May 15 1973
From The Space Library
Sen. James S. Abourezk (D-S. Dak.), member of the Senate Committee on Aeronautical and Space Sciences, called for a full-scale congressional investigation of the malfunction of the Skylab 1 Workshop [see May 14-June 22], during a Washington, D.C., press 'interview. (Lyons, NYT, 5/16/73)
The resignation of Dr. Robert C. Seamans, Jr., as Secretary of the Air Force was accepted by President Nixon with deep regret and appreciation for his years of outstanding public service to the Air Force and to NASA. He had served NASA as Associate Administrator 1960-1965 and as Deputy Administrator 1965-1968. Dr. Seamans became President of the National Academy of Engineering, succeeding Clarence H. Linder, NAE president since 1970. (PD, 5/21/73, 682; NAE Release 5/16/73; NASA Biog; A&A 1968)
NASA participation in the National Science Foundation's Research Applied to National Needs (RANN) program was described by Dr. Alfred J. Eggers, Jr., NSF Assistant Director for Research Applications and former NASA Assistant Administrator for Policy. Dr. Eggers testified before the House Committee on Science and Astronautics' Subcommittee on Energy during a hearing on energy research and development: "Particularly close ties are developing between NSF/RANN and NASA in the field of Energy Research and Technology," The major focus was on terrestrial applications of solar energy. Lewis Research Center was especially active in joint work on requests for proposals on solar thermal areas, photo-voltaics (use of the generation of electromotive force when radiant energy fell between dissimilar substances), flat plate collection, and heating and cooling of buildings. NASA had made a preliminary inventory of its test facilities applicable to NSF's solar energy research program. NSF had requested NASA to review the status of solar insolation data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and, working with NOAA, to examine the need for better data and methods. Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the Cal Tech Environmental Quality Laboratory were jointly conducting workshops and studies in water heating and other solar technology applications. A NASA Wind Energy Workshop at LeRC would pursue plans for a wind energy research program. Other areas of NASA participation included research into bio-conversion of organic materials to fuels, thermal batteries and superconducting trans-mission technology, earthquake engineering, regional environmental systems, trace contaminants, and fire. (Transcript)
Communications Satellite Corp. held its 10th Annual Meeting of Share-holders in Washington, D.C. Board Chairman Joseph H. McConnell reported that its global system, through the fourth generation of Intelsat satellites, provided more than 260 communications pathways among earth station facilities in 49 countries. "Along these pathways flows a major portion of all international long distance communications-telephone, television, teletype, high speed data, and facsimile. Almost 100 countries, territories, and possessions are leasing satellite services on a full-time basis. High-quality telephone calls can be made to more than 20 countries that cannot be reached by cable. . . . Over 900 million people on six continents can see an important event on TV as it hap-pens." Dr. Joseph V. Charyk, ComSatCorp resident, said, "At the end of 1965 . . . we were leasing 66 voice grade half circuits on a full-time basis. Today we are leasing 3,146." (ComSatCorp Rpt to Shareholders)
The "spreading Watergate scandal"-arising from investigations of alleged White House implication in the burglarizing and electronic surveillance of Democratic National Committee Headquarters by members of the Committee to Reelect the President-had slowed down Administration research and development decision making, a Science & Government Report editorial said. The subsequent disintegration of presidential staff had created "a decision-making paralysis that is subtly but steadily spreading to agencies far remote from current headline events." The editorial quoted an Office of Science and Technology staff member as saying that "just about every thing that the President set out in his Science and Technology message 14 months ago requires some sort of approval at the White House level now and then, and there's no one to talk to there." The newly created White House National Energy Office had "already received some shock waves from the scandal through the resignation of presidential assistant John D. Ehrlichman," who had been appointed by President Nixon to a three-man Special Committee on Energy to "give political weight" to NEO decisions.
Difficulties flowing from Watergate were aggravated by the impending transition in management of the science-Government relationship. Many OST responsibilities would shift to the National Science Foundation Director, Dr. H. Guyford Stever, when the OST was abolished June 30. "Whether for good or ill, the change is a change, and necessarily involves the dissolution of longstanding relationships, some of them dating back to early post-Sputnik days." (Sci & Gov Rpt, 5/15/73, 7)
Rep. Leslie Aspin (D-Wis.) in a House statement requested the General Accounting Office to 'investigate a "secret agreement" between the Air Force and the Pratt & Whitney Div. of United Aircraft Corp. under which, he said, the Air Force had certified the F-15 jet fighter aircraft engine for production without ensuring that it met contract standards. As a result, Rep. Aspin said, "tens of millions of dollars in develop-mental costs have been passed on from Pratt & Whitney to the taxpayer." (CR, 5/15/73, H3678)
Russian-born atomic scientist Dr. Eugene Rabinowitch, senior chemist on the Manhattan Project that led to development of the first atomic bomb and founder and editor of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, died in Washington, D.C., at age 71. An outspoken critic of the nuclear arms race, he had joined other workers on the Manhattan Project in 1945 in drafting the Franck Report, which cautioned the U.S. against use of the atomic bomb. At the time of his death, Dr. Rabinowitch had been working as a Woodrow Wilson Fellow at the Smithsonian Institution. His project was scientific revolution and its social implication. (Hailey, W Post, 5/16/73, 136)
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