LAUNCH AND

MISSION OPERATIONS

STATUS BULLETIN
No. 7

June 23, 1975

The first of the two Viking landers being moved into the sterilization chamber
at Kennedy Space Center. The lander portions of the Viking spacecraft are
sterilized by swirling clouds of heated nitrogen gas at a temperature of approx-
imq.-tely 235°F for 40 hours. The sterilization process is designed to prevent
contamination of the life- seeking experiments on the lander as well as protect
the Martian surface from living organisms from the Earth.
(More details on other side.)
 -l-

The Viking VLC-2 Lander successfully completed its all-important sterilization

cycle late last week and has completed its Post Sterilization Short Test to verify
that all subsystems are functioning properly. A number of minor anomalies
occurred during this testing; some are understood and others are being investi-
gated. Overall confidence is high that the Lander is in good shape.

While the post-sterilization testing was being conducted, the VLC-l Lander was
moved into the sterilization chamber and readied for its testing. However, a
program constraint stipulated that heating could not begin until a certain number
of post- sterilization tests were successfully completed on VLC -2. This being
accomplished, VLC -1 began its sterilization cycle on June 20. The baking was
completed on June 22 and post- sterilization testing is expected to start on this
unit today.

On the Orbiter side, all formal system testing was completed on VO-l and the
move to ESA-60 for final flight preparations is now scheduled for June 30.
VO-2 was placed on the transporter and was mated with the spacecraft adapter;
this adapter is the tubular trusswork that mounts the Orbiter/Lander ass"embly
on top of the Titan III-D launch vehicle. Following some special relay radio
tests, the unit will be moved to SAEF-2 on June 26, where it will be prepared
for final mating with VLC-2.

System level flight operations test and training continued with the series of
verification tests. VT-3 was run successfully on June 12 and checked out the
segment of the mission that included the launch of Spacecraft B while Space-
craft A is in the cruise mode. All verification tests up to this point were classi-
fied as "Short-Loop, I' in that the data, commands, etc., never went outside
the SFOF. VT-4, however, did require data exchanges between JPL and the
tracking stations at both the Goldstone and Spain locations. This test, success-
fully run from June 13 through June 20, checked out the design and execution of
a Spacecraft B midcourse maneuver, while Spacecraft A remained in cruise.

During the period covering June lO-lB, the Veep ~pace Network ran a series of
ten successful Operational Verification Tests on the 26-meter antennas at
Goldstone, Spain and Australia.