Aug 25 1978
From The Space Library
The gondola of Double Eagle 11, first balloon to successfully cross the Atlantic, remaining parts of its balloon, and some of its equipment would soon become an exhibit at the Smithsonian's Air and Space Museum, the Washington Star reported. The U.S. embassy in Paris had notified the museum that the three balloonists wanted the Air and Space Museum to be the repository of their craft. They had planned also to present documents and onboard equipment that had not been jettisoned, as well as the balloon envelope (the shell containing the gas).
While the balloon was still aloft, Melvin Zisfein, acting director of the museum, had cabled the U.S. embassies in London and Paris to approach balloonists Maxie Anderson, Larry Newman, and Ben Abruzzo on the Smithsonian's behalf. When Lindbergh was still in the air on his historic flight, Paul Garber had sent a cable to the airfield at Le Bourget asking for the plane, the Spirit of St. Louis, which had become one of the museum's premier exhibits. "I thought it would be nice to continue in that tradition," Zisfein said. (W Star, Aug 25/78, A-6)
NASA announced it had appointed Terence Finn director of legislative affairs. Finn had served since Dec. 1974 as senior analyst for energy, science, and space on the staff of the Senate budget committee, where he had been responsible for the budgets of NASA, National Space Foundation, and DOE. He was teaching a graduate course, Congress and Budget, at Catholic Univ., and also had taught at American Univ. and the Dept. of Agriculture Graduate School. Finn was a member of the American Political Science Association and a life member of the American Aviation Historical Society. (NASA Release 78-131)
The Langley Researcher reported that, under a program sponsored jointly by NASA and the American Society of Engineering Education (ASEE), a team of 19 university professors and two legal interns had spent the summer at LaRC on a study, An Integrated Air-Cargo Transport System. The team had reviewed forecasts of the air-cargo industry and had recommended changes in aircraft, air-freight terminals, air-transportation networks, and government regulation, to best serve national needs between 1990-2000.
Recommendations had included designing a new medium-range aircraft for cargo service and a long-range aircraft that constituted an improved or derivative version of today's craft; arrangements for all aircraft and major freight terminals to handle 20ft intermodal containers; continuation of air-cargo industry deregulation for at least the immediate future; and permission for airlines to own interstate trucking companies. Dr. Griffith McRee of Old Dominion Univ. had directed the study. (Langley Researcher, Aug 25/78, 4)
Dr. Donald Hearth, LaRC director, had accepted an invitation to serve on the board of governors of the Natl. Space Club, the Langley Researcher reported. The club, a nontechnical nonprofit organization, had been founded in 1957 "to stimulate the advancement and application of space flight and related aerospace technologies for the benefit of all mankind." It had sponsored luncheons with speakers from the aerospace community and had granted scholarships for postgraduate and doctoral studies in the aerospace sciences. The board of governors would offer advice and counsel and annually nominate and elect the recipient of the Goddard trophy, premier award of the aerospace community. (Langley Researcher, Aug 25/78, 3)
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31
