03-08-2025
From The Hindu, August 4, 1975: NASA invites India to join space shuttle experiment
Ahmedabad, Aug. 3: The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has invited India to propose an experiment that could be placed in the space shuttle, scheduled to become operative in 1980. An Indian scientist can accompany the experiment in the space shuttle also, said Mr. Arnold Frutkin, Assistant Administrator for International Affairs, NASA, in an interview to a local daily here. Mr. Frutkin, who played a leading role in India's Satellite Instructional Television Experiment was here to watch its inauguration on August 1. He said the European countries participating in the research project aboard the shuttle might send a scientist. The space shuttle was the next major project of NASA after the Apollo programme had ended, he added. 'It is less costly ($12 billions) but is expected to be a major milestone in space travel as it will try the concept of reusable booster,' he said. Mr. Frutkin said the cargo bay of the shuttle would be 60 feet long and 15 feet wide. The space shuttle, well past the design stage, would also carry an entire laboratory and change the way 'you do business in space. It will make space travel cheaper,' he added. Mr. Frutkin said the costs were bound to go down if the same booster could be used over and over again.
