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An Uncertain Future….. ..is of course what the start of any new year brings, but you will be concerned, I’m sure, to learn that this is absolutely the case with regard to the production of Orbit. Later this year in early July I relinquish my post as Depute Headteacher of my school in the North East of Scotland and with it the privileges of anytime access to the building and usage of its printing and photocopying technologies. So whilst in my retirement I should have more time to devote to putting the pages together—and there is rarely any shortage of copy from members, fortunately—how to actually produce the pages will be something of a headache after the June edition. One quote from a local printer suggests that altering Orbit to a folded, saddle-stitched A3 production of 36 or 40 sides with the front and back covers and the centre spread in colour, (not all that different from this issue), is going to cost between three and four times what it currently does, since my labour and time standing in front of a digital printer or copier and then painstakingly walking up and down to produce 160 copies—currently comes free ! Your ASSS committee, who rarely meet and who communicate by email largely, is looking at the problem and there will be a solution in time. Perhaps Orbit will become a down-loadable e-magazine, for example or perhaps we can find an acceptable way of continuing to be a print medium. I just wanted you to know that we have something of a challenge ahead of us ! Happy New Year !

ISSN 0953 1599 THE JOURNAL OF THE ASTRO SPACE

STAMP SOCIETY Issue No 76 January 2008

Patron:

Cosmonaut Georgi Grechko, Hero of the Soviet Union

COMMITTEE

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FROM ATOM TO NUCLEAR POWERED SPACECRAFT PART 2: THE PREAMBLE TO THE ATOMIC BOMB by John Beenen

U n l i k e w i t h t h e d e v e l o p m e n t o f telecommunications, which is mainly the sum of individual achievements, that relating to the atom, to the atomic bomb and to nuclear energy in particular is the ‘success’ of larger groups of scientists. Therefore that in this part you will be confronted with many names. I hope that because of this you will not lose the course of the development as I should like to mention all the characters responsible for the development in their own line of science. I do this also to give you an impression of the complexity of the subject.

Chain fission and radioactive isotopes (201. John Cockroft; 202. Ernest Walton, Ireland 2003) In addition to the discovery of the neutron by Chadwick, (see Orbit #75, page 30) in that same

year, 1932, another milestone in the development of the atomic theory was achieved. In that year Englishman John Douglas Cockroft (1897-1967) and the Irish scientist Ernest Walton (1903-1995) discovered that when certain light elements like lithium and boron were bombarded by quick protons, they received helium nuclei, by which the start of the principle of fission of nuclei was marked. (203. I&F Joliot-Curie, Mauritania) In 1934 Frédérick Joliot and his spouse Iréne Curie showed that by this process radioactive nuclei are developed. As we saw earlier they bombarded boron, aluminium and magnesium with α-particles and they got: the isotope 13 of nitrogen, the isotope 30 of phosphorus and at the same time the isotope 27 of silica and 28 of aluminium. All these elements were not stable and decayed after a short or longer period. (204. Fermi, VS 2001) Also in 1934 Enrico Fermi (1901-1954) showed that by their lack of charge the newly detected neutrons possessed a far greater ability to penetrate and therefore

should possess a far better possibility to bombard nuclei. He also showed that by lowering the speed of the neutrons he got much better results. In this way he could get a radioactive isotope from nearly every element. He also found out the optimum speed from the neutron for each specific element. For this discovery he received the Nobel Price for Physics in 1938. Unfortunately these discoveries also became the basis for the development of the atomic bomb when in 1939 Otto

Hahn (1879-1968) and Fritz Strassmann (1902-1980) caused the fission of the element uranium, by which including others they created the radioactive elements barium (56) and krypton (36). (205. Otto Hahn, DDR 1979, Y2073) Hahn was an important nuclear physicist. Already in 1905 when he worked under Sir William Ramsay in London he had discovered new radioactive substances - radiothorium, and less than a year later, radioactinium at the laboratories of Professor Ernest Rutherford in Canada and in 1907 in Berlin, mesothorium. At the end of 1907 he commenced his more than 30 years lasting cooperation with the Austrian nuclear physicist Lise Meitner (see below) during which they investigated β-rays, magnetic spectra and other radioactive substances. With Meitner he also started the investigation of the use of neutrons in radioactive processes, which after leaving Germany (because she was a Jewess) for Sweden, led to the earlier mentioned results together with Strassman.

(206. Fritz Strassmann) In WW II neither Hahn nor Strassman took part the development of the German atomic bomb. In 1944 Hahn received the Nobel Prize for Chemistry for his work on the fission of atoms. However, he was not able to accept it earlier than after the war, in 1946. Impressed by the devastating power of the bomb he became one of the scientists warning against the abuse of nuclear energy. (207. Joliot-Curie, DDR 1980, Y2157) In Paris a group consisting of Frédérick Joliot-Curie, Hans van Halban (1877-1947), Lew Kowarski (1907-1979) and Francis Perrin (1901-1992) showed that when fission of a uranium nucleus takes place, some two or three additional neutrons appear. This observation produced the expectation that a self-sustaining chain reaction should belong to the possibilities, but also that an extremely powerful bomb could be constructed, a result which most scientists at that time thought impossible. (208. Szilard, Hungary 1998) Fermi realized immediately that the emitted

additional neutrons of such a fission, could be used to split up other atoms and discovered together with the Hungarian Leo Szilard (1898-1964) the principle of chain reaction. This discovery lead straight to the development of the atomic bomb, but also to the nuclear reactor for the generation of energy.

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(208. Lise Meitner, Austria 1978,

M1588) The Austrian Lise Meitner (1878-1968) and her nephew Otto Frisch (1904-1979), both fled from Austria and working under Niels Bohr in Stockholm, subsequently proved how such a chain reaction functioned and they calculated the tremendous amounts of energy formed by such a reaction. In this way they confirmed for the first time the equivalence between energy and mass in 1905 postulated by Einstein in his famous formula: E=Mc2. In 1944 Hahn and Strassman together were awarded the Nobel Prize for this work. Why Lise Meitner was not involved is unclear; she certainly did not belong to the Nazis and she refused to cooperate in the development of the atomic bomb.

(209. Szilard,) Leo Szilard was also a fierce opponent of the development of an atomic bomb and took care that the patents on the elementary development of the bomb stayed a secret and did not fall in the hands of the Germans. In 1938 Szilard fled to the US where he tried to convince several groups working on the fission of nuclei not to publish their

results. Unfortunately he did not succeed and some information started to spread and especially from the Joliot-Curie group who thought that they should publish their results. This led in July 1939 to the famous letter by Einstein (and Leo Szilard) to the American President Roosevelt to draw his attention to the danger of this new and utterly powerful source of energy, which also could be used for the manufacture of extremely powerful bombs of a new type. (210. Jean Perrin, France 1948, M832) The last step before the atomic bomb could become a reality was taken by Jean Baptiste Perrin (1870-1942), the father of Francis Perrin, who still in 1939 introduced the principle of the ‘critical mass’, the minimum amount of a radioactive isotope to sustain a chain reaction. His group also came to the conclusion that ‘heavy water’ would be the ideal moderator to retard the neutrons liberated in the process to such a level that there would be enough time to let the reaction happen. The heavy water should be taken from a large hydroelectric plant in Vemork, Norway. However, it appeared that the Germans had already been there and as a principle bought the whole stock. By order of the Norwegian government the whole stock, however, was transferred to England and from there to France just before the Germans took control of Norway in April 1940. When in May the Germans also attacked France the water (150 litres) was transferred again to Cambridge together with a group of scientists. Subsequent investigations proved that a chain reaction based upon the ordinary uranium-238 was not possible starting from quick neutrons, as they were scavenged by the uranium-238.

That the Germans finally did not got their atomic bomb was

not only because they did not possess enough heavy water, but it was also a result of their conclusion that heavy water was the sole material to retard the flow of neutrons to such a level that it could split the uranium nucleus. The Americans, however, discovered that also very pure graphite did retard the neutrons also excellently. But it is also because of the continuous effort of Szilard that the Germans never got enough heavy water to start a nuclear reactor. The world would have looked different had they known about the American graphite solution !! We must be more grateful to Szilard than history has been until now. (211. Niels Bohr, Denmark 1963, M417) Still in 1939, two days before the start of WW II, Niels Bohr and John Wheeler (1911) presented their Bohr-Wheeler theory about nuclear fission, by which they also explained the nuclear reaction of the much more rare uranium-235. 99.3% of Natural uranium consists of the much less radioactive uranium-238. Scission of both isotopes is, because of their similarity in properties, very difficult. Such a separation is called: ‘enrichment’. For the production of a bomb based on uranium-235 an

enrichment of over 90% is necessary, whilst for use in a nuclear energy plant an enrichment of 2-3% is sufficient. Their theory was completed by a two German scientists, who had fled for the Germans, Rudolf Peierls (1907-1995), working in Birmingham together with James Chadwick, and Otto Frisch.

(212. Otto Frisch,

213. Rudolf Peierls) These Jewish German scientists had already escaped in 1933 when the Nazi Home Secretary,

Wilhelm Frick, hanged following the Nuremburg Trials, promulgated a

series of laws by which all non-Aryans were relieved oftheir public functions. Einstein refused to respect this law, which also became the cause of his departure from Germany, but also of the split with Max Planck. Other great physicians and chemists such as Planck, Nernst and Fritz Haber, were more interested in the continuation of their work than in the fate of their co-operators, and stayed.

(214. Johannes Stark, Sweden 1979, M1094; 2 1 5 . P h i l i p p Lenard, Nicaragua 1995)

The worst of them Philipp Lenard (1862-1947), and Johannes Stark (1874-1957) convinced Nazi supporters and inventors of the term ‘German’ and ‘Jewish’ physics

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and mathematics. Lenard started his career at Hertz, just

missed the discovery of the electron, developed the first model for the construction of an atom and finally in 1905 got the Nobel Prize for Physics for his work on cathode rays. Stark received the Prize in 1919 for his work on the Doppler effect and the separation of spectral lines in electric currents and further worked on chemical valence and electricity in the chemical atom. What the separation in ‘German’ and ‘Jewish’ science meant for the development of the science became clear when ‘Relativity’ and ‘Quantum Mechanics’ were considered as ‘Jewish Physics’. This caused a tremendous exile of knowledge as about one fourth of all scientists was from Jewish origin. This also was certainly one of the important causes why Germany was not able to construct an atomic bomb in time.

(216. Sir Henry Tizard) Peierls and Fritsch concluded that five kilos of the reactive 235U would be sufficient for a bomb. They also proved how a detonation of such a bomb should proceed and how 235U should be manufactured. In their famous Fritsch-Peierls Memorandum they stated that if 235U could be

separated completely from 238U it should not be necessary to retard the neutrons. They reported their findings to their professor, Mark Oliphant, who informed Henry Tizard, who, in England, was busy putting together a group to investigate the possibilities of an atomic bomb. Based upon their Memorandum Fritsch and Peierls should be given the doubtful honour of making the atomic bomb a reality. On April 10th 1940 five British Universities started an extremely secret programme under the code name MAUD. NB. The code name MAUD is sometimes found written with dots between the characters, which suggests this is an abbreviation. On the contrary. In Jun 1940 Niels Bohr sent a

message to Otto Frisch in which he spoke about a certain ‘Miss Maud Rey in Kent’. Because nobody knew this person this message was taken as a coded message as it could be transformed into ‘Radium taken’. Later it transpired that Maud Rey had indeed been Bohr’s housekeeper but by then the word was accepted ! At the start under the guidance of the German, Jewish scientist Sir Francis Eugen Simon (1893-1956) the group was especially busy in transferring uranium into a gaseous state in order to separate the 235U from the 238U by means of a membrane technique.

(217. Uranium, South-Africa 1977, Sc498; 218. Uranium, Canada 1980, Y744) In Cambridge Egon Bretscher (1901-1973) and Norman

Feather (1904-1978) together with the French Hans van

Halban and Lew Kowarski, from the Joliot-Curie roup, worked on the control of the chain reaction of uranium oxide and heavy water and a new element, later called ‘plutonium’ which proved to be much more easily fissionable and, because it differed from uranium in properties, was much easier to produce. As a nuclear reaction based upon this element was not constructed yet their prediction at the moment was purely theoretical and their idea for a bomb based on plutonium was not seriously considered. (219. Sir Francis Simon) In December 1940 Simon reported that the separation of both uranium isotopes was very possible and he showed a calculation of the costs and the technical specifications for an uranium enrichment factory. James Chadwick later wrote, when he realized that the manufacture of an atomic bomb was not only possible, but inevitable, he had to take sleeping pills.

(220. Edwin Mc Millan, Guyana 2001; 221. Philip Abelson) At the same time these investigations were verified from the

United States by the team led by Edwin M.McMillan (1907- 1991) and Philip

Abelson (1913-2004). In the course of their investigations they discovered two new elements, 93 and 94 and named them after the planets beyond Uranus, ‘Neptunium’ and ‘Plutonium’. Finally the MAUD group concentrated their activity on the gaseous separation of the uranium isotopes only and did not occupy themselves with subjects such as the plutonium manufacture, thermal diffusion, the lector-magnetic method and the ultracentrifuge.

(222. Glenn Seaborg) The final identification and production of plutonium is credited to Glenn Seaborg of the American McMillan team who bombarded in a cyclotron uranium-238 with deuterium (an isotope of hydrogen). A cyclotron was an apparatus invented early in the thirties by Ernest Lawrence (1901-1958), a colleague of Fermi. With this apparatus he was able to generate particles of high energy content without the use of extremely high voltages, the particle accelerator, which in 1939 won him the Nobel Prize.

( 2 2 3 , E r n e s t Lawrence, Guinea 2001, 224, Arthur Compton, Guyana 2001) Back in the United States the interest in the atomic bomb grew

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slowly especially at the University of Berkeley by Ernest

Lawrence and Vannevar Bush (1890-1974). They hired also the brilliant physicist Arthur Compton (1892-1962), a specialist in X-rays, earth magnetism and cosmic rays. But still their May 17th 1941 report did not lead to definite actions.

The German Bomb (225. Werner Heisenberg, Germany 2001) Under the direction of the physicist Werner Heisenberg (1901-1976) work was carried out with respect to the development of such a bomb, but the Nazi leadership in person of Albert Speer still in July 1942 was dissatisfied about the costs of the project carried out by the German ‘Uranverein’. There exists information that the Nazis did not believe that such a bomb could be realized before the end of the war. Therefore neither was the construction of a nuclear reactor started. In spite of this conclusion a miscalculation of the progression of the German bomb was the acting force behind the American nuclear project, the ‘Manhattan project’. In the eyes of the Germans Heisenberg was a bit suspect because of his efforts in quantum physics, ‘Jewish science’, as explained. He therefore was often under attack by the Nazi press. However in 1932 he received the Nobel Prize for Physics for his work with respect to quantum mechanics.

Still his role in WW II is controversial. In 1941 he visited Niels Bohr in Sweden, according to Bohr sympathizers to persuade him to support him by the development of the German bomb. The Heisenberg supporters, however, think that he carried out this visit to inform Bohr about the progress of his developments with regard to the bomb. This seems less probable referring to the statements by Heisenberg after the war with respect to the necessary quantity of uranium for a bomb, which he estimated about ten times too high. (226. Dr.Kurt Diebner) Assistant to Heisenberg was Prof. Kurt Diebner (1905-

1964) of the German Army. A subdivision investigated the possibility of the nuclear propulsion of a submarine. In 1945 this group reached at the point where the Americans had got to in 1942, a self-sustainable chain reaction basis for the construction of a nuclear reactor. It still is the question if the German researchers dragged on their investigations on purpose or that they really were some years behind. In any case after the war Heisenberg, Otto Hahn and Max von Laue, a fervent anti-Nazi, were interned for a while in ‘Farm Hall’ in England in the frame of the secret project ‘Alsos’, to find out the level of the development of the German bomb. When they heard about the atomic bomb dropped on Japan Hahn in particular was so shocked that he contemplated suicide. But Heisenberg came the following day with a scientific explanation how such a bomb should have been constructed, yet he exaggerated the critical mass for it by factors.

In short, several causes led to the fact that the Germans did

not get the bomb ‘in time’ such as: wrong insights, lack of knowledge, lack of raw materials, lack of money and perhaps retarding actions of some responsible scientists. (227. Heisenberg, Sweden 1982, M1218) Moreover, Heisenberg is well known by the d i scovery o f the ‘Uncertainty Principle’, which explains that from a quantum particle its position and speed could never be detected exactly at the same moment. On this microlevel holds - The more we know about one effect the less we know from the other.

The Tizard Mission (228. Watson-Watt, GB 1991, M1322) Although Sir Winston Churchill and the inventor of RADAR Robert Watson-Watt, did not agree with the mission in September 1940 the British sent a technical committee to the States under direction of Henry Tizard. Their aim was an exchange on many technical areas such as radar, jet engines and nuclear experiments. The nuclear area was especially meant to create laboratory facilities outside the

reach of the Nazis. The basis was the Frisch-Peierls Memorandum in which the technological possibilities to build an atomic bomb were outlined. The scientist, John Cockroft (1897-1967) also was a member of this committee. Especially with regard to the development of radar the mission was a success. But much less so with regard to nuclear technology, where they found Fermi a sceptical opponent busy to making steam with the aid of nuclear energy, not atomic bombs. (229. George C. Laurence) In this respect they found much more support from the Canadians via George Laurence (1905-1987) in Ottawa. But, back home, they also themselves developed the idea that the nuclear experiments only should serve a warfare a little, and that it should be of greater use after the war for the development of nuclear energy. In the beginning also their technology in the field of jet engines did not meet with much response, but after one year the American realized that the British Whittle engines proved to be much better than their own developments. Afterwards he mission was seen as one of the most important contributions to the Anglo-American co-operation, but of course most of that only became visible after the war.

MAUD On July 15th 1941 the MAUD-commission reported to the British authorities: 1. The Fritsch-Peierls Memorandum for the production of an uranium bomb is possible; 2. The work to realize this must receive the main priority;

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3. Close co-operation with the Americans is of the utmost

importance. The first report showed that the atomic bomb as a principle is possible and contained technical and commercial recommendations. 12 kg of active material should be enough for an explosion comparable with 1800 kg of TNT. It would release large quantities of radioactive material and would contaminate the area for a prolonged time. The cost of production for one kilogram of uranium-235 was estimated to amount to £5 million. A second report indicated that the heat developed at the reaction could be used to drive machines. The isotopes produced could be used as a replacement for radium. It was concluded that an uranium reactor could be of great significance after the war. Further, they would send Hans van Halban and Lew Kowarski to the US to help at the manufacture of heavy water. The plutonium option only was mentioned as a possible alternative. Churchill ratified the conclusions although he in his own words: ‘ was very satisfied with the present explosives, but would not hamper developments’. The British ordered for two tons of uranium from Port Hope, Ontario, Canada. This uranium was a by-product of the radium mining and of an extraordinary radioactivity. Nevertheless it was transported in linen bags without any

additional protection. In the meantime also the Americans had ordered for a large quantity of this ore. In October 1941 the Americans received a copy of the MAUD-report and only then they understood that the construction of an atomic bomb was a reality. They proposed a kind of co-operation which passed, however, for a short period without use. (230. Pearl Harbour, USA 1991, Y1980) One month later, after the Japanese attack of Pearl Harbour at December 7th 1941 the

Americans decided to develop not only the uranium but also the plutonium option. In May 1942 a British mission visiting America found out that the Americans had taken up the construction of the atomic bomb. Together with the Americans they tried to co-ordinate all activities in Chicago. (231. General Leslie Groves) In the meantime the direction of the projects came under supervision of the American Army General Leslie Groves (1896-1970) and for safety reasons this General refused the cooperation of foreigners from within the British project., so they left for Canada where the development of the British bomb was continued under the name: ‘Tube alloys’. The next half year was marked by a great animosity between the British-Canadian team and the Americans who continued ordering Canadian ore but on the other hand refused to supply the British-Canadians with the heavy water they needed or would only deliver it under strict American rules.

For safety reasons they were not willing to provide them with

information about the manufacture of this heavy water, the preparation of uranium hexafluoride (necessary for the separation of 235U from 238U), the separation method, the properties of plutonium, details of the design of the bomb and facts about neutron reactions. In spite of all this the Montreal-group continued their work, but in May 1943 they found out that all supplies of ore had been used up by the Americans. (232. Marshall Islands) At the political level, however , r e l a t ions improved and on July 19th 1943 led to an agreement between Roosevelt and Churchill in Quebec City. Besides, at the same meeting it also was decided to start the operation ‘Overlord’ which lead to the invasion of Europe at Normandy. After the agreement the British were welcomed into three projects: the gaseous diffusion project, the electro-magnetic separation of uranium isotopes and the construction of the bomb in Los Alamos. The Canadian team laid their emphasis on projects useful after the war. In 1944 therefore they started to build a

Canadian reactor with heavy water as moderator, which was the start of a very fruitful programme for Canadian nuclear energy. Finally this programme also led to the construction of identical reactors in India in 1956 and Pakistan in 1959.

The Manhattan Project For the start of the Manhattan project we have to go back to 1939 when President Roosevelt installed the ‘Uranium Committee’. Some time later this committee merged into the ‘National Defence Research Committee (NDRC)’, which in turn was replaced by the ‘Office Scientific Research and Development’ under direction of Vannevar Bush. About two months before the attack on Pearl Harbour (December 7th 1941) Roosevelt charged this group with the development of the atomic bomb, which on August 13th 1942 led to the foundation of the ‘Manhattan Engineer District’ later called the ‘Manhattan project’. The naming ‘District’ was a consequence of the habit of the Army to classify projects according a system of districts. (233. R.Oppenheimer, Belgium 2001) At an early state the project was led by the Army’s Brigade-General Leslie R.Groves, a very energetic military man. From the scientific side Dr.J.Robert Opperheimer (1904-1967), of the University of California was appointed as

Technical Director and co-ordinator of all research and development. The project was subdivided into a number of separate activities. For example, the manufacture of enriched uranium was placed in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. The production of plutonium was to be situated in Harford, Washington and the central laboratory for the construction of the bomb in Los Alamos, New Mexico.

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(234. Nicholas Kurti) Besides the uranium-

graphite reactor, X-10, developed by Francis Simon (1893-1956) and the Hungarian Nicholas Kurti (1908-1998) in Oak Ridge, three additional plants were built: the gaseous diffusion plant for the enrichment of uranium (K-25), the electro-magnetic separation plant (Y-12) with the process of Ernest Lawrence and the thermal diffusion plant (S-50). The project for the separation of uranium isotopes by means of centrifugation—today one of the most successful means—was not progressed at this time. Also the electro-magnetic separation was stopped as the yield appeared too low. (235. From left right Bohr, Coleman-Carter, Feynman, Fermi) Other sc i ent i s t s c lo se l y connected with the development of the atomic bomb were the mechanical engineer, Joseph Coleman Carter III (1910-1992) and the mathematician Richard Feyman (1918-1988). Coleman-Carter constructed the first experimental version of the A-bomb and worked on the refinery of uranium isotopes

and submarines driven by nuclear energy and finally also at the development of the nuclear cultivation reactor.

(236. Hans B e t h e , G r e n a d a 2 0 0 1 , 2 3 7 . Feynman, USA 2005) At the start of the Manhattan project Feynman joined the theoretical department and worked closely together with Hans Bethe (1906-2005). One of their tasks was

to calculate the amount of material necessary for a bomb. For his method for the calculation of very complex equations , the so-called ‘Feynman diagrams’ he won the Nobel Prize in 1965. (Feynman also was a very skilled artist and painter). In 1986 he was part of the commission which investigated the Challenger 51L disaster (January 28th 1986), which came up with the surprising conclusion of the failing O-ring. In September 1944 the Hartford reactor went critical, but not everything was successful. The plutonium produced was not clean enough, but still contained 0,9% of plutonium-240. This should cause a more spontaneous emission of neutrons by which a possible bomb might explode prematurely or on the other hand, to avoid such an effect, would be by far too big. Hence, it was decided not to construct this, more simple, gun-type bomb, called ‘Thin Man’, but an implosion type of bomb, called ‘Fat Man’. At a gun-type bomb two non-critical parts were shot into each other in such a way that together they form a critical mass. This is the case with bombs based on 235U. An implosion type of bomb works differently. A sub-critical sphere of a plutonium alloy (6,2 kg, 9 cm diameter) is placed

in the middle of a sphere filled with a high explosive material.

A large number of fuses around it are forced to explode simultaneously and cause a heavy pressure on the core. The core is pressed together in such a way that a super-critical state is reached and the nuclear reaction takes place.

On April 12th 1945 President Roosevelt died and was succeeded by Harry Truman

(238. Conference of Potsdam, Marshall Islands) After the surrender of Germany on May 7th 1945 immediately a maximum performance was required when the ‘Conference of Potsdam’ was held from July 17th to August 2nd. At the start of the conference Truman could announce that within the framework of the ‘Trinity’ project the first experiment with an atomic bomb based upon plutonium, ‘The Gadget’, on July 16th 1945 at Alamogordo, New Mexico, had been a success. With nearly

100 km per second a cloud was shot to a height of 10 km and had destroyed everything in the area. The accompanying light flash could be observed at 200 km distance. The bomb had a power of 20 kt (80 TJ). The story is that Oppenheimer, confronted with these effects, referred to a sentence from the Indian Holy Book, the ‘Bhagavat Gita’: “I am become Death, the destroyer of the worlds”. (239. Bart Simpson) At that time, by the way, of the side-effects of such bombs surprisingly little was known. One knew about the physical effects on the workers painting watches with radium paint, but still there

were experiments which nowadays raise our eyebrows and which, also at that time, already could be considered as very unethical. To study effects on man and environment patients were injected with radioactive substances and public lawns were sprayed with such components.

In Part 2B of his superb series in March John Beenen writes about the exploding of the first atomic bombs…..

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Un-manned Satellites on Postage Stamps : 24 By Guest Contributors Don Hillger and Garry Toth

A version of this article first appeared in The Astrophile for Nov/Dec 2006

Eole-series Satellites (and Balloons)

This is the twenty-fourth in a series of articles about un

-manned satellites on postage stamps. This article features the French Eole-series satellites. One

Preliminary Eole (Peole) and one Eole were successfully launched, the former on 12 December

1970, and the latter on 16 August 1971. Eole was also

known as CAS (Cooperative Applications Satellite), having been launched by NASA under a

cooperative agreement with France’s Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales (CNES).

The word “Eole” comes from a Greek word meaning

“wind”; the Greek God of wind was called Eole. The

Eole Program refers to a system of helium-filled balloons as well as the satellites used to track them.

The Eole balloon system was a series of instrumented earth-circling constant-density meteorological balloons.

The Eole spacecraft served primarily as

communications satellites to relay data collected by the Eole balloons on upper-atmospheric altitude, pressure,

temperature, moisture, and wind velocities.

The Eole satellites consisted of an octagonal body with

8 solar panels fanned out at a 45 degree angle from the main spacecraft body. The satellites occupied low-

earth elliptical orbits and used a Doppler system to locate the balloons’ horizontal positions to within plus

or minus 3 km (far from the accuracy obtained by more modern Global Positioning System (GPS) location

systems!). Data were stored on the satellites and then

relayed to the ground when the satellites were within range of the ground station.

As many as 500 3.6-m diameter Eole Program balloons

were launched at the rate of 3 per day from 3 sites in

Argentina, with an additional 250 balloons held in reserve. The balloon system was intended to monitor

the atmosphere at pressure altitudes of about 200 hPa (approximately 12,000 m), particularly between 30 and

60 degrees south latitude, where observations from conventional upper-air weather balloons are

particularly sparse. On 11 September 1971, 71 of the

115 balloons then in operation were accidentally destroyed when a general destruct command was sent

instead of an interrogation command! The number of Eole balloons gradually decreased during the program’s

lifetime, which ended in 1973 when the last balloons

were intentionally destroyed.

While the Eole satellite is featured on stamps from several countries, fewer countries are known to

specifically show Eole Program balloons. Those items

were issued in the 1972-1973 timeframe when the Eole

Program was in effect. Of note is the stamp issued by

Central Africa Republic in 1973 (Scott C115), which shows both an Eole satellite and an Eole balloon, and is

therefore listed in both parts of the checklist.

The U.S. forerunners of the Eole balloon system were the GHOST (Global HOrizontal Sounding Technique)

super-pressure balloons launched starting in 1966 and

tracked by the Nimbus-4 satellite starting in 1970. The GHOST Program lasted 10 years. The authors are

unaware of any stamps showing GHOST balloons, however Nimbus series satellites were covered in the

second article in this series.

A checklist of postal items showing Eole-series satellites

(http://www.cira.colostate.edu/ramm/hillger/Eole.htm) is available on the Website developed by the authors for

the un-manned satellites featured in this series of articles (http://www.cira.colostate.edu/ramm/hillger/

satellites.htm). E-mail correspondence is welcome. Don

Hillger can be reached at hillger@cira.colostate.edu and Garry Toth at garry_toth@hotmail.com.

11

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12

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How Hungary Has Celebrated Soviet and Other Spaceflight Achievement

Brief Historical Context Ex Wikipedia… Following the fall of Nazi Germany, Soviet troops occupied all of the country and through their influence Hungary gradually became a communist satellite state of the Soviet Union. After 1948, Communist leader Mátyás Rákosi established Stalinist rule in the country complete with forced collectivization and planned economy. The rule of the Rákosi government was nearly unbearable for Hungary's war-torn citizens. This led to the 1956 Hungarian Revolution and Hungary's temporary withdrawal from the Warsaw Pact. The Soviets retaliated massively with military force, sending in over 150,000 troops and 2,500 tanks. Nearly a quarter of a million people left the country during the brief time that the borders were open in 1956. From the 1960s through the late 1980s, Hungary was often satirically referred to as "the happiest barrack" within the Eastern bloc. This was under the autocratic rule of its controversial communist leader, János Kádár. The last Soviet soldier left the country in 1991 thus ending Soviet military presence in Hungary. With the Soviet Union gone the transition to a market economy began.

Hungary has been a prolific issuer of space-related

postage stamps but—unusually for a country under heavy influence of one super power for so long in the

Twentieth Century—she was prepared to acknowledge

the achievements of the other, long before the collapse of the other’s potency, referred to above. And this is

clear in the very first space issues (within SG

1552-8, 14.3.59)

c e l e b r a t i n g I n t e r n a t i o n a l

Geophys ica l Year which include images

both of Soviet and American probes,

e.g. Luna 1,

Sputnik 3 and Vanguard. The

Luna 1 issued was reissued (24.9.59), overprinted with a Soviet flag

on the Moon, following the successful landing.

Gagarin’s flight is of course much commemorated,

firstly with two stamps a fortnight after his flight (SG

1732-3, 25.4.61) with the

higher value showing an anonymous cosmonaut and

a fanciful representation of the Vostok rocket, as all

countries had to do for some years about the flight

since no images were released

as part of the Soviet secrecy policy.

Just a month later four

stamps were issued to mark

the Soviets’ first Venus probe: SG 1736-9, 24.5.61).

Already what is clear about

the production of these stamps is a high professional

standard and a certain

elegance in design: note, for example the inclusion of an

allegorical character in the issue, presumably the

goddess herself. For the first

time in what would become a regular feature of Hungarian

space issues some of these stamps—in this case the

highest 2ft value- are also issued in striking souvenir sheets of four with clear white borders, and

alternatively with printer’s marks (“A NY”).

The next space issue, (on 29.3.1962) remarkably for a

Soviet satellite state and barely a month after his flight includes America’s first man to orbit, John Glenn, in the

mini-sheet celebrating the flights of

Gagarin and Titov. The traced orbits around the globe are also suggestive

of this symbol for an atom, again indicating imagination in stamp design,

perhaps suggesting how insignificant we are despite our technological

achievements to date.

The 4.9.62 se-tenant issue (SG 1835-6) for the joint

flights of Vostoks 3 and 4 is arguably the best of those issued by Soviet satellite states at the time in light

brown and deep blue: note the images being broadcast

13

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from space back home to Mother Earth—a lovely design

detail !

In the 27.10.62 set (SG 1843-9) celebrating manned missions to date there are generously three astronauts

to four cosmonaut faces and of course the American

issues actually show what Mercury looked like at the time, whereas the Soviet craft is depicted in guesswork.

Note that an American flight (Shirra/Sigma 7) is commemorated by the highest value stamp !!

The next space issue, on 9.5.63 in a long set (SG 1883-

94) for the Organisation of Socialist Countries Postal

Administration Conference takes the stamp-on-stamp design concept to celebrate spaceflight so far,

presumably devoting a stamp to every country represented at the event, held in Budapest.

Following this minisheet for Vostok 5/6 on 13.7.63,

showing here much reduced there is a another long set (SG

1963-70) which pays homage

to American as well as Soviet manned and unmanned

achievements in space, e.g. Luna 3 and Telstar satellites.

This set is available both perf. and imperf.

In September 1964 one of four se-tenant stamps (SG

2017-20) issued for a Budapest philatelic exhibition

marks Soviet spaceflight. WEEBAU says this (above right) shows Cosmos 3, but since the spacecraft has

the generic collar and thimble shape (meaning the designers had no idea what the craft looked like) it

could mark several flights, manned or unmanned. These lovely stamps come in two styles of mini-sheet,

in strip or quartet lay out.

In November 1964 a

m in i - shee t wa s issued to mark the

first three man

Voskhod f l i gh t , coupling it with the

contemporaneous Olympic theme. Note

again the inclusion of a graceful symbolic

figure, possibly one

of the twelve Muses ?

The first space issue of 1965 (23rd March)

again acknowledges

W e s t e r n s p a c e achievement with SG

2056-64 for the Year of the Quiet Sun

including images of Pioneer 3 and Ariel

satellites.

Next month in a sort-of-Cosmonautics Day issue (17.4.65

SG 2075-6) Leonov’s first space walk is celebrated in typically

elegant style, followed in early

May with an issue to mark the propaganda visit of the Vostok

cosmonauts to Budapest: SG 2078, 4.5.65.

Following another stamp-on-stamp issue

(SG 2127-30,30.10.65) which includes one

space stamp the last

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space issues of the year are devoted to the remarkable

launch of five satellites via one rocket, mini-sheet on

20.12.65 with images of USSR and US spacewalker in the margin and a set of seven on the last day of the

year again marking both countries’ unmanned space programmes: SG 2142-8.

For the first time Space dogs appear on Hungarian stamps

in September 1966 (within SG 2221-4) with Ugolek and

Veterok, (who survived 22

days in space on Cosmos 110 in Feb 1966) celebrated.

The last issue of 1966 (Dec 29th) is another long set

showing once again both USSR and US manned flights: SG 2247-54 all marked “Twin Spaceflights”, an issue

sometimes unfairly criticised because it showed

impossible scenarios like two Vostok craft orbiting just

metres apart, but surely these were intended to be

representative not authentic illustrations as clearly they

are not photographs of real-time events ?

One issue in one of two strips of four issues (SG 2263-71 on

3.9.67) for AEROFILA at Budapest depicts Luna 12

orbiting the Moon and this also

appears in mini-sheet format.

A month later there is

an issue dedicated to the Soviet probe Venus

4 (SG 2316 on 6.11.67).

The first and only issue of 1968 (May 11th) is a

beautiful commemoration of the lives of deceased

spacefarers Ed White, Yuri Gagarin and Vladimir K o m a r o v :

whose portraits a r e p l a ced

either side of

the first fallen “pilot”—Icarus

who in the Greek legend,

flew too near the Sun.

The first issue of 1966 shows Luna

9 descending to and opened on the Moon’s surface, transmitting date to

Earth : SG 2165-6 on 12.3.66

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However when it comes to the Apollo Moon missions,

Hungary excels itself with a whole series of beautiful

mini-sheets and sets which are too good not to dwell over in these pages, even if in some cases in reduced

format…..

The standard in elegance is set immediately by the design and understated tones of the above minisheet

(issued 30.1.69) showing the beauty both of our planet and of our satellite shining in sunlight against the deep

blue of space.

Two months later comes an issuing marking an

important stage in the Soviets’ own plans to put a man on the Moon themselves, an orbital docking of two craft

and crew transfer. The joint flights of Soyuz 4 and 5 are marked with two stamps and se-tenant label (SG

2437-8 on 21.3.69), but craft shape detail is inaccurate.

Later in the year the greatest space

achievement of all is marked with another stunning mini-sheet shown

here full size on fdc, issued on the 15th August. Once again the

contrast of the colours of the stamp showing the Moon’s surface with

the background of the cosmos in

mauve and eau-de-Nil is so attractive. There is nothing garish

here compared with the issues from most countries capitalising on the

event.

(Also sold imperf.)

On 1st November an eight stamp set (SG 2487-94)

again commemorates both US and Soviet achievements

and includes references to Jules Verne’s Columbiad and Tsiokovski’s foreseen dough-ring space station way in

the future. Shown here are the stamps for craft in the US and USSR Moon probes series

Apollo 12 and the triple flights of Soyuz 6, 7 and 8 were

both celebrated with issues on 20.3.70 (SG 2515-6)

with mini-sheets containing a quartet of each stamp by the same design team

being the only available format…..

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8th April 1970 saw the

issue of one stamp

marking 100 years of t h e H u n g a r i a n

Meteorological Institute and one stamp (SG

2 5 1 9 ) d e p i c t s Intercosmos 1 with

solar panels folded and

a photo of a deep low pressure centre

On 10th June the quartet format seen earlier in the year is reprised but this

time with four different images for Apollo

13. Nothing in these designs refers to the onboard explosion so presumably

these stamps were designed well in advance of the mission.

Soyuz 9 is treated in the same way on 4th September.

as are the missions of

Luna 16 and Luna 17 (carrying Lunokhod) with

m i n i - s h e e t s i s s u e d respectively on 15th

January and 8th March 1971.

The Apollo 14 mini-sheet (31.3.1971) is arguably the

best yet with the purple used for outer space contrasting with the blue and green of our home

planet. The detail of the design even takes into

account the position of the Fra Mauro region where Alan Shepard landed his LM, Antares . 4th September stamp-on-stamp issues for 100 years

of Hungarian Stamps includes one space stamp

(shown below) which also appears on page 13 for Leonov’s space walk and the year concludes with a

sombre issue for the biggest loss of life in space (at that date) following the mission of Soyuz 11. This is a

very large mini-sheet (13.5 x 9 cms) with a dignified silver and black margin around portraits in light brown

and blue for the perished cosmonauts.

17

ORBIT

The Apollo 15 mini-sheet (issued 20.1.1972)

maintains the very high design standards set

by Apollo 14 and provides a lot of detail of the routes taken by astronauts Scott and

Irwin in the first lunar rover in the Hadley-Apennine region.

The next space issue on 30.3.72 related to

the Exploration of Mars with two stamps (SG

2656-7, not shown) and a label showing both the US Mariner and Soviet Mars 2 and 3

probes. The 10.6.72 issue minisheet (not shown) issued in anticipation of the coming

Olympic Games shows a comsat beaming

pictures of the action.

The Apollo 16 issue (10.10.72) is, perhaps something of a disappointment following the

brilliance of those for #14 and #15, simply showing Mattingly having his shot at glory

by doing the first mid-space EVA on the

return journey.

An issue on 27.10.72 for the re-opening of the Hungarian Postal Museum shows space

stamps and satellites including Molniya and

Voskhod: SG 2727-8

The first issue of 1973 is devoted to the last

manned Moon mission, Apollo 17, issued on 15.1.73 and shows an astronaut working on an experiment near the LM, Challenger, at Taurus-Littrow, with an

impossible—given the location - Earth-rise in the background, but

the design is very dramatic, nevertheless.

On March 12th, Hungary issued another striking

mini-sheet, this time to commemorate the flight

of Venus 8, pictured on

the stamp with several Zodiac images in the

margin.

An Olympic Games

minisheet on 31.3.73 contains an image of a

com-sat and on 11 May we have a most unusual stamp-on-

stamp-on-stamp issue for the INRA 73 and POLSKA 73 stamp exhibitions

(within the SG 2800-7 set), again

using the Voskhod 2 Leonov space walk item.

To be concluded in March 2008

18

ORBIT

Flight STS-63 Commander James Wetherbee Pilot Eileen Collins MS Bernard Harris MS Michael Foale MS Janice Ford MS Vladimir Titov KSC Launch Date 3.2.1995 KSC Landing 11.3.5 Purpose / Mir Rendezvous Main Payload Spacehab 3 Spartan 204

Shuttle Story : 1995—STS-63, -67, -71, -70, -69, -73, & -74

your hand and together we will lead our world into the next millennium.” The craft remained together for about 10 minutes before the shuttle drew back and flew around Mir at a distance of 450 feet for photographic documentation, finally leaving the area after about three

hours’ rendezvous. On Day Seven Harris and Foale began a spacewalk to test new thermal devices for their spacesuits and to test their handling of the 3,000lb SPARTAN satellite. On Day Eight the shuttle astronauts took a last look at Mir when 815 miles away it appeared like a small flashing star to the payload bay cameras. The mission came to a close as planned with a landing 11th February on orbit 130 after over eight days in space. Footnote: Coca-cola was available chilled and from a fountain for the first time on this mission !

Discovery was launched on STS-63 one year to the day after its launch on STS-60, both missions lifting off on 3rd February and carrying Spacehab modules. The primary objective of the mission was a rendezvous with Mir to test procedures to be used in the June 95 docking of Mir with Atlantis. However, in addition to Spacehab-3, Discovery carried the SPARTAN-204 deployable astronomy satellite, the Cryo Systems experiment, the Shuttle Glow Experiment and the Orbital Debris Radar Calibration Spheres plus an IMAX camera mounted on an experiment support structure in the payload bay.

Once in orbit, the shuttle developed an RCS forward thruster leak of fuel, which was not uncommon but a particular concern this time because of the near approach to Mir and therefore possible contamination. One day One Discovery was some 7,000 miles behind Mir. On Day Two the Russian MS Vladimir Titov used the RMS arm to lift the SPARTAN satellite out of the payload bay for several hours and on Day Three Commander Jim Wetherbee and Pilot Eileen Collins closed and reopened the manifold leading to the faulty thruster several times which reduced the thruster leak problem, but not totally. But now the shuttle was only 1,000 miles from Mir and closing at around 78 miles per orbit. With the agreement not to use the faulty thruster, permission for the rendezvous was given and at 1.16pm on Day Four the shuttle had manouevred to within 400 ft of the Russian craft. During the final approach Wetherbeee brought Discovery to within 37 feet of the Kristall docking module approaching about one inch per second, with the Russian commander Viktorenko controlling the orientation of their craft to assist. This was performed over the Eurasian landmass to allow constant communication between Mir and the ground. As Discovery reched its closest approach point, Wetherbee said “As we are bringing our space ships together we are bringing our nations closer together. The next time we approach we will shake

19

ORBIT

Flight STS-67 Commander Steven Oswald Pilot Bill Gregory MS Wendy Lawrence MS Tamara Jernigan MS John Grunsfeld PS Ron Parise PS Samuel Durrance KSC Launch Date 2.3.1995 KSC Landing 18.3.1995 Purpose / ASTRO-2 Main Payload

This was the eighth flight of the orbiter and the 68th shuttle

launch, with a planned length of 15½ days so making it the

longest one to date. After initial worries about overhead weather conditions the shuttle was launched in the early

hours of 2nd March.

The primary objective of the mission was to provide a Spacelab platform for the ASTRO-2 ultraviolet astronomy

payload. Accordingly, the two PSs has been chosen for their

knowledge of the science instruments and experimental objectives and had been members of the first ASTRO

mission on STS 35 some five years earlier. Within ASTRO was the Hopkins Ultraviolet Telescope which conducted

spectroscopy at wavelengths of of 830 to 1860 ångström,

the Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope to record faint objects in the 1200 to 3200 ångström part of the spectrum and the

Wisconsin UV Photo-Polarimetry Experiment.

To give a flavour of the kind of activity involved on a daily basis, on Day Two the UIT made its first observations which

included images of globular clusters, massive concentrations

of stars which are the oldest class of objects in the Milky Way, 16-19 billion years old, despite Hubble Telescope

indications that the universe is only about 10 billion years old !!. The HUT observed a celestial “odd couple,” two stars

with radically different temperatures orbiting each other and

the WUPPE team made several planned observations of the supergiant star P Cygni designed to provide information on

how this type of star ejects matter into space.

Thousands of questions for the mission had been pouring into the ASTRO-2 WWW Home Page and MSs Jernigan and

Lawrence took time to respond to some of these questions

during several days of the mission. A volcanic eruption on Jupiter towards Io, its moon, had occurred just before

launch and this was obviously a fascinating subject for further telescopic study. On Day Eleven the crew made the

first ever observations of the whole Moon at far UV wavelengths. Day Thirteen was an historic one as the newly arrived cosmonauts (including American Dr Norman Thagard) on Mir meant there were 13 people in space simultaneously for the first time and later in the mission the American commander Oswald spoke to his colleague on Mir via a radio link. Shortly after midnight on Day Sixteen the ASTRO-2 science operations concluded with all three telescopes

taking observations of the full Moon. Landing was delayed by ground weather conditions for one full day and eventually had to be switched from KSC to Edwards AFB, when it occurred on March 18th, after a journey of over 6.9 million miles.

(A full mission report appears in Spaceflight magazine for July ‘95 Vol 37 pp 239/42.)

20

ORBIT

Flight STS-71 Commander Robert Gibson Pilot Charles Precourt MS Ellen Baker MS Gregory Harbaugh MS Bonnie Dunbar Passenger Anatoli Soloyov Passenger Nikolai Budarin KSC Launch Date 27.6.1995 EAFB Landing 7.7.1995 Purpose / Mir Docking Main Payload Russian Crew Delivery

Below a launch and landing cover bearing the mission patch which includes bottom centre the joint program symbol, whilst the rising sun centre symbolises a new dawn for international cooperation in space. The patch contains the names of both the “up” and “down” Russian cosmonauts.

100th U.S. Manned Spaceflight This mission was characterised by two historic occurrences: it was the 100th manned space flight by the United States programme and it was the first shuttle to dock with the Russian Mir Space Station. Atlantis was successfully launched from KSC on Tuesday 27th June ‘95 at 3.32 p.m., a delay of over a month following the late arrival of the Spektr Module at Mir which took about a month to commission on site. Once in flight Atlantis flew the lowest orbit by a shuttle of 158 by 85 nautical miles to allow the shuttle to close the inital 7,000 nautical difference by around 880 nautical miles per orbit.

Day Three saw the actual dock with the space station, with at first Atlantis standing off at a distance of about 250 ft from Mir while awaiting final approval before at 9 a.m. Commander “Hoot” Gibson brought the shuttle up against the docking port on the Kristall module. Following leak checks of the connecting tunnel the hatches of the two spacecraft were opend and Gibson shook hands with Vladimir Dezhurov in the first Soviet-American meeting since ASTP some years earlier. Following the link two Russian shuttle passengers Anatoly Solovyov and Nikolai Budarin officially assumed duties as the Mir crew and the old Mir-18 crew moved to Atlantis. Next day the combined Mir-19, Mir-18 and STS 71 crews met in the Spacelab module for a ceremony to commemorate the flight. Two halves of a pewter medallion bearing the impression of a docked shuttle and Mir were joined together. Much research material created by the Mir-18 crew was transferred to the shuttle whose crew began to transfer water in canisters, taking about 500lb of water onto the station. On Day Seven Mir’s jammed solar array on the Spektr module was photographed from Atlantis and the results downlinked for remedial planning. Then at 3.32 p.m. that day Solovyov began to seal hatches so marking the end of the historic link-up. Next day the Russian crew on Mir entered Soyuz TM-21 and backed off 200ft to photograph the undocking of Atlantis. By mid-

afternoon they were back in Mir and the shuttle was some 35 miles away separating further by about 9 miles per orbit. On Day Nine the Mir-18 crew were the primary test subjects of examinations in the Spacelab module and the following day preparations were made for return to earth

with the Mir crew in special reclining seats in the middeck area. It was their 115th day in space and these seats would allow them to take re-entry forces in a reclined position. The shuttle landed at KSC just before 11a.m. on July 7th, after completing 154 orbits.

21

ORBIT

Flight STS-70 Commander Tom Hendricks Pilot Kevin Kregel MS Nancy Currie-Sherlock MS Donald Thomas MS Mary Weber KSC Launch Date 13.7.1995 KSC Landing 22.7.1995 Purpose / TDRS Main Payload

Bearing the seventh TDRS satellite, Discovery was

launched from KSC on 13 July just six days after the

landing of Atlantis on July 7, the shortest ever period between a landing and the next launch in NASA’s history,

though in fact there were plans to launch it on June 8, because of the Spektr induced delay to STS 71.

However with little more than a week to that launch, damage caused by woodpeckers to the External Tank

digging holes in its thernal insulation was discovered so

it was returned to the VAB for repairs, hence the actual launch date.

The TDRS-IUS was deployed successfully during Day

One in orbit. This being done flight controllers in the

Johnson Space Center vacated their control room and moved to a new control room for the remainder of the

flight. The old room had been in use since the days of Gemini in 1965, but the new facility is much more

versatile and will become the standard new facility for orbital flights.

After this launch the crew’s activities centred on five experiments in the science package, one of which was

the SAREX amateur radio gear used to speak to schoolchildren during the day which was much used on

Day Four.

Another important experiment was the employment of

the HERCULES camera which can imprint the latitude and longitude of the areas of the Earth being

photographed. On Day Six the crew reported seeing a small nick on the outside of one of the orbiter windows,

apparently caused by a micrometeorite sometime during

their sleep period, but it posed no danger to the spacecraft.

The Mission was due to end on Day Nine but bad

Above a launch and landing cover depicting Discovery orbiting Earth in vast blackness of space. The three gold stars below the shuttle’s engines relate to the TDRS delivery representing the triad composed of spacecraft transmitting data to Earth. The stylised red, white and blue ribbon represents the American goal of linking space exploration to the advancement of all humankind.

weather conditions meant both landng opportunities

could not be taken and they were granted a further

day in space. The mission ended on July 22nd with touch down at KSC shortly after 8am.

(A full mission report appears in Spaceflight magazine

for Nov ‘95 Vol 37 pp 390/2.)

MS Mary Weber

22

ORBIT

Flight STS-69 Commander David Walker Pilot Kenneth Cockrell MS JamesVoss MS James Newman MS Michael Gernhardt

KSC Launch Date 7.9.1995 EAFB Landing 18.9 1994 Purpose / SPARTAN Main Payload Wake Shield Facility

Below a launch and landing cover bearing the mission patch which represents the multi-faceted nature of the mission. The Wake Field Facility is represented in the centre of the emblem by the astronaut logo against a flat disk. The two stylised shuttles highlight the ascent and entry phases of the mission and along with the two spiral plumes symbolise a NASA first—the deployment and recovery on the same mission of two spacecraft—Wake Shield and Spartan. The constellations Canis Major and Canis Minor represent the astronomy objectives of the Spartan and a UV experiment.

Space Shuttle Endeavour on mission STS 69 successfully

overcame a series of difficulties ranging from a hurricane

to a major repair of its SRB nozzle joints and was launched at 11.09 am on 7th September ‘95. This

mission had been scheduled for mid July but previous launches had slipped so its launch was then postponed

until early August, but then analysis of O-ring joints on other shuttles required remedial action and with a

tropical storm approaching it was deemed necessary to

take the orbiter back to the VAB for full protection which meant further delay.

Endeavour’s payload consisted of SPARTAN, the Wake

Shiled Facility, the International Extreme Ultraviolet

Hitchhiker and The Capillary Pumped Loop-2/GAS Bridge Assembly.

On Day Two Gerhhardt used the robot arm to release

the 2,800 lb SPARTAN satellite and next day the shuttle moved some 65 miles away from the satellite which then

flew ahead of Endeavour before being recaptured on

Day Four. The capture was more difficult than expected because SPARTAN was found in an unexpected attitude

which required considerable shuttle manouevring.

The Wake Shield Facility - to produce semi-conductor

materials - was deployed on Day Five and when launched it became the first example of a satellite

thrusting away from the shuttle rather than vice-versa. Satellites previously have used springs to separate from

orbiters. The WSF was recaptured during Day Eight and during its free flying time the facility produced four of

the seven expected semi-conductor films.

On Day Ten Voss and Gernhardt conducted EVA lasting

almost 7 hours, their first task being to install thermal sensors on the robot arm and on the starboard wall of

the payload bay to provide data for correlation with

spacesuit temperatures.

The mission ended on Day Twelve with a landing at

KSC just after 7.30 a.m. on 17th September.

(A full mission report appears in Spaceflight magazine

for Dec ‘95 Vol 37 pp 414/9.)

23

ORBIT

Originally scheduled for 28th September, this flight took

off on 20th October as a 16-day mission made possible

by the inclusion of the unique Extended Duration Orbit (EDO) system. Nicknamed “the wafer” because it slots

into the rear of the payload bay like a silicon chip into a computer, the EDO contains additional liquid oxygen and

liquid hydrogen reactant tanks for the shuttle’s electricity generating fuel cells and so is the key to long-duration

missions.

During the 14th month interval between her last flight

(STS 65) and this mission Columbia had undergone thorough inspections of stress and corrosion levels as

part of her third post-Challenger Orbiter Maintenance Down Period.

Columbia’s paylod for STS 73 was the Second US Microgravity Laboratory (USML 2) a collection of materials science, biotechnology, fluid physics and combustion science located within a 23-foot long European built Spacelab pressurised module. Several other associated experiments spilled over into the shuttle middeck for this complex research flight. During most of the mission Columbia was in a “gravity-gradient” flight orientation which had the craft flying with the left wing forward in the direction of travel and the orbiter’s tail towards Earth. This position minised the thruster firings necessary to hold position and the impact on sensitive scientific experiments by allowing the orbit to maintain position

Flight STS-73 Commander Kenneth Bowersox Pilot Kent Rominger MS Katherine Thornton MS Cady Coleman MS Mike Lopez-Alegria PS Albert Sacco PS Fred Leslie KSC Launch Date 20.10.1995 EAFB Landing 5.11.1994 Purpose / USML-2 Main Payload Spacelab

Above a launch cover bearing the mission patch, whose ten sides relate as do the classic regular polyhedrons that were investigated by Plato and later Euclid. The Pythagoreans were fascinated by the symmetrical three-dimensional objects whose sides are the same regular polygon. The infinity symbol has been added to further convey the discipline of fluid mechanics. The shape of the emblem represents a fifth polyhedron, a dodecahedron with the Pythagoreans thought corresponded to a fifth element that represented the Cosmos.

with only its smallest vernier thrusters. The mission was free from problems, except for occasional loss of contact with the ground through the TDRS-East relay satellite, during which time scientific data were recorded on board and not lost. After a week into the mission the crew reported a small impact on one of the flight deck windows about one-eighth of an inch in diameter. The largest impact reported previously was one-half of an inch on STS 59 due to a paint chip.

During the flight the crew were able to watch video images sent from the ground as the mission included a two-way video linkage, a further precusor of what will happen on Space Station Alpha. The mission came to an end on November 5th landing after nearly 16 days in space, the second longest shuttle mission after STS 67 (March ‘95.)

(A full mission report appears in Spaceflight magazine for Jan ‘96 Vol 38 pp 9/10.)

24

ORBIT

Flight STS-74 Commander Kenneth Cameron Pilot James Halsell MS Jerry Ross MS William McArthur MS Chris Hadfield KSC Launch Date 12.11.1995 EAFB Landing 20.11.1995

Purpose / Delivery of Russian Main Payload docking module to MIR

Mission STS 74 began at 7.30 am on 12th November 1995

after the first attempt to launch Atlantis was delayed for 24 hours as weather at the transatlantic abort sites was out of limits for a contingency landing during the short seven minute launch window. Atlantis’s main mission was to deliver the Russian Docking Module (DM) and other items to the Mir space station. This was the third in a series of possibly ten docking missions in the next few years as the Russian and Americans together work towards creating space station Alpha. The primary payloads for the STS 74 mission were the Orbiter Docking System (ODS) and the DM, so its goal was to bring the DM to Mir for future shuttle docking with it installed on the Kristall port as a permanent part of the Mir complex. In addition to the docking module Atlantis carried two new solar arrays for Mir along with other equipment, supplies and water. Shuttle MS Jerry Ross said that the joint-flight was “probably the largest mix of international people in space at one time....a snapshot of what international space stations are going to be like.” (The crews also contained a Canadian and a German.)

Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield used Atlantis’s RMS to raise the docking module from the orbiter’s aft payload bay on 14th November. The module was rotated on to a vertical position and then mated with the ODS in readiness for the Mir Docking on 15th November. The docking itself was flawless, despite the docking module

blocking shutle commander Ken Cameron’s line of sight so he had to fly on camera views for the link-up. For the second time in four months Americans and Russians shook hands in orbit. For three days the two spacecraft remained linked together while the crews transferred supplies and equipment including the transfer to Mir of ten 100 pound bags of water, produced by Atlantis as a by-product of the orbiter’s fuel cells. The shuttle crew also spent some time taking detailed engineering photos of Mir to assess the condition of the station after ten years and to record any impact damage from space debris. The crew performed several joint scientific investigations

including sampling Mir’s water supply, using thruster firings to invstigate the stability of the docked configuration, measuring Mir’s acoustic environment and testing of a communications network which makes use of radio waves. Atlantis carried two experiments in its payload bay as well as an IMAX camera. The GLO experiment studied the Earth’s upper atmosphere as well as investigating interactions between the atmosphere and the spacecraft. Three Photogrammetric Appendage Structural Dynamics Experiment (PASDE) canisters recorded the strucural response of Mir’s solar arrays during the docking phase of the flight. Following completion of joint activities Atlantis undocked from Mir and performed a flyaround during which additional photography was obtained from a variety of cameras. Atlantis glided to a perfect landing on Runway 33 at KSC on 20th November, concluding the second Mir docking mission and completing the final shuttle mission of 1995.

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Topical Time features Astrophilatelic Items

The November-December 2007

issue of the Journal of the American

Topical Association carries two items of interests to astro-

philatelists. In her regular column on Topical Postal Stationery one of

the Board of Directors Dalene Thomas of Lakewood, Colorado

devotes her column to items

commemorating Yuri Gagarin. Mrs Thomas’ comments conclude with

spectacular understatement, “This is not the first time Gagarin has

appeared on stamps”….

Jewish Spacefarers In the same issue Gary S. Goodman

of Liverpool, U.K. writes an article entitled Judaica is Worldwide, the

closing section of which deals with spacemen of the Jewish faith,

details of which are perhaps

unknown to many Orbit readers and that section of his article is

reprinted below……though his stamp identifications include errors

as you will see if you look them up,

e.g. the Bulgaria and Poland stamps referred to for Volynov of

Soyuz 5 depict Voskhod 1 cosmonauts.

Boris Voynov (2nd from left)

USSR (22.1.69)

Judith Resnik

Ilan Ramon

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Have you ever wanted to send

messages into space? Guess what,

you may have. If you use e-mail/the Internet and communicate with

someone beyond your local continent, your communications

may have been sent to an Intelsat satellite orbiting the earth in space.

Some space alien may receive fame

and fortune for discovering and translating your e-mail signal as a

sign of extra terrestrial intelligent life in the universe! Keep that in

mind the next time you send e-

mail.

How did this happen? The interest in telecommunication

satellites started in the 1940's. Telecommunication satellites were

first predicted by Arthur C. Clarke,

in an article in Wireless World, 1945/10, pages 305-308. The first

telecommunications satellite was the ECHO 1, (launched on

1960/12/08, 1960 009A, by a Thor

Delta 270/D2 rocket from Cape Canaveral, FL and placed into a low

earth orbit). It was a passive communications satellite. Signals

were bounced off the ECHO 1 Satellite and reflected back to

earth. The first commercial

telecommunications satellite was In te l sa t 1 , ( l aunched on

1965/06/04, 1965-028A, by a Delta D rocket from Cape Canaveral, FL,

into a geostationary orbit (GEO),

positioned over the Atlantic Ocean). The satellite was renamed Early

B i r d and was an ac t i ve telecommunication satellite, in that

it received signals from earth,

amplified them, and sent the signals back to earth. Early Bird

was owned by Intelsat.

Intelsat was the operating arm of a consortium that began on

1964/8/20. It came about because

many governments and other organizations realized the capability

of satellite communications, and also realized the tremendous cost

to create the infrastructure. The

Intelsat by Bruce Cranford P.E.

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International Telecommunications

Satellite Consortium was initially

composed of 11 participating countries. In 1973, the name was

c h a n g e d t o I n t e r n a t i o n a l Telecommunicat ions Satel l i te

Organization (ITSO), and had grown to 80 countries and

organizations. The ITSO has no

operational role, but ensures the implementation of the public service

commitments of Intelsat.

Intelsat is the world's largest

c o m m e r c i a l s a t e l l i t e communications services provider.

Intelsat currently has more than 100 members and provides service

to more than 600 Earth stations in more than 149 countries, territories

and dependencies. In 2000, Intelsat

started on the road from treaty based, international cooperative to

private company and received formal approval from its owners and

governments.

I n t e l s a t m a i n t a i n s i t s

headquarters at Wellesley House North, 2nd Fl., 90 Pitts Bay Rd.,

Pembroke, HM 08, Bermuda, Phone: 441-294-16503400. The

major USA location is Intelsat,

I n t e r na t i o na l D r i ve N .W . , Washington, D.C. 20008-3098 USA.

Spacecraft operations are controlled through ground stations in Fucino

(Italy), Clarksburg (Maryland, USA),

Beijing (PRC {Peoples Republic of China}), Raisting (Germany), Perth

(Australia), and Paumalu (Hawaii, USA). Intelsat's primary source of

revenue is derived from satellite

usage fees which, after deduction of operating costs, are redistributed to

ITSO members in proportion to their shares as repayment of capital

and compensation for use of capital. Another organization, called

Comsat, (communications satellite) was the sole U.S. company that

provided Intelsat services to U.S. companies and organizations.

Comsat Inc., was created by the

U.S. Congress in 1962. Comsat operated as an independent

company unt i l 2000, when Lockheed Martin (6560 Rock Spring

Drive, Bethesda, MD 20817 USA)

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purchased and incorporated

Comsat into Lockheed Martin. In

the 1980's, the regulations were changed to a l l ow o the r

communication satellites and services to operate, kicking off the

communications satellite boom that started in the mid 1980's.

Intelsat currently has more than

20 satellites in constellations in GEO. In the next few years, they

will launch new satellites, expanding their constellation and

replacing older satellites.

Telecommunication satellites

have several major systems which

include: - Solar cells for power,

- Antennas for receiving and sending communications signals,

-Transponders which are electronic devices

that rece ives,

amplif ies, and r e t r a n s m i t s

s i g n a l s o n d i f f e r e n t

frequencies,

- Satellite operation and cont ro l ha rdware and

software, - Station keeping propulsion.

It is interesting to observe the technology advances over the last

43 years by comparing the first Intelsat with the latest:

- Early Bird: 1 transponder with 50 MHZ bandwidths, 240 voice

circuits or one TV channel, serving the USA and Europe, solar cells

providing more than 12 watts of

power, weight was 68 kg, operational for 3.5 years. - Intelsat 902: Launched 2001/30/08 by an Ariane launch

vehicle from Kourou. The satellite

has 44 C-band transponders to serve the entire the Atlantic

Ocean Region, as well as 12 Ku-band transponders that will

provide spot beam coverage for Europe. It is capable of handling

more than 22,000 telephone calls

and 3 colour TV broadcasts simultaneously. Solar cells provide

more than 8 kW power. Weight is 4,700 kg, (10,300 Lbs.) operating

life of 15 years.

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Figure 3 PanAmSat-10 (Intelsat 10) cancelled at Baikonur,

Kazakhstan on 2001/05/15 with a Periodical edition Kosmodrom cachet. Finally, a word of caution about the words “comsat” and “intelsat”. These terms have been and are used occasionally as generic names for communication type satellites for other companies. Most all major cachet manufacturers have created intelsat covers, making this one of the broadest and most wide ranging collecting challenges. A complete list of Intelsat 73 satellites launched to date is available from the following internet address: http://www.spacecraftnames.info/

Member Profile : Bruce Cranford At your Editor’s invite American m e m b e r a n d spaceflight author Bruce Cranford tells you a little about his collecting interests.

I started collecting space covers almost

by accident. While in college, the store where I purchased First Day Covers sent me some Gemini

Space Covers. Combining my love of space and enjoyment of stamp collecting was too much to

resist. I was hooked. After graduating, I joined the Space Unit!

Years later, wanting to improve my collection (my first mistake), I realized that my

lack of in-depth knowledge about astrophilately was preventing me from reaching my goal. I

started researching and documenting what I learned, and felt quite

proud when I had three typed written pages of notes. I continued the research trying to fill large gaps in my knowledge.

In reviewing the literature, I discovered that extensive information exists for the space industry, launchers, technologies

and space stamps; however, very little information existed for space covers. Therefore, I concentrated my focus on space covers.

To ensure thoroughness, I expanded and went deeper into astrophilately (my second mistake). Soon, things got out of hand!

I expanded my collection to include European, Russian, and Chinese space covers. My notes on spaceflight and space

covers grew to more than 1,700 entries. To access the information, I put it on a computer and alphabetized it. (I think

alphabetically!) I contacted the Space Unit about sharing my newly begotten knowledge, and received some very valuable advice,

suggestions, and more information. I agonized over how to arrange the entries, and had many suggestions from reviewers.

Suggestions were made to arrange by country, by manufacturers, cancellations, terms, etc. There was no consensus as to the best

arrangement. I found that when all else fails, an alphabetical arrangement was the easiest to use. Russian, Japanese, and

Chinese terms proved very challenging both to me and the word processor! I published the first edition of the Space Cover Dictionary in 1996.

I also write articles for The Astrophile and Orbit. Ben Ramkissoon asked that I write about future launches. Thus began

the series AGoing Up@ starting in 2000. I soon realised that I had just barely scratched the

surface of the information I needed to collect space covers. For the

next four years, I continued my research and discussion with fellow

astrophilatelists, and planned to update the publication. The data grew so much that it became necessary to separate the data into

two publications, the Space Covers: Dictionary & Identifier, 2000 Edition which had more than 800 entries, and the International Satellite and Launch Vehicle Names Compendium with 5,000 entries (www.spacecraftnames.info).

My collecting interest continued to grow, including space covers from around the world. I became a director of the Space Unit.

I went through several major learning experiences during

those years. Producing and printing the Space Covers Dictionary & Identifier, 2000 Edition in COLOR was a major

undertaking (pain in the **^#@$). The 2000 Edition was more successful than the earlier edition. Creating a web site and placing

the compendium on the internet was more complicated and time consuming than I could have imagined. During this time I met

many knowledgeable collectors from all over the world who helped me to obtaining space covers and greatly increased my knowledge

of space covers. These contacts continue through today.

Now in 2007, the Space Covers Dictionary & Identifier, Year 2006 Edition has been released with improved

color and contains more than 1,000 entries. It is being sold through the Space Unit to help them raise funds.

The Compendium’s name was changed to Spacecraft

and Satellites Dictionary 2007 Edition, and expanded to include more than 8,000 entries. It is now available in publication and an abridged version is on the internet.

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USA 2007 souvenir sheet for Star Wars Purchased in New York in October by your Editor as irresistible, though a rip-off !

15 peelable stamps @41c showing from Top and then clockwise Darth Vader, the Millennium Falcon, Luke Skywalker,

Queen Padmé Amidala, Obi-Wan Kenobe, Han Solo with Chewbaca, stormtoopers, Yoda, X-wing starfighter, Boba Fett, Darth Maul, C-3Po, Princess Leila and R2-D2, Emperor Palpatine, Obi-Wan Kenobe and Anakin Skywalker.

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ASSS Member Designs Romanian Sputnik Tribute Issues

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Sputnik Anniversary covered by The Times / National Space Centre

Members may have seen The Times for Saturday Sept

29th which included a 16 page tabloid supplement

“Space : 50 years of exploration from Sputnik to the present day” produced in association with the National

Space Centre. Copies may be still be available for those who would like to have the souvenir by

c o n t a c t i n g t i m e s o n l i n e . c o . u k o r www.spacecentre.co.uk.

The first article in the supplement was an edited extract from a piece by Buzz Aldrin in Spaceflight produced by Dorling Kindersley (@ £25). The book was available as a discount through The Times by

calling 0870 1608080 at the time of publication.

One interesting feature was

a time-line of space events featuring front page

presentations of the stories as they appeared in The Times in the following

days, e.g. for Sputnik, the Moon Landings, Apollo-

Soyuz, The Space Shuttle, Helen Sharman’s flight and

Beagle 2. Each of these

pages can be accessed at t i m e s o n l i n e . c o . u k /

space/sputnik or /shuttle or /sharman etc

etc, where there is a front page facsimile of the article and the full text on the

webpage.

The back page carried a Space Travel crossword

competition, reprinted opposite which has the completion dated of 31.3.2008, “if you are completing

the puzzle at the National Space Centre”.

Facsimile of Times

Front page from

Supplement

(2b p’copied@30.9.07)

Peripheral Items for Your Collection ?

Depending on how broad your interest in spaceflight /

astronomy is you may not know of these items which

your Editor came across in recently turning to and researching some stock book items acquired for his

world literature collection. The words are taken straight from Wikipedia, the free internet

encyclopaedia..

Saint Isidore of Seville (560—636) (Spanish: San Isidro or San Isidoro de Sevilla), Latin: Isidorus Hispalensis (c. 560 – April 4, 636) was Archbishop of Seville for more than three decades and has the reputation of being one of the great

scholars of the early Middle Ages…… Isidore taught in the Etymologiae that the Earth was round. His meaning was ambiguous and some writers think he referred to a disc-shaped Earth; his other writings make it clear, however, that he considered the Earth to be globular. He also admitted the possibility of people dwelling at the antipodes, considering them as legendary and noting that there was no evidence for their existence. Isidore's disc-shaped analogy continued to be used through the Middle Ages by authors clearly favouring a spherical Earth, e.g. the 9th century bishop Rabanus Maurus who compared the habitable part of the northern hemisphere (Aristotle's northern temperate clime) with a wheel, imagined as a slice of the whole sphere.

Alfonso X (el Sabio) (1221 – 1284) Alfonso X (November 23, 1221, Toledo, Spain – April 4, 1284, Seville, Spain) was a Spanish monarch who ruled as the King of Galicia, Castile and León from

1252 until his death. He was elected Rex Romanorum in 1254. His nicknames were "el Sabio" ("the Wise", more

accurately translated "the Learned") and "el Astrólogo" ("the Astronomer")….. As a writer and intellectual he gained considerable scientific fame based on his encouragement of astronomy and the Ptolemaic cosmology as known to him through the Arabs. (Because of this, the Alphonsus crater on the Moon is named after him). His fame extends to the preparation of the Alfonsine tables, based on calculations of al-Zarqali Alzarquel. One famous quote attributed to him was supposedly said upon hearing an explanation of Ptolemy's theory of astronomy and being shown the extremely complicated mathematics required to "prove" it - "If the Lord Almighty had consulted me before embarking on creation thus, I should have recommended something simpler." The validity of this quotation is questioned by some historians.

Pierre d'Ailly (1351—1420) ( in Lat in, Petrus Aliacensis, Petrus de Alliaco) (1351 – August

9, 1420), was a French theologian, astrologer, and cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. He was born in Compiègne. He was was affiliated with the College de Navarre and taught Jean Gerson. D'Ailly rose to prominence leading the university's effort to secure removal of John Blanchard as chancellor. D'Ailly served as chancellor of the University of Paris from 1385 to 1395, and Gerson succeeded him. He was involved in the effort to end the Great Schism by means of an ecumenical council and participated in both the Council of Pisa (1409) and the Council of Constance (1414-1418) which condemned the Bohemian reformer Jan Hus. D'Ailly served as bishop of Cambrai and became a cardinal. D'Ailly wrote extensively on the Schism, reform, astrology and other topics. D'Ailly's Imago Mundi, a work of cosmography, influenced Christopher Columbus in his estimates of the size of world land-mass.

Aliacensis crater, on the Moon, is named after him.

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ASSS Membership Renewal 2004

Member’s Name & Address……………………………………………..

……………………………………………………………………………….

I wish to renew my membership of the ASSS for a further year and enclose the equivalent of

£10 (UK/Europe) £15 (elsewhere) £6.50 (Junior)

Please return this form with your remittance to Harvey Duncan by the

end of June. Thank you !

Harvey Duncan Treasurer ASSS 16 Begg Avenue

Falkirk Scotland FK1 2DL