b o a r d s t a n d a r dequipment which was tested on earlierf l i g h t s : t h e ‘ S t r o k a ’ t e l e t y p e , a ninstallation for recycling water which is95% closed loop; a spacecraft orientationsys t em based on a r ap id ly sp inn ingspherical weight which is suspended

between magnets and which can be spunup or down along any axis to trim theattitude of the whole vehicle; an improvedventilation system; a modified and moresensi t ive thermal control system; anautomatic navigation system called the‘Delta’ which computes orbit, AOS/LOS,sunrise/sunset, and other scheduled events.

The ‘Del ta’ autonomous on-boardnavigation system is a small computer,about the size of a small sui tcase. I tconnects to a radio altimeter, velocitymeasuring devices, and astronavigationalsensors, and outputs navigation data, via alink to the ‘Stroka’ teletype. As the stationpasses over radio beacons in the USSR,Doppler shifts are used to compute radialvelocity. Rising and setting of celestialbodies are noted, and the position of theh o r i z o n ( N O T E : A l s o , t h e f l o w o fatmospheric ions past the spacecraft canprovide a velocity vector determination towithin a degree or two).

The ‘Delta’ provides data as mentioned

9

earlier. It automatically switches on/offthe station’s communications gear. Via apush-but ton a t the end of a cord. thecosmonauts can precisely fix any givenmoment on board, such as during visualobservations, in Moscow time, with exactreference to the orbital position of thestation at that moment.

The orbit of the space station complex isinclined to the equator by 51.6 degrees.The standard altitude is about 350 kmwith a period of 91.34 minutes, whichallows for the same azimuth pass over thelaunch site every second day 48 minutesearlier (31 revolutions apart). The orbitslowly decays due to air drag (NOTE: Ruleof thumb, about .02 minutes shorter periodpe r week ) so pe r iod i c b l a s t s o f t hem a n e u v e r i n g e n g i n e a r e r e q u i r e d .Alternately, the engine of a docked Soyuzor Progress ship can be fired to boost thestation. This was done with the engine ofSoyuz-26 on December 29, and with theengine of Progress-l on February 5. Sincethe Salyut was injected into a low orbit bythe Proton booster on September 29 (about220 by 275 km, period 89.1 minutes), thepayload had to use up a great deal of fuel toraise itself to the operating altitude at 350km.

The launch of the Progress- l spacecargo/tanker was played up big (well, theydeserve the applause). The ship carried2 5 0 0 k g o f c a r g o : f r e s h s u p p l i e s o foxygen/nitrogen to raise the Salyut cabinpressure, propellants, oxygen regenerators(cannisters containing sheets of potassiumsuperoxide which reacts with air humidityt o a b s o r b s o m e C O - 2 a n d g i v e o f foxygen), air filters, water, clean clothes,film, letters and newspapers from home,new documentation for experiments, ageographic atlas, a Vesna-2 portable taperecorder with music cassettes, and variouspieces of unspecified scientific gear. Thetotal spaceship weight was given as 7000kg. Externally it is said to closely resemblethe Soyuz, with a higher level (if that’spossible: Ed) of automation. The servicemodule is slightly enlarged. The Soyuzcommand (‘descent’) module is modifiedby removal of heat shield, parachute,couches, periscope, etc., and installation oftanks of fuel, oxidizer (Not liquid oxygenas an ignorant Western correspondentguessed), oxygen and nitrogen for thecabin air, and gas to pneumatically pushthe fluids into the tanks of the Salyut. TheSoyuz ‘orbital module’ became a cargohold, which the cosmonauts could enter.As they removed one bank of supplies, theyreplaced that volume with trash and spentequipment from the Salyut.

The docking of the Progress to theSalyut-G/Soyuz-27 was done by autopilot.The cosmonauts observed the approach at

a console in the Salyut, and if somethingunforeseen had happened, could push abutton to ‘blind’ the autopilot, halting thea p p r o a c h o f t h e P r o g r e s s . T h a t w a sevidently the only control the cosmonautshad over the Progress. They could alsoturn on the Salyut engines and pull awayfrom a bad Progress.

Progress-l transferred about 1000 kg ofpropellants and air, so that might be thewhole load. The total weight transferredfrom Progress-1 was more than 2300 kg, SO

about 1300 kg was ‘dry weight.’ (NOTE:The Soviet data says that the cosmonautsuse of 20-30 kg of material per day of flight,leading to the estimate of a Progress visitneeded every 43 to 65 days). Whether thatfigure also includes air losses during EVA,maneuvering fuel, etc., is unknown.unknown.

The Progress delivered new weightedtraining (anti-weightlessness) suits for thecosmonauts, as well as medical supplies tor ep l ace exp i r ed med ic ines i n t he l o toriginally launched on board Salyut-6.Ca rbon d iox ide f i l t e r s (p re sumab lylithium hydroxide) were also included; aswell as new bed linen and new safety strapsfor the chairs, and more fans.

A P r a v d a , J a n . 2 4 i n t e r v i e w w i t hAcademician Boris Raushenbakh states:“Docking with two space vehicles makes itpossible to hand over the station and itsapparatus to replacement crews ‘in flight,’without any interruption in its work.:”this avoids time wasted in mothballinga n d d e - m o t h b a l l i n g t h e s t a t i o n , a n dswitching to and from automatic/remotecontrol . So I suspect this means thatSalyut-6 will never be uninhabited again,although this will call for some prettyfancing juggling of Soyuz and Progressships at the forward and aft docking ports.

The whole Progress unloading took twoweeks of almost full time and deliberatework . Spec i a l admi ra t i on shou ld bereserved for the fuel transfer: I don’t likehandling nitric acid and hydrazine on theground, le t a lone in space. After thetransfer, the cosmonauts f inished bypurging the fuel transfer lines so nothingwould contaminate the outs ide of theSalyut at separation. The Progress did twodays of test maneuvers, then fired itsmaneuvering engine to re-enter over thenorth Pacific and burn up-thousands ofmiles short of Canada.

NOTE: The launching of Soyuz-27seems to have been a makeshift missionwhose sole purpose was to get the crew’sS o y u z t o t h e f o r w a r d d o c k i n g p o r t ,clearing the way for the Progress to use theaft port. The failure of Soyuz-25 in Octoberforced the next crew to use the wrong portdue to suspicions that the forward port wasdamaged. With the re turn to ear th of

Soyuz-26 and the ‘visiting cosmonauts,’the on-board crew was in the configurationthey should have been in three monthsbe fo re , b u t w i t h t h e a d d i t i o n a lexpenditure of two Soyuz spacecraf t /boosters (my guess at cost? In excess of ahundred million dollars each. No wondert h e S o y u z - 2 5 c r e w h a d t h e i r w r i s t sslapped!)

The rendezvous of the Soyuz-27 was notroutine, since the Soviets pointed out that“the Soyuz-26 spaceship was blocking thestation’s rear radio antennas, (so) theSoyuz-27 had to be (ground) guided notmerely into the vicinity of the station, butprecisely in line with the forward antennasin order to be in radio contact with Salyut-6.” Sounds like a punt to me.

Soyuz-27 also brought new film for theon-board “MKF-6M” multi-spectral earthresources camera, made in East Germanyat the Karl Zeiss-Jena plant. An earliermodel of this camera was flown on the soloeight day Soyuz-22 mission in September1976. NOTE: I suspect that film which wasl a u n c h e d o n b o a r d t h e S a l y u t - 6 i nSeptember had expired by the time theSoyuz-26 cosmonauts got there, so newreplacement film had to be launched onthe next available transport.

The MKF camera is used in the ‘Raduga’(rainbow’) experiment , which recordsviews of the ear th in s ix bands (notspecified); 90% of the photo tasks are foreconomic purposes , while 10% is forresearch in remote sensing. Since Soyuz-22,the camera was improved by the additionof an extra electronics backup unit, andtwo extra film cassette slots were built in.Each picture covers an area of 165 by 220km, and each cassette carries film for 250shots.

T h e t w o d o c k i n g m e c h a n i s m s , a to p p o s i t e e n d s o f t h e S a l y u t , a r efunctionally identical (BUT NOTE: theProgress supply/tanker can apparentlyonly pump fuel in from the AFT dockingposition). Once a ship is docked, a plasticair hose with installed fan is extended froma position in the station into the cabin ofthe docked ship.

When the two Soyuz ships were dockingto the Salyut in January, there were a totalof eight hatches separating the two crews:the command module hatch, the orbitalmodule forward hatch, the docking porthatch, the aft transfer tunnel hatch, thew o r k i n g / t r a n s f e r t u n n e l h a t c h , t h eforward docking hatch, the other Soyuzorbital module hatch, and the other Soyuzcommand module hatch.

Russia’s first space walk in almost nineyears took place on December 20, nearmidnight Moscow time. The walk had tot ake p l ace ove r Sov ie t t e r r i t o ry fo rcommunications requirements, but this

10 L-5 News, April 1978

required that it take place in the middle ofthe normal sleep cycle and in the dark.This underlined the urgency of the walk,which was to check out possible damage tothe forward docking port by the Soyuz-25dock ing abo r t i n Oc tobe r (NOTE: I tshould be recorded here that the crew ofthat miss ion, unl ike EVERY previouscrew, did NOT receive the standard ‘Heroof the Soviet Union’ award, but insteadwere granted a much lesser medal, clearindication that they were being held inpart responsible for the failure).

The crew was in vacuum 88 minutes butreportedly Grechko only spent aboutt w e n t y m i n u t e s o u t s i d e , w h i l eRomanenko remained in the t ransferm o d u l e m o n i t o r i n g t h e E V A . P h o t o sreleased by NOVOSTI show that a workp l a t fo rm , i n c l u d i n g h a n d r a i l s a n dr e s t r a i n t s , h a s b e e n i n s t a l l e d o n t h eexterior of the Salyut.

The cosmonauts spent the previous twodays preparing for the spacewalk, thenwent to sleep early and awoke a few hoursbefore midnight . After the walk, theystowed equipment and did not go to sleepuntil about 8 AM, sleeping until 4 PM.Their normal sleep cycle is a standard 8AM to midnight awake. The EVA reallymessed it up.

The spacesuit has a ‘hard’ torso, like acuirass of medieval armor. In the back ofthe cuirass is a large hatch, mounted uponwhich is the autonomous l i fe supportsystem. The cosmonaut enters the suitthrough this hatch and closes it by pullingon a D-ring attached to the front. Finalsealing i s a c c o m p l i s h e d b y p u l l i n gforward and upwards on another lever onthe f ront of the sui t . The sui t can bedonned unaided in five minutes.

U n d e r n e a t h t h e p r e s s u r e s u i t t h ecosmonaut wears another suit of elastictubing through which water circulates forcooling. The control pack is located on thechest, with written instructions inscribedin reverse, since the cosmonaut views thedials of the control pack via a mirrormounted on his arm. The suit is so flexiblethat the hands can be clasped behind thehead, and the gloves are sensitive enoughto permit the wearer to handle smallinstruments or even write with a pen.

The suits are mounted on special racksin the transfer compartment. They are ofone basic size to fit all cosmonauts of anyheight.

The Salyut has an exercycle and atreadmill, along with stress suits such asthe ‘Penguin’ and ‘Athlete’ gadgets whichmaintain stress against the muscular andskeletal systems o f t h e c o s m o n a u t s .Medical tests are done with a clinicalmult i -funct ional apparatus cal led thePolinom-2M (tested on earlier flights) and

the ‘Rheograph.’Another piece of medical equipment is

the ‘Beta-3’ device, which records ballisto-c a r d i o g r a m s . T e s t s a r e m a d e b e f o r e ,during, and after runs on the exercycle,treadmill, and the ‘Chibis’ vacuum suit(NOTE: This is evidently a ‘lower bodynegative pressure’ chamber like that usedon Skylab).

The station has about twenty portholesof various sizes. One experiment is todetermine the effect of space conditions onthe optical properties and surfaces of theseportholes. The crew found a scratch 1.5millimeters deep on one porthole and it isassumed it was caused by a meteorite. Inthe first 1000 revolutions of the Salyut,only one ‘large’ particle was recorded bymicro-meteoroid sensors.

Another medical device was included:the Amak-3 autonomous microanalyzerfor blood samples. Possibly this device wasdel ivered in the Progress- l , s ince nomention of it was made before January 27.

Footnote: A six month long ‘bedrest’experiment under the direction of chiefSoviet space doctor Oleg Gazenko wasconducted at the ‘Institute of Medical andBiological Problems’ from October 4, 1976( n o t e s p a c e anniversary connect ion)through April 1977. Eighteen persons wereinvo lved i n t h r ee g roups : s i x t e s t edpreventive measures against the effects ofweightlessness, six tested the measureso n l y h a l f a s m u c h , a n d s i x u s e d n omeasures at all. All remained prone withtheir heads slightly lower than their feet.Gazenko is reported to have said at the endof the experiment that “it can be said withcertainty that the limit for man’s flight inspace goes beyond six months.”

Bio log ica l e x p e r i m e n t s a r e a l s oi m p o r t a n t . T h e g r o w t h d y n a m i c s o fchlorella algae are being studied, alongwith the effects of weightlessness on celldivision.

A n e x p e r i m e n t c a l l e d ‘Resonance’i n v o l v e d j u m p i n g a r o u n d i n v a r i o u smodules of the complex and observingmotion and f lexure at joints to othermodules. This experiment was done in allc o m b i n a t i o n s o f S o y u z / d u a l - S o y u z /Soyuz-Progress docking configurations.

The ‘Medusa’ experiment cal ls forspecial flasks of bio-polymers mounted onthe outs ide of the s tat ion, exposed tovacuum and cosmic radiation. Controlflasks are inside the station. They will beretrieved and returned to earth to see ifliving spores could indeed have crossedopen space and begun life on earth.

The crew’s adaptation to weightlessnessproceeded normally. All negative effects ofwe igh t l e s snes s (d i zz ine s s , n a u s e a ,headache) had disappeared by the seventhday. Every two or three days, readings with

the Beta-3 instrument are taken. Every fiveor six days, a more thorough examinationi s c o n d u c t e d w i t h t h e P o l i n o m - 2 Mapparatus.

A ‘group for psychological support’ hasb e e n w o r k i n g t o k e e p t h e c r e wpsycho log i ca l l y hea l t hy . Cosmonau tm o o d i s m o n i t o r e d v i a a n a l y z i n gharmonics in their voices to detect hiddentension. Special projects are undertaken toavoid any possible ‘sensory deprivation’problems. Soyuz-27 brought up a taperecorder and cassettes. A videotape recorderand movies are also on board.

Vlad imi r Sha ta lov wr i t i ng in ‘A i rTransport,’ reported by TASS over RadioMoscow on January 16, tells us that thevisit of Soyuz-27 crewmen to Salyut-6means “it will be possible to send ‘narrow’s p e c i a l i s t s f o r s t a g i n g s o m e l o c a lexperiments and then quickly returning toearth.” Together with the announcementt h a t t h e r e a r e n o w “ p h y s i c i a n -cosmonauts” in training (Russia’s firstreal “scientist-astronauts” since 1964), thissuggests that a long endurance flight crewwill be occasionally visited by a spacemedicine expert for a ‘house call in orbit’and for tests to determine if the crew cancontinue their months-long marathon.

COMMENT: With the capabil i ty ofresupplying ALL consumables of theSalyut-6, all bets on total mission durationare OFF. I would not be surprised to seecosmonauts using the Salyut-6 five yearsfrom now. By then, bigger and bet terthings will be in orbit, but Salyut-6 couldstill be operational as well. And I believeGazenko: we’ll see a 180 day space visit by acrew (or single cosmonaut, as colleaguesare rotated) this year.

For the first time, the Salyut crew ismaintaining the same working hours asthe ground support people in Moscow.This is possible because of improvedcommunication even outside of range ofSoviet in-country tracking sites.

Fo r pe r sona l hyg iene , an i so l a t edsanitation system, and a folding shower( f i r s t on a Sov ie t space s t a t i on ) a r eprovided.

Contact with the Salyut-6 is beingmaintained via the Soviet in-countrytracking sites (Yevpatoriya, Tbil isi ,Baikonur, Kolpashevo, Irkutsk, Ussuriysk,and Petropavlovsk) and via tracking shipsat sea: the ‘Volkov,’ newly commissioned,is off Cuba; the ‘Gagarin,’ flagship of thetracking fleet, is off the coast of NovaS c o t i a ; t h e ‘ K o m a r o v ’ i s i n t h eMediterranean. Smaller ships are in theSouth Atlantic. The other major trackingship, the ‘Korolev,’ is in port. Three newtracking ships are in various stages of seatrials or construction: the ‘Belyayev,’ the‘Dobrovolskiy,’ and the ‘Patsayev.’

11

T h e f a n t a s y : P e n t h o u s e ’ s v e r s i o n o f O T R A G ’ s r o c k e t t e s t s .

OTRAG NewsI have rarely read such a heap of

fabrications and distortions as the TadSzulc article on “Germany Rearms” inthe March issue of Penthouse.

Szulc accuses the US of being secretlyinvolved with German testing of cruisemissiles for nuclear warheads at a secretmilitary center in the Congo-Zaire. Hisarticle consists of a series of baselessassertions, phony ‘straw men’, radicalcliches inconsistencies internally, andstupidities. Worst of all are the deliberateomissions of facts which do not fit.

The genera1 consensus on Lutz Kayserand OTRAG, and on the space transpor-tation system allegedly being built incompetition with French and NASAboosters, is that Kayser is a flamboyantcon man raising money for a space-agescam before absconding to Rio. On theother hand, his cheap expendable spacelaunch booster might indeed work. It isbarely conceivable that he is a front forsomeone else, but a few facts reveal theabsurdity of that paranoid fraud.

Szulc claims that “weather satellites”are the OTRAG justification. Baloney.OTRAG says that it can build cheapboosters to undersell any client’s need for

The reality: OTRAG’s first rocket testMay 17, 1977. Photos courtesy of TheoPirard.

The first OTRAG rocket: an assembly of 4 independent 1st OTRAG rocket is launched successfully from Manono,

12 modules which burn diesel oil and nitric acid. North of Shaba.

satellite launchings, mainly for communi-cations satellites. An equa to r i a l s i t emakes the most advantage of the earth’srotat ion speed. Szulc hints ominouslyabout the nature of OTRAG’s “clients”,but he seems not to know (or want hisr e a d e r s t o k n o w ) t h a t m o s t a r t i f i c i a lsatellites launched today by NASA arefor private clients.

Inconsistencies: in one paragraph,Zaire receives “vast American economicand military assistance” . . . and in anoth-er, “American military aid to Zaire hasbeen kept down to a small volume”. Whodid Szulc’s research?

S tup id i t i e s : t he a s se r t i on t ha t anIRBM with a range of 1500 miles is aboutto be test fired from a range 300 milesacross, make a full duration flight, andreturn to the test range!

Omissions: The Germans, as part ofEuropean space activities, have for morethan ten years been working on variousrocket stages for orbital launch rockets.The latest is a s tage of the ‘Ariane’booster now being built mainly by theFrench for ESA, the European SpaceAgency. How is this OTRAG activity anymore a treaty violation than the earlierspace rockets? Who did Szulc’s research?

Omission: Moscow has unleashed amajor wave of hysterical publicity againstthe OTRAG activities, seeing in them agood gimmick to whip up anti-Germans e n t i m e n t a t h o m e a n d a n t i - W e s t e r nsen t imen t i n Af r i ca . Szu l c does no tmention this massive propaganda cam-paign, and why not? Could his ‘sources’and ‘quotes’ and various ‘high-level hints’all be part of the well-known disinforma-tion activities of the USSR?

Who did Szulc’s research? He tells uswho by a reveal ing spel l ing error . Hespells the name of MBB corporation’smiddle partner as “BELKOV” when it isactually “BOELKOW”. It is “BELKOV”o n l y o n d o c u m e n t s i n R u s s i a n ortranslated from the Russian. Is that whereSzu lc go t a l l h i s j u i cy an t i -German“information”? And the third member is“BLOHM” not “BLAUM” as Szulc (andthe Russians) mispell it. Caught in hisown trap of fabrications?

S z u l c ’ s e a g e r p a r t i c i p a t i o n i n t h eMoscow-inspired anti-OTRAG campaign,and his use of Moscow-supplied informa-tion without telling his readers where itcame from, must disappoint readers whoremember his former journalistic scruplesand s tandards. This OTRAG abort iondoes not measure up to such standards ofaccuracy or honesty. His ‘accusations’h a v e i n s t e a d p o i n t e d t h e f i n g e r o faccusation directly back at him.

James E. ObergAssociate Editor

SPACE WORLD magazineWhile the L-5 News may have been the

first publication to report on weak pointsin Tad Szulc’s analysis of the OTRAGoperation (“Penthouse Slams OTRAG”,L-5 News, Jan 1978), it is not the only one.

L-5 News, April 1978

Build your own: you. too can become a not included. Write or call Centuri Flyingcruise missi le threat with a powered, Model Rockets,’ Box 1988, Phoenix, AZflying, 12 inch long scale model of the 85001. 602/264-0325 for details.controversial weapon. Nuclear warheads

The Feb. 26 Boston Sunday Globe carriedan article by Andrew Wilson which claimsthat “it can now be established that theEast bloc of countries must have known allalong that their allegations about the useof the Zaire range for military purposes are,l ike s tories of the building of a hugemilitary airfield and of OTRAG operatinga C I A - t y p e a i r l i n e . t o t a l l y w i t h o u tfoundation . . . Three basic facts make theOTRAG type rocke t s unsu i t ab l e f o rmilitary use. First, the diesel -- nitric acidfuel cannot be stored in the rocket tubeswithout danger of an explosion. . . Second,there are grave doubts as to whether Kaysercan lick outstanding problemsof guidanceand combustion which make the OTRAGr o c k e t a h a z a r d o u s v e h i c l e f o r t h elaunching o f huge ly expens ive spysatellites. Third, the great weight of fuelrequired (85% of the total launch weight),plus the weight of standard engineeringcomponents l ike valves, raises doubtsabout the payload that Kayser’s largerrockets will eventually be able to carry.”

Wilson notes that Tad Szulc’s Penthouseart icle bears a “close resemblance to

reports in a French Marxis t magazinecalled Asie-Afrique. which has beenc lose ly fo l lowing the Sov ie t l i ne onO T R A G . W i l s o n r e p o r t s t h a t t h emotivation behind these attacks is that “anapproach has been made to OTRAG by theChinese.” O b s e r v i n g t h a t t h e y h a v esuspended their space program since 1976.a p p a r e n t l y d u e t o l a u n c h p r o b l e m s .Wilson reports that “When recently askedw h e t h e r O T R A G h a d a c t u a l l y b e g u nnegotiations with Peking, Kayser declinedto comment. But when asked if OTRAGwould be prepared to provide launchfaci l i t ies for a Chinese reconnaisancesatellite, he answered without hesitation.“The answer is yes. I do not see anythingwrong with the Chinese doing the same asboth the Americans and the Russians havebeen doing for years.” Wilson also remindsus that “Russia is trying to persuade amajori ty of s ignatories to the UnitedNations Space Treaty to amend the treatywith a clause banning the proliferation ofspy satellites (which would confirm theRussian-American duopoly in this area).”

13

The High Frontierby G.K. O’Neill, paperback,Bantam Books, 1978

Imagine a self-sufficient colonial para-dise, hovering between the Earth and themoon, without cars, pollution, heatwavesor blizzards. Imagine being one ofthousands of settlers from Earth, helpingto build a whole universe of floatingworlds.

Gerard K. O’Neill, the world’s leadingauthority on human space colonization --who first developed this exciting andpractical concept in 1969 -- now reveals indocumented detail exactly how thesewonders can be accomplished within ourlifetime in The High Frontier.

First published in William Morrowhardcover a year ago, this landmark workwas released in a completely revised,updated and illustrated paperback editionfrom Bantam Books in January. Approxi-mately 60 specially commissioned blackand white drawings by Don Davis arefeatured throughout the book, illustratingthe human and technical aspects ofcolonies in space.

Though O’Neill originated his conceptfor space colonization eight years ago, itis only within the past several years thatit has begun to bear fruit, as NASA andmany physical and social scientists,engineers and governmental and businessconcerns -- who once scoffed at the idea-- have become directly involved in the

Assembling solar panel arrays andconcentrating mirrors of power satellite.

14

planning of future high-orbital communi-ties.

In his book, O’Neill predicts thathuman space colonies -- “communities inwhich manufacturing, farming, and allother human activities can be carriedout” -- will be established by the end ofthe century. “The normal first reaction tosuch a statement,” he writes, “is disbe-lief: isn’t such a development beyond us?Not at all: the settlement of space byhumans could be carried out without everexceeding the limits of the technology ofthis decade.”

A program of expansion into the “HighFrontier,” according to O’Neill, wouldproduce substantial benefits, rangingfrom the immediate and severely practicalone of solving the energy crisis we face onEarth, to dealing with the slightlylonger-term problem of population sizeand Earth’s capacity to support it, to thenon-material yet compelling notion of theopportunity for increased human optionsand diversity of development.

To that end, his book discusses theconcrete plans which could result in suchcommunities. He begins with a firstcommunity of 10,000 people, 4,000 ofwhom would work at building additionalcolonies, while the remaining 6,000would produce satellite solar powerstations to supply inexpensive, inexhaust-ible power to earth.

The High Frontier is filled with detailsof who will work in space and how theywill get there; how gravity, agriculture,climate and time will be controlled; howeach colony might choose to governitself; and how, though the initial costmight be as high as $100 billion,. eachcolony will eventually pay for itselfthrough the opening of new sources ofenergy and materials, while preserving ourenvironment.

Gerard K. O’Neill is a PrincetonUniversity physicist whose studies on thehumanization of space began in 1969 as aresult of his undergraduate teaching. Dr.O’Neill was selected by the editors ofAviation Week as one of the Americanswho contributed most to the develop-ment of the aerospace field in 1975.During the 1976-77 academic year, whileon sabbatical leave from Princeton,’ hevisited the Massachusetts Institute ofTechnology as the Jerome Clarke Hunsak-er Professor of Aerospace. Most recentlyhe was named recipient of the 1977 PhiBeta Kappa Award and was also thesubject of a feature profile on CBS-TV’s“60 Minutes.” Dr. O’Neill lectures fre-quently and has contributed manyarticles on space colonization to scientificpublications.

Lobbying for Space

by Robert A. Freitas, Jr.

Review by Carolyn Henson

Lobbying for Space is a privatelypublished pamphlet which contains every-thing you could possibly want to knowabout the politics of space in the UnitedStates. Subtitled “The 1978 SpaceLobbyist’s Handbook”, it is up-to-dateand crammed with facts ranging from thehistory of NASA funding to the spacerelated voting records of all the membersof Congress. It tells you how the NASAappropriations process works, how towrite effective letters, and where to write.It contains a listing of over 100 spaceoriented publications, including addressesand capsule descriptions, as well as thetext of the 1967 Outer Space Treaty andthe maps of all the Congressionaldistricts.

In order to receive this 63 pagepamphlet, send a check or money orderfor $4.20 to: Space Initiative, Box 353,Santa Clara, CA 95050

I hear that you have a copy of LobbyingFor Space by Robert A. Freitas Jr., and thatyou are considering reviewing it soon inthe pages of L-5 News. You might beinterested in the field testing that I havebeen giving it. Herewith, some statistics.Before I acquired a copy of Lobbying ForSpace, I had written a grand total of oneletter to our federal government in myentire lifetime. Now, however, armed withthe names, addresses, and zip codes in thepages of my L o b b y i n g F o r S p a c ehandbook, I have been averaging aboutone letter per week encouraging, orchastising, various public officials fortheir stand on our space program. I callthat a dramatic improvement. And I hopethat you can convey my feelings for thetremendous utility of Lobbying For Spaceto the readers of L-5 News.

Jonathan BoswellCharlottesville, VA

A Call for SpaceLiterature

T h e M i c h i g a n Q u a r t e r l y R e v i e w ,formerly a literary magazine, has becomean interdisciplinary journal devoted toexploring significant issues. The spring1979 issue will be devoted entirely to thetheme, ‘The Moon Landing and itsAftermath.’ The publication hopes toassemble as much as 200 pages of essays,memoirs, interviews, fiction, poetry,graphic works-writing in any literateform-that will illuminate the last decadeof space consciousness.

L-5 News, April 1978

It is looking for work that is thoughtful,original. a new perspective on a muchpublicized event . Not public relat ionsm a t e r i a l , b u t c r e a t i v e , i n d i v i d u a lresponses. It welcomes material of anylength. though anything beyond 30 typedpages s tands a poor chance of beingselected. A l l m a n u s c r i p t s m u s t b eaccompanied by a stamped, self-addressedenvelope. Payment is on acceptance andr u n s a b o u t $ 5 t o $ 8 a p r i n t e d p a g e .Deadline is Nov. 1, 1978.

It is interested also in graphic materials,particularly photographs. previouslyunpublished, to accompany the texts.

Submissions or requests for additionalinformation should be sent to: LaurenceGoldstein, Editor, Michigan QuarterlyReview, 3032 Rackham Bldg., Ann Arbor,Mich. 48109. Telephone number is (313)764-9265.

Bantam Books, 1978How does it feel to live in space? What

i s i t l ike to ea t , s l eep , b r e a t h e a n dcommunicate in a gravity-free atmo-sphere?

The recent Skylab program -- our firstsuccessful experiment in living in space-provided some of the answers andprobably has even greater significance forthe future of space exploration than theApollo moon missions. The first book topresent in sharp, behind-the-scenes detailjust what happened aboard Skylab, AH O U S E I N S P A C E b y H e n r y S . F .Cooper, Jr., was published in paperbackby Bantam Books on February 1 .Fifty-four extraordinary NASA photo-graphs are interspersed throughout the

Bibliography Updateby Conrad Schneiker

California Suggests SecessionNew Times, November 25, 1977

This article appears unconnected withspace. But among the “. . . top aids ofCalifornia Governor Jerry Brown [who]have supplanted their dreams of nationalglory with the pleasant little fantasy ofsecession” is Stewart Brand. Brand haspopularized space colonies via the Co-evolution Quarterly and a recently pub-lished book. He also introduced Brown tothe idea. The result was California’s SpaceDay and a shift in rhetoric from the “Era ofL i m i t s ” t o t h e “Era of Possibilities,”reflecting Brown’s new passion for space.B r o w n p o i n t e d o u t t h a t C a l i f o r n i a ’ s

text of the Bantam edition.Called by Isaac Asimov “an encyclo-

pedia of gravity-free life that ought to beon the shelf of everyone interested inwriting or reading science fiction” AHOUSE IN SPACE describes l ife onSkylab from the launching and arrival ofthe first astronaut crew on May 26, 1973,to the departure of the third and finalcrew on February 8, 1974. That last crewof three men had lived in space for 84days, the longest period in the history.Their “house in space” was a “can” (asthey called it), 48 feet long and 21 feet indiameter, orbiting the earth every 93minutes at a distance of 269 miles. Nowabandoned, it is still in orbit.

The book gives a vivid reconstructionof Skylab’s workday regimen, the rela-tionships among the different crews andwith ground control (the crews conversa-tions are made public here for the firsttime), the scientific findings and accom-plishments, and all of the expected andunexpected problems of people living andworking in weightlessness. Focusing onthe third and last of the crews, theauthor profiles the three men who stayedup the longest and proved the mostindependent, causing some unpro-grammed differences with ground con-trollers.

“ T h e b e s t p a r t o f A H O U S E I NSPACE,” said Apollo astronaut MichaelCollins, Director of the National Air andSpace Museum, “is Cooper’s ability todescribe the astronauts as individuals,each quite different from his crew mates,rather than homogeneous automatons.”

Henry S.F. Cooper, Jr., is a staff writerfor The New Yorker who has specializedin covering the NASA space missions. Hisaccounts of the Apollo program wereamong the most popular and highlyregarded reportage on our first venturesinto space and were the basis of threesuccessful books: Apollo on the Moon,Moon Rocks, and 13: The Flight ThatFailed.

budget surplus is roughly the s ize ofNASA’s funding for the year. California’s“GNP” ranks high compared wi th theGNPs of developed countries, Californiahas astronaut Rusty Schweickart as anadvisor. Note “Sacramento’s stand in favorof solar over nuclear power. . . ” in contrastto “plutonium and gas-crazy Washing-ton.” Nothing solid here but it makes forinteresting speculation. What if . . .

Learning to Build Large Structures InSpaceThomas Hagler, Herbert G. Patterson,C. Allen NathanAstronautics & Aeronautics, December 1977

Suggests orbital demonstration projectsto verify space construction techniquesand technology needed for building largespace structures.

Return To MarsRichard C. HoaglandAnalog, May 1977

Descr ibes possible manned and un-m a n n e d t r i p s t o M a r s t h a t a r e m a d epossible using solar sails put in space bythe space shuttle. Note: these are whatmight be termed “old technology” solars a i l s i n c o n t r a s t t o t h e n e w e r , m o r eefficient “built in space” designs.

Space Roles For The Less Than Super-powersJames J. HarfordAstronautics &Aeronautics, December 1977

At the 28th International AstronauticalCongress, Arthur C. Clarke (and others)cri t icized O’Neil l’s paper for his costestimates of space industrialization. Clarkeguessed that they were low by a factor of ahundred, contrary to every major study onthe subject. O’Neill rejoined, “I propose acodicil to the third Arthur Clarke theorem,‘after engineers and scientists go on recordwith expressions of opinion, no matterwhat data are presented, no opinion isgoing to change.’ ” (Clarke’s law concernsthe fallability of distinguished old scien-t i s t s w h o g o o n r e c o r d s t a t i n g t h a tsomething is impossible to do.)

Frontier LawArthur M. DulaAnalog, August 1977

The development of space law and themajor factors that have shaped i t arediscussed. “A continuing question thatwill face space law in the distant futurewill be which system of laws will direct thel ives and economic product ion of thepeople who live in space. At the presentt ime we have two candidates for theposition: free enterprise from the UnitedStates and central state planning from theSoviet Union.”

15

The REALITY of the NEAR FUTURE -- 1992A Course Offered at

California S t a t e U n i -v e r s i t y , N o r t h r i d g e ,California (Sociology396D), Summer Session,June 27 - August 4, 1978.

Course Objective: The focus will be onthe sociological dimensions relating to thepossibilities of creating a better life inspace and on earth by investigating theproblems involved in the development ofcommunity social and cultural systems forlarge space habitats. In order to bringhome the near reality of the whole venture,some speakers will cover the technologicalparameters and current possibilities foractually building habitats in space andworking in them. Others will consider theimpact life in space will have upon peoplein space communities and here on earth.

Course Outline:I.

II.

III

IV.

T h e N e a r R e a l i t y o f L i v i n g a n dWorking in Space: Getting There,Building There, Working There, andLiving There.The Impact for Earth: Technological,Economic, Political, and Social.D i f f i cu l t i e s and R i sks : Mi l i t a ry ,Political, Economic, and Social.The Chances for Making a Better Lifefor Humankind: Effects on the ThirdWorld, Humanity’s Changing Con-sciousness, Planning for Freedom,and Life Beyond the Galaxy.

Some Possible Topics:“Star Wars: What is Technically Pos-

sible Today”“Industrialization -- The Long Range

View and the Near and Immediate Steps”“Getting There via Shuttle and Space

Lab”“Consequences of Isolation and Con-

finement”“Breaking the Limits to Growth -- Econ-

omic, Social, and Personal Implicationsof Space”

“War and the Military in Space”“The Extraterrestrial Imperative: The

Next Step in the Evolution of Man’s SocialLife”

“The Evolution of Consciousness”“‘Space is for People”“New Products from Space: Optics,

Medicines, Electronics, Metals, etc.”“What the Future will Look Like -- a

visual and auditory preview”

“Building New Community Systems inSpace”

“Solar Power”

FEATURES:T a l k s b y a b o u t f i f t e e n p e o p l e n o wworking on space activities in PrivateIndustry, NASA, the military, and theuniversity;Trips to see the Orbiter being built andother space technology;Luncheon Meetings where 3 to 4 peoplewill have lunch with at least one of thespeakers;Slides and Space Materials from NASA andPrivate Industry will be made available forteachers for use in their classes;Development of Units on Space Settle-ments can be selected by teachers as a termproject;Class Discussions of how man can make abetter life in space and for the earth.

SOME OF THE PARTICIPANTS WILLBE:Richard Johnson, Ph.D.

Chief of the Biosystems DivisionNASA/AmesDirector of the 1975 study on Space Col-onization and Member of the Vikingbiology experiment team.

Eric BurgessCo-founder of the British InterplanetarySocietyAuthor and lecturer on Space

Charles L. GouldProject Manager for NASA SpaceIndustrialization Contract,Rockwell International Corporation

J. Peter Vajk, Ph.D.Staff Scientist of Science Applications,Inc. on long range planning for NASAon space industrialization;Author of an article, “The Impact ofS p a c e C o l o n i z a t i o n o n W o r l dDynamics” and a forthcoming book,Foundations For a Choiceful Futurewhich examines the emerging potentialfor humanity on Earth, both in outerspace and inner space.

Captain Stanley G. Rosen, USAFSpace and Missile Systems OrganizationAuthor of “Mind in Space”

Harrold EmighPlanning and Design Systems for SpaceTransportationRockwell International Corporation

Faren R. Akins, Ph.D.National Research Council ResearchAssociateEffects of Isolation and ConfinementNASA/Ames

and others . . . . . . .

This Program is being supported by ag r a n t f r o m R o c k w e l l I n t e r n a t i o n a lCorporation.For Further Information:Call or Write: Dr. B.J. BluthAssociate Professor of SociologyCalifornia State University,Northridge, Ca. 91330213-885-3591 (Leave your number and agood time to return your call)

If people want to register for the course bymail, t h e f o l l o w i n g in fo rma t ion i simportant:A l l ma i l r eg i s t r a t i on mus t be madebetween May 1 and May 26.All fees must accompany the application.Audit or Creditat $39.00 per unit $117.00Student fees 11.00Total $128.00T h e a p p l i c a t i o n s h o u l d i n c l u d e t h efollowing information:Name, address, phone, sex, birthdate, classlevel and present school if relevant, andcourse and ticket number. Applicationswill be taken in order of reception.There is a limit of 48 places in the course.Send to:

Office of Continuing EducationCalif. State University, NorthridgeNorthridge, Ca. 91330

Anyone interested in housing can write theHousing Office (same address) or call 213-885-2396.

15th SpaceCongress

Four generations of Astronauts willpart icipate in a panel discussion withK e n n e d y S p a c e C e n t e r D i r e c t o r L e eScherer as panel chairman at the FifteenthSpace Congress, April 26, 27 & 28 in CocoaBeach , F lo r ida , B i l l Ho lmes , SpaceCongress General Chairman, announcedtoday.

Deke Slayton (Mercury & Apollo/SoyuzTest Project) , Manager of the SpaceShuttle Orbital Test Flights; John Young(Gemini 3 & 10, Apollo 10 & 16), Chief ofthe Astronaut Office: Vance Brand (C.M.Pilot - ASTP) Shuttle Orbital Flight TestTraining; and Joe Engle, Pilot of the SpaceShuttle “Enterprise” will join Lee Schererin “Meet the Astronauts,” a panel sessionfree and open to everyone in the universebeginning at 7:30 p.m., Thursday, April27, in the Cape Colony Convention Center,featuring opening remarks followed by anaudience quest ion and answer per iod.This will be one of three panel sessions

16 L-5 News, April 1978

held throughout the S-day symposium.The first panel, titled “Space Today,”

will be chaired by John Yardley, AssociateAdministrator for Space Flight, NASAHeadquarters, Washington D.C., and willbegin the Congress Wednesday morning at8 : 3 0 a . m . a l s o i n t h e C a p e C o l o n yConvention Center.

On Friday, April 28 at 8:30 a.m., thetheme of the 15th Space Congress: “Space-- The Best Is Yet To Come” will be thetopic of the final panel to be held at theAtlantis Beach Convention Center. Dr.George Morgenthaler, Vice President andG e n e r a l M a n a g e r , M a r t i n M a r i e t t aAerospace, Baltimore Division will beChairman of this panel.

The final event of the Congress will bethe Youth Science Fair Awards Ceremonyat the Atlantis Beach Convention Centerfollowed by the Patrick Air Force BaseOpen House featuring The Thunderbirds.

The Space Congress is a non-profi tsymposium sponsored by the 26 memberCanaveral Council of Technical Societies(CCTS), and is held annually in CocoaBeach, Florida. For more information,write: SPACE CONGRESS, BOX 1333,Cocoa Beach, FL 32931.

SPS Talk

J. Peter Vajk will give a talk on solarpower satellites 8:50 PM at the Symposiumon Energy Technologies at the RadiationResearch Society Meeting in Toronto,Canada May 14.

Before Creation a Presence Existed,Self-contained, complete,Formless, Voiceless, Mateless,Changeless,Which yet pervaded itselfWith unending motherhood.Though there can be no name for it,I have called it “The Way of Life”Perhaps I should have called it “The

Fullness of Life,”Since fullness implies widening into

space,Implies still further widening,Implies widening until the circle is wholeIn this senseThe way of life is fulfilled,Heaven is fulfilled, Earth fulfilledAnd a fit man also is fulfilled:These are the four amplitudes of the

universeAnd a fit man is one of them:Man rounding the way of earth,Earth rounding the way of heaven,Heaven rounding the way of lifeTill the circle is full

Lao Tzu (604 BC)

Inside the L-5 SocietyRaleigh L-5

Raleigh L-5 opened shop on February11, 1978 with a meeting of co-ordinatingmembers Rupert Hazle, Larry Williams,and Tim Katterman.

Three first objectives include:a. spreading information about space

colonization and industralization whenever and where ever possible.

b. establishing a library of technicalinformation

c. designing fund raising projects tofinance research such as Gerard O’Neill’s500g mass driver.

First projects include preparation ofs t a t i s t i c a l t e s t i m o n y f o r u s e a t t h eCarolina Power & Light Wake CountyNuclear Power Plant Hearing and attend-ing ‘Great Decisions 78’ -- a group ofdiscussions sponsored by the ForeignPolicy Association to help citizens directU.S. Foreign Policy goals.

Interested people in the Triangle Areashould write P.O. Box 5381, Raleigh,N.C. 27650 or call (919) 833-1398 fordetails of meetings or questions.

Norfolk, VA L-5

Those interest in forming a Norfolk,Virginia L-5 chapter should contact DavidHowland, 719 Graydon Ave., Norfolk, VA23507, 622-5983.

Philadelphia L-5

The Space Futures Society here in Phila.i s ve ry a l i ve and k i ck ing . S ince ou rinception on Aug. 13, 1977 we have beencontinually growing and reaching newplateaus of attendance. Two of our mostd i s t i n g u i s h e d m e m b e r s , K e n n e t hMcCormick and Jon Alexander have beendoing personal lobbying in Washingtonand corresponding for the L-5 News. Anew m e m b e r , D r . L e e V a l e n t i n e , i sorganizing a sp ino f f chap t e r w i th inJefferson Hospital of Phila. in which hehopes to galvanize Doctors throughoutthis area into a political lobbying effort.D r . L e e V a l e n t i n e h a s p e r s o n a l l ysupervised a fund raising drive in which$2500.00 has been raised locally for S.S.I.through his efforts. Another member MarkHess is coordinating efforts to penetratethe war games clubs and is head of anindependent committee to design a spacecolony survival game. Peter Kazlowski isin charge of our NASA film procurement.

Our meetings are now held monthly. Weare currently at the Broad and Morris FreeLibrary but starting in June we will meet

a g a i n a t t h e C e n t r a l L i b r a r y o n t h eParkway. Our first meeting will be 10 a.m.June 10. From July on we will be meetingthe first Sat. of every month at 10 a.m.

We had a public lecture and slide showon April 1st at 2 pm at the Marple Twp.Free Library, Springfield and Sproul Rds.Broomall, Pa. 19008. We are also takingpart in the “Sun Day” Celebrations onWed. May 3rd at 7 p.m. in the CentralLibrary. We will also be holding a lectureand slide show on June 3, 1978 at 1 p.m. atthe Frankford Y.W.C.A., 4606 Leiper St.,Phila. Pa. 19124. We are hoping to have the“Libra Colony” film in time for theselectures.

Houston L-5 MeetingP u b l i c s e r v i c e a n n o u n c e m e n t f o r

Houston a r e a L - 5 e r s : T h e H o u s t o nchapter of the L-5 Society will hold itsApril meeting on Friday, April 21, at 7:30P M i n t h e U n i v e r s i t y C e n t e r o f t h eUniversity of Houston.

MASC News

The National Governor’s Associationheld its annual meeting Feb. 26 to Feb. 28at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in WashingtonD.C. In attendance were 52 of 54 Govern-ors. The Maryland Alliance for SpaceColonization (MASC) spent Sunday the26th trying to gain the attention of theGovernors so as to tell them about spacesolar power . The main thrust of theconference was energy production andconservation. The issues discussed by theGovernors included oil and natural gas,coal, nuclear energy, outer continentalshelf development, renewable resourcesprograms and energy facility siting.

The t op i c o f so l a r power ene rgy ,however, was not on the agenda. In thecourse of a press conference we were able toask Governor Milliken, Chairman andGovernor of Michigan, and GovernorJerry Brown of California about spacesolar power systems.

We asked Governor Milliken “Have youdiscussed solar power satel l i tes as apermanent alternate source of energy andwill you be discussing it as a possibility?”He stated that “It came up briefly and werecognize it as an important issue. . . . . . .”but he felt there were more immediateissues to be discussed at the presentconference.

Even more significant and positive were

17

the statements made by Governor Brownin a later press conference, which was setup at our request. Governor Brown spoketo the media and replied at great lengths toour solar power questions.

Governor Brown underscored the needfor increased research on alternate energysources and especially solar power. Hestated that one space solar power stationcould replace the need for 50 nuclear powerstations and that the geothermal energyavailable in California alone could replacean additional 20 nuclear power stations.

When later we were able to ask him hist h o u g h t s o n H o u s e C o n c u r r e n tR e s o l u t i o n 4 5 1 ( i n t r o d u c e d b y O l i nTeague of Texas), he said “Yes, we wouldlike to see much more attention directedtowards alternate energy sources.” In facti n h i s o p e n i n g s t a t e m e n t h e s p o k estrongly of al ternate energy sources,referr ing to a large prominent MASCbanner, which we had located nearby.

We were also able to talk briefly toG o v e r n o r s E x o n o f N e b r a s k a a n dGovernor Bolin of Arizona, who requestedthat we get Dr. O’Neil l to send himinformation on the matter. In general, allof the Governors, members of their staffsa n d m e m b e r s o f t h e p r e s s w h o m w econtacted expressed positive interest, butwere uninformed as to space solar poweralternatives. Perhaps a matter for local L-5chapters to pursue!

Michigan “Missal”

The Missal , the newslet ter of theMichigan L-5 Society, is still going strong.Following is an excerpt from the Marchissue.

On January 24-26, Year of our Lord1978, the Space Science and ApplicationsSubcommittee of the House Science andTechnology Committee convened to holdhearings for the purpose of examining ourfuture space program.

The testimony of the first day consistedo f i n d u s t r i a l i s t s . T h e m o s t e x c i t i n gproposal offered was an experimentalplatform in geosynchronous orbit wherestudies could be done to determine thefeasibili ty of powersats (earth-basedconfiguration) by the late 1980’s. As was tooccur several times in the next couple ofdays, the committee members appearedb o r e d a n d f r u s t r a t e d a t t h e l a c k o fimagination displayed by the witnesses.This was heartening to L-5 partisans. Theonly memorable statement was that madeby G. Harry Stine concerning cutting backthe shuttle fleet from five to four. He madethe comment that O.M.B. reminded him ofthe Senator in 1908 who asked, “Why doesthe Army need another airplane. They

already have one.” The legislator alsosuggested that rather than giving the Armyand Navy each an airplane, they couldshare one and take turns flying it.

The second day’s proceedings were moreinteresting. T h e w i t n e s s e s w e r e t h epresident of Martin-Marrietta, the head ofthe National Academy of Sciences, GerardO’Neill and Barbara Hubbard. After beingplaced in a somnolent state by the first twowitnesses, Ms. Hubbard’s vibrant rhetoricbrought the committee room to life. Thiswas what the committee gallery had beenwaiting for and her words paved the wayfor Prof. O’Neill. Dr. O’Neill summarizedthe resul ts of the 1977 NASA-Amessummer study which showed that therewere no show-stoppers to the concept. Healso showed a film of the M.I.T. mass-driver . The congressmen seemed dulyimpressed. In quest ioning af terwards,O’Neill told the committee that he wouldneed a million dollars in the next year tocont inue his research. Some membersexpressed astonishment at the low figure.Dr. Handler, N.A.S. chairman, was askedif there were any major technical break-throughs required for O’Neill’s scheme.There was a long pause, seemingly fordramatic effect, and then a reluctant “No.”Barbara Hubbard was asked why NASAwas not carrying through with these plans.She replied that Dr. Frosch seemed to bec o m m i t t e d t o l i m i t s t o g r o w t h . D r .Handler interrupted and suggested thatshe let Dr. Frosch speak for himself .Chairman Teague concurred and said,somewhat ominously, that he would beg i v e n e v e r y c h a n c e t o d o s o o n t h efollowing day. We went to bed that nightmaliciously gladdened at the prospect ofFrosch’s roasting on a slow spit in thecommittee room the next morning.

Alas, i t was not to be. The NASAadministrator was al lowed to give histestimony and get away without question-ing to attend the appropriations hearing inanother building. Before he left, however,he unveiled the space agency’s excitingplans for the future: more earth resourcess a t e l l i t e s a n d a m o r e a d v a n c e dcommunication satellite. He also openedhis testimony with the statement that hisrole was not that of a Columbus, but ratherof one of Isabella’scounselors. I’m not surepersonally how to interpret this. If I recallmy history correctly, Isabella hocked herjewels and funded Columbus against theadvice of her counsel. In this light, Dr.Frosch sees himself as an obstructor ratherthan an originator or faci l i tator . I t isobliquely comforting to see that he is atleast consistent; his self-view coincideswith his actions. One of the few questionshe did answer concerned powersats. Hisanswer was to the effect that while they

might be technically possible, he was notconvinced or, at best, didn’t know whetheror not they would be economical . Heclaimed disbelief of the many favorablecost-benefit analyses done of the subject.

Carter’s science advisor, Frank Press,was the next witness. He was destined toreceive the flak that should have beenreserved for Dr. Frosch. His performancewas almost pathetic. Dr. Press had themisfortune of possessing the voice andtotal lack of inflection of the computer“HAL” from the movie 2001: A SpaceOdyssey. His t e s t imony cons i s t ed o fapologies for the Administration and afeigned enthusiasm for the space program.One of his more outrageous statements,coupled with his monotone, evoked openderision and laughter from the gallery. Re:SSPS. “We simply don’t know anythingabout them.” If this is truly the case,perhaps Dr. Press should be replaced bysomeone who does know something aboutthem. I find it at least disconcerting thats o m e o n e e n d o w e d o f s u c h p r o f o u n dignorance is advising the President.

The foregoing was only a thumbnailsketch of the proceedings in Washingtonone month ago. My editorializing will beforgiven, I trust, with the realization thatthis is not strictly a news story, but rathermy own impressions and react ions torecent events to which I was a witness. Tosummarize: I was cheered by the fact thatseveral members of the committee seemeda l m o s t a s i m p a t i e n t w i t h t h eAdministration as we are. We have severalfriends in Congress and these friendshipsshould be carefully nurtured with lettersand phone ca l l s . I n pa r t i cu l a r , Rep .Scheuer of New York City should be giventhanks and support. The most helpfulthing that could be done with respect tohim would be to write him descriptions ofthe ways that our program would directlybenefit the inhabitants of his district. Thiswas a query that he put to O’Neill thatwasn’t properly responded to. Anyone whocan think of some immediate , directbenefits to the urban areas should sendthem directly to him or else to us to berelayed to him.- - T h e M i s s a l , $ 3 . 0 0 / y e a r , B o x 1 2 6Michigan Union. Ann Arbor, MI 48109.

The L-5 Society is attempting to build acomprehensive f i le of newspaper andmagazine articles concerning space; parti-cularly on space colonies, solar satellites,etc. These would be used both to keep trackof media and publicopinion, and to have alist of writers and publications which havetaken an interes t , pro or con, on thesubject. Local papers and magazines are asimportant as national ones in this respect.L-5ers are encouraged to send all relevantarticles to the National office.

18 L-5 News, April 1978