Oct 26 1972
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Spartan antiballistic missile launched from Meek Island in Kwajalein Atoll successfully intercepted simulated intercontinental ballistic missile nosecone over mid-Pacific in 16th successful firing in Dept. of Defense second series of 18 firings. (W Post, 10/28/72, 36)
Chronology of H.R. 10243, bill to establish Office of Technology Assessment for Congress (signed by President Nixon Oct. 13), was traced in Washington Post article. Bill was result of six-year effort begun by Rep. Emilio Q. Daddario (D-Conn.), who had since left Congress. House had passed earlier version Feb. 8; Senate had approved its version Sept. 14; and conference report worked out Sept. 21 had been approved by both houses. Bill had been supported in House by members of Committee on Science and Astronautics' Subcommittee on Science, Research, and Development and by Rep. Jack Brooks (D-Tex.)and in Senate by Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.), Sen. B. Everett Jordan (D-N.C.), and Sen. Gordon Allott (R-Colo.), Post quoted Senate aide as saying recent renewed interest in bill had been prompted by debates over supersonic transport (SST) program and antiballistic missile systems. In both, Congress had had "no really authoritative expertise of its own." New Office of Technology Assessment would have authority and independence of General Accounting Office and was expected to depend mainly on contracts with outside study groups. (Cohn, W Post, 10/26/72, G3)
Article on U.S. space reconnaissance program, written by Soviet engineers Yu. Safronov and Ya. Sukanov, was published in Moscow by Krasnaya Zvezda (Red Star). Authors quoted U.S. press reports and U.S. journal Aerospace Daily in describing Dept. of Defense space reconnaissance activities since 1962. Article concluded that DOD had "dispatched dozens, hundreds of automatic apparatuses into circumterrestrial space. Of 605 satellites launched . . . in the period 1958 through 1970, 366 were of military designation . . . two out of every three." It was "beyond doubt" that DOD's "increasingly extensive use of space technology for purposes very far removed from scientific research in no way accords with the tendencies which have begun to appear toward limiting the arms race and improving the international situation." (FBIS-Sov, 11/2/72, G1-4)
President Nixon signed H.R. 16593, $74.4-billion FY 1973 Dept. of Defense appropriations act. Bill became Public Law 92-570. (PD, 11/6/72, 1619)
European Space Conference failed to meet as tentatively scheduled. Formal meeting of conference ministers to decide fate of European launcher development program and European post-Apollo participa- tion might not take place until late December, Aviation Week & Space Technology later reported. (Av Wk, 10/30/72, 14)
Russian-born aviation pioneer Igor I. Sikorsky, who invented first successful helicopter in U.S., died at age 83 in Easton, Conn., after heart attack. Born in Kiev, he had come to U.S. in 1919 with only $600. In 1922 he established Sikorsky Aero Engineering Corp. in small shed. Firm produced amphibian aircraft in 1928, four-engine clipper in 1931 with which Pan American World Airways inaugurated first commercial route to Hawaii and to Asia, and first successful helicopter, which Sikorsky flew in 1939. Firm later became Sikorsky Aircraft Div. of United Aircraft Corp. Sikorsky retired as engineering manager in 1957 but had remained consultant. His honors included National Defense Transportation Award in 1953, first Dr. Alexander Klemin Award of American Helicopter Society, and National Medal of Science. (Hailey, W Post, 10/27/72)
M/G Don R. Ostrander (USAF, Ret.), former NASA Director of Launch Vehicles, died at Andrews Air Force Base hospital, Md., of cancer at age 58. He had retired from Air Force as Vice-Commander of Ballistics System Division in 1965 and became Vice President for Planning, Bell Aero Systems Corp., until 1971. Gen. Ostrander had been appointed to NASA position in 1959. (iP Post, 10/28/72, B10; Rosholt, Administrative History of NASA)
October 26-27: California newspapers reported reaction at Jet Propulsion Laboratory to news of renaming facility for retiring California Congressman H. Allen Smith (D-Calif.) [see Oct. 3 and Oct. 21]. News had come as surprise to officials, who had refused to comment. Jet Propulsion Laboratory|JPL]] engineer Charles D. Hepburn had said that several engineers deplored renaming of facility for political office holder when there were many great local scientists who had contributed to space program. Hepburn had said it was "insult to technology .... Our work has to do with the physical universe, not with the meanderings of a political career." (LA Times, 10/26/72; Pasadena Star-News, 10/27/72)
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