This historic NASA film shows the agency’s highlights of 1973 including the Skylab space station and the efforts to repair it after it was damaged during launch. Also covered is the training for the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project, the Pioneer 10 spacecraft, the Mariner mission to Mercury, Viking mission, designs for a new “space shuttle”. At Edwards AFB the X-24B lifting body is tested for the Space Shuttle program, and sounding rockets are used in examining the atmosphere. The Comet Kohoutek encounter is described, and the U-2 and SR-71 Blackbird / YF-12 aircraft are shown being used for civilian science research, and studies of wake turbulence are shown. Also shown is advanced flight testing at Edwards Air Force Base using remotely piloted model aircraft dropped from a B-52 mothership.

The film begins (0:10). The launch of Skylab is shown (0:41). Heat deflecting micro meteor shield replacement (1:05). Hurricane Helene over the Atlantic Ocean (2:05). Arabella the Space Spider (2:25). A scientist testing a Buck Rogers like backpack similar to a manned maneuvering unit (2:49). The Apollo-Soyuz test project overview (3:06). Mock-up images of the proposed reusable Space Shuttle (3:20). Research into the re-entry problem with the Shuttle. Recoverable booster rocket falling into the ocean (3:39). Vibration studies. The X-24B lifting body is shown in action being air dropped and landing at Edward AFB (3:55). Asteroids and the asteroid belt. Pioneer 10 is shown making its way to Jupiter (4:26). Images of Jupiter appear on screen (4:38). The Mariner Spacecraft is shown making its way to Mercury (5:19). The film shows technicians working around the Radio Astronomy Explorer Satellite (5:28). Viking Spacecraft is shown (5:48). A NASA Sounding Rocket is shown launching (6:27). Comet Kohoutek is shown in artist renditions (6:47). A telescope carrying aircraft (7:03). Two observatories (7:12). The Earth Resources Satellite (7:41). The narrator explains how the satellite has helped research (7:56-8:06). A remote sensing station that can tell when conditions exist for a forest fire (8:21). The California Division of Forestry Sunol Forest Fire Station is shown with fire trucks from the ‘70’s departing (8:38). A U-2 High Altitude Earth Survey Plane is shown taking off (8:53). A NASA pilot is shown entering a Grumman OV-1 Mohawk reconnaissance aircraft which they have on loan from the Army. Lewis Research Center in Cleveland (9:19). A NASA pilot is shown in a Coast Guard helicopter and drilling into ice (9:44). A flight simulator is shown, as well as a prototype “height control apparatus” shown being tested (10:47). The Ames height control apparatus (attached to the side of the 40- by 80-foot tunnel) was used to investigate the probIems of a pilot who, as required by some military missions, attempts to fly very low over irregular terrain. The pilots performing the simulated mission “crashed” a number of times, thus demonstrating the importance of simulator studies. An Aero Commander or similar civil airplane is being tested in a wind tunnel to study wake turbulence (11:01). A VC-140B Lockheed JetStar (11:47). The US Army Flying Crane helicopter is shown lifting a vehicle; NASA assisted with helping dampen vibrations with the helicopter using composite epoxy dampeners (11:59). A Boeing B-52 Stratofortress, probably the Balls-8 mothership, shown taking off with a mock-up airframe possibly an F-15 or F-16 body. This aircraft mock-up is flown remotely by a technician on the ground using a television camera and instruments (12:47). At (13:32) the aircraft model is retrieved in the air by a helicopter. The NASA YF-12 tail 06937 / SR-71 Blackbird is shown being used to study physics of high speed flight and the Earth’s atmosphere (13:50). The film ends (14:30).

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