Jun 17 1987
From The Space Library
NASA announced reopening, after major modifications, the wind tunnel at Ames Research Center, Mountain View, California. Constructed in 1944, the 40-by-80-foot wind tunnel was used for full-scale testing of civilian and military aircraft. Modifications to the tunnel included increasing power from six 6,000-horsepower electric motors generating airspeeds of up to 230 mph to six 22,500-horsepower motors generating top airspeeds of 345 mph.
The modified 40-by-80-foot wind tunnel represented the first phase of the creation of the National Full-Scale Aerodynamics Complex, which included the Outdoor Aerodynamics Research Facility, at the Ames Research Center, Mountain View, California. The second phase, including the new "straight through" leg with its 80-by-120-foot test section, was expected to be completed in late 1987. (NASA Release 87-98)
NASA announced two new management appointments effective June 22, 1987. Dr. Noel W. Hinners, Director of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland, was appointed to the newly created position of NASA Associate Deputy Administrator (Institution). The position was created on recommendations of the NASA Management Study Group to provide focus on institutional management matters. NASA appointed Dr. John W. Townsend, Jr. to replace Dr. Hinners as Director of Goddard.
Dr. Hinners joined NASA in 1972 as director of Lunar Programs, in the Office of Space Science. From 1974 until 1979 he served as NASA Associate Administrator for Space Science. From 1979 to 1982, Dr. Hinners was Director of the Smithsonian Institute's National Air and Space Museum. In 1982, he was appointed Director of Goddard Space Flight Center.
Dr. Townsend, a research physicist at the Naval Research Laboratory, was transferred with his branch and the Vanguard Project to NASA in 1958 and became chief of the space science division. He became Assistant Director in 1959 and Deputy Director in 1965 of Space Science and Satellite Applications at Goddard Space Flight Center. In 1968 he was appointed Deputy Director of the Environmental Science Service Administration (ESSA), Department of Commerce. He became the Associate Administrator of ESSA, when ESSA became part of NASA in 1970. (NASA Release 87-99)
Rear Admiral Richard H. Truly, NASA Associate Administrator for Space Flight, announced that the next Space Shuttle orbiter would be assembled in Palmdale, California. He gave costs and schedule factors as the reasons why this site was chosen over California's Vandenberg Air Force Base (NASA Release 87-100; H Chron, June 18/87)
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
