Feb 28 1973
From The Space Library
The U.S.S.R. launched Cosmos 549 from Plesetsk into orbit with 723-km (449.3-mi) apogee, 516-km (320.6-mi) perigee, 92.2-min period, and 73.9° inclination. (GSFC SSR, 2/28/73; SBD, 3/1/73, 7)
Dr. James C. Fletcher, NASA Administrator, compared the NASA FY 1974 budget program with FY 1973 plans in testimony before the opening session of the Senate Committee on Aeronautical and Space Sciences hearings on the FY 1974 NASA authorization: "Last year Congress approved $3.4 billion, the full amount of the President's recommendations. In presenting the budget last year, I was able to state to the Congress that the planning associated with the $3.4 billion budget request was configured so as not to require an increase in future NASA budgets above the $3.4 billion level, . . . except as necessary to meet the effects of inflation, or unless new decisions were made to expand the program." NASA then had had "a balanced and productive program which did not include any ‘built-in' commitments that would require a higher total level of NASA funding in future years."
NASA's FY 1974 budget represented a change in this plan. "To meet the necessary constraints on total Government spending in FY 1973 and FY 1974 we have had to reduce our budget plans below the $3.4 billion level by a total of almost $400 million for the 2-year period." But program objectives were generally the same, "even though some of them will necessarily be achieved at later dates. For this reason, NASA budgets in future years will have to increase. . . . This need is recognized in the preliminary projections for FY 1975." NASA was "handling the reductions in our FY 1973 and FY 1974 budget plans in away that will not increase the levels of future funding required above those projected last year." Dr. Fletcher believed this to be minimum level for space and aeronautics program U.S. should support. The program's major elements-space shuttle, unmanned planetary and scientific missions, space applications and aeronautics program components, and others-"are ones that have been presented and approved in previous years." NASA had "squeezed and stretched the program about as far as we can. In some of the reductions we have made in FY 1973 and FY 1974 we may have gone too far. Any further significant reductions would mean a real loss in a key element of the program."
NASA was requesting FY 1974 funds for an advanced supersonic technology program to provide technology for future military supersonic aircraft, data to assess environmental and economic impacts on the U.S. of present and future foreign supersonic aircraft, and a "sound technical basis for any future consideration that may be given by the United States to the development of an environmentally acceptable and economically viable commercial supersonic transport." The request did not include funds for initiating SST development and did not commit the U.S. to development. Dr. Fletcher was accompanied by Astronauts Thomas P. Stafford and Charles Conrad, Jr., as well as other NASA officials. (Transcript)
Rep. Thaddeus J. Dulski (D-N.Y.) introduced H.R. 4927 to amend Title 5 of the U.S. Code to make Level V of the Executive Schedule applicable to three additional NASA positions. The action was taken following receipt by the House Speaker of a letter from Dr. James C. Fletcher, NASA Administrator, requesting legislation to double the number Of NASA Level V positions. Dr. Fletcher requested authority to establish titles of Associate Administrators "in a manner consistent with evolving functional responsibilities as they may develop and be altered ... ; and to add three such positions to provide salary equality among all Associate Administrators having comparable responsibilities and authorities. Legislation was required because reorganization of NASA offices had created six offices headed by Associate Administrators, rather than three. (CR, 2/28/73, H1244)
The Air Force announced award of a $27-million fixed-price-incentive-fee contract to Philco-Ford Corp. to build and test two communications satellites for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. The satellites, scheduled for 1975 launch, would be space segments of NATO's Phase III Space Communications Satellite System and would handle long-range communications requirements. (DOD Release 102-73)
The House Committee on Science and Astronautics' Subcommittee on Manned Space Flight continued hearings on the FY 1974 NASA authorization [see Feb. 27]. Skylab Program Director William C. Schneider described progress of the Skylab project at Kennedy Space Center: "The flight hardware has undergone intensive check-out at the module level including docking tests to verify the critical interface between the Multiple Docking Adapter and the Command and Service Module." Stacking of the Saturn V and Saturn IB launch vehicles "has proceeded apace and end-to-end integrated systems tests of the orbital assembly have been completed." Activities supported the mid-May dual launch, with rollout to Pad 39B scheduled for mid-April. The Skylab pyramid test program, "starting at the component qualification level and building up through the levels of subsystem and module testing, through acceptance reviews and checkouts, to the countdown demonstration, provides the confidence needed to launch and operate America's first space station."
Deputy Associate Administrator for Management Harry H. Gorman in the Office of Manned Space Flight discussed the NASA personnel changes brought by completion of the Apollo program. The research, development, and operations contract support effort during the Apollo program had peaked in FY 1968 at 17 500 persons. The FY 1974 budget request would provide employment at a 9500 level-a 45% reduction. The Civil Service staff would decrease by 825 positions in FY 1974, to a total of 10 525. The reduction was also related to completion of Skylab, termination of communications lead center activity, and suspension of the High Energy Astronomy Observatory program. (Transcript)
NASA-developed technology to protect nuclear rocket nozzles from vibration was being used to modify automobile engines to reduce exhaust fumes, at Lewis Research Center. The project had begun in 1970 when the Environmental Protection Agency asked NASA to study materials for an automotive thermal reactor-a chamber in which hot engine exhaust was mixed with air to complete combustion of unburned gasoline, converting carbon monoxide and hydrocarbons into carbon dioxide and water. LeRC engineers were testing brittle ceramic materials for a reactor-system combustion chamber lining by cushioning materials with thin corrugated metal springs similar to those used during nuclear rocket nozzle testing. (LeRC Release 73-11)
Dr. Robert C. Seamans, Jr., Secretary of the Air Force, announced that the Air Force had received congressional approval to proceed with the FY 1973 production 'program of 30 F-15 air superiority fighter aircraft. Four test aircraft had flown 270 successful hours since July. Production of an additional 77 was planned for FY 1974, pending congressional approval. (DOD Release 101-73)
NASA launched an Aerobee 150 sounding rocket from Churchill Research Range carrying a Univ. of Michigan aeronomy experiment to a 179.9-km (111.8-mi) altitude. The rocket and instrumentation performed satisfactorily. (GSFC proj off)
The National Science Foundation published NSF Forecasts Rise in Company-Funded Research and Development and R&D Employment (NSF 73-301). Company-funded R&D expenditures were projected to increase by 22% between 1972 and 1975, to a record level of $14 billion annually by 1975. A moderate upswing in employment of scientists and engineers on company R&D programs was anticipated. Industrial firms had spent estimated $11.4 billion on R&D during 1972, 7% more than in 1971. Between 1970 and 1971 company-financed R&D rose 4%. Between 1970 and 1972 the number of scientists and engineers employed on company R&D programs rose slightly, to 240 000; an increase to 260 000 was anticipated by 1975. Aerospace firms foresaw future R&D growth below the rest of the industry. The downward trend of employment on company-supported basic research had stabilized; it was expected to rise 10% between 1972 and 1975. (NSF Highlights, 2/28/73)
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