Jul 12 1977
From The Space Library
KSC reported that an experimental homemade airplane built by John Murphy of the center's Technology Utilization Ofc. had used a NASA-developed winglet set to increase its efficiency by about 8%. Murphy had begun work on the plane in Dec. 1976 from plans by a California designer and had completed it on June 12. Except for the engine and engine mount, the plane consisted entirely of fiberglass and styrofoam and weighed only 6301b. Its 100hp Continental aircraft engine could carry two passengers at 200mph, requiring 1000ft for takeoff and about 2000ft for landing. Murphy, a graduate of Georgia Tech, had been flying for 30yr and owned another aircraft that he had built himself. He had completed 24 of the 50hr flying time needed for Federal Aviation Administration approval, so that he could fly it to the annual meeting of the Experimental Aircraft Assn. in Wisconsin later this summer and show it off to the designer. (KSC Release 128-77)
LaRC announced it would close its Technology Utilization House to the public Aug. 1 to prepare for the arrival of the family that would live in the house for a year to demonstrate the innovations built into it, many of them deriving from NASA space-program technology. The family consisted of a professor from Florida State Univ., his wife (a registered nurse), and their teenage daughter and 12yr-old son. The new equipment included solar energy collectors, special insulation, a water-recycling system, automated heating and cooling, emergency lighting, an improved fireplace, and a special security system. Materials in the contemporary style 3-bedroom house, chosen to save energy and water and thus reduce costs, could save more than $20 000 over a 20yr period. (LaRC Release 77-28)
Political interference had delayed development of science and technology in China, according to Chien Hsueh-shen, director of the mechanics institute of the PRC Academy of Sciences. The W. Post quoted his statement in the journal Red Flag that China would "catch up with and surpass the world advanced levels." Chien, now China's "top missile scientist" according to the Post, had been a colonel in the U.S. Army Air Corps before returning to China in 1955. Meanwhile, provincial radio reports monitored in Hong Kong said that "political infighting" at a PRC base for nuclear weapons and missiles had "crippled defense construction" for months in 1976. (W Post, July 12/77, A-15)
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