May 22 1972
From The Space Library
President Nixon and party flew from Salzburg, Austria, to Moscow for first official visit of U.S. President to U.S.S.R. He met for two hours with Communist Party leader Leonid I. Brezhnev and later attended Kremlin dinner given by Presidium of U.S.S.R. During toast, Soviet President Nikolay V. Podgorny said: "... great importance is attached in the Soviet Union to Soviet-American talks which should cover a wide range of questions. We approach these talks from realistic positions and will make every effort in accordance with the principles of our policy to achieve positive results and try to justify the hopes placed in our countries and beyond them." President Nixon responded: "Because we are both prepared to proceed on the basis of equality and mutual respect, we meet at a moment when we can make peaceful cooperation a reality." Summarizing objectives of summit talks, President Nixon said: "First, we want to complete work on matters that years of patient negotiations have brought to the decision point: Bilateral matters will serve as our point of departure: Our two nations can work together in the exploration of space, the conquest of disease, the improvement of our environment." (PD, 6/5/72, 915-7)
Award of $400 000 cost-plus-fixed-fee contract to Bell Aerospace Corp. for space shuttle orbiter reaction control system (RCS) was announced by Manned Spacecraft Center. Bell would supply Air Force Minuteman III post-boost propulsion system technology to RCS requirements. (MSC Release 72-109)
Ames Research Center scientist Dr. Robert T. Jones was testing theory that antisymmetrical wing pivoting on center point might convert aircraft to supersonic transport without high fuel consumption and noise of conventional SST, NASA announced. Aircraft would have conventional straight wing at right angles to fuselage during takeoff on medium-length runways and would require about one fourth the takeoff energy needed by comparable delta-wing jet transports with similar payloads. As aircraft reached speed and altitude where swept wings were efficient, entire wing would rotate about 45° so that wing on one side would point in direction of flight and wing on other side would trail. Studies had indicated that cruising in this configuration at super-sonic speeds to mach 1.2 would not produce sonic boom and could be accomplished with fuel economy similar to that of current jet aircraft at subsonic speeds. Conceptual aircraft could cruise up to mach 1.5 over ocean where sonic effects were not detrimental. ARC would continue theoretical computer and wind-tunnel studies using models "flown" at speeds to mach 1.4. (NASA Release 72-104)
Navy was seeking approval from Dept. of Defense to develop advanced Transit navigation satellite to meet USN operational needs during last half of 1970s and early 1980s, Aviation Week & Space Technology reported. Spacecraft would be made less vulnerable to nuclear weapon radiation and to Soviet "killer-satellites." Navy also hoped to maintain more operational satellites in space to provide more frequent navigation fixes. (Av Wk, 5/22/72, 20)
Apollo 7 Astronaut Donn F. Eisele was sworn in as a Peace Corps director. He would supervise 315 volunteers and 14 paid staff members in Bangkok, Thailand, beginning assignment in mid-June while on terminal leave from Air Force. His retirement from Air Force, after 20 yrs service, would be effective July 1. (W News, 5/23/72; NYT, 5/23/72, 27)
May 22-25: Aviation/Space Writers Assn. held annual convention in New York. Remarks of Dr. James C. Fletcher, NASA Administrator, on significance of first decade in space were read May 24 by Dr. Homer E. Newell, NASA Associate Administrator: "Our first manned lunar landing was . . . realization of `the impossible dream.' " With Apollo 11, "man on Earth was forced to reassess his potential for achievement-including the dream of universal peace, of brotherhood." Joint U.S.-U.S.S.R. rendezvous and docking agreement under discussion in Moscow "may be another small but significant step in this direction." Dr. Fletcher recalled December 1969 Life magazine article had said that "decade ended with an adventure so fantastic as almost to overshadow and redeem all the turmoil that had scarred it." Redeeming adventure had been Apollo 11 moon landing, which Dr. Fletcher called "the one great event of the decade that gave the American people renewed faith in their destiny." William M. Magruder, special consultant on technology to President Nixon, said U.S. had lost any chance of competing for first airline supersonic transport orders. He predicted U.S. would produce "second generation" SST that would begin carrying passengers in a decade. L/G Otto J. Glasser (USAF), Deputy Chief of Staff, Research and Development, said in speech that U.S. aerospace industry had become "overbuilt, overmanned, and overmanaged. Not only are there too many companies, but collectively they have more production capacity than we have any conceivable future need for. The passing of relatively ineffective . . . DC-3s and P-51s has gradually rendered obsolete and archaic our production oriented industry." Gen. Glasser recommended that U.S. firms follow European approach of "very small, tightly integrated design teams manned by top-of-their-graduating-class engineers." (Texts; NYT, 5/23/72)
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