Mar 20 1973
From The Space Library
The U.S.S.R. launched Meteor 14 from Plesetsk to obtain meteorological information for weather forecasts. Orbital parameters: 892-km (554.3-mi) apogee, 872-km (541.8-mi) perigee, 102.5-min period, and 81.2° inclination. The satellite would study cloud and snow cover and gather data on reflected heat. (GSFC SSR, 3/31/73; Tass, FBIS-Sov, 3/21/73, Ll ; SBD, 3/22/73, 124)
Dr. James C. Fletcher, NASA Administrator; with other NASA officials, testified on the FY 1974 NASA authorization request in hearings before the House Committee on Science and Astronautics. Dr. Fletcher pointed out that the NASA request of $3.016 billion was down $400 million from FY 1973 but said the agency program was significant. In 1972 NASA had completed the transition from manned exploration to a focus on practical benefits, unmanned exploration, and development of the space shuttle "as the means to make more practical and more economical all future uses of space, unmanned and manned, especially for applications of economic, commercial, international, or national security significance." Work on uses of the shuttle was "reinforcing our view that the space shuttle system will not only provide the launch capability needed for future space activities of all types but will revolutionize the ways in which space is used as well. The more the specialists in various fields look at the shuttle's capabilities, especially in the sortie mode, the more they see how its weight and volume capacity and flexible operations will permit them to carry out experiments and useful applications in a much simpler and economical manner."
Assistant Administrator for Institutional Management Joseph F. Malaga testified that NASA Hq. would have 1581 permanent positions in FY 174 after agency reduction in force, or 6.3% of the total NASA Civil Service employment. "This is down 600 positions from the 1968 peak, when it represented 6.7 percent of the NASA total. Headquarters has thus kept its size consonant with agency size."
NASA's policy on disposition of manpower and equipment necessitated by FY 1974 budget cuts was described by Richard C. McCurdy, Associate Administrator for Organization and Management, in a prepared statement: "We are already well into the organization and operation of a comprehensive program to identify specific employee preferences and abilities and corresponding suitable potential employers. We have set up training for staff members in gathering job information and in counseling employees, and have arranged for a coordinated flow of information about job openings throughout NASA, and other Federal agencies, state and local government units, educational institutions and private industry. . . . But even more basic . . is our recognition that these people represent a virtually irreplaceable national resource." He referred not only to "this highly talented and trained professional technical work force but also to the complex of sophisticated plant and equipment which must be partially idled.... It would be unconscionable to permit key elements of America's aeronautics and space capability to be disbanded or retired without making every effort to keep them available for further service to the nation." Dr. George M. Low, NASA Deputy Administrator, testified on "practical returns from our space investment," including the work of NASA Applications Teams in the technology utilization program. Teams assisted local, state and Federal Government agencies in biomedicine, air and water pollution, fire safety, transportation, housing, law enforcement, postal service, and mine safety. "Those teams work with the user to explore important technical problems in his specific field and then, often with the help of specialists at NASA field centers, search for aerospace technology which can be used in the solution of the problems." A technique used by NASA to inspect space vehicles had been adapted to improve the x-ray diagnosis of tumors and cardiovascular problems, with a tenfold reduction in radiation dosage. (Transcript)
Cochairman of the U.S.-U.S.S.R. Joint Commission on Scientific and Technical Cooperation-the National Science Foundation Director, Dr; H. Guyford Stever, and Soviet Academician V. A. Trapeznikov-met with President Nixon at the White House. Dr. Stever told the president: "The signing of the agreement on science and technology; plus the other initiatives that you have taken, have triggered a great amount of cooperation in science and research, exchange of technical data with firms. And I think the progress is excellent.” (PD, 3/26/73, 288)
NASA launched a Nike-Tomahawk sounding rocket from Poker Flats, Alaska, carrying a Goddard Space Flight Center magnetospheric physics experiment to, a 225.3-km (140-mi) altitude. The rocket and instrumentation performed satisfactorily. (GSFC proj off)
A New York Times editorial commented on results of the March 5-8 Fourth Lunar Science Conference: The scientists had had "far more factual information ... than has ever before been available" but current hypotheses about the moon's history "have an obvious weakness. They are based almost entirely upon material and observations obtained from the near side of the moon." The moon's far side remained "primarily Luna incognita." The next major objective of lunar exploration "over the decades ahead must be to land instruments and/or men on that far side so that scientists will at long last have samples and other data permitting them to analyze the total moon, not-as now primarily the side we see in the sky.” (NYT, 3/20/73, 36)
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