Page Six

THE MICHIGAN DAILY

Thursday, July 10,.1975

Pae ixTH MCHGA DIL Thrsay July 10,II 1975


Apoio-Soyuz
(Continued from Page 3) delicately couple the two ve-
hicles tgte.
hours later, a Saturn IB rocket together.
w it h Stafford, Slayton and THE DOCKING Module then
Brand will lift off from Launch serves its second purpose and
Complex 39B at Cape Canav- becomes an airlock between the
eral, Florida. incompatible atmospheres of the
.Fo .i m Apollo and Soyuz (Russian
THE FATE of the joint mis- spacecraft use much more ni-
"turnaround"smaneuver of the trogen and less oxygen than
Apollo spacecraft. About an their American counterparts -
hour after they reach orbit, the if the two atmospheres were
astronauts must pull away from mixed together suddenly, the
the emaningstae ofthz passengers would get 'bends",
the remaining stage of the like deep-sea divers returning to
launch rocket, turn 180 degrees, the surface too quickly.)
and move in to attach the front t acord uicly.)
end of the cone-shaped Com- Stafford and Slayton are
mand Module with the special scheduled to meet the Soviets
Docking Module designed to first. The twowill entervthe
link with Soyuz. Docking Module, close the hatch
TheApoypbehind them, and slowly pres-
The Apollo spacecraft is, with surize its environment to meet
only a few modifications, the that of the Soyuz. When every-
same vehicle which flew nine thing is ready they will open
times to the moon and back. As the hatch to receive symbolic
a result, it is somewhat over- handshakes from the cosmo-
qualified for this, its last job. nauts, exchanging flags and let-
But it will be the "active" ters while a small camera
spacecraft in the intricate ma- beams the scene to earth. Both
neuvers which will dock Apollo crews will, in time, visit the
with Soyuz - that is, the So- other's ship but at least one as-
viet vehicle will simply wait for tronaut will always remain in
the American craft to catch up. Apollo. Similarly, either Leonov
This arrangement allows Soyuz or Kubasov will stay in the
to conserve its smaller thrusting Soyuz at all times.
fuel suppy, but also pacifies
some critics who fear the cos- To facilitate communications,
monauts will make some fatal the five ASTP travelers have
mistake in guidingttheir space- agreed to speak the language of
craft, an error that might dis- the listener. Stafford, Slayton
able Apollo. and Brand took a cram course
in Russian; the cosmonauts
Stafford will use a flashing have an impressive command of
beacon and optical targ n English.
-ann+U ^V au nt-

fight: !
periments, transfer s e v e r a 1
times to each other's spacecraft
and send several telecasts from
space - including a news con-
ference and an orbital tour of
Russia with commentary by
Kubasov in English.
All five astronauts and cosmo-
nauts have trained extensively
for every aspect of the joint ac-
tivities - which, when they fi-
nally reach space, may seem
like just another simulation to
them.
The last of the joint experi-
ments is one that can be per-
formed only with two space-
craft and is ideal for ASTP.
Shortly after the two ships sep-
arate, on the morning of July
19, Apollo will maneuver into a
position blocking the sun from
the view of Soyuz, in effect,
creating a solar eclipse.
THIS ALLOWS the Soyuz cos-
monauts a perfect opportunity
to take photographs of the solar
corona - the thin circle of light
surrounding the sun's disk -
which is invisible to earth-bound
astronomers. The pictures re-
turned from this experiment
may be the best corona shots
ever acquired.
After the artificial eclipse,
Apollo and Soyuz will go their
separate ways. Leonov and Ku-
basov plan to remain in orbit for
about two days, conducting a
few experiments on their own,
then return to earth near Bai-
konur (unlike American space-
craft, manned Soviet missions
always return with a soft land-
ing on solid ground, instead of
the ocean. The descent is slowed
by a single parachute and retro-
rockets.)

pace d
Stafford, Slayton and Brand,
on the other hand, have a more
ambitious schedule and will stay
up for five days after separa-
tion. Many of their experiments
are follow-ups to projects in the
1973-74 Skylab series.
FOR EXAMPLE, one Apollo
experiment will investigate the
advantages of zero-gravity man-
ufacturing. Scientists believe
that the crystals used in elec-
tronic devices can be made
more perfect under weightless
conditions, and that such crys-
tals will greatly advance the
technology associated with in-
tegrated circuits.
Finally, on July 24, the astro-
nauts will eject the Service Mod-
ule portion of the Apollo space-
craft and return to the Pacific
Ocean in what may be the last
American "splashdown" ever -
the next breed of spacecraft, the
Space Shuttle, will land like an
airplane, on wheels.
Critics of the space program,
who usually focus upon the econ-
omic aspects of space flight,
have latched onto a few other
factors of the $254 million ASTP
mission in their protest. Chief
among them is Senator William
Proxmire (D-Wis.), who fears
for the astronauts' safety in
light of past Soyuz re-entry fa-
talities and docking problems.
Proxmire claims the Central
Intelligence Agency has deter-
mined that the Soviet Union can-
not handle two of their own
spacecraft at once. Soyuz 18,
carrying two cosmonauts, was
launched into orbit in late May
and will reportedly remain
there throughout the joint mis-
sion next week.

etente
THE SOVIETS, however, say
two simultaneous flights will not
overburden their facilities be-
cause the vehicles will be
handled from separate control
centers. In an emergency, the
Russians add, the spacecraft
linked with Apollo will get their
"priority" attention.
American officials stress that
the flight is much more than "a
handshake in the sky," and jus-
tify ASTP by its purely scientific
experiments, numbering more
than 20.
The greatest benefits of ASTP,
in fact, may come long after
either vehicle returns to earth.
Space officials in the United
States, faced with ever-tighten-
ing budgets as the public loses
interest in NASA activities, hope
the project will lead to joint ef-
forts in long-term space sta-
tions or, conceivably, an Amer-
ican-Soviet flight to Mars near
the end of the century.
WHATEVER its results, ASTP
has already served as a sym-
bolic end to the fast-paced, ex-
pensive "space race" which be-
gan with a Sputnik satellite in
1957. Both countries seem eager
to explore for the sake of sci-
ence now, and they may well
end up doing it together.
Tomorrow: Profiles of the
ASTP crew members
On. Dec. 16, 1921, in Kansu,
China, an earthquake killed an
estimated 180,000 while a cho-
lera epidemic that followed
killed a half million.

ea on the soyuz as guides for
the rendezvous. About 52 hours
after the initial launch, he will
slowly move the open end of the
Docking Module toward the
front of the Soviet craft and

THE TWO spacecraft will re-
main docked for two days. Dur-
ing this time, the crews will
conduct a number of joint ex-



Broadway's BARBARA COOK & THE FESTIVAL CHORUS
Wednesday, July 16, in Hill Auditorium, 8:30
Long a star of the Broadway musical-theater scene, Miss Cook recently made her solo debut in New
York's Carnegie Hall to rave reviews. For her Ann Arbor concert debut next week, she'll sing se-
lections from Broadway musicals and is featured with our Festival Chorus in excerpts from "Candide"
by Leonard Bernstein, and "The King and I" by Richard Rodgers. Under Donald Bryant's direction,
the Chorus of 100 singers presents a group of four American folk songs and four Negro spirituals,
in special arrangements by Mr. Bryant.
_IIVFksITY
All tickets $3, general admission, unreserved seating; USICAL CIET0
at our Burton Tower office (ours listed below) or at the door; BURTON TOWER, Ann Arbor
(Hill Aud. box office open at 7 p.m. preceding concert.) Weekdays 9-4:30, Sat. 9-12
Phone 665-3717

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