June 1980:milestones

February 1980

22 Aeritalia and SNIA Space and Defence Division announce an agreement with the Italian board of national research to “develop and produce a new space vehicle suitable for inter-orbital space transportation." Called IRIS (Italian Research Interim Stage) the propulsive stage is designed to transfer from low orbit into transfer orbit, any kind of geostationary satellite fornmeteorological observation, telecommunications, and monitoring of Earth resources and atmospheric pollution. It can be operated from the Space Shuttle or the European Ariane.

28 INTELSAT announces that overseas demand for satellite telecasts of the Winter Olympics almost doubled during the Games. When the 1980 Games opened at Lake Placid, New York, INTELSAT was holding bookings for 260 hours of international satellite television for the Games, but a tally of usage after the Games showed that a total of 448 hours had been used.

March 1980

5 NASA announces that a plan to increase the cargo-carrying capacity of the Space Shuttle for near-polar orbit missions from Vandenberg AFB is underway at the Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Alabama. Contracts for programme definition studies of a liquid propellant boost module to be attached to the Shuttle’s External Tank have been awarded toMartin Marietta Corporation and Aerojet Liquid Rocket Co. "These studies will involve adaptation of portions of the Air Force Titan launch vehicle to the Space Shuttle to provide additional boost for launch.” The liquid boost module is expected to increase the Shuttle’s payload capability from 24,000 to 36,000 lb (10,886 to 16,324 kg).

6 Science Programme Committee of European Space Agency decides to include a new scientific project,an astrometry satellite ‘Hipparcos’, to measure the astrometric parameters of celestial bodies (positions,proper motions and parallaxes). With the satellite it should be possible to determine "with very high accuracy the position and velocity of about 100,000 stars.”

10 Second group of 20 astronaut applicants report to Johnson Space Center for a week of physical exams and interviews. All in the second group are mission specialist applicants from among the 3122 men and women who applied last autumn. There are five women in the group.

13 First full power level test (at 109 percent of rated power level) of the Space Shuttle Main Engine is successfully conducted at NASA’s National Space Technology Laboratories in Mississippi.